Rumsfeld and the 2.3 trillon

I am often accused of jumping into threads to wreck mayhem, so I decided to start one of my own.

On 9/10/2001 Donald Rumsfeld made a speech in which he stated....

We cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions.

This pops up on ATS every other day, as part of a post suggesting some sort of heist was pulled off and then the proof of the crime was destroyed the next day. One problem. He wasnt speaking about 2.3 trillon missing from the DoD piggy back. Here is the portion of his speech containing the above quote.....

The technology revolution has transformed organizations across the private sector, but not ours, not fully, not yet. We are, as they say, tangled in our anchor chain. Our financial systems are decades old. According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions. We cannot share information from floor to floor in this building because it's stored on dozens of technological systems that are inaccessible or incompatible.

Okay, doesnt sound quite as sinister when its in the full context....but.....

Here is the paragraph after....

We maintain 20 to 25 percent more base infrastructure than we need to support our forces, at an annual waste to taxpayers of some $3 billion to $4 billion. Fully half of our resources go to infrastructure and overhead, and in addition to draining resources from warfighting, these costly and outdated systems, procedures and programs stifle innovation as well. A new idea must often survive the gauntlet of some 17 levels of bureaucracy to make it from a line officer's to my desk

He isnt speaking of missing money, he isnt speaking of a crime. He is addressing the age old Pentagon problem of waste and inefficientcy. For those of you still not sure here is the full text of his speech..

www.defenselink.mil...

(Its titled :"DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff—Bureaucracy to Battlefield ")

Hmmm, a speech addressing the need to modernize and streamline the way the Pentagon needs to conduct business. What a sinister idea...

Now, the other part is, he made the speech the day before the attack. Many in the truth movement think that his speech was the first time the issue was public. Not quite....

Pentagon's finances in disarray

By JOHN M. DONNELLY The Associated Press 03/03/00 5:44 PM Eastern

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military's money managers last year made almost $7 trillion in adjustments to their financial ledgers in an attempt to make them add up, the Pentagon's inspector general said in a report released Friday.

The Pentagon could not show receipts for $2.3 trillion of those changes, and half a trillion dollars of it was just corrections of mistakes made in earlier adjustments.

hv.greenspun.com...

Then there is this...

There's still huge accounting problems in the Pentagon. They don't even know how much money they have or are spending. The inspector general of the Pentagon said there are 2.3 trillion dollars in items that they can't quite account for.

February 12, 2001
www.pbs.org...

Well there is the AP and PBS with the story long prior to September 11,2001. Finally there is this....

January 11, 2001
Transcript of the Nomination Hearing for Secretary of Defense...

Senator Byrd: That audit report found that out of $7.6 trillion in department-level accounting interest, 2.3 trillion in entries either did not contain adequate documentation or were improperly reconciled or were made to force buyer and seller data to agree

frwebgate.access.gpo.gov...:75903.pdf

So, the issue was even addressed in Rumsfeld's nomination hearing. In other words..

1. It wasnt a secret
2. It wasnt 2.3 trillon in cash
3. It wasnt a crime
4. It was a symbol of the problem that the Pentagon has had for over forty years and one that Rumsfeld was determined to try to fix.

Now, can we lay the 2.3 trillion story in regards to 9/11 to rest????

I`ll just S + F, to give you that warmy fuzzy inside feeling , in before jthomas asks you for proof of a Pentagon flyover, brace yourself I hear him logging on, i`m out of here.

P.S.
Nothing.

reply to post by Swampfox46_1999


Me thinks the explanations given are very naive. How can the pentagon not account for 7 trillion in one instance and 2.3 trillion in another instance? Sure there may be beurocracy problems to deal with but losing trillions is just too far fetched.

Besides how can someone explain that a plane just happened to crash on the pentagon wing that was allegedly housing these important documents the day after mr. rumsfeld spoke? Too big of a coincidence if you ask me.

I cant believe that so many people that I have met have never heard about (or remembered) all that money that vanished the day before the 11th!

To expand on my previous post, the attacks on 9-11 seemed to solve two major illuminati issues.

1)Destroy paper trail of missing trillions;probably spent on covert activities.

2)Start the war machine again because its good for the economy.

You give them books, you send them to school and they still dont get it.

The seven trillion was the amount of accounting corrections made. 2.3 trillion of those did not have, in the eyes of the investigators, enough documentation. And it wasnt that the attack hit the one place where the records were. As referenced in the investigation, the records were located on dozens of different computers on almost every floor and in several different rings. That was one of the problems that they wanted to fix.

It wasnt missing cash.

After 8 years, that's the best lie you can come up with?

Just to make you feel better, let's say tell swampfox he's right and that Iraqis did 911. There, you happy now?

reply to post by radio_for_peace


Someone else who didnt bother to read the links. I understand why you fear the truth about the issue. But do yourself a favor, read the links and maybe you will see the light and understand the 2.3 trillion was never the issue you thought it was.

reply to post by Swampfox46_1999


Thanks for sharing this.... I suspected that even this small claim by the truthers was incorrect. Not that there is any merit elsewhere in their theories either.

Now I can see exactly what Rumsfeld meant.

There will always be those who believe in their loosely bound false theories.

[edit on 7-9-2009 by john124]

Drawing a line of balance, the mere fact of inaccurate accounting coupled with a massive attack on the US, someone still is to blame for the inaccuracy. While I can't say that the missing or unaccounted for monies was intentional the coincidences involved with this are the thing that conspiracies are made out of. Unless they can account for the money (which they can't because all the records are destroyed) then the conspiracy will live on and rightfully so. Now couple this missing money with the gold missing from the basement of the WTC, and put options placed on the airliners involved in 9/11, and the conspiracy expands.

While there is no doubt what Rumsfeld was addressing in his comments, in light of all the coincidences it sounds like just smooth talk to avoid having to find out where the 2.3 trillion went to.

reply to post by Swampfox46_1999


I don't fear the truth, nor do I fear being wrong. Your article is simply naive. The pentagon receives a huge budget from congress and sponsors massive black box projects. If the pentagon were to say they spent money on such and such, guess what. The black box projects wouldn't be so secret anymore, so what's the convenient thing to say? They lost it.

You sound very young and naive to me, with hardly any world experience. Do yourself a favor and go outside once in a while. Get a few scrapes and bruises, and stop thinking you can read about the world. And no, it's not an ad homenim attack. It's an addressing of a fundamental flaw of your world view, lack of experience, low emotional intelligence, and a need to rebel, so like you told me, don't be afraid of the truth.

reply to post by radio_for_peace


The entire US budget for 2001 was approx. 1.8 trillion. You seem to think that the entire budget for 2001, plus another 1.4 trillion all disappeared in September 2001. And you think I am young and naive.........thanks, I needed the laugh.

You sound very young and naive to me, with hardly any world experience. Do yourself a favor and go outside once in a while. Get a few scrapes and bruises, and stop thinking you can read about the world. And no, it's not an ad homenim attack. It's an addressing of a fundamental flaw of your world view, lack of experience, low emotional intelligence, and a need to rebel, so like you told me, don't be afraid of the truth.

Whew, and I thought I was condescending.....shall we see who can pee the farthest next?

[edit on 7-9-2009 by Swampfox46_1999]

Originally posted by Swampfox46_1999

Whew, and I thought I was condescending.....shall we see who can pee the farthest next?

[edit on 7-9-2009 by Swampfox46_1999]

Yep - apologies for some of the other 'truther' comments here...

I know you and I don't support the same side when it comes to 9/11, but I've always said the truth might be a little closer to the 'official story' than some people find comfortable.

Seriously... it's not like Rumsfield was walking out the back door of the Pentagon with a big bag of cash.

And to all those who say "I don't believe in coincedence"... really? Have you never driven up to a red light, only to have it turn green just as you approach? What is that - an act of God? Fate? Like it or not, coincidence happens. I agree, there was a little TOO much on 9/11, but not every single piece of minutae contributes to a government conspiracy.

For the sake of other truthers - do some reading!

Rewey

Originally posted by Swampfox46_1999

So, the issue was even addressed in Rumsfeld's nomination hearing. In other words..

1. It wasnt a secret
2. It wasnt 2.3 trillon in cash
3. It wasnt a crime
4. It was a symbol of the problem that the Pentagon has had for over forty years and one that Rumsfeld was determined to try to fix.

Now, can we lay the 2.3 trillion story in regards to 9/11 to rest????

No; we can't.

If this 'explanation' was any where near truth, it would prove beyond any doubt that the pentagon and civilian government were incompetent and incapable of running this circus.

The real problem is that these people are criminals. Fact is, we know these people are skimming money out of the system. The only real question is how much of this stolen money is ending up in black projects and how much is ending up in politician's pockets.

Tell you what -- we'll talk about 'believing' the government's version of events when you can explain the 360 tons of cash flown to Iraq and promptly "lost". Sound ok to you?

reply to post by praxis


Did you just regain consciousness on 9/10/01??

Problems with procurement, accounting and budgeting have ALWAYS been a problem. Where were you during the 80s when Senator Chuck Grassley was holding hearings on the waste at the Pentagon.

I cannot be the only person here who remembers the:

$700.00 Precision hand held high impact device (HAMMER)

or

the $630.00 Two piece, three position inflight human waste receptacle cover (P-3C Orion TOLIET SEAT)

(Yes I was on active duty in the 80s and looked those items up in the supply system)

The Pentagon has been dealing with crap like that for years. The problem is too many bean counters sitting in offices going over contracts and not knowing a hammer from a precision hand-held.... Unfortunately, the solution from Congress is to always put more bean counters into the mix. Pretty soon you are making 7 trillion dollars worth of accounting corrections covering crap dating back to the Vietnam War.

If this 'explanation' was any where near truth, it would prove beyond any doubt that the pentagon and civilian government were incompetent and incapable of running this circus

I've been saying for years that if you really wanted to hold someone accountable, we needed to clean out the career politicians in Washington and start over. That still doesnt change the fact that the 2.3 trillion issue had absolutely no connection to 9/11/01.

Tell you what -- we'll talk about 'believing' the government's version of events when you can explain the 360 tons of cash flown to Iraq and promptly "lost".

It wasnt lost at all. It paid off a lot of people in Iraq.

[edit on 7-9-2009 by Swampfox46_1999]

[edit on 7-9-2009 by Swampfox46_1999]

Originally posted by draildatrain
I cant believe that so many people that I have met have never heard about (or remembered) all that money that vanished the day before the 11th!

Sure, some of us have (I have anyway) and how about all the gold bullion stored underneath WTC 7 that just vanished too?

Besides, what's a few trillion fiat dollars worth anyway? Nothing!

reply to post by TwoPhish


Except that....the gold was recovered and returned to its rightful owners.......

"" $700.00 Precision hand held high impact device (HAMMER)

or

the $630.00 Two piece, three position inflight human waste receptacle cover (P-3C Orion TOLIET SEAT) ""



I owned a manufacturing company in California from 87-2005. We made some of those components people love to single out and extrapolate misuse of funds.

However they never research why a hammer could cost 700.00. In our case it was actually 560.00, and it was due to the fact it would be used in ICBM silo's and therefore could not spark or by its operation create a spark. The fuel and other products contained within a Nuclear Silo could be adversely affected ( explosion).

The hammer was manufactured from solid billets of special materials that were in themselves very expensive.
We never built toilets seats, however since Orion P3 are sub hunters and able to carry Nuclear weapons it is probably the design of every component on the craft is designed to take safety and function into account.

can they buy a cheap hammer from Home Depot..? yep, they sure can. The problem is when the technician drops the hammer from 80 feet and it strikes another piece of metal on the ground, or it hits the walkway, or any dozen opportunities to create a spark and ignites gas which ignites thousands of tons of rocket fuel....then the 560.00 hammer becomes a bargain.

reply to post by Indigenous equity


Not wanting to veer off topic too much....the hammer I looked up, it wasnt the materials that made it so expensive, if I remember right the packing was listed at 40 dollars on the breakdown.....

Originally posted by Swampfox46_1999
reply to post by Indigenous equity

 

Not wanting to veer off topic too much....the hammer I looked up, it wasnt the materials that made it so expensive, if I remember right the packing was listed at 40 dollars on the breakdown.....

Probably special bubble-wrap. You wouldn't want the bubble-wrap to create a spark when unwrapping your new $560 hammer... I mean precision hand-held...

Rewey