News and Politics | February 17, 2009 | 12 comments

A 'fraud' bigger than Madoff

source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/a-fraud-bigger-than-madoff-1622987.html

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escarondito
In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme.

"I believe the real looting of Iraq after the invasion was by US officials and contractors, and not by people from the slums of Baghdad," said one US businessman active in Iraq since 2003.

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12 comments // A 'fraud' bigger than Madoff

  • GoliathandDavid
    • 0
      GoliathandDavid  

    • $125 billion, gone. It's hard not to get angry over this, when you consider the good that amount of money could've done in this country (let alone the one it was intended for).

    • 2 years ago
  • Hoax_Productions
    • 0
      Hoax_Productions  

    • Ya, I've heard from military personel arround reconstruction that everything was built slow and sloppy. With the amount we've spent so far in Iraq, they deserve to be back in the game by now - not still missing power and running water.

    • 2 years ago
  • davzap
    • 0
      davzap  

    • I recall stories of boxes and filing cabinets filled with american currency, in Iraq. Remember that George Clooney movie about the Iraq war and they found a ton of gold? That I do believe was based on reality.

    • 2 years ago
  • GoliathandDavid
  • Mafioso
    • 0
      Mafioso  

    • I'm tired of these things being made to sound as though they are shocking. These are give ins when you have a corrupt government and a war gone very wrong. We had an inept administration running things for 8 fucking years, and before that the rest of the motherf'ers weren't all that better either.

      We have had a system in place (namely a "democracy") in which there are only two options, both of whom benefit financially by enacting legislation that rips off the people they are supposed to represent. It's not a secret, we are just dillusional enough to act as though that is too crazy to be true.

      We're pawns, and we need to make our own move or risk being fed to the king and queen!

    • 2 years ago
  • PirateSauce
  • barkway
    • 0
      barkway  

    • DUH! I don't know why folks are surprised by this. The real impetus for the war was a money-making opportunity for US businesses and particulary those in cahoots with teh GOP.

      War is always the "economic stimulus package" of choice for the GOP (only they don't say that it's meant to stimulate the economics for the wealthy ONLY).

    • 2 years ago
  • SALTY_2
    • 0
      SALTY_2  
    • barkway:

      Misguided, pathetic --- 9-11-01 was directly caused and created by the clinton adm and their lack of defense of our counttry--- all the cigar man wanted was to slide by daily responsibilities and not draw attention to his sleasy existence... THEN NEW PRRES COMES ON SCENE AND RAGHEADS FEEL THEY HAVE CLEAR FIELD --- NOT KNOWING A REAL AMERICAN WAS NOW IN WHITEHOUSE.......

    • 2 years ago
  • escarondito
  • barkway
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  

    • I remember hearing about this years ago, they let it slip through in a NBC newscast. Then, the story was gone, vanished!

      Glad to see it's back for all to see.

    • 2 years ago
  • librelover
    • 0
      librelover  

    • Check out the parrallels between the Iraq Reconstruction and the Post-Civil War Reconstruction of the South. It's funny, the old saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same," has never rung more true.

    • 2 years ago
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