Norm, what about Inspector General Howard Krongard?

Now that the years of inattentiveness are behind him, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) will "ensure and expand Congressional oversight in Iraq" because he wants Minnesotans to ignore the evidence and believe his lie claim that he's always been for it. One of his first moves should definitely be joining the investigation of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard. Krongard has been accused of blocking investigations contractors waste and fraud in Iraq. Ironically, things Norm failed to investigate as Chair of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Howard Krongard, the State Department's inspector general, has repeatedly thwarted investigations and censored reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform charged Tuesday in a 13-page letter.
...
Waxman accused Krongard of:

• Refusing to send investigators to Iraq and Afghanistan to investigate $3 billion worth of State Department contracts;
• Preventing his investigators from cooperating with a Justice Department probe into waste and fraud in the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq;
• Using "highly irregular" procedures to personally exonerate the embassy's prime contractor of labor abuses;
• Interfering in the investigation of a close friend of former White House adviser Karl Rove;
• Censoring reports on embassies to prevent full disclosure to Congress;
• Refusing to publish critical audits of State's financial statements.

(Star Tribune)

It actually gets worse for Krongard. He's also been accused of retaliating against whistleblowers who are cooperating with Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) investigation.

"Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall report that on September 25, 2007, one week after I sent my letter, your congressional affairs liaison and an attorney in the Counsel's office approached them about the Committee's invitation to be interviewed. They were taken into the office of the Deputy Inspector General, where your congressional liaison told Special Agent Militana Rubendall that they wanted to discuss their upcoming interviews.

"At this point, according to Special Agent Militana, your congressional liaison told them they could suffer retaliation based on their cooperation with the Committee's investigation. According to Special Agent Militana, she stated:...(see letter-2)

"'The majority [Democrats] are not friends. The minority [Republicans] staff has been helpful. They advise that you should never do a voluntary interview in a million years.'"
(Waxman's letter to Krongard, thanks to Buck Naked Politics)

Of course, only time will tell if Norm is serious about his newfound commitment to oversight in Iraq. Is it a reelection ploy to fool Minnesotans with Norm-speak^(TM)? Or is he hoping to rehabilitate his image as a staunch Bush Loyalist with actual deeds?