Who's Watching Your Money in Iraq

Agency charged with spending oversight in Iraq left country in '04 By Seth Borenstein Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON - The chief Pentagon agency in charge of investigating and reporting fraud and waste in Defense Department spending in Iraq quietly pulled out of the war zone a year ago - leaving what experts say are gaps in the oversight of how more than $140 billion is being spent. The Defense Department's inspector general sent auditors into Iraq when the war started more than two years ago to ensure that taxpayers were getting their money's worth for everything from bullets to meals-ready-to-eat. "Our Iraq presence isn't going away; the only thing going away is the people watching how the money is being spent," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "If you don't have anyone watching it, the precedent is that the money will be wasted." Read More: Knight Ridder