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More than $6 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds lost
- Thread starter OnClose
- Start date
link to the story on yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelo...n-6-billion-in-iraq-reconstruction-funds-lost
Original story in L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing-billions-20110613,0,4414060.story
Original story in L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-missing-billions-20110613,0,4414060.story
"The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington's relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program."Quote from OnClose:
Could someone please remind me again why I pay taxes?
So, it's not taxpayers' money.
Quote from LeeD:
"The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington's relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program."
So, it's not taxpayers' money.
Humm... really? Sounds like taxpayer money to me.
"It's fair to say that Congress, which has already shelled out $61 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for similar reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either."
Either way it's a moot point, we get screwed by the government and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. Except bitch of course.
Rumblefish
Guest
Reporters are shot by the secret police who try to report government fraud.
Freedome of the press are the eyes and ears of the people.
Didn't the US military reported fraud by contractors who billed the US military like $10,000 for a faucet.
It's impossible for the taxpayer to findout the cost as it's known as 'classified information' for national security reasons.
So the taxpayer has to rely on 'trust' and good 'faith'.
Freedome of the press are the eyes and ears of the people.
Didn't the US military reported fraud by contractors who billed the US military like $10,000 for a faucet.
It's impossible for the taxpayer to findout the cost as it's known as 'classified information' for national security reasons.
So the taxpayer has to rely on 'trust' and good 'faith'.
Quote from OnClose:
The Iraqi and U.S. governments have been unable to account for a substantial chunk of the billions of dollars in reconstruction aid the Bush administration literally airlifted into the country. If the cash proves to have been stolen, the heist could represent "the largest theft of funds in national history," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
The Times' description of how the billions of dollars entered the country is a must-read:
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
Special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction Stuart Bowen told the paper the missing $6.6 billion may be "the largest theft of funds in national history."
Iraqi officials say it was the U.S. government's job to keep track of the funds, which were brought in as an emergency measure to keep basic infrastructure going after Saddam Hussein's ouster. House Government Reform Committee investigators found in 2005 evidence of "substantial waste, fraud and abuse in the actual spending and disbursement of the Iraqi funds."
Witnesses testified that millions of dollars were shoved into "gunnysacks" and disbursed to Iraqi contractors on pick-up trucks, with what seemed to be little financial controls or accounting on the part of the U.S. government.
Does it really matter if it was stolen or pissed away in weapons and war costs. Same results but maybe if the stolen cash happened here it may trickle down and improve our economy.
Quote from OnClose:
Either way it's a moot point, we get screwed by the government and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. Except bitch of course.
I completely agree! Vote right and you get Bush who takes us to an unjustified war. Vote left and you get Obama who allows the war to go on. Stalemate if you ask me.
Quote from as678:
I completely agree! Vote right and you get Bush who takes us to an unjustified war. Vote left and you get Obama who allows the war to go on. Stalemate if you ask me.
This is exactly why I'm looking for a nice place in Belize to trade from. If Uncle Sam wants my tax money they can send a couple Black Hawk helicopters and Seal Team 6 to come get it.