Lawmaker: U.S. sent giant pallets of cash into Iraq

“We've made a huge mess and you people won't stop trying to figure it out, and that's just not helping.”

Republicans argued that Bremer and the CPA staff did the best they could under the circumstances and accused Democrats of trying to score political points over the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

“We are in a war against terrorists, to have a blame meeting isn't, in my opinion, constructive,” said Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican.

According to the story, the money that has gone astray is real money, great planeloads of bills weighing tons and loaded by forklifts. I initially thought they meant sums of virtual credits streaking in and out of bank accounts via wire. It's easy to see how that could get misplaced in “service charges”, heh-heh. But actual money? Who lets that out of their sight?

Years from now there will probably be an “Unsolved Mysteries” episode about this. Old guys in the desert will tell tales about Bremer's Billions around the campfire, to the scorn of young hotheads. “Aww, cut it out, Pops—no one believes those old yarns,” etc.

Labels: Missing Billions