Where's the cash?

No joke, and no surprise. Remember all of that oil money that was supposed to appear and foot the cost of the Iraqi reconstruction? Remember how the majority of it was to be handed out to Iraqi companies participating in the rebuilding of their own country?

Well well well, turns out $1.9 billion of $2.26 billion went to American firms, with little or no oversight. The CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) administered the money and the awarding of contracts, and broke it's own rules multiple times during the contracting process. Guess who the major recipient was?

Tell me if this refrain sounds all too familiar:

Kellogg Brown & Root Inc., a subsidiary of Halliburton, was paid $1.66 billion from the Iraqi money, primarily to cover the cost of importing fuel from Kuwait. The job was tacked on to a no-bid contract that was the subject of several investigations after allegations surfaced that a subcontractor for Houston-based KBR overcharged by as much as $61 million for the fuel.

The really sad part of this is the flight of cash out of the country. Oil revenues were intended to help build what had been destroyed, including a new economy. Taking huge sums of money generated by the processing and sale of Iraqi oil and moving it out of the country damages its nascent economy.

Full story is here, and though registration is required, it's worth it. The Post has been out in front on a number of these and similar stories.