Another Billion Missing in Iraq

Well, it looks like the Halliburton crew are not the only ones with their fingers in the till. So add another billion to the billions of dollars that have disappeared into this black hole. No wonder the situation continues to deteriorate.

See Independent

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq’s defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country’s army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.
The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

“It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history,” Ali Allawi, Iraq’s Finance Minister, told The Independent.

The purchases included scrapped Soviet-made helicopters, poorly made armored cars, cheap Egyptian knock-offs of MP5s, bullets as 3 times normal cost… etc.

The Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit says in a report to the Iraqi government that US-appointed Iraqi officials in the defence ministry allegedly presided over these dubious transactions.
Senior Iraqi officials now say they cannot understand how, if this is so, the disappearance of almost all the military procurement budget could have passed unnoticed by the US military in Baghdad and civilian advisers working in the defence ministry.
Government officials in Baghdad even suggest that the skill with which the robbery was organised suggests that the Iraqis involved were only front men, and “rogue elements” within the US military or intelligence services may have played a decisive role behind the scenes.

Supposedly Paul Bremer approved Ziyad Cattan as the defense ministry’s procurement chief. Shopping trips abroad were led by Mr Cattan, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued.

…Mr Bremer says he has never heard of Mr Cattan.

Right!

This situation is obviously totally out of hand, with serious ramifications for all of us, world wide.

Kudos to “Fran” at the European Tribune for the tip.

5 Comments

Oui on September 19, 2005 at 4:51 am

Billion Dollars Plundered From Iraq’s Defence Ministry

Most of the money was “siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared” to finance the purchase of arms in Poland and Pakistan, according to the report. But rather than purchasing state-of-the-art weaponry Iraq had procured “museum-piece weapons,” the Independent charged.

The paper listed a series of problems with the arms purchased including armoured cars which “turned out to be so poorly made that even a bullet from an elderly AK-47 machine-gun could penetrate their armour.” Other armoured cars reportedly leaked so much oil that they had to be abandoned.

«« click on pic to enlarge
An Iraqi soldier looks at a military vehicle destroyed in a road side bomb explosion in Kirkuk. A billion dollars has been plundered from the coffers of Iraq's defence ministry, seriously affecting the government's ability to combat the insurgency, the Independent newspaper in London reported, citing the Iraqi finance minister. AFP/File/Marwan Ibrahim

A shipment of the latest MP5 American machine-guns turned out to be Egyptian copies worth a fraction of the price, according to the report.

“Many Iraqi soldiers and police have died because they were not properly equipped,” the daily added.

The rip-offs were so huge, said the paper, that Baghdad officials estimate that the Iraqis involved “were only front men and ‘rogue elements’ within the US military and intelligence services may have played a decisive role behind the scenes”.

▼ ▼ ▼

ask on September 19, 2005 at 8:33 am

This story has circulatewd in the media for some time now, from Knight Ridder, 11 August 2005:

Even as hints of a corruption scandal emerged last spring, Cattan told others in the ministry that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally had assured his job and no Iraqi had the power to remove him, al Dulaimi said. Instead of fleeing the investigation closing in on him, Cattan lobbied for even more authority. He wanted to become defense minister, a seat reserved for a Sunni Arab by al Jaafari’s Shiite-dominated government, which was elected last January.
(snip)
In several e-mail messages last month, Cattan gave Knight Ridder photos and documents purporting to show his close working relationship with U.S. officials and his repeated requests for their help in streamlining the contracting process. He denied wrongdoing, but acknowledged that some Western officials who are accustomed to peacetime standards might take exception to the aggressive weapons procurement he conducted to quickly arm an Iraqi force against the insurgency.

Also:

“Before me, there was another prime minister. His name was Bremer,” Ayad Allawi, who served as interim premier when the corruption investigation began sometime last year, told Knight Ridder. “He ran this country, he had this ministry and a lot of the corruption started then. … There was no auditing. Airplanes were flying in and the money was handed out in suitcases.”
Former Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan has told U.S. and Iraqi officials that Bremer personally requested that Ziad Cattan – the alleged ringleader of the corruption and the ministry’s former procurement chief – stay in his job after sovereignty was transferred last summer.

Bremer said this week, through his former CPA spokesman Dan Senor, that he didn’t know Cattan. “At least to his knowledge, he’d never met him,” Senor said.

Medal of Freedom, hah!

NorthDakotaDemocrat on September 19, 2005 at 12:46 pm

Good thing I didn’t use “BREAKING” in the title then, eh?

Nag on September 19, 2005 at 9:47 am

Here’s the link to Juan Cole’s “Informed Comment”. Here’s a taste of today’s column:

It was always mysterious where Shaalan came from. He is said to have been a former member of the Baath Party from Hillah in the Shiite south. Ahmad Chalabi alleged that he was a double agent for Saddam in the late 1990s, spying on the dissidents. He then went to the UK. When the US and the UN installed Iyad Allawi as interim “prime minister” on June 28, 2004, Shaalan became minister of defense. Larry Diamond in his book, Squandered Victory reports a story that Shaalan led “his tribesman” in firefights against Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in spring of 2004. Let’s just say that I suspect that it is a cock and bull story and very much doubt Shaalan saw action. My deep suspicion is that he was, like Allawi, an asset of US intelligence and was rewarded with Defense for past services. Shaalan immediately began beating the drums of war against Iran, calling it Iraq’s “number one enemy.” Given that the majority of Iraqis has warm feelings toward Iran, this posturing never made any sense in Iraqi terms and one suspects that the Americans put him up to it.

Juan Cole is always worth the time to read. His entry from yesterday recounts how Baghdad’s security situation is going from bad to horrific. Good diary, North Dakota Dem, we musn’t loose sight of what’s happening in Iraq… not for a minute.

shycat on September 19, 2005 at 10:41 am

If I knew how to do a poll- I would want to ask– what is the most corrupt administration ever? Warren G.Harding and U.S Grant had nuthin on this crew.
JEEBUS

Oui on September 19, 2005 at 4:51 am

.

Billion Dollars Plundered From Iraq’s Defence Ministry

Most of the money was “siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared” to finance the purchase of arms in Poland and Pakistan, according to the report. But rather than purchasing state-of-the-art weaponry Iraq had procured “museum-piece weapons,” the Independent charged.

The paper listed a series of problems with the arms purchased including armoured cars which “turned out to be so poorly made that even a bullet from an elderly AK-47 machine-gun could penetrate their armour.” Other armoured cars reportedly leaked so much oil that they had to be abandoned.

«« click on pic to enlarge
An Iraqi soldier looks at a military vehicle destroyed in a road side bomb explosion in Kirkuk. A billion dollars has been plundered from the coffers of Iraq's defence ministry, seriously affecting the government's ability to combat the insurgency, the Independent newspaper in London reported, citing the Iraqi finance minister. AFP/File/Marwan Ibrahim

A shipment of the latest MP5 American machine-guns turned out to be Egyptian copies worth a fraction of the price, according to the report.

“Many Iraqi soldiers and police have died because they were not properly equipped,” the daily added.

The rip-offs were so huge, said the paper, that Baghdad officials estimate that the Iraqis involved “were only front men and ‘rogue elements’ within the US military and intelligence services may have played a decisive role behind the scenes”.

▼ ▼ ▼
ask on September 19, 2005 at 8:33 am

This story has circulatewd in the media for some time now, from Knight Ridder, 11 August 2005:

Even as hints of a corruption scandal emerged last spring, Cattan told others in the ministry that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally had assured his job and no Iraqi had the power to remove him, al Dulaimi said. Instead of fleeing the investigation closing in on him, Cattan lobbied for even more authority. He wanted to become defense minister, a seat reserved for a Sunni Arab by al Jaafari’s Shiite-dominated government, which was elected last January.
(snip)
In several e-mail messages last month, Cattan gave Knight Ridder photos and documents purporting to show his close working relationship with U.S. officials and his repeated requests for their help in streamlining the contracting process. He denied wrongdoing, but acknowledged that some Western officials who are accustomed to peacetime standards might take exception to the aggressive weapons procurement he conducted to quickly arm an Iraqi force against the insurgency.

Also:

“Before me, there was another prime minister. His name was Bremer,” Ayad Allawi, who served as interim premier when the corruption investigation began sometime last year, told Knight Ridder. “He ran this country, he had this ministry and a lot of the corruption started then. … There was no auditing. Airplanes were flying in and the money was handed out in suitcases.”
Former Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan has told U.S. and Iraqi officials that Bremer personally requested that Ziad Cattan – the alleged ringleader of the corruption and the ministry’s former procurement chief – stay in his job after sovereignty was transferred last summer.

Bremer said this week, through his former CPA spokesman Dan Senor, that he didn’t know Cattan. “At least to his knowledge, he’d never met him,” Senor said.

Medal of Freedom, hah!
- NorthDakotaDemocrat on September 19, 2005 at 12:46 pm
  
  Good thing I didn’t use “BREAKING” in the title then, eh?
Nag on September 19, 2005 at 9:47 am

Here’s the link to Juan Cole’s “Informed Comment”. Here’s a taste of today’s column:

It was always mysterious where Shaalan came from. He is said to have been a former member of the Baath Party from Hillah in the Shiite south. Ahmad Chalabi alleged that he was a double agent for Saddam in the late 1990s, spying on the dissidents. He then went to the UK. When the US and the UN installed Iyad Allawi as interim “prime minister” on June 28, 2004, Shaalan became minister of defense. Larry Diamond in his book, Squandered Victory reports a story that Shaalan led “his tribesman” in firefights against Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in spring of 2004. Let’s just say that I suspect that it is a cock and bull story and very much doubt Shaalan saw action. My deep suspicion is that he was, like Allawi, an asset of US intelligence and was rewarded with Defense for past services. Shaalan immediately began beating the drums of war against Iran, calling it Iraq’s “number one enemy.” Given that the majority of Iraqis has warm feelings toward Iran, this posturing never made any sense in Iraqi terms and one suspects that the Americans put him up to it.

Juan Cole is always worth the time to read. His entry from yesterday recounts how Baghdad’s security situation is going from bad to horrific. Good diary, North Dakota Dem, we musn’t loose sight of what’s happening in Iraq… not for a minute.
shycat on September 19, 2005 at 10:41 am

If I knew how to do a poll- I would want to ask– what is the most corrupt administration ever? Warren G.Harding and U.S Grant had nuthin on this crew.
JEEBUS

Another Billion Missing in Iraq

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