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Lost Billions in Iraq
Jul 30, 2010
If public schools or Medicare providers were held to the same
standards as military contractors, they'd never have to beg for cash.
Need money? Sure! -- Congress would say -- what's a few missing billions
of tax dollars?
Congress agreed to pump an extra $33 billion into Afghanistan this
week, even as a new report revealed that almost nine billion earmarked
for the nation's other occupation -- Iraq -- simply, it seems, went
missing.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says $8.7
billion earmarked for Iraq reconstruction has gone. Precisely where, no
one can tell him.
Not one percent or five percent, but a full 96 percent of the special
fund created from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas-and frozen Saddam
Hussein-era assets -- is missing according to the BBC. The Pentagon is
"unable to fully account for" it.
And they're blaming a lack of accounting, oversight, and who knows
what -- probably some secretaries. Powerful politicians have a habit of
blaming their secretaries.
It's not the first time billions have disappeared-in 2005, the
Coalition Provisional Authority faced a criminal investigation over its
management of an $8.8 billion fund. This isn't the same $9 billion. It's
a different one. In that case, eight US officials were convicted of
bribery, fraud and money-laundering.
It's not the same $9 billion but it is the the same old story. How
many strikes and the Pentagon's pals are out? There's a very different
law for shop-lifters.
Officials are now, as they always do, mouthing words like "undetected
loss" and "significant archival retrieval efforts." I'd say -- no more
talk of deficits or cash crunches or tax -- until the lost cash is
accounted for. Can't afford to support the troops you've deployed?
Bring them home then.
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Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
If public schools or Medicare providers were held to the same
standards as military contractors, they'd never have to beg for cash.
Need money? Sure! -- Congress would say -- what's a few missing billions
of tax dollars?
Congress agreed to pump an extra $33 billion into Afghanistan this
week, even as a new report revealed that almost nine billion earmarked
for the nation's other occupation -- Iraq -- simply, it seems, went
missing.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says $8.7
billion earmarked for Iraq reconstruction has gone. Precisely where, no
one can tell him.
Not one percent or five percent, but a full 96 percent of the special
fund created from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas-and frozen Saddam
Hussein-era assets -- is missing according to the BBC. The Pentagon is
"unable to fully account for" it.
And they're blaming a lack of accounting, oversight, and who knows
what -- probably some secretaries. Powerful politicians have a habit of
blaming their secretaries.
It's not the first time billions have disappeared-in 2005, the
Coalition Provisional Authority faced a criminal investigation over its
management of an $8.8 billion fund. This isn't the same $9 billion. It's
a different one. In that case, eight US officials were convicted of
bribery, fraud and money-laundering.
It's not the same $9 billion but it is the the same old story. How
many strikes and the Pentagon's pals are out? There's a very different
law for shop-lifters.
Officials are now, as they always do, mouthing words like "undetected
loss" and "significant archival retrieval efforts." I'd say -- no more
talk of deficits or cash crunches or tax -- until the lost cash is
accounted for. Can't afford to support the troops you've deployed?
Bring them home then.
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
If public schools or Medicare providers were held to the same
standards as military contractors, they'd never have to beg for cash.
Need money? Sure! -- Congress would say -- what's a few missing billions
of tax dollars?
Congress agreed to pump an extra $33 billion into Afghanistan this
week, even as a new report revealed that almost nine billion earmarked
for the nation's other occupation -- Iraq -- simply, it seems, went
missing.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says $8.7
billion earmarked for Iraq reconstruction has gone. Precisely where, no
one can tell him.
Not one percent or five percent, but a full 96 percent of the special
fund created from the sale of Iraqi oil and gas-and frozen Saddam
Hussein-era assets -- is missing according to the BBC. The Pentagon is
"unable to fully account for" it.
And they're blaming a lack of accounting, oversight, and who knows
what -- probably some secretaries. Powerful politicians have a habit of
blaming their secretaries.
It's not the first time billions have disappeared-in 2005, the
Coalition Provisional Authority faced a criminal investigation over its
management of an $8.8 billion fund. This isn't the same $9 billion. It's
a different one. In that case, eight US officials were convicted of
bribery, fraud and money-laundering.
It's not the same $9 billion but it is the the same old story. How
many strikes and the Pentagon's pals are out? There's a very different
law for shop-lifters.
Officials are now, as they always do, mouthing words like "undetected
loss" and "significant archival retrieval efforts." I'd say -- no more
talk of deficits or cash crunches or tax -- until the lost cash is
accounted for. Can't afford to support the troops you've deployed?
Bring them home then.
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