U.S. can't untangle billions in Bush-era Afghan spending

[one...two...tree 2,762]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government knows it's awarded nearly $18 billion in contracts for rebuilding Afghanistan over the last three years, but it can't account for spending before 2007.

Thousands of firms received wartime contracts, but the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction found it too difficult to untangle how billions of additional dollars had been spent because of the U.S. agencies' poor recordkeeping.

"Navigating the confusing labyrinth of government contracting is difficult, at best," the inspector general says in a report that was released Wednesday.

The finding raises doubts about whether the U.S. government ever will determine whether taxpayers' money was spent wisely in Afghanistan.

"Data got better from 2007 on," said Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman with SIGAR, "but it remains to be seen whether we'll ever know how much U.S. agencies spent overall."

Overall, the U.S. has set aside about $55 billion for rebuilding Afghanistan, but that includes agencies' budget for staff salaries, operations and security. SIGAR couldn't parse how much was spent on contractors alone.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/27/102724/us-cant-untangle-billions-sent.html#ixzz13fd6TFHy

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Can you account for why we are still spending money there? Obama said we wouldn;t be. Why doesn't congress just de-fund the war like they tried numerous times to do when Bush was President?

By the way...

Dems will lose!

[mawilson 2,133]

Taxpayer money funneled to Taliban