Shipping costs
"The US Defense Department said on Thursday that a flawed system designed to rush supplies to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan let a small-parts supplier improperly collect $998,798.38 to ship two 19-cent washers … The lock-washer incident was the last in a series of abuses by twin sisters running a South Carolina company that bilked the Pentagon out of about $20.5 million in fraudulent shipping costs, federal prosecutors said after obtaining guilty pleas earlier in the day." — Reuters, August 16.
So easy to lose
"A US law enforcement task force is investigating whether American military officials were involved in the disappearance of large numbers of weapons meant for [US-led] Iraqi forces, sources confirm to NBC News. Investigators believe, sources say, that some weapons paid for by US taxpayers were diverted and sold. Audits have already determined that more than 190,000 weapons are not accounted for." — MSNBC, August 28.
Major water boy
"According to sources, investigators believe that potentially, a ring of corruption involving the missing weapons may have been connected to a massive bribery scheme in Kuwait for which a US Army major has already been indicted in Texas. US Army Major John Cockerham was indicted in federal court, accused of accepting more than $9 million in bribes — although the indictment mentions contracts for bottled water, and nothing about weapons." — MSNBC, August 28.