CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Report after report has documented that U.S. taxpayers were ripped off for tens of billions in the Bush administration's chaotic attempt to "rebuild" Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

U.S. corporations - many with Republican Party links - rushed a quarter-million private employees to Iraq and profiteered outrageously. Thirty-five contractors have been convicted of fraud, and 154 other criminal investigations are proceeding. At least 855 construction projects were abandoned. Many others were shoddy, decrepit. Water, electricity, oil production and other services haven't recovered to prewar quality.

Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old firm, got lucrative no-bid contracts on a cost-plus basis. The more Halliburton squandered, the bigger its payola from U.S. taxpayers. Brand-new $85,000 trucks with flat tires were torched. Halliburton charged $100 to wash each 15-pound bag of soldiers' laundry, and $45 for each case of cola. Halliburton employees stayed in luxury Kuwaiti hotels with maid service and fruit baskets - while American G.I.s slept in tents in the desert.

Fresh out of college, young ideologues from American GOP families were sent to Iraq to supervise spending. They were hopelessly incompetent.

Much of this monstrosity was revealed by the Pentagon's inspector general, Stuart Bowen, who made frequent reports to Congress. His new book, Hard Lessons, was reviewed by investigative reporter Paul Nyden.

Bizarrely, the most outlandish waste didn't involve U.S. taxpayer money, but Iraqi oil funds that had been impounded by Washington. Tractor-trailers hauled 360 tons of cash from Federal Reserve depots to cargo planes, which flew it to Iraq, where much of it was doled out from the back of pickup trucks. Later, $9 billion couldn't be accounted for.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., observed bitterly that the Iraq mess "may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history." He summed up succinctly:

"Before we went to war, President Bush and other senior administration officials made three promises to the American people: (1) We would find weapons of mass destruction. (2) We would be welcomed as liberators. And (3) The reconstruction of Iraq would pay for itself. All three promises turned out to be false."

U.S. corporations - many with Republican Party links - rushed a quarter-million private employees to Iraq and profiteered outrageously. Thirty-five contractors have been convicted of fraud, and 154 other criminal investigations are proceeding. At least 855 construction projects were abandoned. Many others were shoddy, decrepit. Water, electricity, oil production and other services haven't recovered to prewar quality.

Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old firm, got lucrative no-bid contracts on a cost-plus basis. The more Halliburton squandered, the bigger its payola from U.S. taxpayers. Brand-new $85,000 trucks with flat tires were torched. Halliburton charged $100 to wash each 15-pound bag of soldiers' laundry, and $45 for each case of cola. Halliburton employees stayed in luxury Kuwaiti hotels with maid service and fruit baskets - while American G.I.s slept in tents in the desert.

Fresh out of college, young ideologues from American GOP families were sent to Iraq to supervise spending. They were hopelessly incompetent.

Much of this monstrosity was revealed by the Pentagon's inspector general, Stuart Bowen, who made frequent reports to Congress. His new book, Hard Lessons, was reviewed by investigative reporter Paul Nyden.

Bizarrely, the most outlandish waste didn't involve U.S. taxpayer money, but Iraqi oil funds that had been impounded by Washington. Tractor-trailers hauled 360 tons of cash from Federal Reserve depots to cargo planes, which flew it to Iraq, where much of it was doled out from the back of pickup trucks. Later, $9 billion couldn't be accounted for.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., observed bitterly that the Iraq mess "may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history." He summed up succinctly:

"Before we went to war, President Bush and other senior administration officials made three promises to the American people: (1) We would find weapons of mass destruction. (2) We would be welcomed as liberators. And (3) The reconstruction of Iraq would pay for itself. All three promises turned out to be false."