Failed to Investigate War Profiteering

Norm Coleman is not doing his job. In 2003, as chairman of a Senate Committee on Investigations, Coleman failed to hold contractors like Halliburton accountable for overcharging in Iraq. Instead, he had the committee look into music downloading on the Internet, while billions of taxpayer dollars were wasted.

Norm Coleman Failed to Investigate War Profiteering When he had the Chance.    Norm Coleman did not do his job. In 2003, as chairman of a Senate Committee on Investigations, Coleman should have held contractors like Halliburton accountable for overcharging in Iraq. Instead, he had the committee look into music downloading on the Internet, while Halliburton abused the system and wasted hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars. [Composite List of Publications of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs/Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; New York Times, 6/16/04; HR 3058, Vote 259, 10/19/05; HR 2892, Vote 228, 9/14/05, Motion rejected 44-53; S1042, Vote 316, 11/10/05, rejected 44-53; S 2766, Vote 176, 6/20/06, rejected 44-52; S 2400, Vote 120, 6/16/04, Rejected 46-52 (R0-51; D45-1); CQ Today, 6/16/04]

Pioneer Press: Coleman "Did Not Investigate the Troubled Iraq Reconstruction Effort."    The Saint Paul Pioneer Press recently reported: "As chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations from 2003 to the start of 2007, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman did not investigate the troubled Iraq reconstruction effort."  [Pioneer Press, 9/22/08]

Over $13 Billion Meant for Reconstruction was Wasted or Stolen.    According to the Washington Post, a former Iraqi official estimated that more than $13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes. Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee that an Iraqi auditing bureau "could not properly account for" the money.  While many of the projects audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone." [ Washington Post, 9/23/08]