what have the democratic members of our congressional delagation done on this issue. I have no idea so I just am curious

I'm so sick of hearing how $Billions of our tax dollars are sent to Iraq to continuously tear it down, then rebuild it. I don't care if the Iraqi's kill each other, let's pull our military and civilian forces out and let nature take its course. I simply don't give a rip about the "freedom and security" of undeserving people halfway around the world. Our own country needs infrastructure repairs and security augmentation.

Throwing more money into the pit of Iraq is pure insanity. We are governed by idiots.

17yearoldwithanopinion -

For what the Democrats have done generally, read through the transcript of the 2006 hearing and read the entire Geiger article on the Dorgan amendment, as a start. The majority Republicans were certainly determined to block any effort by the minority to put a stop to this abuse.

Also, see this for another example of how determined the Republicans were to stymie all efforts at oversight - they had one of their sychophants at the GSA try to cut the OIG's budget to intimidate him/stop him from pursuing further investigations: link

GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits Contract Oversight Would Be Reduced By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, December 2, 2006; A01 The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency's inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews. GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits and shifting some responsibility for contract reviews to small, private audit contractors. Doan also has chided Inspector General Brian D. Miller for not going along with her attempts to streamline the agency's contracting efforts. In a private staff meeting Aug. 18, Doan said Miller's effort to examine contracts had "gone too far and is eroding the health of the organization," according to notes of the meeting written by an unidentified participant from the Office of Inspector General (OIG). .. Doan compared Miller and his staff to terrorists, according to a copy of the notes obtained by The Washington Post. "There are two kinds of terrorism in the US: the external kind; and, internally, the IGs have terrorized the Regional Administrators," Doan said, according to the notes. Through a spokesman, Doan said she respects the inspector general's role and is not doing anything to undercut his independence. She also denied that she had referred to Miller, a former terrorism prosecutor, or his staff as terrorists. ... "By law, she can't reduce the IG's independence, and she's aware of that." Doan, who was confirmed as administrator May 26, has publicly criticized Miller on other occasions. .. Doan also complained in the annual report that Miller was being "unsupportive of recent changes" and said vendors and government contracting officials had reported that his auditors and investigators were exerting "undue pressure." [WAAAAH! Oversight!] ... Before joining the GSA in August 2005, Miller served as a federal prosecutor and worked on the government's case against al-Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has written to Doan expressing his concerns. "The primary mission of the IG in your agency and every other government agency is to be a sentry standing guard against fraud, waste, and abuse wherever it occurs regardless of circumstances," Grassley wrote on Oct. 20. "This cannot be accomplished if the IG's independence is impaired or hindered by the agency in any way, shape, or form." Doan responded by acknowledging his concerns and saying she was mainly focusing on balancing her agency's budget. "Please be assured that I do not -- and should not -- decide which audits or investigations the IG pursues," she wrote to Grassley. "That would be inappropriate." Inspector general's offices were given by Congress a mandate to operate as independent watchdogs in the executive branch, working on behalf of taxpayers to guard against wasteful spending. The Inspector General Act of 1978 stated: "Neither the head of the establishment nor the officer next in rank below such head shall prevent or prohibit the Inspector General from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation." The GSA inspector general's office's audits have helped the agency recover billions of dollars in recent years from flawed or fraudulent contracts. Some vendors and government workers have complained that the audits have made contracting more cumbersome than necessary. Soon after Doan was nominated to lead the GSA this spring, she promised outside vendors that she would make contracting with the agency much easier for both government bureaucrats and corporations. After she assumed the post, she began trimming the budget proposal of the inspector general's office. She wrote in her annual report that the office's budget and staff had "grown annually and substantially" in the past five years. Since 2000, the number of employees in the inspector general's office has grown from 297 to 309, according to the office. In August, a budget official in the inspector general's office described Doan's efforts to cut funding and to limit the number of audits as "unprecedented," according to an e-mail obtained by The Post. The official, John C. Lebo, said that "for the first time in memory, the Budget Office changed or deleted portions of our budget without notifying us prior to their changes." Lebo, who has since left the agency, said the changes were troubling. "The Administrator's Office wants to change the IG's overall approach from independently rooting out crime, fraud and abuse, to one in which the OIG is a team player working with GSA," he wrote.

Doan - we all know what hapened when she testified before Waxman's Committee (re Hatch Act violations).

4/23/07 - Wyden and Dorgan have demanded Doan's resignation. Smith has not, as far as I know.

Elections have consequences - one of the most important in this case being the restoration of Congressional oversight.

Smith pushed the bogus "successful" reconstruction talking point as an attack on Kerry, when Smith, as the successful frozen pea magnate, should have known/did know what was really happening. It is Smith's job to know the facts about the reconstruction effort, especially before making public pronouncements about it.

Also, if you have a question about what our delegation has done, you are free to avail yourself of The Google or submit a guest column just like anyone else. I really don't like when people dump a loaded question into the blogosphere and expect someone else to do something about it. Do your own research if you have a question.

-MN

Phil, I certainly do care - I absolutely do not want to see any more death and destruction in Iraq or anywhere. But this is what Bush's policies have wrought, he and his enablers are responsible, and they seem powerless to stop it.

I simply don't give a rip about the "freedom and security" of undeserving people halfway around the world.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration, their neocon buddies, Senator Smith and his Congressional colleagues, and other moral bankrupts share this attitude and took delight in the shock-and-awe, slaughter-and-mayhem inflicted on hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Despite this, the same people can't figure out why "they" hate us. There are, no doubt, some Iraqis that could be considered "undeserving" but anyone paying attention to what has been going on in Iraq should know that there are many good and decent people trying to survive there and deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Thank you Bill. At the peace rally a few weeks ago someone had a great sign that said "Violence is a Weapon of the Weak". I agree. They cannot obtain the desired result through diplomacy, study, "hard work", smarts, patience. Instead, they just start destroying things and expect others to bend to their will.

Did I read this right?

"Where did the rest of the money go?"

I wonder when BlueOregon will be applying this useful curiosity to local matters such as no bid contracts to Bechtel, Cascade Station, Urban Renewal, SoWa or any of the hundreds of millions spent around here which never gets any authentic oversight?

Bush never should have sent ground troops into Iraq. He was warned during the leadup to war that he would be opening a Pandora's Box of problems. But, like a bull in a china shop, he plowed ahead with his diabolical plans for regime change even though he had no exit strategy or contingency plans if insurgents began resisting. It was a totally failed foreign policy action motivated by huge oil profit fantasies.

It sickens me to see so many good Americans on both ends of the political spectrum profess to "care" about the livelihood and welfare of the Iraqi people. They fall right into the sympathy trap Bush promulgates as his latest reason for continuing to fund this immoral military activity.

When so many of our own people are living below poverty level, with no heath insurance and rapidly rising costs of living, it is no less than criminal to send billions of dollars each month to Iraq while ignoring the plight of the American populous. Wake up!

It sickens me to see so many good Americans on both ends of the political spectrum profess to "care" about the livelihood and welfare of the Iraqi people.

People who "profess to 'care' about the livelihood and welfare of the Iraqi people" are probably people who were persuaded by the intent of documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that embrace all people. The opposite of the that is to concern oneself with one's own nation, or if that is still too large in scope, then one's own state, or to keep reducing the focus of interest to one's own family which might ultimately lead to one's own self.

They fall right into the sympathy trap Bush promulgates as his latest reason for continuing to fund this immoral military activity.

Without the benefit of a poll, I would bet the majority of people with sympathy for the plight of average Iraqis have little in common with Bush and his administration who have no problem continuing the carnage they unleased. Having concern about the welfare of the Iraqis or other non-Americans does not mean we don't also have concern for the welfare of fellow Americans.

It sickens me to see so many good Americans on both ends of the political spectrum profess to "care" about the livelihood and welfare of the Iraqi people.

<h2>Let's not forget that the American government is the primary culprit responsible for the ongoing misery in Iraq. As the fortunately-ex secretary of state Colin Powell put it about the pottery barn rule, "If you break it, you own it." Which means, the decent thing is to take responsibility for the damage you do or have done.</h2>