8.8 billion dollars. Just gone. $8.8 billion. Who let this happen? When will this madness end? From AFP, with thanks to JE:
Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says $US8.8 billion ($A11.91 billion) is unaccounted for because oversight on the part of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the entity governing Iraq after the war, "was relatively nonexistent," the CBS report said....With no financial infrastructure, checks and money transfers were not possible, so the Coalition kept billions in cash to pay for its multitude of projects.
"Fresh, new, crisp, unspent, just-printed 100-dollar bills. It was the Wild West," Willis was quoted by CBS as saying.
Where's Marshal Dillon?
What the #%*!.
Well we need to get it back, are we funding the opposition with our own money????????
Being no big fan of Government waste I find this revolting and unacceptable, some heads should roll on this one.( somehow the old addage about heads rolling does not have the same meaning when dealing with Islam).
Incompetant boobs.
Pathetic.
I weep not only for the future, but for the long suffering U.S. taxpayer as well.
WTF?!?!
Typically, in large cash transactions, the bills are numbered and kept (esp. if as the article claims, the bills were new etc). The perps won't probably get away entirely scot free maybe.
I've never understood the US policy of helping the enemy rebuild. I thought the whole purpose of war (short of conquest) was to bring down as much of the enemy's real estate value as possible. Step number two in a true victory would be, in my opinion, to allow the enemy to rebuild his own neighborhood--giving him something important to do to keep him too busy to foment more strife.
"I've never understood the US policy of helping the enemy rebuild. I thought the whole purpose of war (short of conquest) was to bring down as much of the enemy's real estate value as possible. Step number two in a true victory would be, in my opinion, to allow the enemy to rebuild his own neighborhood--giving him something important to do to keep him too busy to foment more strife. "
Without getting into too much detail, one of the reasons why WWII happened was because the winners of WWI decided to follow your step two and let Germany languish in poverty. That's what allowed Hitler to rise to power and direct the nations anger the world. After WWII the allies had learned the lesson and decided to help rebuild Germany and Japan, while at the same time molding them into full-blown democracies. As you propably know this was very successful in both cases, and none of those countries maintain much of a military and what they have it only used under UN mandate.
The problem is that the US went into Iraq with an idea that the same would be possible anywhere, but they forgot that it only worked in Germany and Japan because those countries had populations that were ready for democracy and had already tried a high degree of democracy before.
I believe thats the "why" of it, even though it was a mistake.
More stellar planning for the post-war situation revealed, just in time for tax season.
While they're losing track of money, a modest request to the Uncle Sam from a taxpayer: Can I have one-- just one-- million dollars? ;)
Such a modest stack of "benjamins" would be pocket change, if over $8 billion can "go missing" so easily. And I wouldn't fritter it away on weapons, bribes, camel's milk, dates...
Wasn't that just Zarqawi tooling by in a brand new Hummer waving a wad big enough to choke an infidel?
I wonder where it went....
Germany and Japan were rebuilt as an investment in OUR future, as well as theirs, after they had been literally crushed into submission. Rebuilding Iraq before the enemy is beaten seems extremely unwise at best.
"...corruption had become an "open secret" within the Iraqi government."
"The government here knows it is coming to an end," the official said. "This is what governments do when they are coming to an end."
Missing US money in Iraq is not new. The continual misuse and abuse of US largesse is criminal. When will it stop and the perps "brought to justice"?
The Swiss banks are on a roll......keep the wars moving.
The money is gone??? No problem, just send them some more.