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Was The Iraq War Merely A Smokescreen For "The Largest Theft Of [Taxpayer] Funds In National History"?
Back in 2004, following the disastrous Iraq war, started on false Weapons of Mass Destruction pretenses, and which was nothing but a backdoor subsidy to various energy contractors close to the Bush administration, the US government decided to impose a mini Marshall Plan and literally flood the country with billions in crisp $100 bills. The LA Times reports: "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 of all time." And here we are making fun of the Chairsatan and his puny helicopter. Yet where the story gets very disturbing is that it now seems that more than half of this "reconstruction" funding was blatantly stolen! "Despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things. For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be "the largest theft of funds in national history."" Is another huge political embarrassment in store for the current US administration (even if on this occasion it can legitimately be blamed on the predecessor?): it appears so: "The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington's relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program." Prepare for many more hearings involving Halliburton et al. As for where the money is - why, it has long been spent.
From LA Times:
Theft of such a staggering sum might seem unlikely, but U.S. officials aren't ruling it out. Some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period, especially in its chaotic early days. But Iraqi officials were viewed as prime offenders.
The U.S. cash airlift was a desperation measure, organized when the Bush administration was eager to restore government services and a shattered economy to give Iraqis confidence that the new order would be a drastic improvement on Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The White House decided to use the money in the so-called Development Fund for Iraq, which was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to hold money amassed during the years when Hussein's regime was under crippling economic and trade sanctions.
Where did the cash come from? Take a wild guess:
The cash was carried by tractor-trailer trucks from the fortress-like Federal Reserve currency repository in East Rutherford, N.J., to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, then flown to Baghdad. U.S. officials there stored the hoard in a basement vault at one of Hussein's former palaces, and at U.S. military bases, and eventually distributed the money to Iraqi ministries and contractors.
A truly "Swiss Watch" operation:
House Government Reform Committee investigators charged in 2005 that U.S. officials "used virtually no financial controls to account for these enormous cash withdrawals once they arrived in Iraq, and there is evidence of substantial waste, fraud and abuse in the actual spending and disbursement of the Iraqi funds."
Pentagon officials have contended for the last six years that they could account for the money if given enough time to track down the records. But repeated attempts to find the documentation, or better yet the cash, were fruitless.
Iraq is obviously pissed.
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.
Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, Iraq's chief auditor and president of the Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit, has warned U.S. officials that his government will go to court if necessary to recoup the missing money.
"Clearly Iraq has an interest in looking after its assets and protecting them," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.
Iraq also happens to be the marginal producer of crude as was highlighted in yesteryday's JPM report.
Ah, the good old USofA: making international friends with every single ever more unbelievable theft from its own taxpayers.
h/t Manal
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Brother Cog,
If folk would just finally get on board with making accounting illegal, this would not be a problem. Fire all the accountants...and rally forever.
You have to get to the root of the problem.
"Who brought the cards, we already got the "chips". Abdul, you sitting in on this Texas Hold'em game?"
The closest soldier's index finger looks ready to initiate a 5 finger discount.
There was actually enough confiscated currency to fill that room, but thank God that much actually hit the table.
You know, I don't care, much better to give it to the Military folks who put their lives on the line every day, then a bunch of Wall Street medium polo-shirt wearing Kawksuckers!
I seriously doubt much of it found it's way into the front line foot soldier's hands. This was how the military grunts were paid. Off loading the remains on US soil at 3 AM.
I don't know if I'd call this picture "Fraud". MAYBE corruption. Looks like a line to pay individuals who lost private property at the beginning of the war.
Incompetence? Yes, big time. Fraud? No. Corruption? I guess it depends on how you define it. Possibly corruption if you think that paying for private damages (rather than going through courts) constitutes corruption.
Every time Lizzy sent in a photographer to snap a picture of the actual fraud they were killed. Those fraudsters tend to be a bit camera shy. So Lizzy had to settle for the PR photos handed out by the military to illustrate what the article was describing.
Thanks for the clearing up.
Dollar bills are printed and thrown around like the free chips I get on pokerstars..... totally worthless. No legs, no foundation, no backing, no accountability.... oh wait, we do have accountability. We have accounting rules that CHANGE to meet the new problems (FASB on the banks) that arise from reckless printing.
This shit is just getting stupid already. All currencies are headed into the toilet.
You get free chips at Pokerstars? Man I just knew I was getting the shaft.
Ahah! So that's where Yen Cross got his initial stake. I knew it!
Props to the Zerohedge team. Must be difficult to do the wonderful work you do with eye socket blood spraying all over the office.
This is iraqi funds missing. This is only publicised because they have an interest in finding that money.
No one has an interest in finding the tens of billions of usa taxpayer money that cant be accounted for
"this is publicised because they have an interest in finding that money"
really?...i thought this happened in 2004... i suppose there is the 7 years window rule that applies
"$6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year"
To be fair, we got as much out of dumping the money in the Iraqi desert as we would have by dumping it into the Chicago public school system.
— enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year.
This thread will go further to bring this theft to light than any USgov inquiry, besides there still in the process of getting to the bottom of where all those billions in contruction costs that poduced 1/2 complete shells went to.
No responsiblity, no management, no paper trail, no consequence.....as usual.
No paper trail is how to make a huge theft look like merely sloppy record keeping.
What does''no taxation without representation''mean?
Answer
It means, 'We will only pay taxes that our representatives in a House or Assembly [or similar body] have approved and passed into a law.
The slogan was used by the American revolutionaries and meant they they weren't willing to pay taxes imposed by the British House of Commons - as they were not represented there.
Are 'we the people' represented in/by the Federal Reserve system? Do we have a say where this money goes?
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does''no_taxation_without_representation''mean#ixzz1PGT7msSQ
I've got my rifle loaded and ready. Just waiting for the fog to lift so a few more will commit. Stories like this will continue till "we the People" have had enough. Until then, I wait.
Sorry Bro, I'm Snitchin' You Off For Cash
Homeland Insecurity See Something, Say Something hot line? I want to report Overpowered by Funk as a domestic terrorist... Say, is there a cash reward?
Last week I turned in Raymond Davis and Richard Perle...
Be sure to tell them about that Anwar Al Alaki guy. He should be pretty easy for them to catch, as he's at the Pentagon all the time.
I write it again: Iraq war was probably planned as huge financial support programme. FED is trying to re-inflate bubbles. It is possible ONLY by handing cash direct to people without any obligations. But it must be hidden to not provoke run away inflation.
That is exactly what they did !!!
Any involved company and worker had carried this new printed 'off balance sheet' money to USA lowering credit risk in the system. That was a goal for making this war irrational expensive.
But IT IS OK!!! RFNs belongs to FED, not to US people. It is no taxpayer money, it is simply their money an they can do what they will.
If you don't like it, stop using RFNs and vote for Ron Paul.
so what ever became of that 2 trillion that the Pentagram couldn't find the receipts for and didn't remember spending anyways? I don't remember any follow up on that after the accounting wing was wiped out the day after the congressional inquiry...
Good news. They found it all under the sofa and seat cushions in the officers/contractors lounge.
Oh look, another dime. Now we're talking.
lol... I suspected something to that effect... thanx CD now I can sleep at night again...
The $2 Trillion Rumy quietly announced to the media on Sept. 10, 2001 which disappeared from the media forever the next day???
Too bad it was Pentagon auditors and accountants that were killed in the 911 attack...
yep that would be the 2 trillion...convenient placement of the aircraft wouldn't you say?
LOL.....what aircraft? The one that amazingly created a wormhole on impact and vaporized into another dimension or universe, leaving nothing behind but a charred, smoking hole in the facade?
The impact location was just a coincidence. Like, totally.
/turbosarc
Somehow I don't remember seeing hundreds of dead passengers in front of the Pentagon. Hoe they'e enjoying life in the worm hole.
It was a missle. There were no remnants of a jet hitting that building. No engines, no wings, no dead passengers, no passenger seats, zip!
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez
That's what Rumsfeld said it was.
You can't believe Freudian slips except when Freud makes them.
+5... Thanks for posting that Tyler...
$12 Billion... about $40 per Amerikan...
Hey "Dick" Cheney... you owe me a NY steak dinner and all the booze YOU could drink... you fucking alcoholic... Oh, then I will take you dove hunting...
YES
hehe, beat me to it.
Follow the trail to the Development Fund for Iraq created by the FRBNY, and Paulson's desperate urgency and Geithner's rise in 2008 will be fully explained. A TARP indeed.
Also, a lot of money was paid to buy truces from militia leaders like Muqtrada al-Sadr whose Mahdi Army filled a power vacuum left after the invasion. They begin attacking coalition forces in April of 2004 but had a sudden change of heart and declared a truce by June 6.
Excuse me, how about some constructive comments so we can all learn from each other...I learned how to curse when I was in my teens, doesn't help much these days you fucking monkeys.
9th Rule of Fight Club
Newbies are supposed to STFU and read their 1st 26 weeks...
Is that better in regards to cursing Mr. 1 Week?
Now now, don't short change the man. That's "Mr. 1 Week and 1 Hour" to you buddy. And counting. :)
Been on here for ages never found a reason to comment your ridiculous posts.
Problem is Problem Is is no grasshopper.
*pshhh* if you've "been on here for ages" then you know the flavour of the posts / posters - this thread is better than many. . .
.
Flinging poo back at ya!
To make reference of my avatar, $6.6B is peanuts. Hidden in plain sight are much larger acts of theft:
Dept of Education (annual budget $71B)
Dept of Energy (annual budget $27B)
Dept of Labor (annual budget $104B)
Dept of Health & Human Services (annual budget $78B)
Dept of Housing & Urban Development (annual budget $44B)
..and of course, the worlds biggest, most fraudulent claim on inter-generational wealth...
Unfunded SS and Medicare Liability ($107T)
We are the USA - we fall the hardest of them all.
I'm sure the DoD was left off by mistake . . .
It's implied. For the record, however, defense (properly run) is in my mind a legitimate purpose of government.
You forgot the military. Everybody forgets to include it. With pensions and hidden ezxpenditures, it is more than all of the above.
"The Largest Theft Of [Taxpayer] Funds In National History"
Wrong. NOT even. That began with the bailouts in 2008 and is still ongoing.
About the $12bn worth of $100 bills lost in Iraq as covered in the UK Guardian Newspaper article linked to above, the huge, impressive Large Hadron Collider that will answer fundamental questions about the nature of our universe which couldn't be built in the US because it was "too expensive," has a total budget of $9bn. Not only is that less than the amount of money lost in the Iraq cash transfer, it is less than the cost of one month of US military operations in Afghanistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
And the ENTIRE, highly impressive network of huge, US Optical Astronomy Program telescopes at our various observatories IN TOTAL cost less to build than 1/2 of one month's operations in Afghanistan.
When discussing the billions wasted, it is necessary to put that huge amount of money into perspective by showing what it COULD have bought instead.
Your reading too much into it Tyler, the war was to take over the oil fields (and that didn't work out either). War, as a by product is a giant scam. Think of it as a derivative. It doesn't create the market, it merely reflects the market. In this case the market, or commodity is war. Just as in Vietnam or WWII, or WWI, the likes of JP Morgan, Brown and Root or Halliburton didn't start the war, but they sure as hell made a lot of money at it. And in the case of WWI, JP Morgan was key to dragging America into that thankless cauldron in order to bail out the loans they had made to a looming loser. In Vietnam, Halliburton RBK affilliates certainly had a hand in terminating the Kennedy administration in order to maintain the war, but they did not start it. But, as Marine General Smedley Butler phrased it, "War is a Racket."
Wrong again. The war wasn't to get the oil. The war was to show what happens to oil producers who try to sell oil in some other currency besides dollars.
We did the same thing after WWII when we dropped millions in Europe to help secure the USD as the WRC.
An older personal friend of mine told me that in WWII he was just a rank private, but was given $1 million by his C.O. to spend in an Italian town during a week of R&R. The only caveat was that he was ordered not to come back with any of it. One week, one million dollars. And there were others.
Saddam Hussein declared he did not want to accept USD any longer for oil -- bad move -- and Ghaddafi recently did the same thing. Keeping the ME hooked on accepting USD is paramount to TPTB even if they have to give it away to the masses by force. The masses will circulate it, keeping them hooked. We get to steal it back any time we want from all the little people holding USD by just printing more of it and diluting their shares.
abu grum
http://www.youtube.com/user/peacsees#p/u/7/R9ZgiF4mElU
.
and this one
stove pipe
http://www.youtube.com/user/peacsees#p/u/12/0KK9loxy2oY
We can find and jail the guy who robs a 7/11 for $50
We can find and execute Saddam and OBL
But we can't find the people who took the $6 billion.
It's all about trust, isn't it Uncle Sam?!!!
old story tyler
old news tyler
check this posted before the bull started
http://www.thetrader.se/2011/06/13/charts-that-matter/
Funny how all the rage was about evil Bush after Iraqi oil. When in the end we blew trillions, gave them billions, got no oil and we left? Saying enjoy your imposed western democracy and if you're feeling particularly generous, could you pay us back for saving your ass?
Yes, we saved the Iraquis by killing a million of them. With friends like the U. S. who needs enemies?
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez
What do you mean? they danced in the streets when we came. They threw flowers at Rumsfield!!
that's just it. we never leave.
This is chickensh.t.
In Afghanistan, $45B out of $80B spent there for reconstruction are unaccounted for to this day
$6 Billion in 2004 dollars? Meh... ain't nothin' these days... probably worth 1/2 that with the decline of our currency since then.
Love the Effen ads on here by the way... great Vodka!!!
Wow. You boys and galls that side of the pond are well pissed! I marched In London against the Iraq war, the only march I have ever been on. Why? Not because Iraq might weapons of mass destruction or not. Let's face it, a machine gun is a WoMD. And we know now yes Saddam would have developed WoMD idnhe had the chance. Why? Cos he was paranoid of Iran, and with bloody good reason. The reason I marched against the war is that I knew it would end up in the mess it has with all sides killing each other with gay abandon. Without a strong enforcer in charge these countries with boundaries set by the British (almost all we Arian disputes have the British at it's root). No I opposedthe war because I knew it would cost a bloody fortune of our money. If they wanted to get rid rid of Saddam they could have "paid" his generals a few billion to get rid of him. I'm sure there is a Market clearing price for stabbing your boss in the back. Ok you won't do it for $1bn because you are so loyal? Well how about $2bn. Actually make that Yen. Would have been cheap at 1 thousandth of the price and with a lot less bodies.
Agreed.
However, starting a war and having bodies of Sons and Daughters come home in coffins tends to stoke nationalism and allow for oppression stateside at the same time (Patriot Act.)
Perverse, isn't it?
Not only have my kids been saddled with $14+ trillion of bankster debt but they will be groped by TSA agents when they want to fly to see their Grandma and Grandpa.
Land of the free... *cough*
Did you say gay abandon?
I didn't know israel was involved?
Well the Saddam example is typical of US imperial power play. They used him once as CIA agent to hit is boss Qasim, then as surrogate ally for their joint Iran caper (1% USA/99% Saddam). Then they used him as bogey man to sanctuarise the oil patch after his Kuwait stroll in. Why oh why do you build up a thug then drop him and his country like a dirty sock subsequently?...Look at the cost and the disastrous destruction of regional stability...Somebody up there is mad and the Gods are laughing their heads off...
.
What about the $1-2 trillion unaccounted for just before 9/11?
Those records just happened to be destroyed when that "missle" hit the Pentagon on 9-11.
Tuco
Yes, on Sept 11, 2001 Rummysfeld admitted that Petagon auditors discovered that the Pentagon had misplaced more than $2 trillion.
Is it not odd that the plane that "supposedly" hit the Pentagon hit the exact spot where the records and auditors were working and the case of the missing $2 trillion was never brought up again after that day.
Is it not also odd that all of the records of the ENRON fraud were destroyed in the destruction of building 7, which fell under very suspicious circumstances. There is also the case of the missing gold from the vaults underneath the trade center.
Odd, no?
Ah, this explains why I see so many Bentley and 6 series MB's around Miami with 'US Marines' specialty license plates.
http://www.flhsmv.gov/dmv/specialtytags/miscellaneous/u.s._marine_corps....
Money planes are big business for the fast fingered Freddy jar heads.
~D'jean Splicer
In fact this would make an interesting correlation project, no?
How many cars valued over $100K registered in Florida with specialty US Armed Forces plates. FOIA?
this thread is pure junk.
At least it's pure...
(and no - I did not junk you)
I think I found some of that money.
http://imgur.com/taCT9
Pic posted 20 minutes ago, do tell.
I see money and guns, there had to be booze and pussy involved too, no? It would be a shame if there weren't some fine tobacco thrown in with it also.
I wonder if that cash had the tracking strips in them?
Hmmm...
Just go on to our Bread and Circuses!
Doesn’t anyone remember the Japanese, Philippine, Madagascar, or whatever diplomats that had US 138 Billion in FRNs on an Italian train? Supposedly, they had letters of authentication from Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Greenspan.
No one was allowed to photograph the CUSIPs numbers.
We were told they were counterfeit, but the counterfeiters were released and never identified or questioned.
The MSM quickly buried the story.
Compare that to Mr. Von Nuthause who made counterfeit, silver, coins stamped, US dollar that were worth $36.00 each at the time. He is in prison for 15 years and the FEDs tried to confiscate all of the “counterfeit” coins.
FED bitches will melt it down and sell the bullion to buy more paper and ink!
Joo confetti I say.
maybe you should ask Campbell Brown's husband (and FOX contributor) Dan Senor....he was IN CHARGE of it. (maybe do a Swiss bank account search)
A couple years ago I was at the Brinks facility in Dallas. I was talking to one of their security officers. He was formerly in the marines in Iraq and was in security. His job was to watch over pallets of cash. He said initially when they hired local Iraquis for construction projects they would give them their assignment and give them a bundle of cash. Guess what? Most of the time the Iraquis just took the cash and did no work on the project and disappeared. After that, being brilliant, they started to pay the Iraquis piecemeal so they would actually do the work. So, this story does not surprise me.
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez
Jeff Bezos will be on Bloomberg tomorrow. Let's see what he's learned after attending the Bilderberg gathering.
Are you expecting to hear any sort of insider information? Whatever we do hear or read is information they WANT us to know, particularly on a bobble-head network.
The REAL juicy details are not for our ears/eyes, being members of the peasant slave class.
;-)
duplicate.
Duplicate
Bloomberg. It's funny how you think one of the HARD CORE zionists will publish anything derogatory on his 'news network'.
R U that dumb?
Wake the fuck up Temporalist!
"That's a theft!" Now here's a theft!"
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aY0tX8UysIaM#
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez
"this is where the story gets disturbing"......???
Hey Tyler - you had me disturbed at.... "largest CASH airlift in history"
Nothing else need be said. Theft is assumed at that point, no?
unicorns have sure evolved since they shot 1,000 points of light out of their asses!
a survey of international weapons dealers overwhelmingly accepted "Bush Crime Family Black Ops" as the correct venue for the bush-controlled money.
they told the iraqis they wld safeguard the money! (while they held weapons to their skulls)...
now, after prez0's incoherent re-do of the Monroe Doctrine, well, they want their damned pallets of FRNs. Now!
as leon panetta goes to Defense from the CIA, gen. petraeus, as a civilian, will take over the CIA. yep, that's the same guy who led the 101st into baghdad back in'03, as a major (2-star) general. he was given a third star, $11 Bil, and a newly-formed command to train iraqi security forces. &tc thru afghanistan et al. i can't recall the last west point grad @ the helm, there, can you?
...pure EEEEVEL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_vn7SHncKs&feature=related
and then there's Maude! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE
God will get you for that, Walter!
Obviously the plan was to get the Iraqi populace "hooked" on the greenback. Wasn't the new dinar's pegged to the US dollar? Locking in the US-Dinar exchange rate locks in the $-Iraqi Oil exchange rate.
Do you think the FED has any obligation to redeem the dollar's shipped to Iraq? They don't even redeem them here in the US.
Where did the money go? Hey what's a few billion here or there? Robo signing, bailouts, funny accounting, suspension of the constitution, bankers wives lining up at the FEd discount window receiving hundreds of millions, stock market pumping, mortgage delinquent squatters, dollar devaluing, and the list goes on. Truely amazing times.
However don't you dare stiff the government on taxes and don't you dare miss a mortgage payment. Make sure you don't expect any more than 1% on your money too ok, because we only reward debtors.
Blood money? Ask Bremer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_Provisional_Authority#History_of_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Paul_Bremer#Early_life_and_career
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_%26_McLennan_Companies#September_11_A...
Only half was stolen? It seems to me that if you fly in plane loads of cash into a war zone you'd have to be lucky if 90% isn't taken by corrupt officials, sticky fingered soldiers, and local warlords.
Very late into the discussion, but I did stories like this to death back in 2004-2005 when attempts at even starting an audit of where the money was going was found to be impossible. Where is it? That should be obvious - If the Iraqis don't have it, then the Americans must. It's in the hands of retired colonels (Along with trophies looted from the Iraqi National Museum), private security companies, intel goons, contractors, and about a hundred shell companies created by Haliburton et al to siphon off not just cash, but invoiceable crap to the US tax payer. Everyone and their pet dog must know about the vast amounts of cash sent to the Cayman Islands by now surely? We talked about nothing else a few years ago.
The Cayman Islands offshore banks hold OVER 1.9 Trillion US Dollars in deposits. End of story.
9/10/2001: Rumsfeld says $2.3 TRILLION Missing from Pentagon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4GdHLUHwUEstimate $3.3 Trillion Missing From U.S. Treasury http://www.rense.com/general70/trill.htm Gold from under Twin Towers?
It's a few trillion short and years late, that money is so gone that it's not even worth looking. What they should look at is the trillions that where given to banks.
of coure the "war on terror" was the bush crime syndicate's scheme to rape america of billions....but if you are crying over 6.6b (or is it really 6.66) then perhaps you should go back to the week before 9/11 to see whatever happened to the 1t which the pentagon couldn't find and still can't find....
the bcs works for the rockefeller-rothchild axis of evil....
I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this question, but I seriously don't understand WHY we would send USD CASH to Iraq. To the extent a currency was needed after the invasion, why not create something new that could then be tracked. It's not like USD was the national currency of Iraq before the invasion. Furthermore, why wouldn't Haliburton and other contractors have been paying their workers directly, instead of haliburton and other contractor employees getting it from the US Gov't.
When a customer pays for a quarter-pounder, the clerk gets paid by McDonald's, he doesn't keep a percentage of the quarter-pounder proceeds for himself. So, why exactly is the US Gov't sending dollars to Iraq for contractors? If it were my railroad, i'd be paying Haliburton and the contractors here in the US. Then, if haliburton wants to send those dollars onward to their employees in Iraq, it's their responsibility.
Obviously, there's something bizarre going on here, but what is just so sad is that we as American citizens/taxpayers, let it happen right under our nose.
A 10 year old kid getting an allowance would guard his money more carefully and devise all kinds of ways to guard against theft from his brother, sister and visiting friends, more than our own gov't seems to do on billions of dollars.