Iraq ; Report cites abuses of $Billions in Iraq rebuilding

U.S. investigators this year opened more than 100 cases involving alleged abuse of some of the billions of dollars in U.S. and Iraqi funds to rebuild Iraq, an auditors' report says.  The report on Monday said most allegations involved fraud, waste and abuse of funds while 40 percent were linked to reprisals, theft and other issues. It said 75 cases had been either closed or referred to other U.S. agencies and 38 remained open. The report was prepared for the U.S. Congress by the inspector general's office of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. occupying power dissolved in June and now renamed the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.  In addition to the CPA investigations, the FBI had at least five open and pending cases involving Iraq, with two recent ones focusing on public corruption and government fraud, the report said. It gave no details. Last week, the Army Corps of Engineers top contracting official said she was being interviewed by the FBI after she complained about deals given to Halliburton, the Texas company run by Vice President Dick Cheney before he joined the race for the White House in 2000. [more]