Former Treasury Department officials also questioned the need for the flights. Treasury had already sent $1.7 billion in cash from Iraqi government accounts in the United States to Baghdad in the first weeks after the invasion, and then had developed a new Iraqi currency that was introduced that October. They say the new currency ended the need for further cash infusions from the United States. "We did not know that Bremer was flying in all that cash," said Ged Smith, who was the head of the Treasury Department team that worked on Iraq's financial reconstruction after the invasion. "I can't see a reason for it." Mr. Bowen said that Brick Tracker, his office's most sensitive investigation, began in 2010 when Wael el-Zein, a Lebanese- American on his staff, received a tip about stolen money hidden in Lebanon. An informant told him about the bunker, which in addition to the cash, was believed to also have held approximately $200 million in gold belonging to the Iraqi government. Aside from the horrific human toll of the illegal Iraq War, there was looting on an epic scale. The fact that no one in our government cares to investigate or recoup suggests complicity. Of course, the CIA Directorate of Operations is essentially a state-sponsored criminal organization. Who knows how many more we are funding, both on and off the books. The world would be a better place if we shut these things down.
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Former Treasury Department officials also questioned the need for the flights. Treasury had already sent $1.7 billion in cash from Iraqi government accounts in the United States to Baghdad in the first weeks after the invasion, and then had developed a new Iraqi currency that was introduced that October. They say the new currency ended the need for further cash infusions from the United States. "We did not know that Bremer was flying in all that cash," said Ged Smith, who was the head of the Treasury Department team that worked on Iraq's financial reconstruction after the invasion. "I can't see a reason for it." Mr. Bowen said that Brick Tracker, his office's most sensitive investigation, began in 2010 when Wael el-Zein, a Lebanese- American on his staff, received a tip about stolen money hidden in Lebanon. An informant told him about the bunker, which in addition to the cash, was believed to also have held approximately $200 million in gold belonging to the Iraqi government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/world/investigation-into-missing-iraqi-cash-ended-in-lebanon-bunker.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Typos courtesy of my iPhone
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