US Cong saves watchdog on Iraq reconstruction

Washington, Dec 9: Congress today voted to keep open the agency that has spotlighted waste and fraud in taxpayer-funded reconstruction projects in Iraq and sent the bill to President George W. Bush for signing.

The Office of the Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which oversees some 32 billion dollar in rebuilding grants and contracts, had been set to end its work on Oct. 1, 2007, under a defense bill Congress passed earlier this year.

But senators such as Maine Republican Susan Collins said they were unaware of the office's termination until it turned up in media reports, and they demanded it be saved. The Senate passed a measure doing so earlier this week.

House of Representatives lawmakers denied today that there had been anything secretive about the earlier decision to close the office, which is headed by Stuart Bowen. But on a bipartisan voice vote, they approved the bill to keep it open.

''I don't care if we extend the special inspector general, although I will object if we end up keeping that in place after all the money has been spent and there is nothing for them to do,'' said Rep Duncan Hunter, a California Republican and chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

The new legislation would keep the agency open until 10 months after 80 percent of the funds for Iraqi reconstruction have been spent.

405 million dollar so far

Rep Ike Skelton of Missouri, long an advocate of the inspector general's work, said the earlier decision to end it was made ''in an open and fair manner,'' but he was glad the House was making the change. He will chair the House Armed Services Committee when Democrats take control of Congress in January.

''This bill is vital to ensure that the good work of the Special Inspector General for Iraq will continue as long as we remain in Iraq,'' Skelton said.

He said the office had saved taxpayers 5 million so far.

The office has focused on problems involving a number of companies with Iraq rebuilding contracts, including Halliburton , formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. One recent report said Halliburton exploited federal rules to hide details from the public about its contract performance.

The office, which opened in January 2004 to track 18 billion dollar in US taxpayer dollars initially allocated for rebuilding Iraq, has referred 25 cases of fraud to the Justice Department for criminal probes. Four of them led to convictions.

Keeping the office open had been recommended by the bipartisan Iraq Study group as well as by Robert Gates, whom the Senate has confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense.

''It certainly seemed to me that he (Bowen) was actually making a really constructive contribution to the war effort in Iraq,'' Gates said this week.

Reuters