Around $6 Billion in Shrink-Wrapped Bills Missing in Iraq

By Mark Benjamin | June 13, 2011 | +

Soon after Bush administration officials realized they had no plan on what to do after invading Iraq, they figured out they would have to do some reconstruction there. Then they figured out they needed money to pay for that. Then they decided they needed cash. Lots of it.

They literally trucked $20 billion in cash via tractor-trailers from the Federal Reserve repository in East Rutherford, N.J., to Andrews Air Force Base and flew it to Baghdad in 20 C-130 Hercules cargo planes.

What could possibly go wrong with that plan?

After years of investigations, the Pentagon is finally admitting that they just can’t figure out what happened to around $6 billion of that money and that it might have been stolen. Oops.

Related Topics: Iraq

@TIME

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