"the FBI spent $63 million in overtime and extra pay for employees in Iraq.... agents were paid to watch movies, exercise, and attend parties...."
Oh, only SCREWING the TAXPAYERS!!
I guess it is a Merry Christmas down at the FBI!
"Audit alleges improper billing in Iraq
WASHINGTON - Taxpayers were billed an average of $45,000 in overtime and extra pay for each FBI agent temporarily posted to Iraq over the course of four years, according to a new Justice Department report. In some cases, agents were paid to watch movies, exercise, and attend parties....
"Several FBI employees noted that they periodically spent time during the work day washing clothes," the report noted. Asked whether he should have been paid for the time spent in this activity, one employee defended the practice, saying " 'When you're in that environment, anything you do to survive is work for the FBI.' "
Other agents defended being paid to go to a regular Saturday night cocktail party, calling it an important "liaison" meeting. And in another case, one supervisor said he "had to laugh" when he saw how many agents were assigned to the office tasked with preparing evidence for court trials of Saddam Hussein and his associates.
Do I sound like I'm laughing, readers? :-(
"Maybe they needed extra poker players," said the unnamed supervisor. The report concluded: "We found that, on the whole, few if any employees worked exactly 16 hours a day, every day, for 90 days straight, within the meaning of the term 'work' as it is used in applicable regulations and policies."
Since March 2003, the FBI has temporarily deployed 1,150 agents and other employees to Iraq, usually for three-month periods. Over the four-year period, the report found, the FBI spent $63 million in overtime and extra pay for employees in Iraq.
--more--"How many mortgages would that have paid off?
