363 TONS OF CASH

Yes probably like you I was surprised to hear that so much cash was just thrown in Iraq by the Provisional Authority. So this morning I was determined to get up and write a blog about this story only to find that others already have and there was no need to re-invent it. Attached are several good articles about this story. The first was written two years ago - when Congress should have been looking into it but the Republican majority did nothing.

http://www.thewe.cc/contents/more/archive2005/february/9_billion_missing.htm

This article provides a lot more detail into the whole story. Especially interesting are all the comments - particularly - 363 tons of cash requires 18 tractor trailers to move that much at one time.

http://http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/6/205743/7035

And, finally here is an article from ALL SPIN ZONE Progressive Politics Writ Large

"How much does $4,000,000,000 (in $100 bills) weigh? About 363 tons. That’s the rough total of the booty that was transfered from the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York to Baghdad in 2003 and 2004. Think about that for a moment."

"My profession is (partly) logistics. A tractor trailer can legally carry about 45,000 pounds - for the sake of argument, we’ll call it 20 tons. Our government transfered the equivalent of 18 tractor trailer loads of $100 bills into a wild west war zone over a period of 6 months. No one has ever been able to account for the money, and let’s be clear that $4 billion is just the tip of the iceberg."

"Where’d the money go?"

"I’ve heard some lame-assed excuses for shit before, but former Iraq proconsul L. Paul Bremer’s testimony today on Capitol Hill pretty much takes the cake. Bremer should have been arrested and put in leg irons immediately after the hearing. This is friggin’ unbelievable."

"What’s even more unbelievable is one GOP representative’s response:"

“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."

Demand Change!