Audit Suspended

The State Department has had to publicly humiliate itself, by admitting that it does not know what it received for a billion dollar contract with security firm DynCorp International to provide training services for Iraqi police.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has had to suspend its audit of the DynCorp contract, after administration officials admitted that they had no confidence in their own accounting records.

The list of problems are very familiar to auditors who have worked with companies in total disarray. Duplicate invoices, payments for equipment (eg a $1.8M scanner) that was never used and expense payments ($387K for hotels) that were unnecessary.

Needless to say, all of the above issues are red lights to professional accountants and auditors as they indicate the very real possibility of fraud.

The agency responsible for the contract was the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). SIGIR castigates them, and is quoted by Reuters:

"INL does not know specifically what it received for most of the $1.2 billion in expenditures under its DynCorp contract for the Iraqi Police Training Program. INL's prior lack of controls created an environment vulnerable to waste and fraud."

Although the audit may well resume in January 2008, it is expected that it will take up to five years to complete it. Needless to say by that time the people responsible for this mess, ie the Bush administration, will have long since left office.

Mission accomplished!

Jailer Jailed

Lieutenant Colonel William Steele, a former US commander at the jail that held Saddam Hussein, was jailed on Friday for two years after a court martial found him guilty of illegally possessing classified documents.

Lieutenant Colonel Steele was also dismissed from military service, and will forfeit all pay and allowances. However, his sentence will be cut by 229 days as he has already served that in detention in Kuwait awaiting trial.

Steele was acquitted on the more serious charge of aiding the enemy by supplying an unmonitored mobile phone to an inmate.

The judge, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Grammel, also found him guilty of having an inappropriate relationship with an Iraqi interpreter and failing to obey an order.

Execution Wrangle

The political wrangling over the death sentences against Saddam's cousin "Chemical Ali" al-Majid, Defence Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy operations director of the Iraqi armed forces, continues.

The three are currently being held in US custody, and will not be handed over until questions over the legality of the death warrants are resolved.

Death Sentence Delayed

The execution of Chemical Ali (Ali Hassan al-Majeed), scheduled for Tuesday, has been delayed as a result of legal wrangling over who should sign the order.

Ali Hassan al-Majeed was convicted in June of planning and directing the Anfal military campaign in 1988, in which prosecutors said up to 180,000 Kurds were killed and which the trial court later ruled was an act of genocide.

The issue revolves around whether Iraq's presidency council needs to issue a decree authorising the execution, or if Maliki's government can set the date.

The council consisting of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a Shi'ite, and Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab is reportedly split as to whether the execution should take place.

It is reported that Hashemi has refused to sign the execution order.

The Iraqi government has formed a committee to review the mechanism of carrying out death sentences issued by the Iraqi High Tribunal.

The committee will meet during the coming fortnight, and Majeed would not be executed until it gave its report.

When Charles I was executed by Cromwell, Cromwell made sure that all members of the new government signed the order for the execution and that it was not done in a dark corner. The Iraqi government would do well to take a lesson from Cromwell.

Execution Status Unclear

Chemical Ali (Ali Hassan al-Majid) was set to be executed yesterday.

Munir Hadad, a senior judge of the Supreme Criminal Court, said that the execution could take place anytime after 5:00am on Tuesday.

Majeed and two other lieutenants of Saddam Hussein were convicted in June of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in Operation Anfal, in which as many as 180,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas were killed two decades ago.

It is not yet clear as to whether the sentence has been carried out.

Saddam's Jailer on Trial

Lt-Col William Steele, a US serviceman who was in charge of the detention of Saddam Hussein, has gone on trial in Baghdad by court martial accused of aiding the enemy.

Lt-Col Steele is standing trial on a total of seven counts, and could face a life sentence.

The most serious charge is that he aided the enemy by providing a mobile phone to detainees. It has not been disclosed whom Col Steele lent the phone to.

During pre-trial hearings Steele was also accused of supplying Cuban cigars and hair dye to Saddam.

Echoes of Nuremberg, when a US serviceman aided Goring in committing suicide.

Ex Defence Minsiter To Hang

Ex Iraqi Defence Minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tai, is to be hanged in Iraq in the next few days for war crimes. However, Rick Francona an Air Force lieutenant colonel during the Iraq war believes that the sentence should be commuted.

Turkey Ups The Ante

Turkey has stirred up the quagmire of Iraq, by threatening a cross border raid. A council of Turkey's top political and military leaders issued a statement yesterday allowing troops to cross the border, in order to eliminate separatist Kurdish rebel camps in the border area of Northern Iraq.

This idea, needless to say, is not welcome. The United States strongly opposes the idea, not least because this is one of the few areas in Iraq that is actually stable.

The office of Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, issued a statement saying that the offices and institutions of the Turkish government have been ordered "to take all economic and political measures, including cross-border operations when necessary, in order to end the existence of the terror organization in a neighboring country."

Ironically an agreement between Turkey and Iraq, during Saddam Hussein's rule, did allow Turkey to make cross-border raids without prior approval.

PKK rebels currently carry out attacks on Turkey, then disappear across the border to mountain hideouts in the predominantly Kurdish region of Northern Iraq.

Brown Announces Pullout

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in an attempt to shore up his poll ratings, has announced that Britain will cut its forces in Iraq by half in the spring.

This will reduce the British presence in Iraq to around 2,500 troops. It is expected that there will be a total pullout before the next British general election (now expected to be in 2009).

Quite how well this announcement went down in Washington is unclear. However, some wise heads in the media (LA Times) note that the US Administration should follow suit:

"So the British will not leave behind a peaceful Basra, but they are nonetheless right to leave it. The United States should take note and recognize that it is a delusion to believe that any foreign occupier can stop Iraqi factions hellbent on fighting for power. We owe the Iraqis our best efforts at mediation, but to insist on stability as a prerequisite for withdrawal is to commit to indefinite and fruitless military occupation."

Aziz Ill

It is reported that the health of former Iraqi deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, is deteriorating as a result of his hunger strike.

Aziz went on strike last month, as a protest against his transfer to the custody of Iraqi authorities.

His lawyers have requested an independent medical examination.