Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say

Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say

www.latimes.com

U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.

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...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
news.yahoo.com[/url ]

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
[url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread602919/pg1]$9 billion meant for restoration lost in Iraq

This is absolutely disgusting. 6.6 Billion dollars was stolen..My question is.. who actually stole it? That is physically too much for soldiers to conceal and bring back to the US.. so... who took it? Maybe Haliburton? They had enough trucks and stuff going on there. Maybe everyday for a few months a few Semi trucks go and pick up the cash.. and the soldiers guarding it would think it is owed to them. Who knows... It's just sickening.

And ya know what.. we the people are probably going to have to pay it back: "Iraqi officials argue that the U.S. government was supposed to safeguard the stash under a 2004 legal agreement it signed with Iraq. That makes Washington responsible, they say."

www.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Why the heck are they sending Cash?

Originally posted by LadySkadi
Why the heck are they sending Cash?

lmao

Exactly who sends cash via air mail to an unstable region?

The money was not stolen, it was more likely divided up between people at the top that were in charge.

Think about the temptation, just for a moment place yourselves amongst mountains of $100 US Greenbacks.

reply to post by LadySkadi


Ya.. Wouldn't it make more sense to do it like a normal business transaction... where companies are written checks or are wired money etc for construction projects? If you think about it like that it almost seems that they sent over cash on purpose so that it could be outright stolen instead of just inflated construction contract prices with no paper trail.

How nice for the military members to rip off the tax payer ,with no remorse.

Just another perk of the war against 'terrorism" for the greedy and corrupt.

Of course it was stolen....how fuggin dense to they think we all are? And....it was a hell of alot more than 6.6B$. This is what happens when the Americans invade other nations.....they pilfer and steal all it's riches, then go unaccounted for it. While the world watches whats really going on, the USA will eventually be on their own and isolated from the world....thanks to the White House and their masters, the Globalists!

Now.....not only where is the money........where are the ancient priceless treasures also missing????????

reply to post by LadySkadi

Why the heck are they sending Cash?

Iraq doesn't accept American Express.


Surprised they didn't write down any serial numbers to trace the money.

This wasn't a theft, it was a give away.

What's the big deal people?

WE CAN JUST PRINT MORE!

Corruption?

On planet earth?!?!?

Hmmmmm, I guess we learn something everday eh.

reply to post by jam321


even cash leaves a paper trail, many profited from the big cash heist in Iraq.

Ya think.... What a bunch of geniuses these guys are. Would have never thought of that myself... Stolen yep genius!

This is old news, but still more for fuel on the fire regarding the often hazy conflict known as the Iraq War. So much for schools, infrastructure projects, repairing bombed out buildings, modernizing the decrepit power grid, and other important improvements to the country which could have saved the lives of US soldiers by giving some hope to the hopeless.

Bang up job to the crooks and scam artists behind this! Great! Now that it is alleged that the money was stolen, what are they going to do to smoke out the perpetrators? What another hearing or an investigation that goes nowhere? What a mess! Trillions of dollars down the rabbit, thousands dead, and a country brought back to the Stone Age. Hopefully a little lemonade can be made out of the lemons that have been showing up since the war began? I have my doubts though?

reply to post by Jakes51


Old news but the first confirmation I have seen on some type of audit. All them no bid contracts, and a jet ton of paper currency. I guess we didn't expect to think people would line their own pockets in the middle of a crisis.

reply to post by Jakes51


It might old news but no one has been accountable for this crime. You don't go and invade other nations, stealing all their cash, their ancient artifacts (yes they did that too in Iraq) and slaughter a million of them just so you can have control of another nation's riches. There are also many many stories of US military invading residences of Iraqis and stealing their gold jewellery, money and anything else of value....and if these families are unlucky....their young daughters get raped and slaughtered in the process. It's disgusting and there will be a price to pay for it one day.

The military are NOT nation builders......they are destroyers! These families in Iraq and Afghanistan are not dogs, nor are they beneath the average American.....they are very much REAL people like you and I.

reply to post by danman23


Looks like Kelly and his heroes are still around to pull one more heist. I'm sure it ended up over in the poppy fields to keep the afghan opium boys happy.

reply to post by Signals


As soon as it left american soil it depreciated, none was missing. LOL

I wouldn't be too quick to blame the troops, even though they may have been guarding it at some point. But who does it get handed over to? Mercenary outfits Low bid contractors. And that's where the accountability has failed.

In time, this will likely make the Iran-Contra affair look like organizing a children's birthday party. I'm wondering where all that money went after being channeled outside of Iraq.

A smart military commander would have loaded it onto Saddam Hussein's massive Yacht and sailed it to another country to make a deposit.


Which country did they ever end up finding Saddam Hussein's big 'ole yacht?


That's where the money is.

And the day before 911 Rumsfeld admitted that there were trillions missing from the Pentagon.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

Here is an article on it: www.wanttoknow.info...

And oddly enough- this is a statement by a retired Admiral on the missing money:

Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy's 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976. In his opinion, "With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers."

Loose Change?

Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records. "The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery. He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off. "They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

So is this what it was really all about?