How $9B in Cash Airlifted From the Fed to Iraq Went Missing

First, some headlines the world is watching
Blackwater License Being Pulled in Iraq
Microsoft loses European appeal
Fox censors Sally Field’s anti-war speech at Emmys
Iraq War Vets Arrested in Washington

Follow the money

In a startling new expose, Vanity Fair contributing editors Donald Barlett and James Steele follow the money trail from the Fed to Iraq. Barlett and Steele are two of the nation’s top investigative journalists. Together they have won two Pulitzer Prizes and two national magazine awards.

One month after the invasion of Iraq, the United States began airlifting planeloads of cash to Baghdad…literally. Stacks of $100 dollar bills were packed into bricks, assembled into large palettes and loaded onto cargo planes bound for the Iraqi capital. Beginning in April 2003 and continuing for little more than a year, a total of $12 billion dollars of US currency was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Iraq. The US military delivered the banknotes to the Coalition Provisional Authority where it was to be dispensed for Iraqi reconstruction. What happened to it? To date, at least $9 billion dollars cannot be accounted for.

AMY GOODMAN: One month after the invasion of Iraq, the United States began airlifting planeloads of cash to Baghdad, literally. Stacks of $100 bills were packed into bricks, assembled into large pallets and loaded onto cargo planes bound for the Iraqi capital. Beginning in April 2003, continuing for little more than a year, a total of $12 billion of US currency was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Iraq. The US military delivered the bank notes to the Coalition Provisional Authority, where it was to be dispensed for Iraqi reconstruction. Read the rest>>