US Officials claim Sryia is hiding $3B of Iraq's cash......(Time Magazine)

[cthrumatrix]

Saddam's Syrian Stash
Investigators think they've found some of Hussein's loot. Is the money funding terrorist attacks
By ADAM ZAGORIN



Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003
Since the fall of Baghdad in April, American officials have scoured the globe in search of Saddam Hussein's legendary fortune. Now they think they have found a big chunk. According to a U.S. estimate, as much as $3 billion in Iraqi assets is sitting in Syrian government- controlled banks, a senior U.S. official tells Time, and Washington is anxious to determine that the money is not funding violence against Americans in Iraq, or being drawn down by regime officials and supporters.

For months the U.S. has quietly insisted that Damascus give up the funds. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in May and made that unpublicized demand. Top Syrian officials have been given the names of at least two suspect banks and provided with account numbers.

Syria's private response—that unspecified accounts were being frozen—was judged woefully inadequate. Publicly, Syria denies there is any Iraqi money in the country. But just over two weeks ago, the U.S. sent two American financial experts and two representatives of the Iraqi Central Bank to Syria to comb through records. U.S. officials now assert that Damascus has given them only "limited cooperation."
snip

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031020-517697,00.html

Gee....how convenient. PNAC working all angles.

[KG]

1. here's hoping syria continues to give the US the finger on this issue.

by what right does the US lay claim to this money?

[onebigbadwulf]

3. You know...

Looting and plundering.....the spoils of war!!! TAKE THEIR MONEY AND THEIR OIL! WoooooOooooooooooo!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. NOBODY believes anything from that this admin official's claim anymore

they have ZERO credibility

[burrowowl]

4. Hmmm!

about 3 weeks of occupation, maybe less if all the costs were known.
PNACs really scrapping the barrel.
Maybe it is Chalibis' ill-gotten money.

[cosmicdot]

5. how much of what we found are we hiding ... and, where's the gold??

still waiting for someone to call for an audit and the found beaucoup bucks' serial numbers so we can some how some way trace that money