Allegations of misappropriations related to the Iraq War

Iraq War misappropriation refers to allegations that billions of dollars of US government funds, originally meant for reconstruction and rebuilding programs, were misappropriated during the Iraq War.

Official audits and investigations

In July 2008, the United States Department of Justice investigated around 900 cases of alleged fraud committed by contractors. Similarly, the Defense Contract Audit Agency uncovered $10 billion in questionable Iraq contracts, and a US audit found that the occupation authority had lost track of reconstruction funds totalling nearly $9 billion.

Henry Waxman, then Chairman of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said, "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it's egregious. It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

Media investigations

$12 billion in U.S. currency was transported from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad in April 2003 and June 2004, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. A Vanity Fair magazine report concluded that of this sum, "at least $9 billion has gone missing".

BBC television program, Panorama (9 June 2008) investigated using US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors had profited from the conflict and rebuilding and claimed that "as much as $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq".

Dispatches: Iraq's Missing Billions, produced by Guardian Films (March 20, 2006).

A blog on Huffington Post alleged that there "immunized foreign contractors" were involved. US courts issued gag orders that prevent the prosecution or defense from discussing the allegations. The orders apply to 70 court cases against some of top US contractors.

Missing UN funds

At the start of the Iraq war, the United Nations awarded $23 billion of Iraqi money to the US-led coalition to re-develop Iraq.

See also

• White House Iraq-War forgery allegations

External links

• Use of Iraq Contractors Costs Billions, Report Says - The United States this year will have spent $100 billion on contractors in Iraq since the invasion in 2003, a milestone that reflects the Bush administration’s unprecedented level of dependence on private firms for help in the war, according to a government report to be released Tuesday.
• Iraq a bottomless cash pit
• Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Former U.S. official admits to kickbacks in Iraq
• Parsons, Military Wasted Millions in Iraq, Inspector Bowen Says
• CNN.com - Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds
• So, Mr Bremer, where did all the money go?
• The case of the Missing $21 Billion
• Roy H. Park School of Communications - Selection of Links and Resources on Media Coverage of the War in Iraq

• Barbara Ferguson: "Private contractors steal billions from Uncle Sam". ArabNews, 30 July 2008
• "BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions", Jane Corbin, BBC News, 10 June 2008
• Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steel: Billions over Baghdad. Vanity Fair, October 2007
• "Daylight Robbery", BBC, 9 June 2008
• "'Iraq was awash in cash. We played football with bricks of $100 bills'", Callum Macrae and Ali Fadhil, The Guardian, 20 March 2006