Contractor Corruption Undermining War Effort

Its bad enough that we have to fight an enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan. We do not need contractors ripping us off. We've heard the stories of tens of millions, if not hundreds, being stolen or wasted. And it happens because our government has no effective means of monitoring military contracts:

The Pentagon is losing millions of dollars because it cannot adequately monitor the unprecedented number of contractors helping to run the nation's wars, says a congressional report released Tuesday.

Such waste or abuse is helping to drive up the cost of the war:

Iraq war spending hit a record $120 billion in fiscal year 2006, which ended Sept. 30. Some media reports have said the war costs for fiscal 2007 could be about $170 billion, but Portman declined to give a precise figure.

Ineffectual monitoring is undermining our ability to fight and win:

Besides the losses cited in the contractor investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the report found that the Defense Department's ineffective management of the civilian workers had hurt military operations and morale.