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Klobuchar Blasts Administration for Waste in Iraq and Reprisal Against Army Whistleblower

Renews call for commission to investigate waste and abuse in Iraq reconstruction spending

July 9, 2008

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar said today that the Administration engaged in an appalling lack of oversight and accountability in awarding billions of dollars to a private contractor, KBR, Inc., after Army auditors and a senior procurement officer determined that the company had overbilled the government and engaged in shoddy accounting.

Klobuchar also said the Administration betrayed the public’s trust by overruling the procurement officer who challenged the KBR payments and then removing him from office.

“American taxpayers have sent billions of dollars to help rebuild Iraq, and yet this Administration is not providing even the most basic accountability for their money,’’ Klobuchar said. “One company has come to epitomize the lack of accountability in the U.S. military’s reliance on private contractors, and that company is KBR, the former construction arm of Halliburton.’’

Last year Klobuchar cosponsored legislation to create a Wartime Contracting Commission, modeled on the Truman Commission after World War II, to investigate fraud and abuse in Pentagon spending in Iraq, and the commission is just now being appointed.

Klobuchar spoke at a hearing to examine waste and abuse in Pentagon use of private contractors in Iraq. The hearing’s witness, Charles M. Smith, was a senior civilian procurement officer for the U.S. Army. He testified that, after 31 years with the Army, he was forced out of his job after refusing to approve $1 billion in questionable charges billed by KBR. Smith said that early in 2004, Army auditors determined that KBR lacked credible records to support more than $1 billion in spending. Smith said that when he tried to withhold payment from KBR, he was ordered to retract his decision and was later forced out of his position.

“We are spending $12 billion a month in Iraq,’’ Klobuchar said. “Taxpayers need to know that their money is being spent to assist the Iraqi people and our men and women in uniform, not to line the pockets of private contractors.’’

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