Iraq Debacle Gets Worse: $6.6 Billion Has Vanished, "Largest Theft of Funds in Nat'l History"

The phenomenal waste of lives and money and the economy that Iraq has represented just got a little bit worse today, with the news that $6.6 billion, sent to Iraq as cash by the planeload, has pretty much just vanished, and is presumed to have been stolen.

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."

The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington's relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program.

It's fair to say that Congress, which has already shelled out $61 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for similar reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either....

Theft of such a staggering sum might seem unlikely, but U.S. officials aren't ruling it out. Some U.S. contractors were accused of siphoning off tens of millions in kickbacks and graft during the post-invasion period, especially in its chaotic early days. But Iraqi officials were viewed as prime offenders.

Great, just great. Congress could start with blacklisting those contractors who siphoned of those tens of millions to ensure that not a penny more goes to them from the public coffers. The Justice Department could consider prosecuting in hopes of potentially getting some of that money back, but that ain't going to happen, either.

What will probably happen? The $6.6 billion will be written off, and Congress will come up with more money, taking it out of something like food assistance, or Medicaid. Same as it ever was.

By Joan McCarter | Sourced from Daily Kos