And who will scrutinize the scrutinizers' scrutinizer, one wants to know

A congressional committee has opened an investigation of the State Department's inspector general, alleging he blocked fraud investigations in Afghanistan and Iraq, including potential security lapses at the newly built U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Also under scrutiny is whether Blackwater USA, the private security firm banned this week from working in Iraq over the killing of civilians, was "illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq," according to a letter to IG Howard J. Krongard obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The Democratic-led investigation accused Krongard of trying to protect the White House and the State Department.

(San Francisco Chronicle)