ANALYSIS
$1.2B spent for private security firms; critics say Iraqis should be picking up slack instead
USA Today Aug 28, 08 1:21 PM CDT
(Newser)
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American troops are trickling home, but at a hefty cost: The US has spent more than $1.2 billion this year on private security contractors—mostly to protect diplomats, but also to secure infrastructure and supplies, USA Today reports. The State Department says now that focus has shifted to rebuilding, officials are venturing out of secure areas to do field work and require more protection.
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Workers outnumber troops, account for
20% of war spending
New York Times Aug 12, 08 6:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
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By the end of the year, the US will have spent $100 billion on private defense contractors in Iraq, a congressional report finds, showing more private-sector reliance than any previous wartime. Some 20% of funds spent on the war have gone to contractors, whose numbers are now greater than the US military, the New York Times reports.
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GAO says Bagdad sitting on a lot of money, raising complaints from US senators
Associated Press Aug 5, 08 7:45 PM CDT
(AP)
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The Iraqi government could end this year with as much as a $79 billion cumulative budget surplus, based largely on ever-increasing oil revenues, US congressional auditors say. A report by the Government Accountability Office made public today prompted renewed calls from senators that Baghdad pay more of the bill for its own reconstruction, which has been heavily supported with US funds.
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OPINION
War without taxes defies all of US history. Why are we allowing it?
Washington Post Jun 11, 08 11:47 AM CDT
(Newser)
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As Congress tackles the latest "emergency" spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the total to more than $860 billion, Ruth Marcus notes in the Washington Post: "For the first time in American history, every penny of that amount will have been borrowed. For the first time, billions more will have been borrowed to finance tax cuts in the midst of war. "
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Almost $8.2B in Iraq War funding evaded federal rules, reports the Pentagon
New York Times May 23, 08 11:20 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A Pentagon audit of $8.2 billion in taxpayer money spent in Iraq found that nearly all of the handouts skirted federal rules, and millions of dollars in contracts were awarded with little or no record of what they were for, reports the New York Times . Take the $320.8 million that was issued to 1,000 Iraqis for "Iraqi Salary Payment"—$320,800 a head—with no explanation of what they were compensated for.
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OPINION
A dollar of prevention is worth many times that in cure, researcher pleads
Wall Street Journal May 22, 08 4:55 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Ethanol is among the "poor solutions to high-profile problems" researcher Bjorn Lomborg blasts in the Wall Street Journal . According to calculations by his Copenhagen Consensus, “carbon mitigation policies” return only 90 cents for every dollar spent; in contrast, he writes, $1 billion spent on tuberculosis would result in an “annual economic benefit” of $30 billion.
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Republicans abstain
in protest, leading
to surprise defeat
Washington Post May 15, 08 5:10 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The House today shot down a $162.5 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year after a surprise tactic by angry Republicans, the Washington Post reports. The bill failed by a vote of 148-141 after 132 members of the GOP abstained. By doing so, they formed an unusual coalition with a group of anti-war Democrats. The vote doesn't mean the wars won't be funded, however—the bill will be revived in the Senate next week.
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Obama would defy Petraeus to withdraw; DNC ads knock Mac's '100 years' in Iraq
Fox News Apr 27, 08 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Barack Obama and John McCain clashed over Iraq today, as the DNC readies an ad campaign criticizing McCain's now-infamous remark about keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years. In a Fox News interview, Obama pledged to withdraw troops from Iraq even if Gen. David Petraeus advised against it. But the McCain camp says Obama's leadership "can't deliver."
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Senator, 90, flexes muscle at hearing
The Hill Apr 17, 08 2:40 AM CDT
(Newser)
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History's longest-serving senator has two words for people who think he's no longer up to the job of chairing the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee: "Shut up." Democrat Robert Byrd, 90, has been hospitalized twice this year but his management of a two-hour hearing on Iraq war spending yesterday apparently silenced his critics, the Hill reports.
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General wraps up
two days of testimony before Congress
Washington Post Apr 9, 08 8:44 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Gen. David H. Petraeus told the House Armed Forces Committee today that he does not foresee another buildup of US armed forces in Iraq, calling the possibility of a new surge "a pretty remote thought in my mind." If violences escalates again, the Army will make do with American and Iraqi troops already there, the Washington Post reports. His testimony comes a day before President Bush will lay out his troop strategy.
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FBI still probing incident that left 17 Iraqis dead
Associated Press Apr 4, 08 7:55 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Washington renewed Blackwater USA's multimillion-dollar contract for another year today pending two probes into the contractor's conduct in Iraq, the AP reports. The FBI is still investigating a Baghdad shooting last year in which Blackwater guards gunned down 17 civilians and sparked outrage among Iraqis; US lawmakers are also probing claims that Blackwater smuggled arms into the country. Blackwater has denied guilt in both cases.
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Demonstrations staged across the US on war's anniversary
Reuters Mar 19, 08 11:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Police arrested more than 160 protesters today at demonstrations across the US to mark the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Iraq war, Reuters reports. More than 100 were arrested in San Francisco alone, where demonstrators staged a "die-in" and disrupted busy Market Street. About 30 were arrested in Washington, where activists tried to shut down the IRS building to highlight the war's cost.
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