Inspector General: Let's Stop Funding Iraq Academy

The United States should pull the plug on a $26 million training facility for Iraqi security officials. The inspector general for Iraq reconstruction made the call after finding the Iraqi government has not agreed to operate the facility or maintain it, The Washington Post reports.

The project already has soaked up $13 million and Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general, said that without agreements to operate or maintain the facility, funds for the Iraqi International Academy are “at risk of being wasted, as are the funds planned to equip and furnish the facility," the Post said.

The report to Central Command’s Gen. James Mattis noted the United States has spent $13.4 million to construct a campus with an administrative building, three buildings for classrooms, a dining facility, and a student center complete with a library and coffee shop.

The report said similar problems had occurred in other construction projects in Iraq, citing as an example 24 projects costing $16 million at Baghdad International Airport that were not being used or maintained, the Post said.