Stuart Bowen

Stuart Bowen is a lawyer, from Texas, and associate of George W. Bush, who was appointed the Coalition Provisional Authority's Inspector General on January 20, 2004. In late 2004 his term was extended, and his duties amended, when he was appointed Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

According to the KPMG audit of the CPA's expenditures from the Development Fund for Iraq US Law xxx-xxx mandated the creation of the post Inspector General on November 9, 2003. The law specified that the Inspector General should be appointed within 30 days. Mr Bowen wasn't appointed until January 20, 2004. He didn't travel to Iraq until February 2004.

Mr Bowen's investigations into the Financial management of the CPA have been critical of CPA's practices. Paul Bremer, and other CPA officials ahve complained that Mr Bowen didn't interview them, and wasn't making allowance for the high turnover rate of the CPA staff.

In contrast the KPMG audit records that the KPMG auditors and many other key members of his staff refused to meet with them, and left Iraq without signing crucial documents, leaving more junior staff members, who had not been responsible for those portfolios, and could not speak to their accuracy, to sign them.

External links

• Audit of Iraq Spending Spurs Criminal Probe, Washington Post, May 5, 2005
• Former Bush aide turns critic as Iraq inspector, Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2005
• The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
• Honest Man: tracking missing millions, Charleston Gazette, July 30, 2005
• New reports show limited progress in Iraq rebuilding, Reuters, 31 Jul, 2005