Billions wasted or lost in Iraq

With more than 3,100 U.S. soldiers dead in Iraq, and God only knows how many Iraqi's dead, three top auditors overseeing contract work done in Iraq, say the U.S. government has wasted, overcharged, or poorly tracked $10 billion in taxpayer money.

The three top auditors overseeing contract work in Iraq told a House committee that Defense and State department officials condoned or otherwise allowed poor accounting, repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for work shoddily or never done by U.S. contractors.

That problem could worsen, the Government Accountability Office said, given limited improvement so far by the Department of Defense even as the Bush administration prepares to boost the U.S. presence in Iraq.

David M. Walker, comptroller general of the GAO, Congress' auditing arm, said his agency has been pointing out problems for years, only to be largely ignored or given lip service with little result.

Well it's nice to know that my tax money has gone to support the complete collapse of a country, hundreds of thousands of people being killed or wounded, and an additional $10 billion completely lost, or wasted.