Nearly 96% of Funds Given to the Pentagon for Iraq Reconstruction is Unaccounted For
The U.S. Department of Defense was unable to account properly for $8.7 billion of Iraqi oil and gas money meant for humanitarian needs and reconstruction after the 2003 invasion, according to an audit released on Tuesday.
The figure is nearly 96 percent of the $9.1 billion funneled to the Pentagon from the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), said the audit report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).
The report described lax management of some of the billions of dollars designated for rebuilding war-shattered Iraq, where residents routinely complain about lack of electricity and other basic services more than seven years after the invasion…
The government of Iraq ordered the Pentagon to return DFI funds at the end of 2007. But the audit found Department of Defense organizations that were still holding and in some cases spending DFI funds.
It’s not enough that the Defense industry takes money from the pockets of U.S. tax payers by the barrel, now they have to steal it from impoverished Iraqis. This money was meant to rebuild it’s infrastructure: instead, it’s either going toward destroying it, or it’s been pocketed by some rich contractor. Despicable.
