Paying Agents: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

摘要

Paying agents in Iraq have recently been scrutinized for mishandling Department of Defense funds. This article recounts some of those cases and provides lessons learned from the 16th Sustainment Brigade's investigations into major losses of funds.rnThere is an old saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted." After recent news reports of illegal activities by some unscrupulous Army paying agents (PAs) in Iraq, perhaps a new adage is at hand: "A dummy and his dinar are soon damned." As the financial cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom approaches the cost of the Vietnam War, billions of dollars have been entrusted to PAs.