Paul Bremmer was the primary suspect when it was only around $2 billion
missing from Iraq's reconstruction fund. He was since promoted to
something or other recently. Must have known too much about someone to
have been prosecuted. What's a billion or two in fiat hush money, anyhow?
They say it's to date the biggest Pentagon theft, *_/conveniently
forgetting the $3.3 trillion announced as missing by Dove Zacheim on
Sept. 10/01.
/_***Natalia
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times -* After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered
country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects
in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane
could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They
sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to
Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be
the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing
the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite
years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot
say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash enough to run the Los
Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a
year, among many other things.
For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of
the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error.
Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an
office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be "the
largest theft of funds in national history."
*
then we have the following:
*Business Insider - *In 2007, the amount of money labeled 'wasted' or
'lost' in Iraq -- $11 billion -- could pay 220,000 teachers salaries In
2007, the amount of money labeled 'wasted' or 'lost' in Iraq -- $11
billion -- could pay 220,000 teachers salaries
America's defense spending doubled in the same period that its economy
shrunk from 32 to 23 percent of global output.
The total known land area occupied by U.S. bases and facilities is
15,654 square miles -- bigger than D.C., Massachusetts, and New Jersey
combined.
The Pentagon budget consumes 80% of individual income tax revenue
Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Defense
Department still has more than 40 generals, admirals or civilian
equivalents based in Europe
The amount the government has spent compensating radiation victims of
nuclear testing ($1.5 billion) could fully educate 13,000 American kids
The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on
health, education, welfare, and safety
The U.S. has 5% of the world's population -- but almost 50% of the
world's total military expenditure
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