Iraq - What
Happened To The
$23Billion?
The Greatest
Heist In History
When the US goes
to war,
corporate
America goes
too.
Panorama
investigates
claims that as
much as $23bn
(£11.75bn) may
have been lost,
stolen or not
properly
accounted for in
Iraq.
There are
contracts for
caterers, tanker
drivers,
security guards
and even
interrogators,
many of them
through
companies with
links to the
White House. Now
more than 70
whistleblower
cases threaten
to reveal the
scandals behind
billions of
dollars worth of
waste, theft and
corruption
during the Iraq
war. Gagging
orders A total
of $23bn
(£11.75bn) is
under scrutiny.
The US justice
department has
imposed gagging
orders which
prevent the real
scale of the
problem
emerging. But
Panorama's Jane
Corbin has
spoken to some
of those
involved - with
astonishing
stories to tell
of who got rich
and who got
burned. She
hears
allegations of
mismanagement,
fraud and waste;
tales of
contractors
chosen for their
US government
connections
without a
competitive
bidding process;
contractors
inflating their
costs and double
counting to
increase their
profits and
billions
supposed to be
used to rebuild
the Iraqi
military
allegedly ending
up in the
pockets of some
Iraqi government
officials. Even
the contract to
oversee the
expenditure went
to a company
with no relevant
qualification in
accounting.
"They are the
quintessential
war profiteers,"
said a witness
to one of the
most notorious
companies
involved. "They
made money out
of chaos."
BBC - Broadcast 10/06/08
