Where is the money, Mr. Bremer?
Jul 09, 2005 14:48 Filed in: War/Military
Audits of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the temporary government of Iraq established by the U.S. following the invasion, have revealed an official pattern of corruption and irresponsibility of appalling proportions according to an article in the Guardian yesterday (7/8/2005). Billions upon billions of dollars belonging to the Iraqis left over from the oil for food program and recent oil production have simply disappeared without a trace. These were funds designated for reconstruction, an undertaking often compared to the Marshall Plan but which would be better described as a The Ebineezer Scrooge Reconstruction Plan, funded by the Iraqis' own money.
Many of us Iraq skeptics were convinced years ago that the entire operation in Iraq was corrupt from the very beginning, but it is gratifying to know that official auditors have confirmed what was obvious. Here is a bit of the flavor:
"The CPA maintained one fund of nearly $600m cash for which there is no paperwork: $200m of it was kept in a room in one of Saddam's former palaces. The US soldier in charge used to keep the key to the room in his backpack, which he left on his desk when he popped out for lunch. Again, this is Iraqi money, not US funds.
"The 'financial irregularities' described in audit reports carried out by agencies of the American government and auditors working for the international community collectively give a detailed insight into the mentality of the American occupation authorities and the way they operated. Truckloads of dollars were handed out for which neither they nor the recipients felt they had to be accountable.
"The auditors have so far referred more than a hundred contracts, involving billions of dollars paid to American personnel and corporations, for investigation and possible criminal prosecution. They have also discovered that $8.8bn that passed through the new Iraqi government ministries in Baghdad while Bremer was in charge is unaccounted for, with little prospect of finding out where it has gone. A further $3.4bn appropriated by Congress for Iraqi development has since been siphoned off to finance 'security'."
Read the article. It wouldn't hurt to also read the original article from the London Review of Books, from which the Guardian article was taken.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1522804,00.html
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n13/harr04_.html
Thanks to Chris Kromm at Facing South for finding this article. http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/
Many of us Iraq skeptics were convinced years ago that the entire operation in Iraq was corrupt from the very beginning, but it is gratifying to know that official auditors have confirmed what was obvious. Here is a bit of the flavor:
"The CPA maintained one fund of nearly $600m cash for which there is no paperwork: $200m of it was kept in a room in one of Saddam's former palaces. The US soldier in charge used to keep the key to the room in his backpack, which he left on his desk when he popped out for lunch. Again, this is Iraqi money, not US funds.
"The 'financial irregularities' described in audit reports carried out by agencies of the American government and auditors working for the international community collectively give a detailed insight into the mentality of the American occupation authorities and the way they operated. Truckloads of dollars were handed out for which neither they nor the recipients felt they had to be accountable.
"The auditors have so far referred more than a hundred contracts, involving billions of dollars paid to American personnel and corporations, for investigation and possible criminal prosecution. They have also discovered that $8.8bn that passed through the new Iraqi government ministries in Baghdad while Bremer was in charge is unaccounted for, with little prospect of finding out where it has gone. A further $3.4bn appropriated by Congress for Iraqi development has since been siphoned off to finance 'security'."
Read the article. It wouldn't hurt to also read the original article from the London Review of Books, from which the Guardian article was taken.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1522804,00.html
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n13/harr04_.html
Thanks to Chris Kromm at Facing South for finding this article. http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/
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