Pentagon can’t account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi funds
July 28, 2010
LA Times
7/26/2010
The Defense Department is unable to properly account for $8.7 billion out of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil revenue entrusted to it between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping during the war.
Of that amount, the military failed to provide any records at all for $2.6 billion in purported reconstruction expenditure, says the report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which is responsible for monitoring U.S. spending in Iraq. The rest of the money was not properly deposited in special accounts as required under Treasury Department rules, making it difficult to trace how it was spent.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Advertisement
2 Comments
leave one →
Harold
this is FUNNY, and DAMN sad.
The shortage of approx. $8.7 billion was publicized in British papers in 2007. The Bush II Government had no clear explanation how over $8 billion dollars of Iraq Oil Revenues disappeared from its U.S. Government bank account, revenues earmarked for rebuilding Iraq’s infra structure. The single accountant in charge of financial records did not have a second set of books; some of the books were lost and many computer files were reported accidentally deleted. The U.S. Government allowed hundreds of accounting irregularities to continue until approx. $8 billion was gone. The disappearance of the $billions was discovered by a UK charitable organization. For years U.S. Government did nothing to set up a transparent financial management system to account for Iraq’s oil revenues. After the U.S. occupation, trucks and oil tankers removed huge amounts of oil from Iraq while no flow meters were operating, that created a heyday for thieves. Oil flow monitoring systems are not complicated and relatively easy to install. Did the FBI investigate this loss of $8.7 Billion. If Yes, what did their report say?