The Pentagon paid $999,798 to ship 19-cent washers to Texas

I remember when it only cost $900,000.

A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said.

That's $499,399 per washer. Which is $824,659,236,000 in dog years.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

That's a lot of money to pay for a screw. Wink wink.

A review of paid shipping invoices showed that fraudulent billing is ``is not a widespread problem,'' [Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator] said.

Of course it isn't, Investigator Stroot. Neither are unaccounted-for weapons. All 200,000 of them.