WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Washington Post today published an editorial commending Senator Susan Collins for her bipartisan effort to pass legislation to extend the term of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). Earlier this month,
the U.S. Senate approved legislation authored by Senators Collins and Russ Feingold (D-WI) and cosponsored by 25 Senators to include Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Norm Coleman (R-MN), that will extend the term of the SIGIR. Without this legislation, the SIGIR’s term would expire next year, on October 1, 2007. The Senators’ legislation would enable the SIGIR to continue his critical oversight work until late 2008 and was approved as an amendment to the fiscal year 2007 Military Construction Appropriations bill.
The following is the full text of the editorial that appeared in today’s Washington Post.
Shooting the Messenger
It's too soon to put the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction out of business.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006; A18
IN THE MESS that is Iraq, there's one entity that has done an unquestionably good job: the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction. Under the leadership of Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the inspector general's office has found that the Coalition Provisional Authority could not account for almost $9 billion distributed to Iraqi ministries. Mr. Bowen's office determined that the U.S. government lost track of thousands of pistols and hundreds of assault rifles given to Iraqi security forces. It found that Halliburton Co. wasted $75 million on a failed pipeline project and that Parsons Corp. bungled construction of a $75 million police academy in Baghdad so badly that human waste dripped from the ceilings. Its audits have saved the government more than $400 million.
Now there's a move to close down Mr. Bowen's shop. More than a move, actually: A mischievous provision, slipped into the defense authorization bill by House Republicans without the knowledge of key senators, set an October 2007 termination date for the office. The bill was signed into law last month, but a number of senators, including Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), the committee's ranking minority member; and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), are trying to reverse this foolish plan during the lame-duck session.
Unfortunately, a promising legislative vehicle for their attempt, a military construction spending bill, is snarled in a separate dispute about earmarks. The Senate is poised to approve a stand-alone fix, but House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who was responsible for the early termination, is said to be resisting a fix. The rationale is that the need for the inspector general's services is diminishing along with U.S. reconstruction funds and that remaining work can be picked up by State and Defense Department inspectors general. But that ignores an additional $3.6 billion provided for reconstruction efforts in the latest defense bill and the expertise that Mr. Bowen's shop has demonstrated in doing this difficult work. When it returns next week, the Senate should pass the measure extending Mr. Bowen's tenure, and the House should go along.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company