What a surprise. Times:

More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, the ceilings are still stained with excrement, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning.

And the “excrement” is still coming down from the ceilings:

In response to the inspectors’ findings, a Parsons executive told Congress in September 2006 that the company would fix the problems at no cost to the United States. … The structures were refurbished or built from scratch at an overall cost of $72 million in American taxpayer money.

Well, that’s alright, then. More money for Parsons. What’s not to like?

Recruits in some of the buildings had recently been ordered not to use any of the toilets on the upper floors because the urine and fecal matter consistently leaked onto the lower floors, several American officials at the academy said.

The Iraqis at the compound were, if anything, even more upset. “They used bad pipes for the sewage system,” said an officer who gave his name as Lt. Selah, a maintenance adviser, as he pointed through a ruptured drop-ceiling that had been ruined by waste leaking from faulty pipes above it.

The concrete used in the construction was substandard and is already collapsing in places because of the constant rain of sewage, Lieutenant Selah said, barely able to contain his anger. Those dangers had forced engineers to turn off all the water in the building, he said.

“The students are stinking because there is no water,” Lieutenant Selah added.

Naturally, there’s fraud involved:

Mr. Bowen’s report also stated that inspectors had found “indications of potential fraud” in the project and had referred the case to its investigative division.

Those indications are apparently still being studied.

I’ll bet.

You know, this story just seems like a metaphor for everything today, not just Bush’s Iraq Clusterfuck.

The fucking Democrats were elected to stop the shit from raining down. I’m not seeing results. Are you?