Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds

PsychoSword,

You missed my point. "We" know exactly where the 8.8 billion went, in the sense that we know which ministries we 'gave' it (gave it back to is more appropriate) to. Once the Iraq government got it is where the problem arises. They had no way to definitively track it, and we sure didn't. Should we have waited a couple of years until they/we did?

Now, there is a large portion of the 8.8 billion I can show you, as I know where at least some of it went, and there are physical results I can have you touch. "Steel in the ground' is the term my industry uses. Real stuff, doing real things, in real locations in Iraq. But that's not what the IG was tasked to look for. They (he) used 'standard accounting practice' as the guide. Ambassador Bremer has publicly admitted that this was not done. For some darn good reasons, too. Now, some who were there were crazy enough to have pleaded, cajoled, demanded, and begged to go out and do the 'due diligence' that the IG would have wanted. Ambassador Bremer and his direct subordinates preferred not to let us get killed taking undue risks, but did when it was 'relatively' safe. I like Ambassador Bremer. So does my wife, although she has never met him. He really is a good guy. Sorry if you don't agree, but without his (and others*) more reasoned approach, I might not be here to tell you this. Oh well. ;)

*There are several people I met there who I repsect immensely, and would literally charge across the river Styx for. I really like Marines, and Marine General Officers in particular. Tough words for an ex-squid to utter, but true.
 
Once the Iraq government got it is where the problem arises. They had no way to track it, and we sure didn't. Now, there is a large portion of the 8.8 billion I can show you,
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Yes, you see how perfect that is. Official government line;

"They nor we had any way to track 9 billion dollars. We were releasing the money to help stage the elections (or insert reason here). There were no rules in place because we knew we could get away with it and that you would either be too dumb, apathetic or brainwashed to care. Also pencils and paper have not yet been invented, water is not wet and the moon is made of green cheese." - .gov
 
PsychoSword,

Yes, you see how perfect that is. Official government line;
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I'm trying to not get banned off this board, but that is the emission from the south end of a north bound bull. I'm no lackey. I owe these people nothing but my own continued existence, but I don't lie.

You just can't admit the truth. Wake up, son, and smell the coffee. Be a man, and admit you are full of crap on this issue. I'm telling you what I saw, and did, and know to be true. Don't imply, insinuate, or blatantly tell me I'm lying, or tell me I am 'parroting' the frigging party line.
 
It's absurd how incompetent this admin can be. Gawd knows how many fatcats are retiring from a chunk of that unaccounted-for largess, whilst meanwhile we're working 5 of 12 months a year in overtime to pay the tax bill for a baseless war. Outrageous. The more the CPA has to spend, the less we have to make up for with our money for this rebuilding process.
 
NO trapshooter, I'm not saying you're lieing! Not at all. I'm just saying that you bought into the official line.

So far as the "Gave it back to", yes I totally agree that's what happened. But it this case gave it back to whom? You know the ministries where it went to or at least some of them. Nobody knows where the money went.
 
FirstFreedom,

Listen, dillweed, no one from this country took any of that money , in my experience or to my knowledge. Apparently, stupidity is contagious. Screw that. I like to be on this board, but you nimrods are beyond the pale. Sorry folks. If I get booted, it's been fun, but I have a limit. People have died to do what needed to be done, and I won't tolerate ignorant pissants telling me they were just tools of a bunch of money-grubbing fatcats. That is not honorable, and my continued allowance to speak here isn't worth letting that sacrifice be belittled by this bs.
 
FirstFreedom,

Listen, dillweed, no one from this country took any of that money , in my experience or to my knowledge.
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So then why didn't the government consult you to answer questions at the press conference? Since you're so knowledgable about where all the money went??

Apparently, stupidity is contagious. Screw that. I like to be on this board, but you nimrods are beyond the pale. Sorry folks. If I get booted, it's been fun, but I have a limit. People have died to do what needed to be done, and I won't tolerate ignorant pissants telling me they were just tools of a bunch of money-grubbing fatcats. That is not honorable, and my continued allowance to speak here isn't worth letting that sacrifice be belittled by this bs.
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They weren't? :confused: I think the most dishonorable thing to do is to not tell the truth about the whole thing. That's the whole doublethink. If you're for the soldiers and want them the hell out of that stinkhole that we have no business being in then you're against the soldiers. :rolleyes: If you want them to have good armor, you're an evil liberal who's against the soldiers, if you want them to have good medical care when they're wounded and sick you're against the soldiers. :rolleyes:

Nobody is going to ban you and nobody wants to see you banned so there's no reason to be melodramatic.
 
trapshooter - don't let them get you down. I've been waiting for the following transcript to appear. I think it is a reasonable explaination from a good man, who knows what was going on.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,146055,00.html

HUME: There’s a new audit out of money spent by the Coalition Provisional Authority. And it says that in some areas, very large sums of money were turned over with nothing like proper restraints, proper ordinary procedures to Iraqi ministries. That there was corruption that money got spread around in ways that we can’t account for. What about that?

BREMER: Well, you know, I’ve read the report, of course. And I guess there’s a different of perspective. You have a couple of accountants looking at spreadsheets here in Washington; I was in Baghdad with a war and an economy that was flat on its back.

I was hearing from our military commanders and from the Iraqi people from the day I arrived, we got to get the money out through the ministries and into the hands of the Iraqi people to start the economy up. The auditors would have had us wait to do that until we had Western style auditing procedures in place. That’s just silly. We couldn’t wait.

Secondly, they wanted us basically to put an army of American auditors in each of the ministries to follow every single dime all way down. This is contrary to the whole strategy of letting the Iraqis be responsible for their country.
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Psycho - the problem with you, and people like you, is that you only believe your version of the "truth" is THE TRUTH. Don't pass off your opinions as the truth, and the only possible truth of the matter. It's just your P.O.V.

President Bush said the following:

I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm. A campaign on the harsh terrain of a nation as large as California could be longer and more difficult than some predict. And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment.

We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.

I know that the families of our military are praying that all those who serve will return safely and soon. Millions of Americans are praying with you for the safety of your loved ones and for the protection of the innocent. For your sacrifice, you have the gratitude and respect of the American people. And you can know that our forces will be coming home as soon as their work is done.
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President Bush, his administration, the fine men and women of our Armed Forces, and our allies, have been doing their best to live true to these words.
 
HUME: There’s a new audit out of money spent by the Coalition Provisional Authority. And it says that in some areas, very large sums of money were turned over with nothing like proper restraints, proper ordinary procedures to Iraqi ministries. That there was corruption that money got spread around in ways that we can’t account for. What about that?

BREMER: Well, you know, I’ve read the report, of course. And I guess there’s a different of perspective. You have a couple of accountants looking at spreadsheets here in Washington; I was in Baghdad with a war and an economy that was flat on its back.
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Avoid the question, blame others.

I was hearing from our military commanders and from the Iraqi people from the day I arrived, we got to get the money out through the ministries and into the hands of the Iraqi people to start the economy up. The auditors would have had us wait to do that until we had Western style auditing procedures in place. That’s just silly. We couldn’t wait.
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Avoid the question, blame others.

Secondly, they wanted us basically to put an army of American auditors in each of the ministries to follow every single dime all way down. This is contrary to the whole strategy of letting the Iraqis be responsible for their country.
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Avoid the question, blame others. Charge that people who would like to know where the 9 BILLION dollars went are unsupportive of the Iraqi people.
 
Hey trapshooter, I didn't say the war was a tool to accomplish the end of lining people's pockets - I never said that and don't believe it. That would entail a malicious intent. What I did say is what is precisely true, and that is that there was some severe incompetence and negligence on the part of this admin, to throw billions of dollars of CPA money into a hole, where there's no accountability for it, which has the effect of lining people's pockets for doing nothing. AND, I also said that every dollar not saved by the CPA is another dollar WE the taxpayers have to pony up, and that is accurate. It's bad enough that our young uns have gotten slaughtered for a baseless war; we have to waste billions of dollars as well? Forum violations aside, you put words in my mouth, make no sense, and have not refuted anything I have said. If you'd ever run a business, you'd know the importance of accounting controls over money. Pay CLOSE attention to Psychosword - the man speaks wisely.
 
This is contrary to the whole strategy of letting the Iraqis be responsible for their country.
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Right; like they get to "choose" their national monetary system, what currency they adopt, which reserve currency, who they trade with, and which banks they run their money through on international transactions? ;)

Just another client state with the mere trappings of a free country exercizing "self-determination".

No wonder someones' been siphoning off their money for other things. Nothing new under the sun eh Mr Bremer - but you can't say that right?
 
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