BBC World Service asked what had happened to the $8.8bn (funds disbursed to Iraqi ministries, per the SIGIR "without assurance the monies were properly used or accounted for".)
Admiral David Oliver: "I have no idea. I can't tell you whether or not the money went to the right things or didn't - nor do I actually think it's important."
BBC: "But the fact is billions of dollars have disappeared without trace."
Oliver: "Of their money. Billions of dollars of their money, yeah I understand. I'm saying what difference does it make?"
How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish
Take a poor country, one with endemic low-level corruption, one where taking care of your own is a way of life.... Then pump in billions in cash ("... in the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes...") and start doling it out, year after year for almost a decade.... Then marvel at the corruption! Shock! Horror! Blame the Afghan President and his government for this sad state of affairs, which surely is why the Taliban haven't been defeated....
Admiral David Oliver: "I have no idea. I can't tell you whether or not the money went to the right things or didn't - nor do I actually think it's important."
BBC: "But the fact is billions of dollars have disappeared without trace."
Oliver: "Of their money. Billions of dollars of their money, yeah I understand. I'm saying what difference does it make?"
How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish
Take a poor country, one with endemic low-level corruption, one where taking care of your own is a way of life.... Then pump in billions in cash ("... in the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes...") and start doling it out, year after year for almost a decade.... Then marvel at the corruption! Shock! Horror! Blame the Afghan President and his government for this sad state of affairs, which surely is why the Taliban haven't been defeated....
Skids of cash:
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