Up to $12 billion dollars is missing in Baghdad.The Federal Reserve Bank loaded pallets of cash onto giant transport planes, mostly $100 bills wrapped up in bricks, and flew them to Iraq.
"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone?" asked Representative Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on oversight and government reform.
Indeed, who?
One chunk of the money -- $1.4 billion - was deposited into a local bank by Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq but could be tracked no further. The auditors reported that they were shown a deposit slip but could find no additional record to explain how the money was used or to prove that it remains in the bank.
News of the missing billions comes as the U.S. State Department's senior adviser on Iraq, David Satterfield, outlined the Bush administration's new plans at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. President Bush is requesting $1.2 billion in additional funding for Iraq reconstruction.
The GOP response to the House inquiry regarding the missing billion$ was immediate.
"We are in a war against terrorists; to have a blame meeting isn't, in my opinion, constructive," said Representative Dan Burton (R-Indiana)
(You tell 'em, Congressman Burton! Don't let those damn-dirty-dems audit the books! That would just encourage the terrorists! And congratulations on that 12 handicap!)
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