Regards, Ivan
Posted on 08/21/2004 4:28:57 PM PDT by MadIvan
NEARLY $9 billion (£5 billion) is missing from government funds in Iraq, according to a leaked draft report by official American auditors.
The money, which comes from oil revenues and seized assets of the former regime, was handed to Iraqi ministries by the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) but now cannot be traced.
Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, has been asked by three senators to provide a full written account of the money, including the sum that each ministry received and how it was spent.
The draft report by the CPA’s inspector-general, dated July 12, claims that the CPA “did not implement adequate controls” to ensure that money paid by the Development Fund for Iraq was properly used for salaries of Iraqi employees.
On one site, 8,206 Iraqi guards were on the payroll but only 603 could be counted. In another case, $17m had been allocated to guards and the Iraqi army without a single piece of documentation.
The draft report also claimed that an “improper” $120m payment was made in May 2004 because of “miscommunication between the CPA and the comptroller’s office”.
The inspector-general’s office refused to comment on the report, saying that it was still in draft form and would not appear for several weeks.
“We have sent the report to the Pentagon and are awaiting their comments,” said a spokesman.
The inspector-general has issued a series of damning reports in recent weeks. One issued at the end of July examined $1 billion of contracts. It found that crucial files were missing or incomplete, officers had not followed proper procedures and had not always ensured that contracts were fair or reasonable.
Another report into the seizure of assets after the fall of Saddam Hussein found that bank vaults had been left unattended — in one case the keys to a safe containing millions of dollars had been kept in a rucksack.
Concern has also been expressed over the failure to keep proper inventories of valuables seized from the regime — including large amounts of jewellery that had belonged to Saddam’s son Uday.
# Iraqi teenagers as young as 16 claim to have been subjected to electric shock treatment, beaten with iron bars and threatened with dogs by American soldiers at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib jail and other detention centres in the country.
Their allegations — made in a report to be screened this evening on Channel 4 News — coincide with growing concern from the Red Cross and human rights groups about the number of minors being held in Iraq.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it found 95 people under 18 at Abu Ghraib and Bucca, another American-run detention centre, in July. It also warned that many more children were being held at locally run prisons across Iraq.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
It was all given to Hal-B and the Bush campaign.
I see, all under 18 are "children." How many thousands of "children" are in Brit jails or American ones?
Halliburton...... ?
I assume Billy the kid was as well.
blimey
More like theiving arabs
I'd like to see NY account for the billions of taxpayer dollars it received from the federal government for homeland security.
Thank god it isnt american taxpayers money
Get out! I dont believe a word of it post abu ghriab
Just checked, it's not under my bed.
No, however it's American solidiers' blood that's getting spilled when we get the blame for the grinding poverty resulting from this type of corruption.
Look at the UN, and payments to contracts that went unfulfilled when the coalition invaded. Probably in UN and French pockets.
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