• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Your tax dollars at work

fff

Well-known member
Want more of this? Vote for a conservative Republican in '08!

In the flatlands north of Baghdad sits a prison with no prisoners. It holds something else: a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million and stretching back to the American overseers who replaced Saddam Hussein.


"It's a bit of a monument in the desert right now because it's not going to be used as a prison," said Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, whose office plans to release a report Monday detailing the litany of problems at the vacant detention center in Khan Bani Saad.

The pages also add another narrative to the wider probes into the billions lost so far on scrubbed or substandard projects in Iraq and one of the main contractors accused of failing to deliver, the Parsons construction group of Pasadena, Calif.

"This is $40 million invested in a project with very little return," Bowen told The Associated Press in Washington. "A couple of buildings are useful. Other than that, it's a failure."

In the pecking order of corruption in Iraq, the dead-end prison project at Khan Bani Saad is nowhere near the biggest or most tangled.

Bowen estimated up to 20 percent "waste" — or more than $4 billion — from the $21 billion spent so far in the U.S.-bankrolled Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. It's just one piece of a recovery effort that swelled beyond $112 billion in U.S., Iraqi and international contributions.

But the empty prison compound — in the shadows of more than two dozen watchtowers now dotted by birds' nests — is an open sore for both American watchdogs and local Iraqi politicians who had counted on the prison as an economic boost.

The head of the municipal council in Khan Bani Saad, Sayyed Rasoul al-Husseini, called it "a big monster that's swallowed money and hopes" — including those for more than 1,200 new jobs.

He sometimes drives out to the site, near groves of date palms and a former Saddam-era military training camp about 12 miles northeast of Baghdad and just over the border in the tense Diyala Province.

Al-Husseini says he walks the perimeter and wonders what can be salvaged. A housing development is not possible, he said. Many concrete walls lack proper iron reinforcements and "can collapse at anytime," he said. Birds and small animals have found homes in the towers and crannies.

"But some of the cell blocks are good," he suggested. "So maybe it can become a factory. I don't know. It's depressing."

The idea for the modern-style prison began with the Coalition Provisional Authority running Iraq after Saddam's fall.

On behalf of the authority, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $40 million contract in March 2004 to global construction and engineering firm Parsons to design and build an 1,800-inmate lockup to include educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to begin May 2004 and finish November 2005.

Nothing went right from the start, the report says.

The Sunni insurgency was catching fire. The U.S. was under pressure to improve prison conditions following the abuses exposed at Abu Ghraib.

Washington's focus shifted quickly from rebuilding to just holding its ground. The prison project got started six months late and continued to fall behind — until Parsons asked to push the completion date to late 2008, the report said.

The U.S. government pulled the plug in June 2006, citing "continued schedule slips and ... massive cost overruns." But they hadn't abandoned the hope of finishing the project — awarding three more contracts to other companies in a doomed effort.

The waste was made more egregious by the fact that Diyala badly needs more prisons to handle a growing inmate population. Bowen's team was told that about 600 inmates are crowded into an existing Diyala prison designed for 250 inmates and that the overcrowding and health conditions are so grave that several inmates have died, the report says.

The problem at Khan Bani Saad is only one example of the millions of dollars auditors found were wasted on construction projects by Parsons, which left Iraq two years ago.

In a companion report also being released Monday, Bowen said the prison was part of a $900 million Parsons contract to build border posts, courts, police training centers and fire stations. It was one of 12 contracts awarded in 2004 in hopes of restoring Iraq's infrastructure.

Of 53 construction projects in the massive Parson contract, only 18 were completed.

As of this spring, Parsons had been paid $333 million. More than $142 million of that — or almost 43 percent — was for projects that were terminated or canceled.

While the failure to complete some of the work was "understandable given the complex nature and unstable security environment in Iraq, millions of dollars" were likely wasted, the report said.

Bowen said only about 10 U.S. contracting officers and specialists were working on the $900 million contract, whereas 50 or 60 would be assigned to a comparable undertaking in the United States.

In a last wasteful act at Khan Bani Saad, the U.S. government allowed $1.2 million worth of construction supplies to be left unguarded at Khan Bani Saad after work was suspended in June 2007 — fencing, gravel, piping and other items. Most of it is now missing.

U.S. officials turned over control of the semifinished prison to Iraq's Justice Ministry nearly a year ago. The ministry promptly replied it had no plans to "complete, occupy or provide security" for the facility, the report said.

In the end, Parsons got $31 million and the other contractors got $9 million.

Some parts of the facility are usable, but construction in other parts is so substandard that demolition is the only option, the report said. Inspectors found cracking and crumbling concrete slabs, columns not strong enough to support the structure and incorrect use of reinforcement bars meant to strengthen the concrete.

"Khan Bani Saad is a microcosm of the shortfalls in the reconstruction program," said Bowen.

And the choice of Parsons — in retrospect — was part of a far bigger web of alleged shortcomings by the conglomerate in Iraq.

"This is the worst performing contractor that we have identified" among the seven firms so far studied in Congress-mandated reviews of Iraqi projects, said Bowen.

It was not possible to get advance comment from Parsons. Under the rules for the release of the audit, reporters were not allowed to reveal its details until Monday.

But the report said Parsons had argued that the U.S. government misrepresented the security conditions. Parsons said that its subcontractors faced threats that either shut down or slowed work almost daily. In August 2005, the site manager for one of Parsons' subcontractors was shot to death in his office.

Diyala remains one of the most dangerous places in Iraq. In the past week, U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up sweeps against insurgents in one of their last footholds near Baghdad.

But officials of the Army Corps of Engineers — one of the agencies that oversaw the prison construction — countered that Parsons understood conditions in Iraq at the time. They also said Parsons rarely reported security threats, and only recorded seven days when it cited delays due to violence.

Bowen said his agency has done 120 audits on Iraqi projects. "And they tell an episodic story of waste," he said.

___

Jelinek contributed to this report from Washington.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_vacant_prison
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
fff said:
Want more of this? Vote for a conservative Republican in '08!

There is no Conservative Republicans running in 08! :?

Guess we will just have to vote for the lesser of the Liberals! :wink:
 

VanC

Well-known member
As aplus said, there isn't a conservative Republican running for president this year and, fiscally speaking, there isn't one in office now. Are we to assume that there is less waste under a liberal Democrat than a conservative Republican? Not likely.

The problem isn't so much whose in office but how much money is spent. The more money being spent, the more wasted. Works that way for individuals, families, and especially governments. A true conservative seeks to reduce spending, therefore reducing waste. A true liberal historically seeks to increase spending, therefore increasing wasteful spending. In short, if you're truly worried about wasteful government spending you should vote for someone that seeks to decrease the size of government, which decreases the amount of money spent, which decreases the amount of money wasted. I'm not sure McCain is that person, but you can bet the farm it ain't Obama. :lol:
 

Larrry

Well-known member
It is kind of hypocritical that the libs are now all fired worried about spending now and never once said a word when it was their liberal buddies doing the spending of our money.
On the other hand true conservatives condemned all the lib spending and now condemn Bush's spending, nothin hypocritical about that.
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
Larrry said:
It is kind of hypocritical that the libs are now all fired worried about spending now and never once said a word when it was their liberal buddies doing the spending of our money.

Is there such a thing as a conservative democrat any more? Is there a dem anywhere who wants to reduce taxes or government waste or spending? Is there a dem that has a credible plan to solve any real econmomic issue?

This County I live in had their first ever Republican primary in '72 and 12 poeple cast their votes. :D Now look at what's happened!
 

fff

Well-known member
That abandoned prison will set there in the Iraqi desert for generations. People who hate our country will point to it as a symbol of the defeat of America. Aren't you proud?

Sure there are conservative Democrats. Probably as many of them as Republicans these days. :roll: As a governing philosophy, conservatism has been a disaster. Under Reagan it buried us in debt; under Bush it has buried us in debt.

http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
fff said:
That abandoned prison will set there in the Iraqi desert for generations. People who hate our country will point to it as a symbol of the defeat of America. Aren't you proud?

Sure there are conservative Democrats. Probably as many of them as Republicans these days. :roll: As a governing philosophy, conservatism has been a disaster. Under Reagan it buried us in debt; under Bush it has buried us in debt.

http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/

The biggest past debt we have is trying to pay for all those Social programs that libs like so much.
 

Larrry

Well-known member
People who hate our country will point to it as a symbol of the defeat of America. Aren't you proud?

Aren't you proud, you and your socialist buddies will be responsible for the defeat by continually running down anything positive. The spineless coward libs and their partners in the media can take credit.
 

fff

Well-known member
Larrry said:
People who hate our country will point to it as a symbol of the defeat of America. Aren't you proud?

Aren't you proud, you and your socialist buddies will be responsible for the defeat by continually running down anything positive. The spineless coward libs and their partners in the media can take credit.

I guess you missed it. We won in Iraq. Five years ago George W. Bush stood on the deck of the Lincon and told us so. The last five years have just been mopping up. :roll:
 

Larrry

Well-known member
We did kick their ass, but the libs and the media would have none of that and began an assault on or military and our actions which only revived the enemy. Are you proud of what you have done to our military. Do you hate the military as BC did. Shame on you
 

fff

Well-known member
Larrry said:
We did kick their ass, but the libs and the media would have none of that and began an assault on or military and our actions which only revived the enemy. Are you proud of what you have done to our military. Do you hate the military as BC did. Shame on you

If we won five years ago, how come we didn't bring the troops home?
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
fff said:
Larrry said:
We did kick their ass, but the libs and the media would have none of that and began an assault on or military and our actions which only revived the enemy. Are you proud of what you have done to our military. Do you hate the military as BC did. Shame on you

If we won five years ago, how come we didn't bring the troops home?

Same reason we did not bring the troops home from Europe or Japan after WWII. The wars we lose are the ones we bring everyone home, like Vietnam! You want us to lose?

What happened to Americans being winners? Why do YOU want us to Lose?
 
Top