IG says $60 billion wasted on Iraq war reconstruction

Washington – A special Inspector General released a final report alleging that $60 billion in taxpayer money has been wasted on reconstruction of war damage in Iraq.

Standard operating procedure included high explosive bombing that ruptured sewer lines on city streets, leaving raw sewage running in the gutters. Pacification efforts centered around reconstruction of the intolerable condition.

Ten years later, many of these ruptured sewers still ooze stinking sludge, according to the findings of Stuart Bowen, whose report stated reconstruction efforts reached “a size much larger than was ever anticipated.”

A tactic of appointing head men to help identify the need for reconstruction backfired, according to numerous published reports, leading to bribery and theft. The result includes hundreds upon hundreds of unfinished projects, stockpiles of building supplies left to looters, and billions of dollars spent without any credible accounting.

Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki in an interview with an AP correspondent alleged most of American efforts at reconstruction resulted only in misspending. He is a Shiite Moslem, a member of the majority party in this war-ravaged nation.