A new report indicates millions of U.S. dollars meant to help rebuild war torn Iraq have been wasted.
The quarterly report by U.S. auditors also warns that corruption abounds in the country, and that billions of dollars budgeted to the Iraqi government remains unspent.
The news comes as U.S. President George Bush urges Congress to approve US$1.2 billion in new aid for reconstruction efforts.
"The security situation continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," said the 579-page report by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
The report, the most recent in a regular series of updates on the war, is due to be released Wednesday, underscoring the latest frustrations in a war and reconstruction effort that has cost over $300 billion so far.
Brown said more needs to be done to ensure previous and future U.S. investments are spent appropriately.
Corruption
According to the audit, corruption continues to plague Iraq and infrastructure security remains at risk.
The auditors who wrote the report expressed "significant concern" about the Iraqi government's record on managing and spending budgets.
The audit pointed out that at the end of 2006, billions of dollars budgeted for capital projects remained unspent.
In other cases, money was spent improperly or wastefully.
By example, the report points out that in one case, a contractor, DynCorp International, was paid $43.8 million to establish a residential camp for police trainers in Baghdad. It hasn't been used yet.
Iraq's Interior Ministry also ordered $4.2 million of work, much of which went to 20 trailers for important visitors and the construction of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The spending was never approved by the U.S. State Department.
In another case, $36.4 million was spent by U.S. officials on armoured vehicles, body armour and communications equipment, but the spending cannot be accounted for due to vague invoices and a lack of back-up documentation, the report states.
Officials from the department said in the report they are working to improve spending accountability in Iraq. Already, the State Department has developed a review process that rejected a $1.1 million DynCorp bill earlier this month on a separate contract because the billed rate was incorrect.
Democrats, who control the U.S. Congress, have expressed concern at the prospect of spending more money on reconstruction efforts after the report's revelations.
Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is planning in-depth hearings next week to look into the report's claims.
Since 2003, reconstruction spending has been cut, while the amount spent on security and democracy projects has gone up.
Funds originally earmarked for water and sewage projects have been but by 50 per cent, according to the audit.
The report says the biggest challenge faced by the Iraqi government is strengthening law and order, including the judiciary, prisons and police.
