Iraq: Did You Think It Ended?

We completed the "handover," and now, with minor exceptions, Iraq's out of the news.
So it falls to the blogosphere to remind you that the killing continues. Swami can find no credible accounts of the Iraqi dead--but US casualties in Iraq are closely counted: 43 so far this month.

You can say: They volunteered. Or: They died for freedom. Or.....well, those who support this war can fill in whatever reason they need. But there's one way to look at the war we can all understand: money. Ready for this?


At least $8.8 billion in Iraqi funds that was given to Iraqi ministries by the former U.S.-led authority there cannot be accounted for...
Among the draft audit's findings were that payrolls in Iraqi ministries under Coalition Provisional Authority control were padded with thousands of ghost employees.

In one example, the audit said the CPA paid for 74,000 guards even though the actual number could not be validated. In another, 8,206 guards were listed on a payroll but only 603 people doing the work could be counted.

"At least $8.8 billion"--that's almost enough money to notice. You may ask: How did this money go missing? Well, many of the American staffers on the CPA were young kids who had applied for jobs at conservative think tanks--but who found themselves being offered jobs of considerable importance in Iraq. Were they competent? Didn't matter. They believed in the conservative cause.
That belief can sure run up a tab, can't it?

Jesse Kornbluth
Swami Uptown
Beliefnet.com