Conquer & Plunder follows Shock & Awe: Z. Toufe

[teryang]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0625-02.htm

Published on Friday, June 25, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
We Have Always Spent Iraqi Money on That: Conquer and Plunder Follows "Shock and Awe"
by Zeynep Toufe

<The cost of Iraq’s reconstruction and the practice of awarding large contracts to big corporations with close ties to the administration, such as Halliburton, have been repeatedly criticized over the past year. Recent news reports, however, indicate the truth is even worse.>

Unbelievable corruption! What will the administration do with the 18 billion in Iraqi reconstruction funds that haven't been spent? What did they do with the 20 billion in Iraqi funds that they did spend?

[bemildred]

1. Well! I'm shocked, shocked I tell you ...

To think that our government would deliberately waste money,
bankrupting the country in the process, for political gain.
:puke:

[teryang]

2. Waste or conversion?

I think that much of the money is being stolen. In any case 18 billion couldn't possibly be spent in remaining months of the fiscal year for the appropriated purpose. My prediction is that fiscal year intergrity will be violated and that the money will be stolen by January 20, 2005.

I've contacted some political offices who might be interested but the rate of the corruption is outpacing anyone's effort to account for it. In fact, there is no institution right now that can or will do anything about it.

[bemildred]

3. One mans waste is another man's well earned salary.

Ask Kenny Lay.

"Government accounting" is an oxymoron, but I expect that numbers
will be written on paper somewhere to "account" for it all, or
most of it, perhaps, give or take a few trillion.

The waste part comes in by way of the fact that nothing useful will
be done or produced in terms of the welfare of the American or
Iraqi peoples.

[struggle4progress]

4. I'd bet they don't keep good records.

There was a NYT article a month or two ago that discussed CPA cash handouts to Iraqis, noting that no records were being kept. When push comes to shove, we'll be told nice stories about how we paid (completely undocumented) sums to Iraqis whose families we had killed.

[struggle4progress]

5. On reflection: Bet we could have 100 nice GAO investigations into this!

[bemildred]

6. Believe me, I have done the writing down of numbers on paper,

and it is done at some later time and on the basis of fuzzy
recollection, and in such a way as to make the numbers all
add up. In the case of myself, I was not the guy in charge
at the time the money was spent, I was just cleaning up the
books, so to speak. This is far more common than you might
think. I should make it clear that I was not cheating or lying,
I was just reconstructing as best I could to meet certain
reporting standards.

[struggle4progress]

7. I don't think it's so common at this grand scale. People WILL disapprove.

[bemildred]

8. I don't think it's commonly this blatant at this grand scale.

The Pentagon (Dumbsfeld) has admitted that it can't find
trillions (with a "t").

[struggle4progress]

9. The government also allegely has accounting standards, ...

... and complaining of federal waste seems to have contributed to many successful political careers. So while people might be inclined initially to be understanding, I'd hope that this issue might contribute nicely to the overall mix: "Incompetent? Or Corrupt? Or Both? How Blatant Does It Need to Be Before America Says Enough?"

[teryang]

10. BBC is reporting missing Iraqi funds

<But, according to the Lib Dems, there is a shortfall of up to $3.7bn (£2.03bn) between the amount of oil revenue earned and the money paid into the DFI by the CPA.

Iraq's oil resources generate billions of dollars each year and both studies insist it is not known how that money has been spent.

Helen Collinson, from Christian Aid, said: "For the entire year that the CPA has been in power in Iraq it has been impossible to tell with any accuracy what the CPA has been doing with Iraq's money." >

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3844425.stm