And in Other News...

From the New York Times:

Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office

Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen Jr. in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Mr. Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip.

The order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates his federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation.

This is so much more offensive than man-on-man Preacher sex but won't get a milisecond of airplay on any of the 24 hour news networks, a passing mention on the evening news, or even front page attention in newspapers.

In the face of high voter opposition to Bush's War in Iraq, some Republicans are making soft noises about opposing the measure. Blue State GOoPers like Susan Collins are mystified that the provision made it into the conference report, where differences between House and Senate versions of bills are reconciled, even though neither the House or Senate version contained the termination clause when they passed their respective chambers.

I'm not mystified.

One of the companies that was a major focus of the auditor's office was Halliburton.

Get this:

The idea, Mr. Holly [Republican House Armed Services spokesman and member of Calif. Republican Duncan Hunter’s staff] said, was simply to return to a non-wartime footing in which inspectors general in the State Department, the Pentagon and elsewhere would investigate American programs overseas.

We're moving back to a non-wartime footing even though we're engaged in a "Struggle for Civilization" itself? Shameful

War in Iraq Culture of Corruption Iraq Inspector General