US IS PAYING FOR THOUSANDS OF DEAD IRAQIS STILL ON IRAQI ARMY PAYROLL

The situation in Iraq just got even worse---if that could be humanely possible. It is now being reported by AP that the US is paying Iraq for Iraqis who have been killed but supposedly are working in the Iraqi security forces.

WASHINGTON - Iraq's government has kept thousands of dead, injured or absent policemen and soldiers on the payroll as a way to compensate or care for their families, an audit found.
The practice is just one example of why there are no reliable numbers on how many Iraqi forces are on the job at any given time, says the report being made public Friday by Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

Dead kept on Iraqi military payroll U.S. audit also finds discrepancies in how troops are counted The Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24302718/

"There are continuing uncertainties about the true number ... who are present for duty at any one time,'' Bowen said of Iraqi policemen, soldiers, border guards and other forces.
Bowen said another part of the problem is that Iraqi ministries lack automated accounting systems needed to keep good data.

"I would not call it a damning report. I would say it's reflective of the difficulty of assessing troop strength ... and, more importantly, capabilities,'' Bowen said in an interview Thursday.

Bowen had been asked to assess last month's Defense Department report on Iraq, one in a series of quarterly documents required by Congress to measure progress toward military and political security there.

The $20 billion U.S. program to train Iraqis to provide their own security is key to when U.S. troops levels can be reduced in Iraq. And the problem of assessing the Iraqi forces is not new.
Iraqi forces short on officers Bowen noted that efforts have been made to improve the quarterly report's data on the number of Iraqis forces that have been authorized, trained, are being paid and are on duty.