Mystery in Iraq as $300 Million is Taken Abroad -NYT

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 21 - Earlier this month, according to Iraqi officials, $300 million in American bills was taken out of Iraq's Central Bank, put into boxes and quietly put on a charter jet bound for Lebanon.

The money was to be used to buy tanks and other weapons from international arms dealers, the officials say, as part of an accelerated effort to assemble an armored division for the fledgling Iraqi Army. But exactly where the money went, and to whom, and for precisely what, remains a mystery, at least to Iraqis who say they have been trying to find out.

The $300 million deal appears to have been arranged outside the American-designed financial controls intended to help Iraq - which defaulted on its external debt in the 1990's - legally import goods. By most accounts here, there was no public bidding for the arms contracts, nor was the deal approved by the entire 33-member Iraqi cabinet.

On Friday, the mysterious flight became an issue in this country's American-backed election campaign, when Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan, faced with corruption allegations, threatened to arrest a political rival....

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/22/international/middleeast/22baghdad.html?hp&ex=1106370000&en=395058f4ea468570&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[VegasWolf]

1. shhh! halliburton wanted this on the quiet. n/t

[NVMojo]

22. it was so quiet ...I posted a dupe of this!!! HAHA!!!!

funny how we finally get Chalibi with his head on a plate just after the inauguration ....

[tridim]

2. My guess.. It was diverted to plan the Iran invasion

Just like money was diverted from Afghanistan for planning Iraq. Fool me once.

[Just Me]

8. AW SHIT,....don't suggest that!!!!!

Describing that level of corruption is simply beyond my vocabulary to express.

Smirks shadowing evil.

GAWD!!!!

[notadmblnd]

3. Is that what they're doing?

Using Iraq to funnel/laundry money for illegal arms sales and drugs? So very deja vue-ish (sp)

[VegasWolf]

5. yes; RayGun = Iran Contra, shrub = Iraq Contra. n/t

[UL_Approved]

25. The last part of the article:

This tells all:

But one American official with knowledge of the transaction said taking the $300 million out of the country, although unorthodox, was probably the only way for the Iraqi government to buy weapons.

The reason, according to the American official, is that the financial mechanism set up after the war's major combat operation ended requires that Iraqi oil revenues be spent for "humanitarian" purposes. That meant that the Trade Bank of Iraq could not be used for arms purchases, thus necessitating the use of cash.

That has since changed, the official said, with the signing of an executive order by President Bush late last year.

I think you hit the nail on the head about Iran Contra --> Iraq Contra. What was that old Bush quote about getting fooled again?

[54anickel]

27. Yes, I found that last line most interesting as well...n/t

[Skink]

6. Armsgate...?

:wow:

[NYC]

4. That is a fascinating story.

Truly fascinating.

[Just Me]

7. This would make anyone's head explode. Welcome to neocon-imposed anarchy.

Their freakin' corporatist-serving GREED truly blinded them to the complexity that their resulting anarchy would produce.

I will enjoy every moment that their greedy asses get BURNED and I hope they lose every damned penny of their investment!!!!

MURDEROUS ASSHOLES!!!!

[tridim]

9. The only problem is, it's not their money

It's yours and mine.

[Straight Shooter]

10. Maybe the money came from Rummy's $9.3 billion slush fund

It didn't make the news as it should have, but of the $87 billion requested oh so long ago (remember that fiasco?), Rumsfeld got $9.3 billion to play with.

For all the debate over President Bush's $87 billion supplemental request for military operations and economic reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq, no one seems to have noticed that the sum includes a slush fund of at least $9.3 billion, which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld can spend pretty much as he pleases.

October 10, 2003 article: http://slate.msn.com/id/2089674

Anyone aware of the slush fund immediately realized its implications.

[Rose Siding]

14. I *JUST* read about this in Senator Byrd's book

It is so rich with not only details presented by one who practically bleeds an understanding of the system, but also lines the facts up in relief to their historical consequences. He tells how the power of the purse evolved in England as leverage used to gain rights from the monarchs. Money controlled by the People's House equates with their access to liberty.

It's so exciting. I took many history courses but none were so interesting in relation to contemporary events.

After one litany of various attempts, failures and mostly successes of the bushies to gain funds for which they are not accountable, he asks something like "but how much can the reader take? and yet the list goes on". And he's off again.

I'm trying to read it slowly. Good stuff.

[Straight Shooter]

34. You have a stronger stomach than I do.

I tried reading The Clinton Wars but literally became nauseous at the right wing machinations. Same reaction to The Iron Triangle, about the Carlyle Group.

When I queried a politically savvy friend about the slush fund, the first words out of his mouth were, "It's for bribes and covert operations."

Some things never change x(

[Kimber Scott]

11. Somebody just took it, simply because they could. nt

[KoKo]

12. Chalabi involved again. And this story has too many "unidentified high

sources" typical of the Judith Miller days. It's hard to make sense of this article but if Chalabi is involved then somehow we are involved in some other lie that isn't apparent to this reader, anyway.

Here's the snip about Chalabi from the article:


Mystery in Iraq as $300 Million is Taken Abroad

Published: January 22, 2005

(Page 2 of 2)

The public fight with Mr. Shalaan is the latest political twist for Mr. Chalabi, once the darling of the Bush administration and one of the main proponents of the invasion of Iraq. He has since become a pariah in the United States, accused of exaggerating Mr. Hussein's prohibited weapons activities.

After a bitter falling out with the Bush administration, which accused him of passing secrets to the Iranian government, Mr. Chalabi has begun to mend fences with the Americans, and is positioning himself to make a run for the prime minister's seat.

In threatening to arrest Mr. Chalabi, Mr. Shalaan appears to be trying to change the subject to Mr. Chalabi's own legal problems. In Jordan, Mr. Chalabi faces charges that he embezzled millions of dollars from the Petra Bank, which collapsed in the 1990's.

[pinniped]

13. Ya, it's never intended to help the poor Merkan companies.

--American-designed financial controls intended to help Iraq--

It's a good thing the billions of dollars and tens of thousands of dead people were all to benefit Iraq and not the US.

[soothsayer]

15. US Dollars? No one in the world wants them except americans

I'd say it's going to the crooks who invaded iraq

[moobu2]

16. This reminds me of that wild story a few days ago

Involving that contractor who was mysteriously killed (execution style), after writing Sen. Rick Santorum a letter concerning corruption in the Iraqi defense department and I believe it also had a Lebanese connection hmmm....I'm going to see if I can find it, my memory isn't all that clear but damn this sounds familiar..

[moobu2]

19. Here it is.

The LA times story says Dale Stoffel was killed soon after informing Sen. Rick Santorum that the Iraqi Defense Ministry (Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan) was playing some kind of kickback scheme involving a "mysterious Lebanese businessman".

Dale Stoffel and his business partner were summoned to a meeting with "coalition military officials" to discuss the problem and were gunned down after leaving the meeting.

WASHINGTON — An American contractor gunned down last month in Iraq had accused Iraqi Defense Ministry officials of corruption days before his death, according to documents and U.S. officials.

Dale Stoffel, 43, was shot to death Dec. 8 shortly after leaving an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad, an attack attributed at the time to Iraqi insurgents. Also killed was a business associate, Joseph Wemple, 49.

The killings came after Stoffel alerted senior U.S. officials in Washington that he believed Iraqi Defense Ministry officials were part of a kickback scheme involving a multimillion-dollar contract awarded to his company, Wye Oak Technology, to refurbish old Iraqi military equipment.

The FBI has launched an investigation into the killings and whether they might have been retaliation for Stoffel's whistle-blowing activities, according to people familiar with the inquiry. The FBI declined to comment.

Stoffel, of Monongahela, Pa., made his allegations in a Dec. 3 letter to a senior Pentagon official and in a meeting with aides to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). Soon after, Stoffel was summoned to the Taji military base in Iraq by coalition military officials to discuss his concerns about his contract. He complained about payment problems with a mysterious Lebanese businessman designated by the Iraqis as a middleman, sources said....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-death20jan20,0,2295167.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Well it involves ...the Iraqi defense dept, the Lebanese guy and millions of our G- Damn tax dollars, besides the killings.

[Wilms]

21. Bingo! Moobu2 n/t

[mordarlar]

24. So who knew what he was claiming?

Isn't this suspicious?

[magellan]

17. OMG

"There is no legal system to bring charges against anyone not following the rules and not abiding by the law, especially if you're a powerful politician," Mr. Khafaji said. "That's the tragedy of Iraq: Everyone runs their business like a private fiefdom."

Whaddya know, we DID successfully export our democracy!!

:mad:

[bvar22]

18. $300Million is "Chump Change"....

...on the scale of looting that is going on in Iraq!

[moobu2]

20. Yeah, $300 million is "chump change"

Can you imagine what these thugs are putting away? All that money we're dumping on them with absolutely no accountability.

[spanone]

29. More like 'Chimp Change'

[Kinkistyle]

31. Unless its going to tsunami relief

In which case even 35 million is kinda a pain in the ol pants pocket!

[SOS]

32. $300 million here, $20 billion there,

but who's counting?

US Fails to Control Iraq Oil ($20 billion "missing" since the Bush invasion)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4098729.stm

Foreign news source, of course. US corporate lackey media not interested.

[daleo]

23. This is Chalabi related, I bet.

It will be a matter of sorting out who is the biggest crook here - Chalabi, Allawi, or BFEE. Whoops, my mistake, BFEE wins (of course).

[Rose Siding]

30. They are going to arrest Chalabi for making accusations

from the article>
In an interview on Al Jazeera television, Mr. Shalaan said he would order the arrest of Ahmed Chalabi, one of the country's most prominent politicians, who has publicly accused Mr. Shalaan of sending the cash out of the country. Mr. Shalaan said he would extradite Mr. Chalabi to face corruption charges of his own.

"We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol," Mr. Shalaan thundered on Al Jazeera. The charge against Mr. Chalabi, he said, would be "maligning" him and his ministry. He suggested that Mr. Chalabi had made the charges to further his political ambitions.

Mr. Chalabi first made the allegation against Mr. Shalaan last week, on another Arabic-language television network. He said there was no legitimate reason why the Iraqi government should have used cash to pay for goods from abroad. He implied that at least some of the money was being used for other things.

[daleo]

35. Chalabi accusing another person of being a crook is amusing

Like a bank robber accusing the paperboy of overcharging him. But, crooks generally have a limited ability to see irony.

There was a similar article in today's Globe and Mail about the upcoming Iraq election. Basically, there are absolutely no controls on where money is coming from - it's a free for all of foreign involvement and influence peddling. Elections in the west may not be much better, just better hidden.

[annabanana]

26. this is more from the Coronation News Dump..

Watch for the STUFF WE SHOULD KNOW and try to keep it kicked .

[pdxmom]

28. This is startling (well, not really)

What's startling is that I have heard zip about this. The news today is only about the snowstorm and various stories that should actually be local news. Of course, I guess I'm not surprised, just really disappointed that this isn't being reported at all. Frustrated, as well, since this is exactly the kind of thing that used to be looked at by a press hungry to break stories like this.

[lovuian]

33. Iraqi leaders trade charges in arms scam

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=658bfc7abd819667

We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol," said Shalaan, who also said Chalabi could be charged with defaming Iraq's defense ministry.

Both Chalabi and Shalaan are candidates in Iraq's Jan. 30 election.
more...

Sounds like they are perfect candidates!!!

[leftchick]

36. New Yahoo story: 500 Million$$$$$$

Official: Millions Transferred to Lebanon

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=16&u=/ap/20050122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_money_transfer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi Defense Ministry transferred hundreds of millions of dollars from the Iraqi Central Bank to a financial institution in Beirut to buy weapons but did so legally and with the knowledge of multinational authorities, a ministry official said Saturday.



The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was responding to allegations by prominent Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi, who demanded an investigation into a decision by Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan to shift $500 million in cash to a bank account in Beirut.


"Such accusations are not worth a response," the official said when asked about Chalabi's comments. "Transferring money is a normal process, and the transfer was made with the knowledge of the Central Bank of Iraq (news - web sites) and the Finance Ministry."


"This is the mechanism in place to pay for arms suppliers to the Defense Ministry," he said.


The official said the transfer was done with the knowledge and assistance of the U.S.-led multinational forces. He said he believed the amount was $500 million. There was no immediate comment from the Multinational Forces-Iraq.


On Friday, Shaalan said Iraqi authorities would initiate criminal proceedings against Chalabi and hand him over to Interpol after the Islamic religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, which ends Sunday.


Shaalan said Chalabi "wanted to tarnish the image of the Defense Ministry. ... He wanted to tarnish the reputation of the defense minister because he is frank and clear. One of those who want to commit crimes against the Iraqi people is Ahmad Chalabi."

[54anickel]

37. Just gotta add this part:

He said threats to prosecute Chalabi "represent a threat to the democratic process in Iraq."


Chalabi, the former darling of Pentagon (news - web sites) conservatives, has seen his reputation among the Americans sullied since he returned to Baghdad after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. He has since been accused of hyping reports of Saddam's illegal weapons programs, which were the U.S. justification for the war.


The United States has since acknowledged that the Iraqis held no such weapons when the invasion was launched. :shrug: I didn't think the US really acknowledged anything like that - they keep hinting that the WMD must have been moved, hidden, buried, smuggled out of the country, carried away by flying pigs, etc,