shafique
I see that the fact the US administration shipped over $12bn in notes (363 tonnes of it) to Iraq and then went on to distribute it without much thought of accounting for it has made the news.
Details of the shipments have emerged in a memorandum prepared for the meeting of the House committee on oversight and government reform which is examining Iraqi reconstruction. Its chairman, Henry Waxman, a fierce critic of the war, said the way the cash had been handled was mind-boggling. "The numbers are so large that it doesn't seem possible that they're true. Who in their right mind would send 363 tonnes of cash into a war zone? "
snip
An interesting point is that the money was Iraqi money to begin with:
The memorandum details the casual manner in which the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority disbursed the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food programme and seized Iraqi assets.
And to add insult to injury, this extract from an interview :
Bremer's financial adviser, retired Admiral David Oliver, is even more direct. The memorandum quotes an interview with the BBC World Service. Asked what had happened to the $8.8bn he replied: "I have no idea. I can't tell you whether or not the money went to the right things or didn't - nor do I actually think it's important."
Q: "But the fact is billions of dollars have disappeared without trace."
Oliver: "Of their money. Billions of dollars of their money, yeah I understand. I'm saying what difference does it make?"
Read full article in The Guardian online:
,,2008189,00.html
I'm disapointed, but not surprised. :)
Cheers,
Shafique
scot1870
Probably a chunk of it is currently propping the Dubai property market!