U.S. Misspent Up to $60B in Wars: Report

A congressionally mandated panel said Wednesday that the U.S. had wasted or misspent between $31 billion and $60 billion in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—or as much as one out of every four dollars spent on contracting. The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, established in 2008, unveiled its final report Wednesday, explaining how the U.S. spent a projected $206 billion on contracting. Michael Thibault, one of the bipartisan panel’s co-chairs, said that 10 percent to 20 percent of total contract and grant spending was considered wasteful spending, while fraud accounted for between 5 percent and 9 percent of contract totals.