US military contractors’ fraud revealed

The US Congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting has released a report detailing gross negligence, waste of funds and fraud by US contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The panel’s report stated that as much as USD 60 billion has been lost due to fraud or has been wasted in the two countries, describing it as a “troubling” failure that cannot continue amid the country’s deepening economic crisis.

The report noted that US security forces are over-dependent on private contractors, whose numbers are sometimes greater that the country’s military and civilian personnel, Reuters reported.

Since 2002, the US has spent some USD 206 billion on grants to and entered into agreements with private military contractors.

According to Michael Thibault, a co-chairman of the panel, the US government’s oversight led to waste, fraud and abuse.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 under a “war on terror” pretext. Insecurity is, however, rising in Afghanistan, despite the presence of nearly 150,000 US-led forces there.

The US also attacked Iraq in 2003 claiming that the Middle Eastern country was in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

However, it was later revealed that not only executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was not in possession of WMDs but also that US and UK leaders knew about the non-existence of such weapons.

However, nearly 50,000 American troops remain in Iraq.

The development comes against the backdrop of the ongoing economic crisis in the United States, which, according to US President Barack Obama, is America’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The US currently grapples with a nearly USD 3-trillion budget deficit and an unemployment rate above 9 percent.