Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

One remaining audit team is the Defense Contract Audit Agency, which reportedly isn't as adept as the IG's office at unearthing fraud.  That and IG reports are public, while most of the DCAA's are classified.

With fewer investigators on the job and more evidence hidden from public view, Iraq-contractors faced a field of opportunities to defraud the taxpayers---with minimal public fallout for their political patrons.

At the time of the IG's decision, fraud's warning flags were flapping wildly. Halliburton, alone, had overcharged the government $61 million for fuel and $27 million for troops' meals. And let's not forget Bechtel and Custer Battles.

Even if contractor fraud hadn't persistently graced the headlines since the Iraq War began, history shows that contractors require intense monitoring.

Below are just a few examples of companies nabbed by the Justice Department.

In 2000, Boeing settled a suit for $54 million after allegedly selling the Army defective helicopters.  Five servicemen died in a defective-chopper crash.

In 1998, Justice sued Hunt Building Corp. for $45 million after Hunt allegedly built uninhabitable housing at a South Dakota Air Force Base.  Hunt settled the suit for $8.8 million.

In 1997, the Pratt & Whitney Group settled a suit for $14.8 million after allegedly using false invoices to funnel $10 million of U.S. military aid into an Israeli officer's personal slush fund.  General Electric and the National Airmotive Company pled guilty to felony charges over similar schemes involving that same officer.

The examples are voluminous, and defense contractors aren't necessarily the biggest perps.  Healthcare contractors paid the "lions share" of Justice Department fraud settlements from 2000-2003.

More about health-contractor fraud later.