Congress tough on Iraq cops training plan
Democrats and Republicans joined Wednesday to criticize harshly a State Department program for continued training of Iraq's police force, calling the nearly $900 million set aside in the 2012 budget a waste of money. Lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing cited an October report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction that […]Richard Lardner reports for The Associated Press:
Democrats and Republicans joined Wednesday to criticize harshly a State Department program for continued training of Iraq's police force, calling the nearly $900 million set aside in the 2012 budget a waste of money.
Lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing cited an October report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction that said the training program lacked focus, could become a "bottomless pit" for U.S. dollars and may not even be wanted by the Iraqis.
That audit also found that only about 12 percent of the money actually will go to helping the Iraqi police. It said most of the dollars will go for security and other items such as living quarters for trainers.
