Buying Democracy -- It Never Works: Most Of The $60 Billion In Iraqi Aid Wasted
Law prof Jonathan Turley blogs:

In the last few weeks, the Administration has been pushing hard to show how sequestration has produced dire consequences even though it involved only $85 billion (including the implausible claim that thousands of illegal aliens had to be released due to the cuts). For some of us who have complained about the Administration giving billions to Israel and other countries, it was a hard sell even if you do not agree with sequestration. Now a report has come out showing, as has been discussed for years on this blog and other sites, most of the $60 billion given to Iraq in the last ten years was wasted or lost to open corruption. The long documented waste of billions did not cause either the Bush or Obama Administration (or Congress) to take meaningful steps to stop the funding or, better yet, pull out of the country.

In his final report to Congress, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen's findings show open theft and waste that continued without correction from U.S. officials. The corruption enriched Iraqi leaders and left a string of unfinished buildings and projects across the country. Yet, officials continued to pour money into reconstruction despite media reports showing that the money was evaporating into the bank accounts of corrupt officials or doomed projects. There is no record of a single official being disciplined for this waste.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the U.S. funding was simply a case of "misspending of money."

Absolutely. Our money spent to bolster your country instead of ours in yet another failed attempt to buy democracy.