A 'fraud' bigger than Madoff

[cal04]

Senior US soldiers investigated over missing Iraq reconstruction billions
By Patrick Cockburn in Sulaimaniyah, Northern Iraq
In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1622987.html

"I believe the real looting of Iraq after the invasion was by US officials and contractors, and not by people from the slums of Baghdad," said one US businessman active in Iraq since 2003.

In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8m was sent in "pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills" to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money. He is among the few US officials who were in Iraq to be convicted of fraud and money-laundering.

Despite the vast sums expended on rebuilding by the US since 2003, there have been no cranes visible on the Baghdad skyline except those at work building a new US embassy and others rusting beside a half-built giant mosque that Saddam was constructing when he was overthrown. One of the few visible signs of government work on Baghdad's infrastructure is a tireless attention to planting palm trees and flowers in the centre strip between main roads. Those are then dug up and replanted a few months later.

Iraqi leaders are convinced that the theft or waste of huge sums of US and Iraqi government money could have happened only if senior US officials were themselves involved in the corruption. In 2004-05, the entire Iraq military procurement budget of $1.3bn was siphoned off from the Iraqi Defence Ministry in return for 28-year-old Soviet helicopters too obsolete to fly and armoured cars easily penetrated by rifle bullets. Iraqi officials were blamed for the theft, but US military officials were largely in control of the Defence Ministry at the time and must have been either highly negligent or participants in the fraud.

[Seldona]

1. K&R

It would be nice to find out where that money went. The amounts are staggering.

[napi21]

2. Where is that idiot Shrub put in charge of Iraq? I can't remember his name right now, but

I remember him leaving rather abruptly and I've never heard another word about him. Where is HE, and what's he doing right now?

[cal04]

3. Paul Bremer

is that who you're talking about

[napi21]

5. YEP! I remembered his name began with a B but I couldn't remember

the name. Bremer was a crook from day 1...no...BEFORE day1, and that's who I would seek out FIRST!

[cal04]

6. The Guardian had an article about him and the money

So, Mr Bremer, where did all the money go?

At the end of the Iraq war, vast sums of money were made available to the US-led provisional authorities, headed by Paul Bremer, to spend on rebuilding the country. By the time Bremer left the post eight months later, $8.8bn of that money had disappeared. Ed Harriman on the extraordinary scandal of Iraq's missing billions

(snip)
Although Bremer was expected to manage Iraqi funds in a transparent manner, it was only in October 2003, six months after the fall of Saddam, that an International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) was established to provide independent, international financial oversight of CPA spending. (This board includes representatives from the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jul/07/iraq.features11

[UpInArms]

9. he's probably counting his money in France

http://web.archive.org/web/20040320120812/http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20040318_436.html

French Basques Raid U.S. Iraq Administrator's Home

March 18 (2004) — SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ, France (Reuters) - A group of French Basques Thursday stormed the grounds of the holiday home of Paul Bremer, the U.S. chief administrator in Iraq, to protest against the American-led invasion of the country.

Around 15 members of the left-wing Basque nationalist movement Abertzaleen Batasuna (AB) clambered over the gates and let off fireworks and firecrackers during a 20-minute raid on Bremer's residence in this southwestern town.

"We wanted to symbolize the war the United States imposed on the Iraqi people," said a spokesman for the group who did not want to be identified.

"We wanted to carry out this operation on the holiday home of Paul Bremer because this is where he comes to forget the war in Iraq, and we want to remind him that when he comes here to rest, the bombs continue to fall on the Iraqi people."

...more...

[Demeter]

10. That Must Have Triggered a GI Incident!

Wonder if there is any video?

[acmavm]

4. Do you mean J. Paul Bremer? Now there's a man with a thousand (or

perhaps billion) tales to tell?

[sandnsea]

7. Worked for Bush's cousin's husband

Yes, I've been screaming about that connection for a while.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x95830#96241

[1776Forever]

8. Just sent this to Morning Joe idiots- Ask why they weren't talking about what got us into the mess!

Let's see if they mention it! Yeah right - their too busy talking about the stimulus and how it is going to fail! Joe S talked about Rich's column about cable TV yesterday "calling him out". I wish MSNBC would throw him and Mika out and put David Shuster in!
:rant:

[DemReadingDU]

11. Remember the Inspector General, Stuart Bowen

He has testified several times to tell Congress about the fraud. He was testifying on 2/2/09

2/2/09 Report
U.S. taxpayers have spent almost $51 billion on post-war reconstruction in Iraq. The inspector general for Iraq Reconstruction says much of this money was filtered to contractors with little government oversight, leading to massive fraud and little progress in rebuilding Iraq. Experts warn that the U.S. could be headed for a repeat as it ramps up its operations in Afghanistan.

Waste, fraud and abuse. Those are the words most frequently used by U.S. Inspector General Stuart Bowen to describe the poorly managed reconstruction efforts he investigated in 21 visits to Iraq.

Bowen, who helped author a report titled, "Hard Lessons," testified on Monday before a special bipartisan Senate commission investigating wartime contracting problems.

"The overarching lesson as, I've said, is the United States government had neither the structure nor the resources in place to mount the major contingency relief and reconstruction program it took on in Iraq in mid-2003," said Bowen.

more...
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-02-voa55.cfm

[Usrename]

12. 363 tons of cash

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2006/10/04/its-ok-to-vote-for-foley-florida-elections-officials-say/?p=4583



Mid-2003: A reporter in Iraq stands on a pallet filled with shrink-wrapped bricks of C-Notes


http://www.pensitoreview.com/2006/10/04/its-ok-to-vote-for-foley-florida-elections-officials-say/?p=4583



“Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone?” — Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

[Joanne98]

13. A 'fraud' bigger than Madoff

Senior US soldiers investigated over missing Iraq reconstruction billions

By Patrick Cockburn in Sulaimaniyah, Northern Iraq


In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme.

"I believe the real looting of Iraq after the invasion was by US officials and contractors, and not by people from the slums of Baghdad," said one US businessman active in Iraq since 2003.

In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8m was sent in "pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills" to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money. He is among the few US officials who were in Iraq to be convicted of fraud and money-laundering.

Despite the vast sums expended on rebuilding by the US since 2003, there have been no cranes visible on the Baghdad skyline except those at work building a new US embassy and others rusting beside a half-built giant mosque that Saddam was constructing when he was overthrown. One of the few visible signs of government work on Baghdad's infrastructure is a tireless attention to planting palm trees and flowers in the centre strip between main roads. Those are then dug up and replanted a few months later.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1622987.html

[Uncle Joe]

14. I hope this gets some serious corporate media coverage.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Joanne.