Get Rick Quick in Iraq

And people ask us why we hate paying taxes. A
recent government audit reports that $8.8 BILLION of the money
we have been pouring into this hole in the sand is MISSING! This is
from money
we have allotted to the various Ministries we have set up, which are
looking more and more like licence to steal us blind.

WASHINGTON — At least $8.8 billion in Iraqi funds given
to Iraqi ministries by the former US-led authority there cannot be accounted
for, according
to a draft US audit set for release soon.

The audit by the Coalition Provisional Authority’s inspector general
blasts the authority for "not providing adequate stewardship" of
at least $8.8 billion from the Development Fund for Iraq given to Iraqi
ministries.

The exact methodologies of the thefts was inventive
and varied, forming a veritable encyclopedia of third-world graft, diverted
funding and government fraud. The specific schemes mentioned in
the article involved padded payroll; often thousands of salaries would
be on the books but only a few hundred workers actually existed.

Three Democratic senators — Ron Wyden of Oregon, Tom
Harkin of Iowa, and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota — demanded an explanation
from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the use of the funds by
the authority.

"
The CPA apparently transferred this staggering sum of money with no written
rules or guidelines for ensuring adequate managerial, financial, or contractual
controls over the funds," the letter from the senators said.

The Pentagon did not respond to questions late yesterday.

Who was it said, a billion here and a billion there,
adds up to real money….

from the Boston Globe