Pentagon Misstated Terror War Spending

Pentagon Misstated Terror War Spending
UPI | September 23, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has misstated the cost of the war on terror, basically telling the Congress it is spending whatever is appropriated, a government agency says.

The Government Accountability Office, in a report to Congress released Wednesday, said the inaccuracies in the amount the U.S. Department of Defense is saying it is spending in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are in the billions of dollars.

"Effectively, the Army was reporting back to Congress exactly what it had appropriated," the GAO said.

The GAO report claims, "Neither DOD nor Congress can reliably know how much the war is costing the details of how appropriated funds are being spent." The New York Times said the GAO blamed Pentagon accounting systems designed to handle only small-scale contingencies.

The Pentagon issued a letter saying it generally agreed with the GAO report.

Pentagon Misstated Terror War Spending