February 1, 2007

This has been on MSNBC a few times, but for C&Lers who don't have cable or watch the channel, I'd thought you'd like to see your tax dollars at work.

You can launch Lisa Myers's video report here.

MSNBC:

New revelations have emerged about how tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted in Iraq. A new report by government watchdogs singles out a big American contractor - Parsons - for shoddy work. Investigators charge that Parsons managed to turn a flagship project to help train Iraqi police into a hall of horrors using taxpayer money.

The Baghdad Police Academy was supposed to be a showcase to train Iraqi police - key to the U.S. strategy.

Instead, Wednesday's report says the American construction company turned it into a disaster from the start: incomplete and substandard designs, shoddy construction and no real quality control.

[..]Here's what Parsons delivered for taxpayers' $62 million:

* Shoddily built brick walls.
* Cracking concrete.
* Exposed reinforced steel bars.
* Buildings without enough power or with faulty electrical box wiring.
* Plumbing so bad that when cadets used it, human waste rained through light fixtures and ceilings.

The report places some blame on the Army Corps of Engineers, which was supposed to oversee the project.

"They actually awarded Parsons merit increases despite widespread evidence of deficient work," says Rep. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

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