No, you Can’t look at our Books

The Bush administration is withholding information from U.N.-sanctioned auditors examining more than $1 billion in contracts awarded to companies in Iraq without competitive bidding.

The Pentagon did not specifically answer questions about withholding information to auditors, but released a statement saying the Coalition Provisional Authority worked hard to manage Iraq’s oil resources.

“In a very challenging environment, the CPA made every effort to bring sound management transparency and oversight to the Development Fund for Iraq while at the same time improving the quality of life for the Iraqi people,” said Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesman. [Source: Washington Post]

Love the name of that guy, Flex Plexico… it almost sounds made-up, doesn’t it?

KPMG outlined a series of other shortcomings, including the coalition’s failure to install meters on Iraq’s Persian Gulf export loading platforms, making it impossible to determine how much oil Iraq was exporting. KPMG said that it was unable to verify independently the value of crude oil Iraq bartered for Syrian electricity.

I see, so no one knows just how much oil is being exported because there are no meters installed. Interesting, very interesting.