Stuart Bowen

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Stuart Bowen is a lawyer, from Texas. He worked on George W. Bush's first gubernatorial campaign, in 1994. He subsequently served as Governor Bush's assistant general counsel and then deputy general counsel. Bowen was one of the members of Bush's gubernatorial staff who Bush invited to serve under him in Washington, following his confirmation as President. In Washington he continued to be Alberto Gonzalez's deputy, as he had been in Texas.[link]

On November 6, 2003 Congress passed US Public Law 108-106, which mandated the appointment of an Inspector General for the Coalition Provisional Authority, within thirty days. On January 20, 2004 Bowen was appointed to this position. In late 2004 his term was extended, and his duties amended, when he was appointed Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

Mr Bowen's investigations into the Financial management of the CPA have been critical of its practices. Paul Bremer, the former chief of the CPA, responded to those criticisms by saying that Bowen didn't interview them, and wasn't making allowance for the high turnover rate of the CPA staff. However, KPMG, the auditors who reported to the International Advisory and Monitoring Board, reported that Bremer, and many other key members of his staff had refused to meet with them, and had then left Iraq early, without signing crucial documents. This left more junior staff members who had not been responsible for those portfolios, and could not speak to their accuracy, to sign them.

The missing money in Iraq totals $21 billion and includes $12 billion in cash that the Pentagon flew into Iraq straight from Federal Reserve vaults via military transports, and for which there has been little or no accounting. It has been reported that one of President Bush's 750 Presidential signing statements attached to the investigation blocked findings by adding a caveat that the new inspector general would have no authority to investigate any contracts or corruption issues involving the Pentagon.

The limitations on the investigations would not have been reported by someone loyal to the President. The appointee to the post, Stuart Bowen, has a long history of working as a loyal supporter of the president. Bowen was a deputy general counsel for Governor Bush, the assistant to solicitor Alberto Gonzales). He did service to Bush as a member of the team that handled the famous vote count atrocity in Florida in the November 2000 election, and worked under Gonzales again in the White House during Bush's first term, before returning briefly to private practice.

Thomas Gimble, the acting inspector general of the Pentagon, was asked in 2005 during a congressional hearing by Christopher Shays (R-CT), chair of the House government reform subcommittee, why the Pentagon had no audit team in Iraq to look for fraud, Gimble facilely replied that such a team was "not needed" because Congress had set up the special inspector general unit to do that. He didn't mention that the president had barred the special inspector general from investigating Pentagon scandals.

This would not be the first time that many of the individuals in the Bush Administration side stepped Congress. The Administration includes a number of people who were linked to the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal, when the creative-and criminal-idea was conceived of secretly selling Pentagon stocks of shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, and using the proceeds to secretly fund the U.S. trained and organized Contra fighters who were fighting to topple the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Congress had banned any U.S. aid to the Contras.

External links

[link] Bush signing statements bar full investigation
[U.S. Public Law 108-106], November 6, 2003 -- legislation that created the position of Coalition Provisional Authority Inspector General
[The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction]
[Audit of Iraq Spending Spurs Criminal Probe], Washington Post, May 5 2005
[U.S. Attorney Gets 3 Cases in Iraq Fraud Probe], Washington Post, June 22 2005
[Former Bush aide turns critic as Iraq inspector], Wall Street Journal, July 26 2005
[Millions go missing on Iraqi gravy train], Baltimore Sun, July 30 2005
[New reports show limited progress in Iraq rebuilding], Reuters, July 31 2005
[U.S. Planned Poorly for Rebuilding Iraq, Inspector General Says], Bloomberg News, October 30, 2005

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