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Report: $6 billion missing in Iraq may have been stolen (U.S. sent cash - Iraq now wants it back)
CBS News ^ | 6/14/11 | Tucker Reals

Posted on 06/14/2011 7:33:17 AM PDT by Libloather

Report: $6B missing in Iraq may have been stolen
By Tucker Reals
June 14, 2011 7:35 AM

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billion; cash; iraq; stolen; waxman
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To: heiss

After the Obama inflation kicks in, we’ll be using a trillion-dollar bill to buy a pack of cigarettes at 7-11.


21 posted on 06/14/2011 7:56:46 AM PDT by Meet the New Boss
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To: Libloather

“It was not, it is crucial to note here, U.S. tax-payer dollars which have gone missing in Iraq.”

Gee my kids always thought money just grew on trees. So if not tax-payer whose money was it?


22 posted on 06/14/2011 8:01:22 AM PDT by buggy02 (Never take life seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway.)
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To: driftdiver

“deduct it from the bill they owe us”

+1


23 posted on 06/14/2011 8:03:57 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (We live two lives, the life we learn and the life we live with after that.)
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To: Libloather
Bill them for three times that amount and take it out in oil.
24 posted on 06/14/2011 8:09:10 AM PDT by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
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To: Libloather
some officials in Baghdad have threatened to take the U.S. government to court to reclaim the missing loot

It is statements like this that will make more and more Americans staunch isolationists. Perhaps it is time for a bolder statement from the United States:

For decades, Americans have been asked to intervene in foreign skirmishes because other nations refuse to act. As of today, the United States is removing all troops from foreign countries. We have decided that it is a waste of our time, our blood and our money.

Furthermore, we will release a list of our allies. If any of these allies gets attacked by a nation or by rogue groups inside of that nation, the United States will view said attacks as an act of war against the United States and will respond with overwhelming force to military sites.

If you wish your country to be considered for addition to the ally list, your country will have to meet a list of criteria (list open for discussion). If you are a citizen of an enemy country and do not wish for your country to be attacked, we would suggest that you take matters into your own hands and reform your country's government.

Sincerely,

The United States of America

25 posted on 06/14/2011 8:10:53 AM PDT by Eagle of Liberty ("You're a different kind of special..........")
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To: buggy02

If you read the article, you’ll know.


26 posted on 06/14/2011 8:17:45 AM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: Eagle of Liberty

Sounds so effin good! If only...if only... .


27 posted on 06/14/2011 8:19:02 AM PDT by tal hajus (ever the cynic)
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To: TexasCajun
Yes.

Those funds are separate and distinct from the money we KNOW is being stolen and the dollars which everyone pretty much assumes, based on past experience, will go missing...

28 posted on 06/14/2011 8:20:17 AM PDT by WayneS ("I hope you know this will go down on your PERMANENT record...")
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To: Amberdawn

Yep your right I went right over it; I was practicing my speed reading … again.


29 posted on 06/14/2011 8:24:10 AM PDT by buggy02 (Never take life seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway.)
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To: Libloather

pay it back with some our unproductive land - say, NJ or maybe they would prefer San Francisco or Minneapolis. Certainly we can work out a deal.(sarc)


30 posted on 06/14/2011 9:14:24 AM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" and its allies.)
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To: Libloather

If Henry Waxman is flapping his gums about this, then that would be the first place to look.


31 posted on 06/14/2011 9:22:29 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Libloather

Here is a simple solution:
1. Shut down the Fed and print our own money. Kennedy was starting to so do before he was killed.
2. Send the fed bureaucrats to that Moslim ‘nation’ as slaves. Slavery IS legal under Islam.

Announce the problem to be solved.


32 posted on 06/14/2011 9:38:43 AM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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To: buggy02

I do it all the time! Anyway, the money should be accounted for, but we should still keep it....


33 posted on 06/14/2011 12:23:08 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: Amberdawn

Yeah your right about being accountable, and keeping it. What I think is strange is sending all that cash! Why cash? I mean a money order or cashier check, wire transfer lol, is there something there under the table with no paper trail, and who was on the receiving end of all this money. Maybe we need a smell test, I mean 6 billion can’t be 1 person.


34 posted on 06/14/2011 11:59:44 PM PDT by buggy02 (Never take life seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway.)
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To: buggy02

Exactly-very strange.


35 posted on 06/15/2011 12:20:27 AM PDT by Amberdawn
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