Stephen C. Webster:$6.6 Billion Allegedly Stolen in Iraq has Been Found!

A sum of $6.6 billion, allegedly stolen in Iraq "has been found", the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said Wednesday. While it was thought to have gone missing, an earlier SIGIR Report said the funds were not accounted for, due to the "weaknesses" of the Pentagon's management and control mechanisms for their oversight. Turns out, SIGIR now says the funds were actually being held by the Central Bank of Iraq,where they belonged. "Sufficient evidence exists showing that almost all of the remaining $6.6 billion remaining was transferred to actual and legal CBI (Central Bank of Iraq) control," the report says. The cash was part of a series of shipments totaling more than $12 billion, taken largely from the UN "oil-for-food" program and the sales of Iraqi oil. Officials in the Bush administration had hoped the massive pallets of cash would help calm Iraq's civilian population, following the chaotic and violent invasion and toppling of Saddam. Investigators said in 2005 that Bush officials apparently neglected to put procedures in place to track the money or hold recipients accountable for its proper applications.