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February 17, 2009

U.S. has humiliated Iraq through fraud

More on rampant American corruption

Proper context from Patrick Cockburn.

A 'fraud' bigger than Madoff
Senior US soldiers investigated over missing Iraq reconstruction billions
By Patrick Cockburn in Sulaimaniyah, Northern Iraq - Monday, 16 February 2009
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. ...

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.
Last year I wondered how the U.S. embassy in Baghdad -- "empire's architecture" -- "doesn't look like a huge insult and provocation to every decent Iraqi."

Posted by The Owl at 15:59. Filed under: Iraq

Comments

Back in 2004, Senator Susan Collins wrote this with respect to the Oil-for-Food program:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo...
"One of the most disturbing aspects of this scandal is its sheer size. While the world may never know exactly how much money was plundered by Saddam Hussein's regime, the Government Accountability Office estimated in July that Saddam amassed more than $10 billion in illegal revenues between 1997 and 2002. That is $10 billion out of a total of $67 billion during that time period. The Subcommittee's estimate, which looks at a longer time frame, is more than $21 billion.

"It is deeply troubling that the UN sanctions could be circumvented by Saddam Hussein on such a massive scale..."

Well, senator, it looks like you had 10x this amount being stolen by the occupation right under your nose. Now is that "deeply troubling" ???

Posted by deepblade on February 17, 2009 at 16:40
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