Tuesday, September 20, 2005
$1 Billion Looted From Iraq's Ministry Of Defense...
It's nice to see our money is being put to good use over there, we certainly don't need it here at home...
Iraqi authorities are preparing an arrest warrant for the country's former defence minister in connection with a massive fraud case involving the "disappearance" of more than $1bn from ministry coffers.I wonder what "companies" they're referring to???
Judge Raid al-Radhi, who is head of Iraq's commission on public integrity, said yesterday that he had given Iraq's central criminal court a dossier of evidence against Hazim Shaalan, who was minister of defence under the former government of Ayed Allawi.
"What Shaalan and his ministry were responsible for is possibly the largest robbery in the world. Our estimates begin at $1.3bn [£720m] and go up to $2.3bn," Judge Radhi, who is Iraq's senior anti-corruption official, told Reuters.
The "robbery" is believed to include the signing of multimillion-dollar deals with companies to supply equipment that was sometimes inappropriate for the new army or was years out of date. It is also alleged that the ministry paid huge premiums for some military hardware.
Let me say right off the bat, I expect radio silence on this theft from my resident die-hard righties since the phrase "oil for food" isn't prominently discussed...
P.S. I've said it before, but isn't it a hoot to see conservatives getting bent out of shape about the cost of rebuilding New Orleans while willingly forking over billions of dollars to be pissed away in Iraq?
P.P.S. Look at what else hasn't stopped in Iraq...
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