Planeload of Cash Disappears in Iraq

mimi · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:16 am

6.6 Billion? meh. A drop in the bucket.

Remember when Rumsfeld told us they lost track of about 3 Trillion? That was September 10, 2001.

It just boggles the mind.

Welsh Dragon · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:41 am

I saw this story yesterday and was puzzled because $6.6b is lower than other figures I've seen quoted (e.g. $50b was being quoted two years ago, $9b a year ago.). BTW I didn't have time to do too much research but I couldn't find "$6.6b" in the Special Inspector General's latest quarterly report to Congress so I wonder where the journalist got it from?

ZekeB · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:05 am

I hope this wasn't in dinars. There goes all those investments.

kimba · **Joined:** Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:24 pm **Posts:** 6736

Quote:

although Pentagon officials have maintained until now they could have tracked down the money if they had enough time to track down the records.

It seems to me there's two tracks to follow here. First follow the money. Second, learn who instructed them to not rigorously follow the money back when it disappeared. Who do they think they're kidding, this was certainly bribe money. Cash sent in 100's and 20s to smear around into the palms of anyone we wanted favor from in Iraq. I don't think you'll find a few individuals living in luxury off this money, I bet you've got several hundred individuals living relatively well but not so much they stand out, and I think it includes some number of US military and State Dept folks - maybe more of them than Iraqis. Yeah, cynical, but I'm feeling really peckish today.

kate520 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:36 pm

Quote:

Second, learn who instructed them to not rigorously follow the money back when it disappeared

Paul Bremer.

The reason the figure is lower, WD, is because they have traced all but this $6+ billion. Not recovered, just traced.

Highlands · **Posted:** Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:54 pm

I love how they're all pretending like plane-loads of cash suddenly disappeared. Poof! [-(

Like you can just lose $6 billion like you lose your car keys. Anyone who believes that they don't know exactly who took this money off of the planes is a fucking idiot.

Quote:

U.S. officials didn’t keep strict financial controls

The entire Bush Administration summed up in 7 words. Shocking, I know.

Fake Black Person · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:07 am

ZorbasLeGreque wrote:

Federal auditors suggested Monday that $6.6 billion in cash that went missing in May 2004 in Iraq was stolen. The conclusion comes after years of investigations by the U.S. Defense Department. The missing money is not only an embarrassment to the Pentagon, but also a bone of contention between Washington and Bagdad, as Iraqi officials are threatening to sue for the money since it came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the UN’s oil-for-food program. U.S. officials began sending planeloads of cash shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and in May 2004, 20 planeloads carrying some $12 billion in shrink-wrapped bills—believed to be the largest cash airlift of all time—left for Iraq. U.S. officials didn’t keep strict financial controls, although Pentagon officials have maintained until now they could have tracked down the money if they had enough time to track down the records.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 4060.story

Maybe instead of looking at the paper track they should look who of the persons involved owns now an island in the Carribean ....

And - Dr. Taitz got the story as well, but for her its all Obama´s fault.

What year did we catch Saddam and wasn't it from a tip the same year this money went missing?

ducktape · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:50 am

U.S. Army MSGT Ret. wrote:

What year did we catch Saddam and wasn't it from a tip the same year this money went missing?

A lot of things happened that year. Do you have any facts to connect them other than their occurence within the same 12-month span on the calendar?

And really - $6 billion for a tip? Wasn't it also the year that Jerry Bremer chucked it all and split?

Foggy · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:29 am

Saddam was captured Dec. 13, 2003.

Fake Black Person · **Posted:** Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:10 pm

Foggy wrote:

Saddam was captured Dec. 13, 2003.

Thanks. I remember seeing one of our Generals being interviewed back around that time and in the interview, there were big crates behind him with money in them being unloaded from a C-17. They had just been shipped in and it was going to be used to pay Iraqi factions that were being hostile. It was bribe money basically speaking to pay off leaders so insurgent leaders could be sought out. Same thing in Afghanistan. Money was being shipped in crates to pay off warlords of Taliban factions to rat out the insurgents and to supposedly find Bin Laden.

No Pilikia · **Posted:** Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:16 am

Not sure this is the right place but I'd like to say e komo mai to you Sarge. How long were you with the 25th infantry at Schofield?

Highlands · **Posted:** Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:58 am

Just to let anyone at the Pentagon who may be reading this know, if they are looking for somewhere to drop off large pallets of shrink-wrapped cash, I may know of a place or two.

Highlands · **Posted:** Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:48 pm

Surprise!

Quote:

Osama al-Nujaifi, the Iraqi parliament speaker, has told Al Jazeera that [highlight]the amount of Iraqi money unaccounted for by the US is $18.7bn - three times more than the reported $6.6bn.[/highlight]

Just before departing for a visit to the US, al-Nujaifi said that he has received a report this week based on information from US and Iraqi auditors that the amount of money withdrawn from a fund from Iraqi oil proceeds, but unaccounted for, is much more than the $6.6bn reported missing last week.

"There is a lot of money missing during the first American administration of Iraqi money in the first year of occupation.

"Iraq's development fund has lost around $18bn of Iraqi money in these operations - their location is unknown. Also missing are the documents of expenditure

.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 65678.html

Ghost of HST · **Joined:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm **Posts:** 260

Huh? What?? HEY! Look over there, it's:

Estiveo · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:22 am

Pffft. It's over there on the table behind the potato salad if anyone had bothered to look. :roll:

Highlands · **Posted:** Sun Jun 26, 2011 3:53 am

Ghost of HST wrote:

Huh? What?? HEY! Look over there, it's:

[snipped]Greedy Teachers pic[snipped]

That pic reminds me of this meme that was going around Facebook for awhile:

Quote:

Remember when teachers, firefighters, NPR and Planned Parenthood crashed the economy while taking billions in TARP $ while giving themselves outrageous bonuses? Yeah, me neither.

Welsh Dragon · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:14 am

This has to do with the topic, how?

Suranis · **Joined:** Sat Nov 20, 2010 8:04 am **Posts:** 5354

Welsh Dragon wrote:

:-? This has to do with the topic, how?

He likes to push the pram a lot.

ducktape · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:50 am

MODS!!! WHY are first posts by spammers being approved?

Please delete that mofo (and note the name of the law firm that hired the fucker in his sig!).

realist · **Joined:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:33 pm **Posts:** 23944

ducktape wrote:

MODS!!! WHY are first posts by spammers being approved?

Please delete that mofo (and note the name of the law firm that hired the fucker in his sig!).

DUCKY!!!!!!! I DELETED THAT POST ON JULY 6 WITHOUT IT BEING APPROVED. IT'S A MYSTERY BEING EXPLORED HOW IT ENDED UP POSTED... AGAIN. NO ONE APPROVED IT, ACCORDING TO THE LOGS.

Does that answer your question?

listeme · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:58 pm

Offtopic :

Some option may be incorrectly ticked somewhere. Katherine was able to post without her first three posts being approved, as well. Not that she had anything bad in them

I was just surprised and thought maybe it was because I vouched for her long ago when she signed up. But maybe something is awry?

katherine · **Posted:** Sun Jul 10, 2011 5:31 pm

listeme wrote:

Offtopic :

Some option may be incorrectly ticked somewhere. Katherine was able to post without her first three posts being approved, as well. Not that she had anything bad in them

I was just surprised and thought maybe it was because I vouched for her long ago when she signed up. But maybe something is awry?

Is it possible there's a time frame where the moderation is turned off? I signed up a while back, and just did my first post this week...so maybe that's why?

Falsehoods unchallenged only fester and grow.

Planeload of Cash Disappears in Iraq

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