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发帖数: 26222 | 1 Missing Iraqi billions 'probably stolen'
Paul Richter, Washington
June 14, 2011
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One Hercules C-130 could carry as much as $US2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped
bricks of $US100 bills.
One Hercules C-130 could carry as much as $US2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped
bricks of $US100 bills. Photo: Supplied
THIS month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the
books on the program that handled funding for reconstruction in postwar Iraq.
But despite years of investigations, US defence officials still cannot say
what happened to $US6.6 billion ($6.3 billion) of the cash. Federal auditors
are now suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not
just mislaid in an accounting error.
After the US-led invasion in March 2003, the Bush administration flooded
Iraq with so much cash that a new unit of measurement was born.
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Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane
could carry $US2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $US100 bills. They
sent an initial full planeload of cash followed by 20 other flights by May
2004 in a $US12 billion haul that US officials believe to be the biggest
ever international cash airlift.
Stuart Bowen, special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction, said the
missing $US6.6 billion might be ''the largest theft of funds in national
history''.
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.
The US Congress, which has already shelled out $US61 billion for similar
reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either.
''Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money
to make up for billions of their money that we can't account for, and can't
seem to find,'' said Democrat congressman Henry Waxman, who presided over
hearings on waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq six years ago when he headed the
House government reform committee.
The cash airlift was a desperation measure, organised when the Bush
administration was eager to restore government services and a shattered
economy to give Iraqis confidence that the new order would be a drastic
improvement on Saddam Hussein's rule.
The White House decided to use the money in the so-called Development Fund
for Iraq, which was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to hold
money amassed during the years when Hussein's regime was under crippling
economic and trade sanctions.
But US officials often didn't have time or staff to keep strict financial
controls.
Millions of dollars were stuffed in gunny sacks and hauled on utility trucks
to Iraqi agencies or contractors, officials have testified.
Pentagon officials have contended for the past six years that they could
account for the money if given enough time to track down the records. But
repeated attempts to find the documentation, or better yet the cash, were
fruitless.
Iraqi officials argue the US government was supposed to safeguard the stash
under a 2004 legal agreement. Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, Iraq's chief auditor
and president of the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, has warned that his
government will go to court if necessary to recoup the missing money.
''Clearly Iraq has an interest in looking after its assets and protecting
them,'' Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the US, said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/missing-iraqi-billions-probably-stolen-20110613-1g0eb.html#ixzz1PDu6d2HS | t**x
发帖数: 20965 | | g*****c
发帖数: 4378 | | p*********e
发帖数: 439 | 4 这段话最绝了
''Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money
to make up for billions of their money that we can't account for, and can't
seem to find,'' | s********n
发帖数: 26222 | 5 拉姆斯菲尔德式拗口令， 国会学习的很好
t
【在 p*********e 的大作中提到】
: 这段话最绝了
: ''Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money
: to make up for billions of their money that we can't account for, and can't
: seem to find,''
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