"But since 2003, the disbursement of aid and reconstruction funds in Iraq has not been in the hands of the United Nations, and if anything the record is even more dismal. The interim government of Ayad Allawi, installed by the United States, has been accused of widespread corruption; an illustrative if not particularly imaginative example concerns the contract for garbage-hauling in Baghdad, which increased fivefold. But crooked Americans weren't idly standing by. More than $7 million in cash went missing from a small American aid office in the city of Hilla, and there has been no explanation. The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction issued his latest report in July; he said he has found millions of dollars worth of fraud by U.S. officials and contractors. Members of Congress are still trying to find out more about $200 million in questionable Halliburton invoices from work in Iraq in 2003, but the Pentagon has been stonewalling."