This from a London Review Of Books article. that chronicles the looting of our treasury, and the treasury of Iraq since the war. The question must be asked: Mr. Bremer, where is the money?
From the article:
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 $8.8 billion 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 went.
Again, from the article:
On 12 April 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority in Erbil in northern Iraq handed over $1.5 billion in cash to a local courier. The money, fresh $100 bills shrink-wrapped on pallets, which filled three Blackhawk helicopters, came from oil sales under the UN’s Oil for Food Programme, and had been entrusted by the UN Security Council to the Americans to be spent on behalf of the Iraqi people. The CPA didn’t properly check out the courier before handing over the cash, and, as a result, according to an audit report by the CPA’s inspector general, `there was an increased risk of the loss or theft of the cash.’ Paul Bremer, the American pro-consul in Baghdad until June last year, kept a slush fund of nearly $600 million cash for which there is no paperwork: $200 million of this was kept in a room in one of Saddam’s former palaces, and 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.
Ed Harriman, the author of this article, lists the agencies in charge of investigating the disappearance of billions in Iraq. Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking minority member of the House Government Reform Committee Minority Office, is doing some good work on this issue. Here is Harriman’s list from the article:
US House of Representatives Government Reform Committee Minority Office
| Link: http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/
US General Accountability Office
| Link: http://www.gao.gov/
Defense Contract Audit Agency
| Link: http://www.dcaa.mil/
International Advisory and Monitoring Board
| Link: http://www.iamb.info/
Coalition Provisional Authority Inspector General
| Link: http://www.cpa-ig.com/
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
| Link: http://www.sigir.mil/
Perhaps we ought to drop Waxman a line to let him know how much we support his efforts.
