U.S. Gov, Auditors Can’t Find $6.6 Billion that Was Sent to Iraq
- Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:29am by
Billy Hallowell
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Two days ago, The Los Angeles Times reported on $6.6 billion in cash that allegedly went missing during the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Conditions on the ground were allegedly chaotic, making safeguarding and properly allocating the money difficult. In a startling development, officials find themselves admitting that they are unable to track where the billions have gone. According to the Times:
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.
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.
The Times goes on to report that federal auditors are suggesting that some, if not all, of the money may have been stolen. Iraq is charging that the U.S. should be held responsible and has even mentioned going to court, if needed, to recoup the large sum. The Times continues:
Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”…
Interestingly, in a follow-up interview with FOX News, Bowen denied concluding definitively in his discussion with the L.A. Times that the monies were stolen:
“What we concluded in our previous audits is that it’s been virtually impossible to account for what happened to that money,” Bowen told Fox News in a telephone interview Monday, adding that criminal cases have led to the convictions of people who have stolen money from a special fund set up by the U.N. Security Council.
But Bowen said he did not mean to imply anything more when he answered a Los Angeles Times reporter’s question about whether it would be serious if billions of dollars was stolen from the Development Fund for Iraq.
While Bowen contends that the billions may have been improperly used or stolen, the government does not have enough information to make a final conclusion on the matter. Importantly, Bowen also pointed out that the $6.6 billion did not come from American taxpayers. Instead, it came from Iraqi oil and gas exports, frozen Iraqi assets and from the Saddam Hussein-era oil-for-food program.
Needless to say, tracking these funds has so far proven fruitless. The loss — or misplacement — of billions of dollars certainly raises questions regarding how efficient the government is at tracking large sums of money. Only time will tell how this matter is settled between the Iraqi and U.S. governments. CNN has more:
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Comments (124)
EqualJustice
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:22amSAY IT IT ISN’T SO! Our government losing track of money? hahahahaha What a joke. PATHETIC.
Report Post »thecrow
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:14am“There’s a picture of the World Trade Center hanging up by my bed and I keep one in my Kevlar [flak jacket]. Every time I feel sorry for these people I look at that. I think, ‘They hit us at home and, now, it’s our turn.’ I don’t want to say payback but, you know, it’s pretty much payback.”
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/payback/
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:55amOnly 6 bilion? Relabel it TARP funds and slide it by the jerks in Congress….all will be well.
Report Post »christos
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:53am……How could this be they are so smart more evidence they are not,smart should not be confused with honest,rotten pretenders they also are……they need to be fired.
Report Post »christos
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 2:28pm……If they are still having trouble finding the $ maybe they should look in their freezers or under their beds,if all else fails they could call the friendly IRS to help them,their quite good at accusing everyone else of everything,they need to look know further than at themselves.
Report Post »BrerRabbit
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:48amI say we take in back in oil !
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:23amAGREE 1000%. Instread they will just raise the debt ceiling and waste even MORE of OUR money. It’ so frustratiing.
Report Post »melmatmic
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:24amGreat idea! Send the tankers!!
Report Post »Outlaw_Josey_Wales
Posted on June 17, 2011 at 7:15amGreat idea! Send the tankers!!
I get to ride shotgun.
Report Post »Celexa
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:45amObama stole it and plans to use it for his presidential campaign.
Report Post »jeff.cooper
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:45amCould be a serious accounting error and if so, then someone is sure to get promoted for this blunder because in the federal employment system, employees operate under the mantra: Screw up. Move up. How do you think Geithner got his job? ;)
Report Post »Redistributor
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:34amYeah, okay it didn’t come from taxpayers…hmm sure it didn’t. Also, there is new technology these days where you don’t have to physically send money via airplane…it’s called PayPal.
Report Post »pamdix
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:14pmlol !!!
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:21amThey didn’t give any of it to me ,doggone it,someone knows where it went,you can be assured of that
Report Post »VApatriot2
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:12amWell, we sure as hell know where it DIDN’T go! You can’t make this stuff up.
Report Post »JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:09amSue us? Iraq sue us? Ungrateful creatons. Why are we rebuilding to start with? As I have been saying, Get out of the middle east and just let them know that if they screw with us again there won’t be nothing left. All the money we spent on their worthless butts and they want to sue us, how screwed up is that?
Report Post »luke9.54_56
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:09amtry these http://www.sigir.mil/directorates/index.html and Google Phil Bloom…he is only one of a few who got caught with theft of the reconstruction funds, and he was not sentenced to many years either.
Report Post »I know of military who never got caught.
luke9.54_56
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:06amTHIS IS NOT THE BIGGEST THEFT IN HISTORY….WHERE HAS 2 TRILLION GONE THAT OBOMBYA TOOK AS A STIMULUS? The left has stolen it outright, and Obombya al of a sudden got 2 billion for his next presidential campaign…COME ON, we are not stupid.
The money that was stolen in Iraq was stolen for the most aprt by our CIA folks who had dcontrol of it…they “gave” it out in a frenzy, by the MILLIUONS, to bad people to try to get information. It was for the most aprt used in the war on terrorism, but some seedy folks on our side also took their illegal “share.” Only one or two people were ever charged with the thefts…the rest work for our government in one form or another. Just google things like PHIL BLOOM IRAQ, and special inspector general for iraq reconstruction….only the left reported on this, so it is way slanted…but the theft is there http://www.sigir.mil/directorates/index.html I KNOW…I was a firgure from the background who supplied crucial information for his scrubbed reports.
I do KNOW what I am talking about….but “cannot tell you anything else as it is classified.”
Report Post »jedi.kep
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:05amThe government lost billions in cash? Wow. Like we haven’t heard a story like that before. Best reason for small government. Less money circulating around and less chance for large sums like these to disappear.
Report Post »SICKANTIRED
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:03amThey can’t find it yea right…They know where it is or should i say he?
Report Post »Lee_in_PA
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:03amTrace it to the last known person. Ask them where it went. WHAT? Can’t be done? IRA hounded a woman in a nursing home, which used up all her income and then some, for money on her ‘taxable’ income- a nursing home insurance policy payment that ran for 5 years and then quit. IRA wanted that tax, even tho she had been dead for a year. Happened in my family, true story.
Report Post »Concerned1
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:59amThis is an outrage. Our government is completely inept. There really needs to be some house cleaning going on.
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:52amOur government is not nearly as inept as it is corrupt and intentionally sloppy. If we were really serious about tracking the money, we would probably find funding for other countries through fed, IMF, World Bank, cronie payoffs, pushing administration’s agenda (remember Obama promised $25M to Kenya if they backed the radification of a 2010 constitution making abortion legal and gay rights) black ops funding………lot of things the American taxpayer would not approve of if we knew about them.
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:58amI was there & saw how some of this money was distributed. I’m certain a portion of this was in some way looted. A lot of this $ is unaccounted for due to poor bookkeeping.
When we paid out reimbursement to citizens or businesses because we commandeered a building, a bulldozer or we destroyed a house, a car or killed someone inadvertently in the course of official military conflict we tried to make restitution so we paid out compensation if warranted.
We put idle hands to work to keep them from joining al Qaida who were happy to pay the unemployed for each attack.
Money was ammunition, especially in the early stages of Iraq. It is no surprise that some sloppy bookkeeping during the fog of happened.
Report Post »LibertyWon
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 2:12pmExactly, I’m sure “Mohamed Mart” didn’t let us just camp in the parking lot when we first got there.
Report Post »Pyx
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:57amIt bears repeating; Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills.
Report Post »Tomfang
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:54amget rid of all these government clowns. Use private industry and send any people found guilty of corruption to the firing squad for treason.
Report Post »Danola
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:50amSend the IRS hound dogs after it. They will come back with twice as much money and will have plenty of people to prosecute. They’ll even have a nice portfolio of homes, airplanes, and cars to auction off.
Report Post »Antknee
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:50amAlso. where’s the 2.3 trillion that Donald Rumsfeld admitted went missing a day before the 911 terrorist attack? Seems the Pentagon just keeps losing these humongous sums of money!
Report Post »Upstate SC
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:04amAlso pointed out that the $6.6 billion did not come from American taxpayers. Instead, it came from Iraqi oil and gas exports, frozen Iraqi assets and from the Saddam Hussein-era oil-for-food program.
Report Post »______________________________________________________________________________________ Okay then, I was under the impression that the oil for food was just that, oil for food. I also was under the impression that the U.N. shut the program down after the discovery of oil sales to the Syrians. Our Government also made the claim that we were the number one provider of that food source and that we would take no oil from Iraq. Will do some research on this one, sounds like an inside job, how do you just lose 6.6 billion?
GulfPeg
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:49amThere is certainly a big cover-up going on here (way high up) and of course they won’t be able to find anything. Is this any surprise?
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:34am.
Report Post »No surprise here. They can’t find their ass with both hands, or balance a checkbook.
LovinUSA
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:52amAny body check the oval office safe?
Report Post »truthbewarned
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:56amthey can’t even find their IQ most f the times.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:03am.
Report Post »Truth
IQ is a big word for those folks…………
LibertyWon
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:40amTo be fair, that cash has been missing since 2006, so Obama had nothing to do with it. As the article states, this was discovered around the same time as the oil for food scandal was going on at the UN. Blaming it on Obama only illustrates that your wake up call is a relatively new situation.
Report Post »Vickie Dhaene
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 11:29amI wonder if they looked in their back pockets>? Just a guess.
Report Post »dpselfe
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:32amI saw this movie. It was called “The A Team”…………..
Report Post »Ironmaan
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:43amGet out of Iraq. Get out of Afghanistan. Get out of Libia. Quit spending our blood and treasure and let them destroy themselves.
Report Post »http://guerillatics.com
Gold Coin & Economic News
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:48amProbably ended up in the hands of peaceful terrorists.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 6:53amI bet that is just the tip of the iceberg if the truth be known. Start looking for off shore accounts for this administration, they aren’t going to leave empty handed, and ….. Bring the troops home!
Report Post »npbreakthrough
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:07amno surprise, our politicians walk around with holes in their pockets,
they spend billions of dollars in the middle east just so they can feel comfortable when they sit at the table with our enemies,
they substitute purchased political clout in place of righteous backbone
Report Post »BIGJAYINPA
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:09amSo what else is new??? Our Federal Government is not and never has been a model of economic efficiency. In fact the polocy has always been spend it as fast as you can and hand it out to whomever has his hand out. If we were to stop the money river think of all the Third World dictators and corroupt “allies” who would actually have to find jobs to support their lifestyles. Dear God in Heaven, don’t You think we have already qualified for the fire and brimestone yet? I’m getting tired of waiting….Just saying.
Report Post »watchmany2k
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:11amI wonder if any of the brilliants thought to write down serial numbers before it was shipped ?
Nah, that would be too transparent…..
Check the Bank Accounts of CONgressmen who have visited Iraq.
We the People better wake up, and start putting recalls and pollwatching into place.
I for one am pretty sick of the daily new outrages.
DEM & GOP are beyond irrelavant, they are corrupt.
TEA party only… 2012
Report Post »daavidruth93
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:26amMaybe we ought to get out of the UN if the Security Council looses this kind of money. Somebody had to sign for this kind of cash, go figure, who was the last person to have it. With Obummer, OH Well, its only 6.6 billion. They spend that in a day & half. A comedian once said,” The UN Building would make nice Affordable Housing.”
Report Post »chazman
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:33amI want that money back NOW!!!
Report Post »Bluegill
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:35amI think Obama has Saddam style stainless steel boxes somewhere stuffed with cash. Which reminded me of this story
Is this a blunder on the administrations part or banks part? Ed explains when the Obama administration provided over $30 Billion of TARP money to these banks and small community banks they just gave it – there was not a lot of screening. In light of this fact, does it surprise anyone that now there are over 132 banks that have not paid any dividends? Ed says emphatically no. Could these actions, or lack thereof, by the administration been done to allow for TARP to be given to “favorite” banks residing in the backyards of some of these congressmen? In other words, if we scrutinize the process for a large bank “A” then we certainly have to scrutinize a smaller community bank “B” which could be in some prominent congressman’s backyard that they are trying to help keep alive. Ed quickly replies that there seems to be something behind the scenes thats driving these actions or lack thereof. In this case raises a lot of taxpayer eyebrows when you think of where did all this money go and how much of it really got spent and what has it accomplished – you be the judge.
Report Post »EP46
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:37am@ironman..don’t forget Yeman…..and probably next week Syria.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:57amIronmann:
Too true, it is long past time for us to get them all home and concentrate on the survival for the US.
Report Post »Brasil2520
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 7:59amBack in 1986 the IRS called me about $160. they said I owed them that money from my 1985 taxes, that same day I mailed them $160.
Yet Billions just go PUFF ! Gone, ya thats about right
Report Post »Polwatcher
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:06amMaybe it is just me but I can’t remember the last time any government official was caught red handed with a Swiss or other illegal bank account. I am left to wonder if either all of our officials are as clean as the driven snow or that no one is looking or… maybe the CIA and FBI don’t tell because they are part of the action.
Report Post »NOTAMUSHROOM
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:10amWell golly!! Where did I put those three cargo planes and 6 billion in $100 bills? Maybe DB Cooper joined the army.
Give me a freaking break. And we just sit here and listen patiently to the criminals in Washington as they scratch their heads and channel Gomer Pyle? I’m beside myself. Have to walk away from this one. I can’t risk my life daily to make a living just to write a check to those bastards in our “government”.
Question: I assume that this is in addition to the 10 or 20 billion that Cheney said we were missing on 9/10/2001???????
Report Post »melmatmic
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:14amWhy??? Why do we send them cash. If we need them to have something, send the goods (American made) at least then the “cash” is spent in America and not somewhere else.
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:26amNo no no…Check all your pockets. It has to be there somewhere..
Report Post »barak hussein osama arafat brotherhood
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:29amCheck the DNC bank account.
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:30amGoldberg will find it…. If not then don‘t worry it will surely wind up in some of the Chosen’s hands.. That should cheer the Blaze up..
Report Post »drbage
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:41amThis will probably be handled just like the billions missing when Rumsfield was SecDef. Re: the military and overseas engagements, does anyone ever think that having the majority of the military out of the country is part of a grand plan?
Report Post »TexasCommonSense
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:50amU.S. Government Auditors couldn’t find their ass with both hands. Everything the government operates is in the red. So why would we want to give them total control of healthcare, too?
Report Post »butler180
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:50amWhat a surprise!!! NOT
Report Post »sbeejustsaying
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:56amWHAT! Why is the US Government sending 6.6 billion in cash to Iraq? To make payroll maybe? Highly unlikely.
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.
Who! What! When! Where! Why! We got the what, when where. Now we need Who and Why.
Report Post »HillBillySam1
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:57amLost a little over 6 BILLION, huh? Well, the good news is that it’s always in the last place that you look……
@TECH
Report Post »Not only are you a troll, you are an anti-semitic troll…….please go back to HuffPo and mingle with your own kind……
nothingbuthetruth
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:10amLets be clear……this is Iraq’s money from their oil not US money!!!!!!!
Iraq is corrupt like any other nation who steals from it’s people
Report Post »nothingbuthetruth
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:12amObama administration is trying to take the spot light off of the trillions of mis spent borrowed money we are on the hook for.
6.6 billion is from Iraq’s oil, it is their money they lost, not ours!!!
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:24amWhy would they send cash, when they could have just done this electronically? Is what we see on tv not real, where the transaction is done electronically with a password or two?
Report Post »thegrassroots
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:32amCheck the obamas’ vacation stash!
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:32am@NOTAMUSHROOM
The amount of money missing on 9-10-01, reported by Donald Rumsfeld was $2.3 trillion dollars……we seem to have just forgotten about it the next day.
http://www.dailypaul.com/144785/total-cost-of-wars-1-trillion-money-missing-on-september-10-2001-23-trillion
Report Post »booger71
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:34am3 biggest thefts of taxpayer dollars, Social Security, Medicare, Federal Reserve.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:54amNo problem just ask Haliburton, I’m sure they have this and about $20 billion more. Ask them how their infrastructure projects are going and their empty truck convoys at $10,000 a truck.
Report Post »Sinista MACE
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 11:10amMaybe it was the money being tossed out of the back of Hummers to desperate Iraqis…
Report Post »devilhasforktongue
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 12:59pmWow, this happened in 2004 but nobody says anything about Bush. Now if this were Barack Obama you would have had 50 pages of comments but only 2. All you Devils are hypocrites!!! No hate rants about Bush administration and not one email saying anything about Bush. Americans lose 5 dollars under this administration and the hate begins.
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 2:26pmTypical repube responses here. Bushie2 lost that money, not Obama. Read the info first. 2004. Haliburton probably has the money. The U.S. can’t afford to elect ANY repubes in 2012.
Report Post »Sound The Trumpet In Zion
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 3:05pmTwo most likely scenarios:
#1, how much of this was given to al qaida as part of the apologies and restitution that obama likes to do so well?
Report Post »#2, is there any banks over there that obama can keep hidden funds in?
@ Coyote2
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:49pmLook no farther then the jew bank that handled the transaction. That would have been their usury charge.
Report Post »pamdix
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:50pmI’m so tired of hearing about our incompetent government! Beam me up, Scotty!
Report Post »pamdix
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 8:55pmI’m not filing my taxes ever again. If our government can’t even figure out who they gave all that money too, and didn’t get receipts, then take it out of the defense funding. I’m not paying it back!
Report Post »@ Coyote2
Posted on June 15, 2011 at 9:02pmWhat happens to the 10 BILLION $$$ in guarenteed loans we usually “borrow” the greedy jew leaches in Israhell every year? They never pay back one cent in principle or interest.
Report Post »ConservativeMomofFour
Posted on June 16, 2011 at 4:23amDidn’t this same thing happen? Right before 9-11?
Report Post »