Report: $6B missing in Iraq may have been stolen

Stuart W. Bowen (right), Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, testifies while flanked by Paul Bremer, former Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Feb. 6, 2007 in Washington, DC.

/ Getty

The man Congress put in charge of auditing the billions of dollars dumped on Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled has told the Los Angels Times he can't rule out the possibility that $6.6 billion in cash sent from the U.S. was stolen.

Special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen told the Times the missing money may represent "the largest theft of funds in national history."

It was not, it is crucial to note here, U.S. tax-payer dollars which have gone missing in Iraq. The money came from a special fund set up by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with Iraq's own money -- funds which were withheld from the nation during a decade of harsh economic sanctions under Saddam.

Now, and here's the real kicker, Iraq wants it's money back. The Los Angeles Times says some officials in Baghdad have threatened to take the U.S. government to court to reclaim the missing loot. The last known holder of the funds, before they mysteriously disappeared into the dusty oblivion of post-war Iraq, was the U.S. government.

"Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money to make up for billions of their money that we can't account for, and can't seem to find," Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) told the Times. Waxman was head of the House Government Reform Committee which held hearings on U.S. waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq about six years ago.

Bowen has been a harsh critic of the way the U.S. government spent money in Iraq following the ouster of Saddam.

Speaking to CBS News correspondent Lara Logan in July 2009, he warned that "billions of dollars were wasted in the Iraqi reconstruction enterprise," and said a whole new approach was needed in Afghanistan.

Waste, fraud plague Iraq reconstruction

As for the missing $6.6 billion, Bowen did not tell the Times whom he believed might have made off with the tremendous sum of neatly packaged blocks of $100 dollar bills.

For almost a decade, when audits and reports surfaced about money being misspent or wasted in post-war Iraq, the finger has generally been pointed first at the generic "corrupt Iraqi officials," of which there are no-doubt many. But as the Times points out in its report Tuesday, "some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period."

The money in question was literally air-lifted into Iraq by the George W. Bush administration, which flew it into Baghdad aboard C-130 military cargo planes. Bush White House officials were worried in the immediate aftermath of Saddam's fall that Iraqis would revolt if salaries weren't paid and services deteriorated. In total, the Times says $12 billion in cash was flown into Iraq in 21 separate C-130 flights by May 2004.

[lucymo2005]

$6.6 BILLION DOLLARS. All cash, sent in crisp "neatly packaged blocks of $100 bills."

Who would believe CASH was sent?----

This outrageous statement that $6.6 BILLION was sent in cold-hard cash, proves what they think of the American citizen's intelligence!

Then to make it even more unbelievable, shameful and embarrassing, LATIMES.com reported on 6/13/11, "Pentagon officials have contended for the last 6 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."---(the article continues)--
"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 them responsible", they say.

This makes America look bad. It makes us look even worse when we can't even find the "documentation", much less the cash.

[justme2012]

And people want the goverment to control their healthcare.

[euge005]

Just bill the people in the Chaney regime for that money. Compared to what their oil company stooges stole, it is chump change. Or put them on a plane for Iraq and let them try Bush Inc.

[nazdackster]

So this is a surprise? That's a good deal! We lost 6.8B out of 12B flown in. Lost it presumably immediately. This is only 56% of the take. This was a highly efficient operation by US Government standards. Now, can we do something in the USA and ONLY lose 56% of the value, right off the bat? That would be interesting to see, and quite impressive. I think the standard is 90% waste (which means it costs 10x as much for the government to do something as what it would cost in the private sector). Nice work, guys, you're improving!!!

[euge005]

If you kept the political suck ups out of the main stream gov agencies, they would not be very bad. Most groups have built in mechanisms to curb bad behavior. But looking at the Deep Horizon crimes, the regulators were sleeping with the enemy and the congress under the GOP had their lobbyists on the floor of congress directing the drafting of laws. A defeat for Obama, love him or hate him, would put the same people back in the same chairs (and beds).

[jd2408]

CBS has a report that says 75% of Americans polled are described as angry. NO...Really ? Wonder why.

[cdraper5]

And again, nobody in the Gov't will get fied or go to jail. Just ask the Military generals on duty on 911. Oops, bad example. Cheney was in charge of Military Operations that day. Hey, he didn't go to jail. Karl Rove told Congress to shove their Legal Invite to appear before them. Bush broke the stupidity law and is still walking around free. The list goes on and on. Nobody since WaterGate.

[noloyalisti]

How is this a big Duh. Anytime corporations are involved you are going to have graft, theft and corruption. Of course this money was stolen, this happened during the Bushoccio Crime Family Reign of Terror.

[euge005]

And a nice chunk of it will be used to oppose Obama's re-election.

[slatep]

Typical of the Federal Reserve.!!

This outfit is directly responsible for the fire economic sitiations here in the US today, and they should be ELIMINATED.!!!!!

[vancouverboo]

What's 6 billion dollar to a bankrupt nation that prints trillions without blinking an eye?

[imnho]

It looks like the unqualfied necons appointed by Bush to run the war walked away with a lot of money to retire on.