NPR's Morning Edition had an excellent report this morning by Guy Raz about fraud and corruption in Iraq's reconstruction bids. Raz interviewed an Iraqi who said he was hired by Kuwaiti contractors for a bid they won from Americans. This all sounds fine except that the Kuwaitis made him write down a bill for over $10K more than it really cost. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, many foreign contractors don't even hire Iraqis. It does make you wonder when you hear about million-dollar contracts being awarded to large foreign companies and yet protests and rioting by unemployed Iraqis.
For all of Bush's talk about being honest and earnest, Iraq's reconstruction seems like anything but with some of the largest contracts having been awarded in non-competitive bidding to well-connected companies. Even the Senate's concerned and added an amendment to their spending bill that would require the administration to notify Congress when it arranges sole-source contracts.
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