Pentagon reports largest theft of funds in U.S. history. Billions of dollars transported to Iraq by a squadron of C-100s are missing. JIM KOURI

In a mind-boggling example of government corruption, billions
of dollars flown to Iraq for post-invasion “reconstruction” have vanished and
may never be recovered, say officials from Judicial Watch.

Bundled in chunks of $100 bills, the cash was sent from the
United States to Iraq in turboprop military cargo planes known as C-130
Hercules. About $2.4 billion fit in each aircraft and 21 flights made trips,
transporting a total of $12 billion in American currency to Iraq by
2004

For years federal audits have
determined that more than half of that money could not located by auditors, but
there seemed to be some hope that some of the funds could be
retrieved.

However, this week the Special
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, essentially confirmed
that $6.6 billion in cash was likely stolen and may never be
recovered.

Bowen referred to it as "the largest
theft of funds in national history," in a Los Angeles Times newspaper report
that pointed out the missing money is enough to run a major public school
district for an entire year.

The story also claims that the mystery
is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, which has long asserted that it
could track the cash if given the time to do it.

This is simply the latest of many
reports documenting the pervasive fraud and waste in Iraq reconstruction
efforts, which have received more than $100 billion from U.S.
taxpayers.

In the last few years Inspector General
audits have exposed the sordid details of costly projects that never got
completed or are rife with excessive delays and shoddy work.

There are also investigations into
bribery and embezzlement cases such as the one reported yesterday by the Public
Safety Examiner in which Major Derrick L. Shoemake, 49, pleaded guilty Monday
before U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee in the Central District of
California to two counts of accepting bribes while serving overseas. According
to the court document, Major Shoemake served at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait as a
contracting officer’s representative in charge of coordinating and accepting
delivery of bottled water in support of U.S. troops in Iraq.