The Department of Defense has once again failed to account properly for billions of dollars it received to assist in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Out of just over $9 billion, $8.7 billion is unaccounted for, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says. The sale of some frozen Saddam Hussein-era assets, and Iraqi oil and gas made up much of the $9 billion. The U.S. military said the funds were not necessarily missing, but that the records might have been archived, and attempting to account for the money might require “significant retrieval efforts”.
The lack of a central organization within the defense department raises the possibility of inappropriate use of the funds and undetected losses. In 2005, a criminal investigation of the mismanagement of an $8.8 billion fund that belonged to the Iraqi government led to the conviction of eight U.S. officials on bribery, fraud and money-laundering charges.
