From: "Robert G Lewis" 


"John Cuccia"  wrote in message
news:vhk6j1p8lccl61kbeatpmvpiigap7quk8b{at}4ax.com...
>I thought a Republican Administration was supposed to use its business
> acumen to provide responsible spending?  These guys can't begin to
> tell you what they are spending.   Please Hecke, please Jeckel, tell
> me again about Republican fiscal conservatism?
>
> http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001846.asp
> The Pentagon has no accurate knowledge of the cost of military
> operations in Iraq, Afghanistan or the fight against terrorism,
> limiting Congress's ability to oversee spending, the Government
> Accountability Office concluded in a report released yesterday."
>
> It's almost hard to believe, but with the Pentagon budget ballooning
> more than six-fold in the past three years -- from $11 billion in 2002
> to a projected $71 billion in 2005 -- "neither DOD nor Congress can
> reliably know how much the war is costing and details of how
> appropriated funds are being spent," according to the GAO's report.
>
>

It is a long standing problem spanning multiple administrations. I wonder
how they can make ANY recommendations on cost savings with a straight face
( Base closings etc) since they can't keep accurate books.

The report turned up aberrations in imminent-danger pay -- $225 a month
offered to military personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other
countries -- which had "little correlation with the numbers of
deployed personnel." That pay totaled $38 million in April 2004,
implying that 170,000 military personnel were receiving it, but by August
2004 it had mushroomed to $231 million, suggesting that more than 1 million
U.S. troops were serving in danger zones.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092102105
.html?sub=AR

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