More Pentagon $pending fun!

[D-Backs Hack]

This could be where some of the $9 billion for Iraq reconstruction that is missing went:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070816/pl_bloomberg/a_piz20xqxeu

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.

$68,000 in parts, $20.5 million for shipping.

To be fair, the scam started in 2000. But it took a nearly $1,000,000 shipping charge last September for some bean counter in the Pentagon to finally notice something was awry.

But here's the thing that hangs me up: Jesus, sisters, how much is enough? You'd think that after bilking the first couple million -- or even less than that -- they'd stop pressing their luck and enjoy having stolen enough taxpayer money to not have to work another day.

 

[Point of Order]

They always getcha on the shipping!