Posted on: Monday, June 21, 2004
EDITORIAL
Billions wasted in Iraq demand close scrutiny
On May 23, this newspaper called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — as the person in charge — to take responsibility for an ill-conceived and badly managed operation in Iraq.
At that time, many of those also calling for Rumsfeld's resignation cited shocking revelations of torture of prisoners as the smoking gun. While that scandal seems to be closing in on Rumsfeld, Abu Ghraib was only a symptom of more fundamental problems.
The architects of this war in Iraq, mainly Rumsfeld and his closest aides, have been stunningly wrong in nearly every premise. Moreover, today it's hard to escape the conclusion that they manipulated intelligence to match their needs.
The failure to anticipate and provide adequately for a prolonged occupation has tragically resulted in far more U.S. casualties than anticipated.
To all that one can now add the waste of billions of dollars in Iraq because of a lack of planning and poor oversight by Rumsfeld's department, according to the bipartisan Congressional Accounting Office.
While Pentagon officials blame the haste of invasion as the main problem, investigators say they have ample evidence of ongoing waste a year later. Moreover, there are serious questions of failure to provide contracted services to our troops when needed and improper issuance of non-bid contracts.
In addition to calling for Rumsfeld's resignation, we urge Congress to launch forthwith a painstaking investigation of the links between the Halliburton Co. — the Houston-based oil services giant that supplies food, housing and other logistics services to the military — and Cheney.
Halliburton, with contracts in Iraq worth $18.2 billion, has been accused of more fraud, waste and corruption than any other Iraq contractor.
When Cheney served as secretary of defense in the first Bush administration, he presided over a massive outsourcing of services to civilian companies. Then, as CEO of Halliburton during most of the Clinton years, he positioned Halliburton as the premiere supplier of these services.
Now, as vice president, Che-ney continues to receive a paycheck from Halliburton — roughly the size of his income as vice president — because he deferred some of his payment as CEO of Halliburton to lower his tax liability. That was his right, but this joined-at-the-hip connection is growing ever more awkward.
The departure of Rumsfeld and scrutiny of Cheney's part in the extravagant waste that has marked the Iraq war are essential if this country's Iraq mission and its honor are to be salvaged.
