Donald Rumsfeld And Paul Bremmer 'Lose' $18.7 Billion In Iraq, Still Unaccounted For

The Iran-Contra syndicate did Iraq for the cash ...... L. Paul Bremer III oversaw what was arguably the worst fiscal and foreign policy fiascos in recent U.S. history. He was head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), meant to stabilize, and begin rebuilding Iraq. Instead it turned into what Vanity Fair called "a sump for American and Iraqi money as it disappeared into the hands of Iraqi ministries and American contractors." The CPA lasted from April '03 until June '04, and during that time at least $10 billion in cash remains unaccounted for, and billions more were siphoned off through bloated and fraudulent contracts to GOP and Bush family favored companies. Bremer failed to set up controls to prevent the free-for-all over the CPA's cash, according to a 2005 report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). Bremer's misadministration also opened the way toward the violent chaos in which Iraq became mired. He issued the directive disbanding the Iraqi army, idling 350,000 armed young men, undisputedly the worst of the Administration's post-invasion decisions. (Bremer has written that he was ordered to disband the Army by the-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and he has released letters from President George W. Bush seeming to praise this decision.) Bremer signed the order for "de-Ba'athifying" the Iraqi civil service, firing hundreds of thousands of workers experienced in things like keeping the power and sewage systems functional. Along with the invasion, U.S. cargo planes filled with shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills landed in Iraq. The billions in cash was then trucked to Bagdad for Bremer's safekeeping, where most of it later just vanished in puffs of green smoke, During that period, the U.S. government sold Iraqi oil and was to distribute the proceeds from a trust fund. Billions of those dollars were also listed and remain among the missing. The International Advisory and Monitoring Board discovered the Iraqi oil exports were unmetered, so there was no way to know how much oil was going through. Official reports state that Iraq exported at least another $10 billion worth of oil in that first year of the U.S. occupation. Christian Aid has estimated that up to $4 billion more was exported, with few records of payment to the fund. The CPA was mandated by the United Nations and by Presidential order to engage an independent, certified accounting firm as outside auditors to monitor the fortune flowing through Iraq. As revealed in the Special Inspector General's report in 2005,the CPA instead created an absolutely fake, nonexistent entity, with not a single accountant, certified or otherwise, to claim there was such an "outside audit firm" reviewing its books. Still unexplained is why discovery of this flagrant though simplistic fraud has not been pursued. Bremer's CPA reported paying $1.4 million dollars to "North Star Consultants," as its outside, independent audit firm. In fact North Star was just the San Diego residence of someone named Thomas Howell, who had a home remodeling service business. He registered the "North Star Consultants" name in the Bahamas, with a P.O. box as its address. That same P.O. Box belonged to a man named Patrick Thomson, who in 2002 had been accused of operating a $200 million dollar Ponzi scheme. Thomson confirmed to Vanity Fair reporters that he'd set up North Star as a shell company for Howell but would answer no further questions. In February 2007, when Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Ca) questioned Paul Bremer about this imaginary audit firm, Bremer replied that he'd never heard of it, and that was the last public mention of the matter. Who in the CPA arranged creation of the phony firm, and on whose orders? There's been no public information since then. Waxman is the chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight, and heads an ongoing investigation into the missing money, as well as the CPA's placement of unqualified people in key positions, based solely on their GOP affiliation. To oversee Iraqi private sector development, the CPA chose two men with no diplomatic experience; Michael Fleischer, venture capitalist and brother of former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, and Bush "Pioneer"Thomas Foley, who described Iraq as a modern "California gold rush." The CPA appointed Simone Ledeen as senior adviser to Iraq's Finance Ministry, though she had no relative experience. Her father, Michael Ledeen was former National Security Adviser conultant, who helped coordinate the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal.

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[whatnowgop]

It went into war profiteers and the Republican war chest. This was part of Karl Rove's plan to make the Republican Party the only party.

[MrJonnyKilljoy]

@AntipodeanAl and guess what? no atheists.

I rest my case.

[impishparrot]

Did Paul Bremer actually manage to lose $18 billion dollars in 8 months? WTF?? Who does he think he is? A banker??? Missing? They are acting like it's lying around somewhere in a warehouse...NOT!! It was STOLEN. A HUGE THEFT. THE LARGEST IN US HISTORY!!!

[enadiz2007]

hate this fuckin channnel

[BabylonsKing]

Why does this not surprise me coming from the Idiots in Charge of the Overseeing of this Rip Off War Project. They started a War and then STOLE THE MONEY. Way to go guys, and to think you're still not in Jail Doesn't surprise me either. We only send BLACK POOR PEOPLE TO JAIL AND DRUGGIES. This country is Chuck full of SHIT at the Top leading the US to the Poor House quickly.

[411American]

Obama has it set away for his campaign to the American suckers in 2012

[CelestialHeretic]

oil for food was scam made by european bankers