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Where did all the millions go?

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 11, 2007

Last week, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., opened hearings on government contracting in Iraq and revealed some eye-popping details of a post-war environment awash in $100 bills. His questioning of former Ambassador L. Paul Bremer focused on what happened to as much as $12-billion in unaccounted-for cash that was spent when Bremer was in charge of rebuilding Iraq as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Since there were no banks operating after the invasion, the U.S. currency was shipped from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to Iraq on pallets loaded into C-130 airplanes. (Most of the money came from Iraqi oil sales and frozen or seized Iraqi assets.)

Contractors and employees were paid in cash, leading to some logistical problems. Contractors were told to "bring a big bag" when they came to the CPA for payment, according to one official. Some cash payments were made from the back of a pickup truck, and cash was stored in unguarded sacks in Iraqi ministry offices.

A statistical summary:

484 total number of pallets shipped from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to Iraq.

363 tons weight of cash shipped.

$20-million initial cash shipment in April 2003 - in $1, $5, $10 bills.

$500-million shipment in November 2003.

$1.5-billion shipment on Dec. 12, 2003.

$2.4-billion shipment on June 22, 2004, the largest shipment sent to Iraq. In fact, it's the largest payout of U.S. currency in Federal Reserve history.

$500-million a single disbursement in security funding, labeled in the minutes of a CPA meeting as "TBD," to be determined.

$6.75-million amount one official in south central Iraq was given and ordered to spend in a week, before the Iraqis took control.

$2-million amount a CPA official witnessed being paid to contractor Custer Battles - in shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills.

$8.8-billion monies allegedly disbursed without proper assurances of how it would be used.

Sources: Majority staff memorandum to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Feb. 6, 2007; Bloomberg News.

Read it online

For more on the committee's hearings and the memorandum, visit links.tampabay.com.

[Last modified February 11, 2007, 01:37:51]