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Did you hear the one about the pot dealer's tax return? The New Yorker who claimed the whole city as a dependent? The exotic dancer who deducted ... well ... you know? That's right, it's time once again for Bankrate's 10 craziest tax write-offs you've ever heard, presented as a shot of levity to help make filing your annual federal income tax return a little less tedious. In our first installment, taxpayers sought deductions for everything from ostrich breeding to sperm donations. In round two, a high-tech breast pump and a pimped-out Amish buggy led the list of questionable claims....

March 19, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Facts for FeithCPA history. By L. Paul Bremer III A recent article in the Washington Post previewed the forthcoming book by former undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith. In his book Feith apparently alleges that I was responsible for what he calls the single biggest mistake the United States made in Iraq. He claims that I unilaterally abandoned the president’s policy, promoted by Feith and others before the war, to grant sovereignty to a group of Iraqi exiles immediately after Saddam’s defeat. On March 16, Richard Perle of the American Enterprise Institute elaborated on this...

<p>Once conventional wisdom congeals, even facts can't shake it loose.</p> <p>These days, everyone "knows'' that the Coalition Provisional Authority made two disastrous decisions at the beginning of the US occupation of Iraq: to vengefully drive members of the Baath Party from public life and to recklessly disband the Iraqi army.</p>

Once conventional wisdom congeals, even facts can't shake it loose. These days, everyone "knows" that the Coalition Provisional Authority made two disastrous decisions at the beginning of the U.S. occupation of Iraq: to vengefully drive members of the Baath Party from public life and to recklessly disband the Iraqi army. The most recent example is former CIA chief George J. Tenet, whose new memoir pillories me for those decisions (even though I don't recall his ever objecting to either call during our numerous conversations in my 14 months leading the CPA). Similar charges are unquestioningly repeated in books and articles....

Excerpt - WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve sent record payouts of more than $4 billion in cash to Baghdad on giant pallets aboard military planes shortly before the United States gave control back to Iraqis, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The money, which had been held by the United States, came from Iraqi oil exports, surplus dollars from the U.N.-run oil-for-food program and frozen assets belonging to the ousted Saddam Hussein regime. Bills weighing a total of 363 tons were loaded onto military aircraft in the largest cash shipments ever made by the Federal Reserve, said Rep....

Startling facts from the recent Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that the typical American family has about $3,800 in the bank, no retirement account, no mutual funds and no stocks or bonds. Financial planners suggest families do the following to avoid financial ... http://www.financialfitnessohio.com/Main.aspx?MenuItem=580 http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf

In the United States, a former official has admitted stealing millions of dollars meant for the reconstruction of Iraq. Robert Stein held a senior position in the Coalition Provisional Authority, which administered Iraq after American and allied forces invaded in 2003. In a Washington court, he admitted to stealing more than $2m (£1.12m) and taking bribes in return for contracts. He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Robert Stein's story is one of extraordinary corruption and excess amid the ruins of Iraq. He was in charge of overseeing money for the rebuilding of shattered infrastructure in south-central...

L. Paul Bremmer THE recent debate set off by the publication of my book about my time in Iraq has shed more heat than light.... And while I had concerns about the quality of Iraqi forces two years ago, their training has since been revamped. Today they are playing an increasingly important role in defending Iraq. Despite the missteps and setbacks, there is little question that, thanks to efforts by the American-led coalition, enormous political and economic progress is being made in Iraq today. ... Iraqis voted in the country's first genuine elections. Then they wrote and approved a new...

P. Bremer's "My year in Iraq" offends Poland 12.01.2006 Accusations, voiced by the former US civilian administrator in Iraq, that Polish troops have not realized their tasks in Iraq properly are absurd, Poland’s defense ministry has said. The US ambassador to Poland expressed regrets that false opinions were circulated about Polish soldiers. A spokesman for the defense ministry Piotr Paszkowski said that the book published by Paul Bremer proves complete ignorance of the terms and principles on which Poland sent its troops to Iraq. He recalled that they were trained and equipped for stabilization and not offensive actions. In his...

Britain was 'weak-kneed' over arrest of Iraq cleric, says Bremer By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 10/01/2006) The British Government and Armed Forces were "weak kneed" and displayed "cold feet" over plans to arrest a radical Islamic cleric in Iraq, the former US administrator in Iraq claimed yesterday. Paul Bremer also turned his fire on organisations with a reputation for hawkishness, including the CIA, the US Marine Corps and the US chiefs of staff, who were berated for their timidity in refusing to arrest Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia leader. His accusations came in a long-awaited memoir of his 13-month...

L. Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, urged U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to increase U.S. postwar troop strength in the country, but his pleas were ignored, the former diplomat said. In an interview on NBC Television broadcast Sunday night, Bremer said he sent a memo to Rumsfeld suggesting that half a million soldiers would be needed, three times the number deployed by the Bush administration. "I never had any reaction from him," Bremer told Brian Williams". Bremer, on a media blitz in connection with release...

Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC Television said on Friday. Bremer, interviewed by the network in connection with release of his book on Iraq, recounted the decision to disband the Iraqi army quickly after arriving in Baghdad, a move many experts consider a major miscalculation. When asked who was to blame for the subsequent Iraqi rebellion, in which thousands of Iraqis and Americans have died, Bremer said "we really didn't see the insurgency coming," the network said...

WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army officer was arrested on Thursday for stealing between $80,000 and $100,000 in funds from the U.S. governing administration in Iraq and using the money to install a deck and hot hub in her New Jersey home. The U.S. Justice Department said Army Reserve Lt. Col. Debra Harrison, 47, who served with the Coalition Provisional Authority, was arrested on charges involving bribery, money laundering and fraud. Harrison is the second army officer and the fourth person charged in the past few weeks in connection with the scheme. The Justice Department said Harrison was...

FORMER CPA OFFICIAL AND CONTRACTOR ARRESTED IN CASE INVOLVING FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME IN IRAQ WASHINGTON, D.C. – A former Coalition Provisional Authority official and a contractor doing business in Iraq have been arrested on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and wire fraud in connection with a bribery and fraud scheme, the Department of Justice announced today. Robert J. Stein, 50, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was arrested in Fayetteville on Nov. 14, 2005 and is currently in custody there. In 2003 and 2004, Stein was the Comptroller and Funding Officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority – South...

...Despite the amazing progress in Iraq in two short years, some armchair experts carp that we should have moved even faster. Frankly, it's hard to understand what they are thinking.... From the outset, the Coalition recognized that democracy requires more than just elections. We judged that we had a special obligation to help Iraqis design a political and legal structure to guide Iraq's journey from tyranny to democracy. The result, after three months of intense negotiations and compromise, was the interim constitution. This revolutionary document addresses three crucial areas. First, the Coalition insisted that checks and balances guard against the...

Newly released documents from the Bush administration show that a former member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle has resurfaced inside the new Iraqi government, bringing charges of corruption, bribery and bid-rigging. As a result, millions of U.S. aid dollars and billions in Iraqi government funds have disappeared in an ongoing scandal that is poised to engulf Baghdad and Washington. Worse still, a leading candidate for the top elected post in Iraq has also been implicated in the report as having taken "payoffs" in order to rig a major government cell phone contract. According to a May 2004 U.S. Defense Department...

Some U. S. dioceses, such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., have granted priestly faculties to Patriotic Association priests, allowing them to openly offer Holy Mass and administer other Sacraments, including hearing confessions in Roman Catholic parishes. May Catholics who are the recipients of these sacraments from a Patriotic Association priest are in the dark, because they do not know the identity of these Patriotic Association priests. According to item 5 of the Holy See’s 1988 China directives, “The Patriotic bishops and priests are not to be invited or even allowed to celebrate religious functions in public,...

Occupation authority said unable to account for $8.8 billion - The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found. The U.S. officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred....

In April 2004, followers of Iraqi Shi‘ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launched a well-coordinated uprising across southern Iraq. While Western media focused on events in Sadr City, Najaf, and Karbala, violence occurred elsewhere as well. A Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) source forwarded the following after-action report regarding violence in the town of Al-Kut, the capital of the Wassit governorate and home to the Ukrainian contingent.The unclassified report, written by a coalition security contractor, highlights dysfunction between regional coalition offices and the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad, as well as tension between diplomats and security officers. The summary faulted a British...

<p>WASHINGTON — A senior Defense official placed under investigation by the FBI (news - web sites) on allegations that he tried to steer Iraqi reconstruction contracts toward friends has been removed from office, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials confirmed Friday.</p>

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) is awarding the nation's highest civilian honor to three men central to his Iraq (news - web sites) policy, the White House announced Thursday.   Bush has chosen retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw combat in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and the initial invasion of Iraq, former CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The president will hand out the awards at a White House ceremony Dec. 14, press secretary Scott McClellan said. Franks is a...

...Last week in London, President Jacques Chirac admitted that getting rid of Saddam "may well have been good idea" — then added a big "but" about the wisdom of early elections in Iraq. His argument for delay was based on the claim that he wanted "broader participation" in the elections.... The camp of Saddam nostalgics, including Chirac and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, have... portrayed the hostage-takers and head-choppers who terrorize parts of Iraq as "la resistance" and insisted that they should have a place in shaping the future of the country.... With Bush re-elected, chances of sabotaging Iraq's elections vanished....

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...

BANNER ELK, NC (Talon News) -- Last month, Talon News reported on the candidacy of Vernon Robinson, a conservative black Republican running for the 5th Congressional District seat in North Carolina in 2004. In continuing coverage, Talon News recently spoke with candidate Virginia Foxx in an exclusive interview. In a positive, calm manner, Foxx says she realizes criticisms levied against her from other candidates vying for the congressional seat are all a part of the "dirty process" of running for political office. "This is one of the most painful things about politics," Foxx told Talon News. "However, I believe that...

Robinson's aggressiveness divides, becomes issue

Foxx calls for runoff in 5th District. Runoff election is August 17.

Hunt for Nonfilers Turns up Millionaires, Lawyers, CPAs AccountingWEB.com - Jul-19-2004 - In a crackdown on people who have not filed their tax returns, state and federal officials are finding millionaires, medical professionals, lawyers and other heavy hitters. For example, the suspected list of nonfilers in California for 2002 includes 865 millionaires, 6,756 lawyers, 1,458 CPAs and 20,473 medical professionals, the Wall Street Journal reported. Taxpayers who still haven't filed "have some explaining to do," said Steve Westly, the state controller and chairman of the California Franchise Tax Board. Some people don’t file on time due to health problems or family crises....

<p>WHEN L. PAUL BREMER, fresh from stepping down as American regent in Iraq, visited the White House on June 30, he was greeted by President Bush with a bear hug. Half-jokingly, Bush insisted a White House photographer take a picture of them and drew attention to the signature soft leather boots Bremer wears with a coat, tie, dress shirt, and cufflinks. As the two walked outside from the Oval Office to the Old Executive Office Building, Bush spotted press photographers and immediately threw his arm around Bremer in a gesture of public support. Later that day, Bremer joined the president for a workout in the presidential gym, just as he had last November during an earlier visit to the White House.</p>

The US-controlled coalition in Baghdad is handing over power to an Iraqi government without having properly accounted for what it has done with some $20 billion of Iraq's own money, says a new report published by Christian Aid. • Download full report (166kb PDF) • More information on downloading PDFs An audit, reportedly critical, of the coalition’s handling of Iraqi revenues is not going to be delivered until mid-July – after the coalition has ceased to exist. Christian Aid believes this situation is in flagrant breach of the UN Security Council resolution that gave control of Iraq’s oil revenues and...

Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, blamed Coalition Provisional Authority bureaucracy yesterday for the slow development of an effective Iraqi security force and warned that Fallujah was still a threat to the peace in Iraq. The general also said the terrorist violence was largely being carried out by a homegrown insurgency organized into regional and perhaps national cells complemented by imported suicide bombers. "I don't know what the volume of foreign fighters is in Iraq, [but it appears] to be a very small number," he said at a gathering at the Washington...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 28 — In a surprise, secret ceremony that was hastily convened to decrease the chances of more violence, United States officials today handed over sovereignty to Iraqi leaders, formally ending the American occupation two days earlier than scheduled. In a tightly guarded room behind high walls, L. Paul Bremer III, the top United States administrator, presented a formal letter recognizing Iraq's sovereignty to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Just 30 or so people were present for what Dr. Allawi described as the "historic" handover. A few hours later, Mr. Bremer flew off on a military plane, leaving...

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (C) smiles as US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer (R) shakes hand with the head of the Iraqi Supreme Court Midhat Mahmoud after handing over legal documents of Iraq's sovereignty during a simple ceremony in Baghdad. Iraq received its sovereignty from the US-led coalition after 14 months of occupation(AFP/Saeed Khan) U.S. Administrator L. Paul Bremer, right, shows a document to Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, center, and Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat al-Mahmoudi, left, transfering national sovereignty to Iraq at a ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq Monday, June 28, 2004.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)  

Over and out By Damien McElroy in Baghdad (Filed: 27/06/2004) As he embarked on a final round of farewell visits to outlying parts of his empire last week, Paul Bremer, the American-appointed administrator of Iraq, lapsed into a quiet daydream about the cookery school he will attend after returning home to Washington. Paul Bremer discusses the future of Iraq with tribal leaders If the confident New Englander was weary after the cacophony of bombs and bullets that have steadily increased in tempo throughout his tenure, the signs were not visible. The dark, good looks that belie his 62 years remain...

  United States Department of Defense.News TranscriptOn the web: http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040621-0901.htmlMedia contact: +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 Presenter: Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Military Operations and Daniel Senor, Senior Advisor, CPA Monday, June 21, 2004 10:08 a.m. EDT Coalition Provisional Authority BriefingMR. SENOR: Good afternoon. I have a brief opening statement, General Kimmitt has an opening briefing, and then we'll be happy to take your questions.We are nine days away from handing full sovereignty over to the Iraqi people, although, as you've heard me say repeatedly from this podium and as you've...

FOREIGN SERVICE FIREFIGHT AN FSO DESCRIBES A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH IRAQI INSURGENTS ON THE ROAD FROM BAGHDAD TO NAJAF. BY PHILIP S. KOSNETT March 5, 2004. We were southbound on the main highway from Baghdad to the Coalition Provisional Authority provincial headquarters in Najaf late on a Friday afternoon. Our three-car convoy carried six American personnel and a sixman Salvadoran personal security detachment from a Spanish/Salvadoran base in the city. By agreement with the Salvadoran commander, his U.S.trained personal security team was assigned fulltime to protect us. The Cuscatlan Battalion, based in Najaf, is the best in the Salvadoran...

De-de-Baathification National De-Baathification Committee decides to reintegrate more than 12,000 former Baath members to public service. BAGHDAD - More than 12,000 former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party are in the process of reintegration into public service a year after losing their jobs under a now abandoned policy of punishing loyalists of the ousted regime, a senior official said Thursday. In a backtrack on its once hardline stance, the so-called National De-Baathification Committee - a body created and headed by erstwhile Pentagon favourite Ahmad Chalabi - reinstated the public servants. "Our committee, which fired 30,000 people, has decided to reintegrate...

<p>Scott Erwin came from his job in Iraq to walk across the stage with his University of Richmond graduating class on May 9.</p> <p>Last year Scott Erwin put his college education on hold to go to Iraq and teach democracy.</p> <p>He risked his life because he wanted to help.</p>

Bremer the 'dictator' of Iraq – UN envoy UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Wednesday responded to criticism of US involvement in the nomination of the new Iraqi government by stressing Washington was still the dominant force in the country. "I would remind you the Americans are governing the country so their point of view was certainly taken into consideration," he said at a news conference. "He has the money, ..the signature" "I don't think he'd mind my saying this: Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money, he has the signature," said Brahimi after stressing he had...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A senior Bush administration official Tuesday hailed the appointment of a new Iraqi government and said the Coalition Provisional Authority would remain sovereign until June 30 to help the new leadership phase in. The official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that the Iraqi Governing Council, in office since July, had voted to dissolve effective immediately to allow the new government to begin taking over its responsibilities. He also said the new Cabinet would begin negotiations on the status U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq after June 30 "fairly soon." The official said...

Last August, I participated in a town-hall meeting hosted by the administrative council of Dibis, an ethnically mixed town 22 miles northwest of Kirkuk. Locals complained about everything from sporadic electricity to fertilizer shortages to potholes, and their Iraqi representatives listened attentively. It was an encouraging sight, all the more so because the month before, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) head L. Paul Bremer had proudly announced, in a televised speech, that "all of Iraq's main cities, and dozens of other towns, now have administrative councils." But there was a problem. Soon after his announcement, Bremer--not wanting to complicate planning for...

<p>Thursday's raid by U.S. and Iraqi agents on the home of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi was troubling - not least because the Coalition Provisional Authority and the White House both insist they weren't involved.</p> <p>After all, shouldn't President Bush, not to mention CPA chief Paul Bremer, have known in advance about such a high-profile mission - particularly if U.S. forces took part?</p>

It is hard to believe that a country reeling from reports of prison abuse at the hands of American military personnel would be a willing party to threatening and demeaning ill-treatment of a prominent Iraqi politician. The fact that the individual in question — the Iraqi National Congress's Ahmed Chalabi — has arguably done more than any other Iraqi to effect his country's liberation and, subsequently, to support the consolidation of democracy there makes this case of "politician abuse" positively bizarre. To be sure, the Coalition Provisional Authority contends that the warrantless and destructive search of Chalabi's home and two...

WASHINGTON--While the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal rages, yet another controversy is gathering steam, involving top U.S. accounting firms, powerful K Street lobbying firms and international oil companies widely held by institutional and individual investors. Senior congressional staffers, policy analysts and lobbyists are all pointing to mounting evidence that "utter chaos is reigning" in Baghdad over investigations into the Iraq oil-for-food program scandal, especially in the wake of today's raid by Iraqi police and U.S. forces on the home of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad al-Chalabi. The purpose of the raid was not disclosed, but Chalabi himself later told reporters that...

Ahmad Chalabi is in possession of "miles" of documents with the potential to expose politicians, corporations and the United Nations as having connived in a system of kickbacks and false pricing worth billions of pounds. That may have been enough to provoke yesterday's American raid. So explosive are the contents of the files that their publication would cause serious problems for US allies and friendly states around the globe. Late last year and several months before Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority became involved, Mr Chalabi had amassed enough information concerning corruption in the oil-for-food scandal to realise that he was...

  United States Department of Defense.News TranscriptOn the web: http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040517-0761.htmlMedia contact: +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 Presenter: Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations and Dan Senor, Senior Advisor, CPA Monday, May 17, 2004 10:19 a.m. EDT   Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing             MR. SENOR:  Good afternoon.               Earlier today Ambassador Bremer issued a statement on the death of Iraqi Governing Council President Izzedine Salim.  That was e- mailed out.  It is also available at the press center if you would like a copy of it.               I'll just run...

Bremer Hails Slain Leader as 'Constant Source of Strength' By John D. BanusiewiczAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 17, 2004 – A suicide car bomb claimed the lives of the Iraqi Governing Council president and at least four other Iraqis outside the Coalition Provisional headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, today. Ezzidin Salim is the highest-ranking Iraqi official to be assassinated since the country's liberation. Eight people – six Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers – were wounded in the attack, officials said. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, CPA administrator, called Salim's death "a shocking and tragic loss" and expressed condolences to...

<p>BAGHDAD, May 17 (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded on Monday near a U.S. base in western Baghdad and there were several casualties, witnesses at the scene said.</p> <p>Cars were on fire and a large column of thick black smoke rose into the sky. U.S. troops blocked off the area.</p>

Fox News Breaking Alert on website only at this point

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department will take over the lead role for most U.S. operations in Iraq from the Pentagon after the transfer of sovereignty on June 30, according to an order signed by President Bush this week. The executive order, called a national security presidential directive, was signed by the president on Tuesday but has not yet been released publicly, government sources who have seen the document said on Thursday. Officials said the order seemed to put to rest a power struggle between the State Department and the Pentagon over who should lead U.S. government operations in Iraq...

      PRESS RELEASEhttp://www.nociraq.orgContact: Emad Hussain +964 790 139 1957mediarelations@nociraq.org  Dallas Lawrence 914-360-3785lawrenced@orha.centcom.mil IRAQ STUNS FOOTBALL WORLD WITH UPSET VICTORY; EARNS HISTORIC FIRST TRIP TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES Victory Guarantees Iraq Soccer Team a Place at 2004 Athens Olympic Games Amman, Jordan -- May 12, 2004 – In a stunning upset victory, the Iraq national football team defeated Saudi Arabia tonight 3 to1 to earn a trip to the 2004 Olympic Summer games in Athens. The victory marks the first time in Iraq’s history that its football team will compete in the Olympics. In addition to defeating Saudi Arabia,...