There’s been much huffing and puffing in parts of the blogosphere about how development aid always ends up in the Swiss bank accounts of dictators, etc. etc. It is good to see, therefore, that (Iraqi) money being spent by the US on the reconstruction of Iraq is being properly accounted for to make sure it isn’t pilfered by nefarious types, that there are proper audit trails, etc. Or rather not. As “Ed Harriman explains in the latest LRB”:http://lrb.co.uk/v27/n13/harr04_.html . (Hat tip to “The Virtual Stoa”:http://users.ox.ac.uk/%7Emagd1368/weblog/blogger.html .)
{ 3 comments }
fifi 07.01.05 at 11:16 am
Is it public record how much is being spent where for what? Do we know how much (re)construction happens outside the green zone, for example?
Barry 07.01.05 at 2:45 pm
Last I heard, from various sources, $8 billion US is unaccounted for. That’s in two years, leading to a loss rate of $4 billion US /year.
The UN oil for food scandal supposedly did about $2 billion US/year.
I think that the title of ‘biggest crook’ is now decisively taken, and that the trophy is in DC, not in NYC.
Uncle Kvetch 07.01.05 at 2:58 pm
But he’s our crook, Barry…and that makes all the difference.
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