The Director of Management and Budget for the Coalition Provisional Authority, who said at Waxman's hearings that the disappeared coalition billions in Iraq weren't important, because it was Iraqi money, so what the hell?
Brownie of Iraq
February 06, 2007 10:00 AM
"PAUL BREMER, THE "BROWNIE" OF THE CPA
when new orleans was drowning during katrina, president bush turned to FEMA's michael brown and said, "heckuva job, brownie." when PAUL BREMER, the head of the U.S. RUN COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY, the CPA, came back to washington, bush welcomed him as a hero and held an elaborate white house ceremony to hang the PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM around his neck.
-snip
on page 17 of the memo is an interesting exchange between retired admiral DAVID OLIVER, BREMER'S PRINCIPAL DEPUTY for financial matters and investigators who were trying to find out what happened to the $8.8 BILLION in DFI funds.
OLIVER: i have no idea, i can't tell you whether or not the money went to the right things or didn't---NOR DO I ACTUALLY THINK IT IS IMPORTANT.
QUESTION: not important?
OLIVER: no. the coalition---and i think it was between 300 and 600 people, civilians---and you want to bring 3,000 auditors to make sure money's being spent?
QUESTION: yes, but the fact is billions of dollars have disappeared without a trace...
OLIVER: OF THEIR MONEY. BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF THEIR MONEY, yeah i understand, I'M SAYING WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?...
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicsasusual/2007/02/brownie_of_iraq.htmlOh well, I don't imagine Edwards will be appointing him Secretary of Treasury or, God forbid, FEMA :hi:
How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish
The US flew nearly $12bn in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent.
The staggering scale of the biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve has been graphically laid bare by a US congressional committee.
In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, 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.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2008189,00.html