From the invaluable Josh Marshall:
(December 13, 2003 -- 01:04 PM EDT // link // print)
Okay, this may call for what, back in the old days, we used to call reporting.
Yesterday, President Bush said that if Halliburton's overcharged then they've gotta pay up.
"I appreciate the Pentagon looking out after the taxpayers' money," the president said. "They put the issue right out there on the table for everybody to see, and they're doing good work. We're going to watch, we're going to make sure that as we spend the money in Iraq that it's spent well and spent wisely. And their investigation will lay the facts out for everybody to see."
Yet, just a week earlier, acting on the president's orders, the Deputy Secretary of Defense signed a directive which hamstrung precisely the sort of internal audits of the funds Congress just approved for work in Iraq -- just the sort of crackerjack oversight the president says he loves.
Earth to daily newspaper reporters: these two things don't match up.
Don't be scared off. This one doesn't even require any serious investigtive reporting. Just get a hold of the December 3rd memo Paul Wolfowitz wrote, which set up the IG's office that Congress authorized to oversee the money to be disbursed under the 2004 Emergency Supplemental.
C'mon, you can do it! I believe in you!
-- Josh Marshall
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