Yesterday, it was revealed that a small clause in the gigantic military spending bill mandated the closure of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction in 2007. This subject has been discussed in diaries, but I don't think that we have fully grasped the implications of this development.
From BBC:
Washington lawmakers have reacted with shock at the discovery that an obscure clause in a military spending bill will terminate the work of the auditor.
...
In 2005, it issued a damning report citing "severe inefficiencies and poor management" at the body that ran Iraq before the recent elections, the Coalition Provisional Authority.
This gaffe sums up the past five years of GOP control perfectly; it highlights secrecy, incompetence, irresponsible spending, and corruption. It can be boiled down to several talking points:
*Representative Kucinich was on MSNBC to talk about the gutting of Iraq spending audits, saying that this was buried in a gigantic bill whose language was written by a very exclusive number of members of Congress.
Republicans love to create policy behind closed doors because they know that Americans would never support such policies.
*Private contractors in Iraq have overspent by billions of dollars, which was the reason we have an auditor in the first place.
Republicans are quick to spend Joe Q. Taxpayer's money on lucrative contracts for campaign contributors.
*From the BBC article:
The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has embarrassed the US administration with its reports on corrupt practices.
Republicans have made a mockery of accountability; failures are rewarded with promotions and criticism is rewarded with unemployment.
Anyway, these are some of the things Democrats should be saying. American voters have already identified Iraq as the number one campaign issue they are concerned with. This is another good opportunity to point out why the GOP is incapable of conducting a sound Iraq policy.
Special Note: There is a lot of damning information out there about overspending in Iraq. It is rarely discussed in the mainstream media, however. If you think irresponsible spending by private contractors makes you angry now, check out Iraq for Sale, a film by Robert Greenwald.