Iraq Moves to Transition Year As Charges Yield Guilty Plea
The U.S. investigation into contracting corruption in Iraq so far has yielded one guilty plea and three additional arrests as Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, warns that U.S. agencies working there will face additional scrutiny and a tangle of issues this year as many more projects are handed over to the new Iraqi government.
Without a stronger push for transition planning and spending, Bowen says the Iraqi operators of newly reconstructed facilities may lack the training and administrative resources to sustain them.