Is this a great country or what?  Come on — buck up, people!  Every day there are indications that this government works and that the Republic may actually survive for a while yet.  I mean, where else but in America could you have a major investigation into the investigating arm of government?  If anyone else is doing it, I still say we do it better.

Robin Wright of the Washington Post reports that the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) is under investigation for cost overruns, an unfair hiring of a whistleblower inside the organization, and possible "inappropriate behavior."

This is what happens when you make lots of omelettes.  Stuart Bowen and his staff have uncovered massive waste, corruption, and incompetence in the government’s handling of Iraq reconstruction — from the huge problems facing Iraq’s oil industry, to a disastrous construction project for the Iraqi national police force, to a dam on the Tigris River that might collapse, causing massive loss of life and property damage. 

On the other hand, it looks like success — in this most vital of missions — may have gone to their heads.  Wright reports that SIGIR has overstated the financial savings spurred by its investigations by a multiple of twenty and overpaid certain employees by as much as one hundred thousand dollars over the annual pay limit for federal employees.  One SIGIR official said that the overtime hours attributed to some employees were "physically and mentally impossible to work." 

That was a "senior SIGIR official" Wright interviewed.  Congress is also looking into SIGIR’s abuses.  And because of employee complaints, the FBI is investigating charges of abuse, unfair treatment, and possible harrassment or inappropriate behavior by SIGIR supervisors towards their staff.  The allegations of abuse reached the Office of the President and a special presidential council launched its own investigation.

If these allegations about SIGIR turn out to be true, there’s nothing to cheer about.  Those responsible for conducting inspections should be unforgiving towards any abuses within their own organization.  But this kind of transparency and professional investigation — watching the watchers and stopping abuse — is part of what makes America great, and, one can imagine, causes jaws to drop in countries where government leaders know about (or take part in) corruption…and the public knows…but nobody says a word.

Ned Hodgman

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