08-14-2005, 08:09 PM
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Cheesesteak GURU! Wiz with
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Cedar Park
Posts: 13,884
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No-bid Contracts Bagdad-style- ~$1 billion in possible fraud for Iraqui Defense
At least $500 million but nobody knows for sure.
Quote:
The contracts under scrutiny total $1.27 billion, nearly the estimated $1.3 billion allocated for the Defense Ministry's budget this year. The money came solely from Iraqi coffers, not from the training budget of the U.S. military or from NATO and foreign donations to Iraq's military.
"There's no rebuilding, no weapons, nothing," said retired Iraqi Lt. Gen. Abdul Aziz al-Yaseri, who worked in the Defense Ministry at the height of the alleged corruption. "There are no real contracts, even. They just signed papers and took the money."
Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the U.S. military's training of Iraqi troops, conducts weekly briefings with the defense minister. Other Iraqi defense officials seldom are spotted without American civilian advisers nearby. The close relationship has raised questions as to how $500 million or more could vanish without U.S. intervention to stop the suspicious contracts that flowed for at least eight months.
"Ask them. I have the same question," Dulaimi said. "I blame those who posted them [the officials under investigation]. And, by the way, the CPA posted them."
He was referring to the Coalition Provisional Authority, the occupation-era administration that U.S. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer oversaw. Dulaimi, other Iraqi politicians, and some U.S. military officials blamed the CPA for forcing the Defense Ministry to hire previously unknown Iraqi officials, especially former exiles, without consulting Iraqi leaders.
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The above refers to only one aspect of the unfolding corruption scandal.
Even if you strongly supported the war you should read this Inky entire article. If you oppose it well I say the same three times over.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...n/12376836.htm
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