[Matt writes at SOTUblog, The Right's Field and was recently picked up to write at the Huffington Post along with fellow TRF bloggers, Matt Browner Hamlin and Kombiz Lavasany.]

With President Bush's push to adopt the "McCain Doctrine" as official U.S. policy in Iraq, he also seeks to fund $1 billion in Iraq reconstruction projects. After $18 billion was squandered on projects that were never finished or poorly constructed, it is no wonder it has Democrats expressing reservations on the idea.

But Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden made clear there are concerns.

He noted the State Department has already spent nearly $15 billion on reconstruction, and said "the results aren't pretty."

The top Republican on the committee, Senator Richard Lugar, agreed the results of the reconstruction effort have been disappointing.

Yes, I would certainly call this and this and this pitiful projects "disappointing."

On Thursday, Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia), fresh off his State of the Union drubbing of President Bush on the economy and Iraq, pressed State Department officials on reconstruction funding.

"I am not inclined to support any additional funding in this area without strong assurances that this sort of mismanagement has been weeded out," freshman Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., told Ambassador David Satterfield, State's senior adviser on Iraq, at a hearing.

Webb cited idle contractors and overhead costs reaching more than half of total project costs, fraud and abuse investigations pending before inspectors general, and "blunders" by the State and Defense departments.

Webb did not relent in his interrogation of Satterfield.

In a strained exchange, Webb questioned Satterfield closely on how the administration will fulfill a pledge to work with Iraqi leaders of all parties and affiliations who "reject violence and pursue their agendas through peaceful, democratic means."

Webb said ongoing problems with poor-quality intelligence on the ground and a "fairly vague standard" for what constitutes peaceful means would allow the administration latitude in deciding which Iraqi leaders to work with.

Satterfield tried to outline for Senator Webb, and those listening, on how to improve

"I think it's very clear who's engaged in violence," Satterfield said, promising to provide Webb with a copy of State's "measurable standards."

Satterfield testified that 300 new people would be added in the 10-team expansion. Their expertise will support projects including microloans, vocational education, grants, new business development, job creation and capacity-building in the first wave of expansion, with two later phases to add technical personnel such as irrigation specialists, agribusiness experts and veterinarians, he said.

I suppose that is a step up from a 20-something starting up the Baghdad stock exchange with as much business experience as my dog.

Speaking of corruption, the Army announced that it is opening up 50 probes into allegations of fraud in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. The Associated Press reports:

The problems stem in part from the Pentagon's struggle to get a handle on the unprecedented number of contractors now helping run the nation's wars. Contractors are used in battle zones to do nearly everything but fight. They run cafeterias and laundries for troops, move supplies, run communication systems and repair weapons systems. 

And just for the record, it is over 100,000 contractors -- not including subcontractors -- rather than the mere 5,000 the Iraq Study Group claimed in its report.

The article continued about specific allegations:

One case involves an Army chief warrant officer accused of taking a $50,000 bribe to steer a contract for paper products and plastic flatware away from a government contractor and to a Kuwaiti company, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court at Rock Island, Ill.

Prosecutors say the officer took the bribe while at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, while he was the Army's food service adviser for Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, according to the indictment. The officer is also accused of trying to smuggle $40,000 in undeclared cash into the United States on a December 2005 flight from Kuwait to Dover, Del.

Other cases involve a government officer manipulating a contract in exchange for large bridges, a contractor making false claims against the government and an official accepting gratuities. The cases range in type, seriousness and complexity and involve contractors both inside and outside the United States.

And finally, a helicopter operated by Blackwater USA crashed in a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad earlier this week. Five were killed but the AP is reporting that four of the five were executed but it is unclear if they were still alive at the time.

Online only a few minutes ago, Jeremy Scahill, who wrote extensively on war profiteers in Iraq for The Nation and writes at The Huffington Post, has a new one coming out tomorrow in the Los Angeles Times: "Our Mercenaries in Iraq."