Literally Tons of Money Stolen in Iraq

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), the Army's criminal Investigation Command and the Justice Department are investigating US soldiers and officials in the alleged misuse of a portion of the $125 billion initially sent to Iraq for reconstruction shortly after the fall of Saddam.

Monday, The Independent's Iraq correspondent Patrick Cockburn reported the inspectors believe misuse may account for over $50 billion, exceeding the scope of Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme and making it potentially the "greatest fraud in US history."

"In one case, auditors working for SIGIR discovered that $57.8m was sent in 'pallet upon pallet of hundred-dollar bills' to the US comptroller for south-central Iraq, Robert J Stein Jr, who had himself photographed standing with the mound of money," wrote Cockburn. "He is among the few US officials who were in Iraq to be convicted of fraud and money-laundering.

Where exactly did all the money go? This story is frustratingly vague. How can so much money disappear with so little accounting? Though of course this pales in comparison to the 2.3 trillion dollars the DOD couldn't account for right before 9/11/01.

If nothing else, this kind of puts the $878 billion stimulus package in perspective-- at least much of that money goes to help ordinary Americans.