Senators question oversight of contracts in Iraq

A key Democratic senator on Wednesday said the Bush administration and Pentagon leaders failed to properly plan for troop support in Iraq, leading to billions of lost taxpayer dollars, theft and fraud.

"We have found ourselves dependent on profit-oriented companies for even the day-to-day basics of feeding and housing our troops, (and) for carrying out a myriad of other functions of the mission, including security," said Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "These kinds of contracts opened the door for every manager to game the system in order to maximize profits."

Among the Pentagon's contracts with U.S. companies to provide services for soldiers in Iraq is a multibillion-dollar, 10-year deal with Kellogg, Brown & Root awarded in December 2001. Lawmakers have cited several examples of contract abuse by the Houston-based company, now known as KBR Inc., including billing the government for millions of meals never delivered, overstating labor costs and wasting millions of dollars to purchase unnecessary vehicles.

Jeffrey Parsons, executive director of Army Contracting Command, told the committee the Pentagon is realigning that contract to improve accountability.

KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne on Wednesday said services provided in Iraq have allowed "troops to focus on their combat mission."

More than 300 audits have been performed on contracts in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said. Of the $450 billion that has been obligated to support operations in Iraq, roughly $78 billion has been awarded through 103,000 contracts.

The Defense Department does not track the total number of contractors it employs, but the tally is substantial. For example, there are more than 163,000 contractors working in Iraq and some 36,500 in Afghanistan _ about the same number of troops in those regions _ a senior defense official told Congress earlier this year.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., repeatedly pressed the Defense Department officials about whether the Pentagon's reliance on private contractors has prevented the government from aggressively pursuing cases of fraud and abuse, and prosecuting individuals.

England said it was harder in a war zone, but that the Pentagon has prosecuted people at every opportunity.

Several lawmakers last week called for the Pentagon and KBR to address inferior electrical work by private contractors on military bases in Iraq that has been blamed for the deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., wants KBR's contract suspended, and on Wednesday demanded answers from senior Pentagon officials on how the Army neglected to probe the electrocutions in Iraq caused by the faulty wiring.

Browne said KBR's "activities in Iraq were not responsible" for the soldiers' deaths. The company has repeatedly said its ongoing investigation has found no evidence of a link between its work and the electrocutions, and that it was cooperating with the government.

England said the Pentagon is working to fix the problems in a systematic way.

The Pentagon has said 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003. It has ordered KBR to inspect all the facilities it maintains in Iraq for electrical hazards.

(This version CORRECTS attribution in grafs 4, 9.)