Once thought lost and now found...$6.6 billion
By Senior National Security Producer Charley Keyes
The mystery of $6 billion that seemed to go missing in the early days of the Iraq war has been resolved, according to a new report.
New evidence shows most of that money, $6.6 billion, did not go astray in that chaotic period, but ended up where it was supposed to be, under the control of the Iraqi government, according to a report from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction or SIGIR.
The report details the transfer of cash from the U.S. to the Central Bank of Iraq. Much of it was originally assets of Iraq, some was part of the Oil for Food program imposed during the regime of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and some was funneled through the United Nations for relief and reconstruction projects, according to the report.
The report focuses on money left over from shipments of more than $10 billion in U.S. currency shipped to Iraq - much of it in shrink-wrapped bricks of hundred dollars bills - and the $6.6 billion remaining when the temporary overseer of Iraq, the Coalitional Provisional Authority, went out of business in the summer of 2004 with the creation of a new Iraqi government.
Earlier, the money had seemed to be missing. The inspector general himself, Stuart Bowen, said flatly in June, "It has not been properly accounted for."
The official accounting had used more bland language. "SIGIR concluded that weaknesses in DoD's financial and management controls left it unable to properly account for and articulate the disposition of remaining DFI (Development Fund for Iraq) funds," a 2010 report said.
But the inspector general's new report says almost all the $6.6 billion was properly handed over to Iraq and its Central Bank. "SIGIR was able to account for the unexpended DFI funds remaining in DFI accounts when the CPA (Coalitional Provisional Authority) dissolved in June 2004," the new report says. "Sufficient evidence exists showing that almost all of the remaining $6.6 billion remaining was transferred to actual and legal CBI (Central Bank of Iraq) control."
While the bulk of the money was transferred to the Central Bank of Iraq, $217 million remained in a vault in a former presidential palace and was held by the U.S. Defense Department and most was doled out for a variety of projects and payrolls, the report says.
"In February 2008, SIGIR conducted a cash count at the palace vault and determined that $24.45 million remained," the report says, pointing out that the Pentagon returned this money to Iraq the next month. Now further SIGIR reports are expected in January 2012 on how the Defense Department used other money for small projects and to pay contractors.
"At the same time, SIGIR will report on about $2.8 billion more in DFI funds used by DoD agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for reconstruction projects provided under a separate agreement executed with Iraq in June 2004," the report says.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
Sure , you found it. How can you lose $ 6 BILLION to begin with ? You are as truthful as our "representatives " in Washington.
Well, they realized that they couldn't use all that cash since the US changed the look of its currency after all that money went missing so they somehow "found" the money.
$6 billion lost and found = $6 billion wasted and then re-printed.
Come on U.S. government, you can't possibly take us ALL for idiots.
They found it fully up Dick Cheney's a-ss.
Great. Last I knew more than $68 billion had been lost. Any accounting for the other $60+ billion? That'd be nice.
I guess its pretty easy to overlook $6 Billion, then Oops, I found it, yeah sure!
Uhhh...no no...we didn't lose it or steal it.....uhhhh......yeah it ended up where it was supposed to....yeah.....thats the ticket
Yeah....uh...we were just....uh....borrowing it.....and we know Haliburton had it all the time.
Bull shi-.............. The Bush/Cheney Crime Family dumped endless amounts of cash on Iraq trying to teach the "love of Money" to those religious zealots so they would be dependant like Israel. It didn't really work there because their religion is stronger than greed.
I knew they'd find the plates! It was a setup by Lynch.
During the Bush years the money was flying out of this country as fast as treasury could print it. They even keep it off the books. It will take most of you, and your kids, the rest of your lives to pay it back. And there are some in this country that worships GW Bush and can't see any wrong in this. Shame! Shame!
cindy, you make a good point about all those billions being kept off the books. They didn't show up until Obama came in, adding to the debt then
Are you that much of a retard? Obama found it....BUSH lost it...and spent it in the first place. Man are you an ignorant SOB.
The recent generation of politicians in the US does not look promissing. Puting Flouride in the water made have been a bad idea.
Obviously, there's a hole in your tin foil hat.
You said a mouthful there....everybody worships these jag....*fs.....but don't realize they set up Haliburton and the likes to reap in those billions and set themselves up as lifetime consultants. It's a racket! We need out of the middle east at all costs...ALL costs. Let them go down on their own and end up eating sand.
Yeah. Then, let's all camp in public park for a month without bathing with our hand out for daddy Obama to paint green. @Grumpydem you try to sound so smart, but you come off as a person with mental problems. Wasting money taking down a brutal murderous dictator is so much worse than paying billions to people to not work. Get a haircut and get a real job hippie.
Money that ends up " where it was supposed to be" IS NEVER DECLARED MISSING IN THE FIRST PLACE ! This story is total BS.
I'm about to jump off a bridge if i'm missing $20. Got to love the Ewe Ess In Aye!!!
Where is all the $12 Billion in shrink-wrapped $100 bills left at a warehouse at the airport? The biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve! In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tons, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover. All was unaccounted for!
Two words: Wire Transfer
We 'think' we lost billions of dollars. Oh, ahh wait a minute, I think no we did not. We "actually" found it something like three years ago, but we're just now deciding to come out and tell you about it. Actually, I have no idea to tell you the truth what happened to the $7 billion dollars, but I figure if I say it's now found people will stop asking about it. Problem now solved. God, I amaze myself how clever I am.
Ok, now whose got the credit card?
Sorry, man....I lost it when I was out with Cheney and porking Condi Rice....I was sooooooo wasted. Sorry again...GW.
Just wait until we leave Iraq/Afghanistan
We may end up spending more than 1.6 Trillion.
There is going to be a blood bath of enormous proportions and the U.S. Will looked upon for leadership.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Please remember all of them and Vote them out .... Don't Forget!
It'll cost much more long term, if you start adding in the 100's of thousands of cases of PTSD. We have an embassy bigger then the Vatican, and that'll cost a pretty penny too. Contractors have milked this cow long enough! Now enter our oil and gas contractors. Though, China will get the oil anyway!
BS!!! Simply put!
Aren't we still paying for all the wars this country been involved in? Was there ever a bill stamped "paid in full" for any of them? In 1943 Pres. Roosevelt sent Congress a bill for 109 billio, 100 billion for war in Europe and Pacific. Is that paid in full???
Yes, that generation paid their bills.
They found it? Good! Now give it back so we can pay to unsnarl the ruin of this country from 8 years of president Cheney and the village idiot.
what about your lame friend, obama the moron?
Uh, It was found under the 'moron's' watch. Typical idiot Rethugnuican.
Anyone that puts MD in their name needs to be whipped. How lame are you?
Lame enough to have a graduate degree. You?
im pretty sure your friend bama spent more in 3 years than bush in 8 and bush didnt give the money to his political friends and buisness that went "bankrupt" shortly after
Thank you James. GW and (heil) Cheney should likely be in jail. GB senior would, but he said he was on the john when they made a deal for arms for hostages. GW and Cheney just decided to send some money over in some briefcases to payola everybody there.....and stuff the pockets of Haliburtons warmonger contractor rebuilding machine. Anyone who says there isn't a rip-off of the US by forcing these wolves upon us hasn't had the luxury of awarding a contract to Haliburton to do so.
Really, you are an MD? Did you go to Columbia by chance? When the truth comes out about the great shaft of the American People and the biggest heist in history (The American Presidency) and it will, where will you be complaining than Mr. MD?
Funny, it took so long for an answer. Even Rumsfeld and Bush's Ambassador to Iraq, who handled the money, didn't know where it went.
This is just to shut down the story.
Just unbelievable, the US won't have a pot to piss in before long, but they still can't shake that image of infinite wealth and the idea that enough money can make anything happen.
Thats because money is the only thing that can make something happen. I meen why do you work so you can get more money.
Of course it takes money to make things happen but along with that you must have good management judgment, and this is where the US government fails miserably. This means you don't throw in with the likes of crooks like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi
Cheney is still scratching his head about the trillions that went missing Sept. 10, 2011
My comment should have read that Cheney is still scratching his head about the trillions that went missing on Sept 10th 2001.
you are still an idiot regardless.
No...he's scratching his nether regions since they're pressed so hard against all the cash stuffed in his pants from this fiasco. We lose billions to Haliburton, who turns around and pays him to hijack the entire republican party and pay to have him lie to the public about his good deeds. Cheney is Hitler, except without the power....yet.
I call finders fee
oh yeah and bush suacks he sucks so bad
We need to understand that during the civil war those idiots in congress were shooting each other over a decision over whether this country would divide over slavery expanding.
Boy ... They called the president a lier to his face during the State of the Union address and signed a letter stating that they would not help him.
Mitch McConnell who I hate ... Said the only thing he wants to do is work to get rid of this president.
If we don't vote them out ... We are voting them in.
Aw gee, it was in the pocket of my other, other jeans
My boots aren't tall enough for this pile of sh*t!
UHM.........
Check Bush, Cheney and the teapulican's backyards, you wil find missing money.
along with your missing brain...
Your intelligence is showing- not one concrete statement made,only name calling. Put some clothes on and go outside.
Check Haliburton's safe....it's all there. Nicely stacked, ready to keep paying off everyone who dare oppose the regime. Compare the current past tactics of the Bush regime ("I will do everything to stay in power" from GB Sr.) to the current flurry of lies from the teabaggers (vaccinations cause retardation) to the absolute assault on our intelligence from the entire right religious wing who's #1 priority is NOT to further America, but just take out their opponent....we 100% do not need the GOP or Teabags in power now. They're a lying sack of excrement.
my neighbor's step-aunt makes $81 an hour on the internet. She has been out of a job for 7 months but last month her pay was $7805 just working on the internet for a few hours. Read about it on this web site CashBrave.çom
Seriously? Go away.
Then go F yourself.
Go away you who re...(sorry...they'll censor me if I spell it right)....go clean the crabs off from between your trailer trash legs.
L. PAUL BREMER not brewer my bad
So when will iraq use their oil sales to pay the US taxpayers back?
you mean when the US start paying Iraq the money they stole and the oil money!!
You know when you stop at a red light and someone comes with a dirty rag and starts wiping your windshield and then demands a dollar for the service? A service you didn't ask for .. do you feel morally obligated to pay? If someone hops over your fence at night and mows your lawn for free and then sends you a bill .. do you feel like you should pay?
I mean why shouldn't you pay? The guy mowed your lawn after all! Right? Now why should the Iraqis pay for a service they didn't ask for?
God bless you
Service? Reminds me of movie named the "Aristorcrats."
When frogs fly out of my butt.
Sounds like you saw the "Aristocrats!"
Actually, even though we wouldn't admit it, we were paying reparations for bombing them into the stone age; and for that turkey shoot from the first gulf war when we killed thousands of retreating Iraqis on their way back from Kuwait; and for encouraging uprising during Bush Sr and then letting Sadaam and sons kill all those we promised to protect. There is a long history of wrongdoing which included propping up Sadaam in the first place to counter our enemy, Iran. Watch the movie Three Kings if you completely missed what kinds of injustices went down last Iraq war and before.
I have some land for you in the Iraqi desert if you believe this. What about the $1 billion in palleted US currency that was stolen from a warehouse? Where's that? Huh?
L. Paul Bremer
How can some say this was Obama's fault when these funds were transferred back in 2004 and he did not become President until 2009? Oh I get it. He was born in 1961 so he was responsible by virture of his existance at the time of the transfer of funds durning the Bush Administration.
Don't you realize that the GOP and Teabags can lie often enough to get people to actually believe their crap? Say it loud and often and people will start to believe you. That's them. Bachman and retardation from vaccinations....just one example. The GOP and Teabags are like Hari Kreeshnas....keep bothering you at the airport until you buy their stupid flowers.
so it took like 7 years even though there was a paper trail to find where it was. amazing sounds a bit cover upi sh.and amazing how our goverment looks down on other peoples governments when people protest but what about occupy movement getting beat down day after day.
L. Paul Brewer is the name of the managerial Misfit that was responsible for 6 biLlion ...
He screwed that up too.
Most of the fools in Washington have no business sense responsibility to protecting our currency. Instead they encourage two wars, run the coutnry into huge debt and print bogus paper money with no worth, over 8 trillion so far and still printing Bush and Obama. Guess what American citizens you are going to be getting the screwing of your life when the financial meltdown comes. Oh, but the politicians mostly want socialism along with the commie news media, and we will be just like in Greece is today, BROKE, good luck Spanky.
where would we be without our government though?
First Obama gets Bin Laden. Next Obama gets Gadhafi. Now Obama finds $6.6 Billion that Bush lost. Seems like an A+ President to me.
You are about as stupid as they come.
Well-worded response, great counterpoints made. As usual, you have nothing....
But not quite as stupid as you.
Cliff, you are in error as Obama cannot be credited with finding the lost billions. Republicans will not allow this President to take credit for anything positive. SORRY....BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.
Right on the mark, Cliff! Of course the repugnicants will always find a way to twist it some other wacky way.
This is just obvious....but the GOP will find a way to twist this to whatever demented vision they have. Here's their example...."Oh...yes....we sh*t on the floor, but we intended on planting a beautiful flower there and it was fertilizer for our future".....seriously, how can anybody believe a word they have to say. OH..sorry...most are extremist Christians who believe our world is 6000 years old too.
What a story! Oh yes it was spent on exactly what it was intended. If I show up at home with $10 missing in my wallet I get grilled (accountable to my wife!). What's a few billion dollars between friends?
And we are now stupid enough to believe. This s____. Well we have bought in to all the other B S
Now isn't that ducky...when it first disappeared the US government said it was 23 billion. And you mean it took ten long years to figure out that it went to the Iraq government. Bull, if any body believes that, we'll see if they'd go overseas and be the Dictator of one of those countries. FREE FREE
Nice finally they found the money, it is so nice and honest that they return it,
This is President Obama's fault wasting American lives, treasure then ruining a sovereign nation!?! Oh wait, wrong President!! When will congress hold a thorough investigation then prosecute the fools for orchestrating the worse foreign policy disaster in “American History”... Unbelievable!!
You seriously consider the Iraq war to be a more catastrophic foreign policy mistake than Vietnam, involvement in WWI, or Isolationism in the late 30's?
As a Viet Vet, yes I believe Iraq was a bigger lie! We were fed a diet of fearing communism for a long time before Vietnam.
We had school drills to get under our desks in the 50's, because of a nuclear war. Which was ignorant enough, but the Soviets had many WMD's. Iraq had nothing and no connection to 9/11. WW1 and WW2 were different, because with the latter there was a clear and present danger. It's true, Vietnam was useless. But, consider the era and how news was distributed. With Iraq, it was all lies. The main party that perpetrated it, are now saying we're cutting and running! Really!
You've got us there. I was in the service in Vietnam. Long after the war was over I remember McNamara admitting that the Vietnam war was a mistake. What makes IRAQ such a huge mistake is that, after Vietnam, the US should have know better. But, no somebody had to pay for what happened on 9-11. It would be far to humiliating to believe that a hand full of terrorists, trained to fly in the US, brought down the Trade Towers with our own planes. Could we have been that vulnerable? No! We needed a bigger enemy, and we found one in IRAQ. That is the real tragedy.
Idiot – it was not Obama that got us into that war. All he has tried to do is clean up the mess and terrible administration decisons Bush and Cheney made which ran America off the cliff financially, economically, and world prestige.
He was being sarcastic.
(Ops – sorry Martin – misread your post. Apply my response instead to the "fools" that did in fact get us into that mess as you suggest)
Yeah – got that "Lone" – see my apology posted before I saw your admonition 🙂
Seriously, the government & CNN are full of it. 6 billion to save every other country but our own. Way to go U.S. gov...YOU SUCK!
Uh, it wasn't our money. It was seized assets and money rightfully owed to the legitimate Iraqi government. Please stop being ignorant. You make the few of us with intelligence look bad.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA thank you sooo much CNN for the best laugh I have had in years. A Gov't agency says another Gov't agency did not lose 6 Billion $$$. And "We The People" should just believe this?? Read my lips.... "It's freakin Bullspit"!!!
...you know, people would take you tea partiers a little more seriously if you only took a moment to think before you spoke. Waving the flag or brandishing a copy of our Constitution doesn't magically make your opinion correct (no matter what Fox may claim).
Remember after we swallowed the lack of WMD's pill, we were told that Iraqi oil will be used to reimburse us for the war? Now we have the nerve to press the Libyan's the day they're liberated from their dictator, when are you going to pay the $1.2 billion we spent helping you. But, what's 800 times that amount. The long-term blow-back, will be 10 times that. And why, because W's daddy was threatened! That cost 4500 US lives, 30,000 injured, and 150,000 Iraqi's. The GOP now says, we're cutting and running. As a Viet Vet, I wish we cut and ran 10 years before '75! I would never been injured and 50,000+ serviceman would've lived to see another day. Oh well, we're just peons!
That's why I and other guys in the service were out protesting the Vietnam Lie. And finally in 1971 Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers showed exactly that the whole entire Vietnam situation was a lie from the start. All the intelligence said at no time would we ever be winning that war and there was no scenario that would ever allow us to ultimately win that war. And you're right. We should have cut and run from Vietnam back before Tet.
...Could someone tell me WHAT happened to the millions found with Saddam in the hole. Who got that money and where is it. No...the OIL money, their OIL money didn't pay for anything...The American tax payers are Paying for this war and will be for DECADES and DECADES.
Cut and run is what the new GOPTEA are screaming? Do you think any of them looked to see who set that agenda? Bush did, it was announced the day that journalist threw his shoes at him. Maybe that's why they don't remember. Obama wouldn't agree to leave any troops there that the Iraqi's could use as target practice for there new firing squads. Iraq want to hold US troop responsible in civil courts for any actions they take in a combat situation in there country. Oh and what did happen to the Iraq's going to pay us back for liberating them? Just another Bush administration lie I guess.
Just to clear up a few details here.
We are leaving over 8,000 troops in the 1 BILLION dollar Embassy that we built with taxpayer money!
We are leaving over 2,000 PRIVATE SECURITY PERSONNEL (Think mercenaries) at taxpayer expense.
In addition, we are leaving over 2 BILLION dollars in equipment and camps, all paid for with taxpayer money.
So, let us NOT believe the more lies from our government that ALL the TROOPS are coming HOME for the HOLIDAYS!
Here is the real shocker: Our government lies to us all the time and in that sense, it really makes no difference if we have a D or an R in the White House!
Just like my dear old mother used to say: "Dammit, if it ain't always in the last place you look." I always thought that was sort of strange, since where else would it be? Once you find it, you stop looking.
$6 BILLION DOLLARS! INCREDIBLE.
President Obama conducted the entire war in Libya for less than the missing loose change in Iraq !!
The whole Libya operation only cost about 6 billion compared to trillions spent on Iraq.
.
And not a single American boot was on the ground in Libya and not a single American was killed or injured in Libya.
.
Keep drinking the Kool-Aid fools... All the way to the Poorhouse
bird, that would be the GOP poorhouse.
If you exclude Special Ops, Contractors and CIA boots then yes, not a single American boot was on the ground in Libya...
I guess you don't bother counting the thousands of CIA people we had throughout Libya, huh?
A good auditor can be invaluable.
A page out of Enron's Guide for Managers?
The absolutely, most difficult thing about all this, is that we have no guarantee that losing billions of dollars as a freebie give-away isn't going on now and won't happen again. Someone said VOTE them OUT? Sure...leading Republican candidates offer little confidence that they can take us out of this mess. Obama prints more money to buy us in greater deat. Where is a strong leader when we need one? Anyone? Anyone?
When I hear someone say "pringing money", I know I'm hearing crazy.
Well, we have Perry! Who can't say height! Hey genius, Height, and not heighth, is considered the standard English form for this word. I hear mindless dopes locally say that quite often. But, I live in the adjoining state!
Wow Tex, just because you want to get rid of your governor does not mean the rest of want him. If you look at history, I know it's tough but look, Bush left this mess. He made sure his buddies got the first bailout and screwed the average American. Obama has made the tough choices and is trying to help average Americans. You call it "printing more money", do you realize how stupid you sound saying that? I know, why don't you join the secession movement and get the flock out of the USA.
I would have thought it went to buying more of obama's autobiographies
It cost the government 6.8 billion to research what happened to the missing 6.7 billion.
*** My vote for favorite comment of the week ***
What are you talking about?
and what did the Iraqi government do with the money?
They bought millions of Michael Jackson DVDs and a football stadium.
"Doled out for payroll"... How warm and fuzzy – who can object to someone getting paid their "payroll". The term implies that some work was actually done. Everyone loves "payroll". Look it up – the Iraq dictionary defines "payroll" as "bribe".
It was Blackwater payroll.
ONCE AGAIN – Nice wasting of tax money GOP War Hawks.
I don't think the majority of the Iraqi people think ousting Saddam Hussein was a waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars, genius.
You're asking the wrong group. Ask the group who had to pay for the war, genius.
I think that you may be offside here. Its nice taht Saddam is gone, but we did pay a lot to get him out to replace him with a government that is, well, problematic. I'm not sure Iraq today is what you'd call "happy and trouble-free".
The point here is what we did *after* ousting Saddam. After all, if we merely ousted him, we'd be out of Iraq for over half a decade, and we'd all be happy.
If you want, feel free to use your favorite litmus test–go ahead and ask Iraqis how happy they are that we're still in their country.
Next time use the IRS to manage it. They have never lost track of one penny that I owed them. Pitty we didn't send the lot of them to IRAQ.
The IRS just colllects your money. Then they hand the money over to the people who know how to spend it.
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
Sorry that they are a pain for you...But it does seem like they are doing a good job these, days, doesn't it?
Now that depends on your point of view of "good." The devil is "good" at what she does.
What a f**king waste of time, money, and lives.
True, but you cannot say f***king on this sh33t pile of a website.
Stop hating on CNN's website. You're not only on it, but commenting on the boards aren't you!?! Dumba$$
The Iraqi people and all of Iraq's neighbors disagree with you.
Yeah...I'm not sure that's true, bud.
...which doesn't include the US.
Alright, let's try this then–why don't you persuade them to fund our presence in Iraq–or better yet, replace our military presence with theirs? After all, if they loved his removal so much, surely they'd be willing to help support the new government?
Yea and I believe in santa
Uh huh...and they expect us to buy that?
Coming headline: Corrupt idiots in Washington destroy a once great nation
They are not idiots, they know what they are doing: destroying.
Ok, so we found that it wasn't lost and did go to the Iraqi Gov't. Now that you have your Democracy can we have our 6.6 Billion Dollars back or 6.6 Billions Dollars of oil shipped to the USA a.s.a.p free of delivery charges. Thank you.
It was their money in the first place.
Reading comprehension levels around here are weak.
Ummhhh...No, it was a variety of different sources–It wasn't all "their money". Read the article. The article doesn'l list the dollar value of each source, but makes clear that the funds came from multiple sources.
Some might call it a start at reparation after an unjustified war.
What a pile of $h33t
time for a new American revolution, the founding father's would definitely approve of sweeping this government clean and starting from scratch
Yes, but, Americans not up for that... the most courage these sheep can muster is to sit in a park: OWS!
Sheeps bent over waiting for the government to do it to them again...
well what do ya know? what a splendid little war.
This is far from being the whole or even part of the story. There was huge pallets loaded with American money in shrink wrap, to the tune of $12 billion (that we were told) missing from a warehouse at Baghdad airport. We've already moved on, and we are losing $2 billion a week nation building in Afghanistan. This is only 1% of what we lost in Iraq, and a new round of hemorrhaging has just begun. As we sell off equipment in Iraq, for pennies on the dollar and abandon dozens of bases and airstrips. Think of how many lives of uninsured Americans it could've saved, or foreclosures here at home!
Seems like we'll never be finished straightening out all this crap that Bush/Cheney left us. Thanks guys, so much!
So when won't it be Bush's fault? Give us an exact date so we know when we can blame obama for our current mess... I would guess he will get as much time for blame as Bush did right?
Exact Date: One day after the end of eternity...
Well Brian, in this case (staying on topic since you cannot) it will always be on the heads of the Bush administration and the others before it who set up Hussein in the first place. The longest conflict in US history that was instigated and pursued for false reasons. It also accelerated the rapid degradation of the US identity in the eyes and all within the majority of the Bush presidency. That isn't enough to keep the blame in the right place?
*in the eyes of the world...
No wonder they couldnt find it, They never thought it would go where it was supposed to. LOL
Whatever. I don't believe a bit of it.
no kidding, what a pantload, can you imagine how much 6 billion even is, it was donated directly to fund the enemy
Sickening, just sickening.
Now Obama is finding the money Bush/Republicans lost. It may take a while to fix all the things Republicans destroyed since 2000, but Obama has things moving in the right direction.
You are kidding, right?
Youre black arent you?
Racist Kool Aid Drinker!
he trying but the the neocons wont let him do anything. they are the the problem with this country period. I hope they run cain. go ahead you idiots.
MoveOn.org should focus on helping idiots like you figure out that the Bush / Cheney era is over and using them as an perpetual excuse / scapegoat for Obama's failures as a president isn't doing him or the Democratic Party any favors. Even if it were true that all of our problems are directly and exclusively due to Bush / Cheney, the fact remains that all of the B/S rhetoric of "Yes We Can!" has been an epic failure. I can picture the lot of you Bush / Cheney haters sitting around in a nursing home decades from now pinning all of your personal failures and life problems on Bush / Cheney. Pathetic! Live in the moment, do something constructive, and stop living in the past.
Is "live in the moment" the new rationale for Republican ideology on natural resource exploitation?
I don't know whether to believe this story or not.
Let me clear it up for you, You are an idiot.
Good cover up there! – I am seriously tired of our government. What a bunch of corrupt buffoons.
So, ten years later, an audit done by the same group handing out the money tells us that it all went to the right place? WHAT A CROCK OF SH*T. We throw people in jail for stealing a loaf of bread at home, but key government employees and contractors have made BILLIONS illegally from the war effort. Some of was stolen outright, some of it was obtained by fraudulent billing, and some paid in bribes and payola. This makes me sick.
Payola? I didn't know we were bribing Iraq for airtime on their radio stations.
So for 4 years it was unaccounted for and when news of that breaks out, a few months later we get: Oh! Wait, here it is! Nothing to worry about!
BS!
Nit to worry, Odumwa is having the troops bring the $$$ back and it will go into his failing re-election fund!
We have a winner. The first anti-Obama troll of the day gets a free gift cannister with one of Sarah Palin's f@rts lovingly compressed within; CONGRATULATIONS!
Maybe it should go towards an English class for you.
good one
he dosent need it wingnut
i really think that after almost four yrs. that the new aka bama admin had these republican creeps in fort leavenworth kanas in solitary confinment for the rest of their so called lifes for what theyve done to the people of the world and esp the u.s.
bush and his crew cant even leave the country because they would be arrested. why in hell are we protecting the morons.
Wrong! They have been to Canada at least twice and they refuse to arrest them!
They want the XL oil pipeline from Canada to TEXAS more than they want to do the RIGHT THINK!
Why do you think President Oblahma talked so much about revisiting NAFTA and changing NAFTA during his campaign; once he got elected, we never heard that tune again!
No doubt there are a couple of retired 3 and 4 star generals living nicely about now.
Sgt Bilko lives on.
true true
They found it in the washing machine, along with a small pile of sand in the bottom of the basket.
Popular consensus is that someone isn't telling ALL the truth here!?! I for one am shocked and awed!
In Government lingo thats called covering your ass (CYA). I have a bridge I'd like to sell you too!
HEY awesome. It's like when you find a $20 bill in your dirty jeans.
how much do you wanna bet Bush would've just thrown them into the washer without checking the pockets?
Bush/Obama. What difference does it make? All govt needs a giant enema.....
The only problem is we are the ones that the enema projectile will be pointed at. We have met the enema and it is us.
I find the math to be a little fuzzy. Maybe a paper trail of the tranfer has been discovered, but where is the money? What was it spent on? I know who was left holding the bag...
People living in tents in this country, and billions in cash sent to Iraq. How damned stupid. Bush should be in prison for all the damage he did to this country. He can't even leave this country, for fear of being charged with war crimes. Just because he wasn't charged with war crimes by this country, doesn't mean he got away with it in other countries. Having the CIA pick up citizens of other countries and taking them to Guantanamo, when they had done nothing to do with 9/11, is still costing us in lawsuits. Oh yeah, I almost forgot Cheney.
doesn't make me feel better
IIt sounds like a made up report to me. BTW doesn't that mean that Iraq can now afford to defend itself?
This is great, now only $2 trillion of waste left to find.
I say we send a bill to GWB, Rumsfeld, and Acting President Chaney.
if you believe this article i have a bridge that i want to sell you
It was wedged behind the cushions of Saddam's couch along with the missing remote and some stale nacho chip crumbs.
Hidden under the sofa cushions along side a Chinese bootleg VHS of "Scarface".
This money should have been given back to the US AMERICAN Tax Payers. I'm here in California paying my taxes and living paycheck to paycheck and I have nobody helping me. So now I hear we gave IRAQ over 6 billion dollars that was not properly tracked, that is so unfair, I work hard and I don't have nothing to show for it. Not fair at all. Why do I have to help the IRAQ people. How about IRAQ give me some money. I scratch your back and you scratch mine. My financial life is falling apart and I im scared that within the next year I'll be homeless.
You're getting it back trust me – everytime you fill up whatever inefficient car you own, you get some of it back.
That doesn't make sense in any way WHATSOEVER consider that the oil is still being purchased at OPEC prices. Iraq doesn't even export as much oil to us as Nigeria.
Move to a state where COL is cheaper, and you will see many of your "financial problems" dissolve...Just sayin...
coal....... Just saying
But, while homeless you will be warmed by the realization that somewhere in Iraq a young girl can finally dress like a slut while her boyfriend watches porno, thanks to your financial sacrifice, making the world more democratic.
Only in your dreams would ANY country give back ANY amount of money to the U.S. Govt. and even if they did, the U.S. Govt wouldn't give any of it back to us, they would pocket it for themselves.
Wasn't the original amount $40 billion? In the end it doesn't matter. All of the crooks in our government know the loopholes and they look for ways to steal and line their pockets with money and power. We have no chance of ever finding out the real truth. Our government needs a cleansing. Period.
All the money spent in Iraq...was lost...even worse...it destroyed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens and left a huge scar on our military. I cannot believe Bush is 'free' to throw out balls at ballgames....
Amen to that.
I suspect many would like to throw George Bush's balls out.
Cheney and Rumsfeld should be standing tall before the Hague. Bush is retarded, he shouldn't be prosecuted, that wouldn't be right.
Seriously, can't the GOP pin this on Obama somehow?
The 1st word in your blog, look at it . now look in the mirror. now laugh
Thanks for cflearing that up. Now can I watch you pull a rabbit out of your hat. Quit making up crap.
Anybody buying this smoke and mirrors tap dance 7 years after the fact......I don't think so!
To do otherwise, especially without any evidence beyond your own personal doubts (based around naivety more than anything else), would be a bit idiotic...
@tkessler45... tisk, tisk, tisk... I expected so much more from you after I read your other comments. How can you say such drivel. Do you actually believe EVERYTHING our government tells us? Please say it isn't so!
I was hoping this would say they found it in a paper bag on the side of the road.
If it went where it was supposed to go, why couldn't they find it sooner ?
CoughBSCoughBS.
and why are Iraqi people still struggling to have running electricity & water?
Yes, you would think that, after all the reconstruction money spent in Iraq, their electrical power and water systems (which we blew to hell by the way at the very beginning of the war) would be working just fine by now. After 8 or 9 years our design/construction companies seem to just have spent a lot of money for very little. Sad. But what else is new when it comes to wartime spending.
Because Obama is trying to get re-elected, and the missing money may make him look less than capable. I love the line about Obama sending 'some' lucky people personal checks. That one is almost as good as an easter bunny putting candy and eggs in my basket ...
I'm sorry–did they say $6 billion lost in Iraq?
Now if that's not irresponsible, I don't know what is.
At least somebody found it before it could end up in Halliburton's coffers. They and Blackwater seem to be the major profiteers from this war.
cheney is the main culprit in this mess reaLIZED IT
WAS PAYBACK OR ELSE
Well, in hindsight, thats one more thing that Bush's Administration didn't do completely wrong.
I beg to differ. That is one more thing Bush didn't do right
Bush admin had nothing to do with this?
Read the story , it was the Coalitional Provisional Authority that did the transfer.
So the inherited mess that Obama got isn't bush fault, the 7 yrs we misplaced 6.6 billion wasn't his fault. We should re-elect him nothing his his fault. I must of had a bad dream and thought my 401K tanked, my house wasn't worth squat and I was able to pay all my healthc care bills. Glad that didn't happen
Come on, gang! Bush was faced with 9-11, which he handled very well. 9-11 would not have happended if a little bit of spine had been shown in how Cinton reacted to all of the terrorist actions against U.S. assets while he was president.
Its both those idiots fault. Bush and Obama. We need more freedom and less government. Fucking retards you are. The goverment is spending money on HGH, babseball steroids, college football playoffs and canadian war claims. Who is blind? We the citizens are. We voted them in and we allow them to screw us. STFU and do something about it or quit trolling on the net.
Bam, you tell 'em, but don't have a freaking heart attack
Absolutely ridiculous!! People of your ilk make such idiotic statements “We need more freedom and less government.” If you haven’t noticed we’re a nation of laws which govern our freedoms… So keep reciting your talking points!!
Tell us how you REALLY feel.