NCB....I know you like obscure bills in Congress:
Quote:
While surging violence grabs headlines, Iraq reconstruction continues to fall far short of U.S. and Iraqi goals, further undermining stability in the nascent democracy.
And in a “shoot the messenger” coup de grâce, the latest casualty in the war may be the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) whose investigations have exposed waste, fraud, and mismanagement of billions of dollars spent by U.S. taxpayers in rebuilding Iraq.
In a stealth blow during a closed-door conference on a major defense bill, the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee inserted a provision to shutdown the Special Inspector General (IG) office led by Stuart Bowen Jr.
Bowen’s office opened in Januar 2004 with the task of tracking the $18 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars initially allocated for Iraqi reconstruction. The Special IG office was supposed to be temporary, but then again so was the war.
full article: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15591657/
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The SIGIR quarterly progress reports and audits were the best way for the public and Congress to be "kept informed". Could it be the Repubs did not like that the SIGIR reports, while citing progress in some areas, were highly critical of the waste, fraud and corruption in the reconstruction effort in other areas?
http://www.sigir.mil/