Iraq's Allawi Says $1.2 Billion in Army Funds Stolen and Wasted

Iraq's former finance minister said as much as $800 million was stolen from a $1.2 billion fund intended to equip the Iraqi army to control a growing insurgency.

Harvard-educated Ali Allawi, cousin of former interim Prime Minster Ayad Allawi, alleged on the CBS News program ``60 Minutes'' that the money was stolen from the Ministry of Defense.

``I think the figure is probably between $750 and $800 million dollars,'' he said. ``It's a huge amount of money -- gone up in smoke. The culprits are running around the world, hiding and scurrying around.'' The rest of the fund was spent on useless and outdated equipment, CBS said on its Web site, citing Judge Radhi al-Radhi, head of Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=asT8sjIl.Tuo&refer=uk

Billions and billions of dollars suddenly goes missing and NO ONE has a clue. 'WE' are led by ABSOLUTE CORRUPTION.

but this story is a classic case of the headline NOT representing the true story. The headline says 1.2bn has been lost, but the first line of the article indicates that the 1.2bn is the total, and only 800m has been lost.

Shoddy, shoddy journalism.