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$10-billion wasted, investigators say

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 16, 2007

About $10-billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses, and federal investigators warned Thursday that significantly more taxpayer money is at risk. The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57-billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done. More than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported, nearly triple the amount the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall. "There is no accountability," said David M. Walker, who heads the auditing arm of Congress. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the committee chairman, has pledged scores of investigations of fraud - with subpoenas if necessary.

Insurgent leader injured, official says

The leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq, who is known by the alias Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was injured in a clash with Iraqi police Thursday night, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. One of Masri's deputies, Abu Abdullah al-Mujamie, was killed in the gunfight, which occurred at approximately 11 p.m. near Samarra, ministry spokesman Abdul Kareem al-Kinany said. U.S. officials have said that Masri took over the leadership of the insurgent group following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by U.S. forces in a June 2006 airstrike. A senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Abu Amar al-Dulaimi, confirmed the death of Mujamie, whom he described as Masri's "personal escort," but questioned whether Masri was even in the area. "We don't know if (Masri) was with him or not, or if he was wounded or not," Dulaimi said Thursday night. Kinany, the ministry spokesman, said Iraqi forces conducted the operation "without U.S. intervention," but Dulaimi said people in the area reported seeing helicopters and fighter planes roaming the sky afterward, a possible indication of a U.S. role in the clash.

Security forces close Iran checkpoints

British and Iraqi security forces closed two border points with Iran at Sheeb and Shalamcha - blocking the gates with large metal shipping containers - and expanded coastal patrols to monitor maritime traffic into southern Iraq, a statement said. Authorities also set up checkpoints ringing Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the commercial hub of the Shiite-dominated south. The British military said the operation would last for 72 hours. Iraq also temporarily closed its borders with Syria on Wednesday. Washington and some allies have claimed Sunni militants have used Syria's porous border with Iraq as vital supply routes.

U.N. agency urges EU to protect refugees

The U.N. refugee agency appealed Thursday to the European Union to do more to protect refugees fleeing Iraq, saying the war was the cause of the biggest displacement of people in the Middle East in recent history. So far, Sweden has received the largest number , followed by the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Britain and Belgium.

[Last modified February 16, 2007, 01:15:58]