“Some $6.6bn (£4bn) flown into Iraq eight years ago may have been stolen, according to a US official investigating fraud in the country. The missing money may represent ‘the largest theft of funds in national history,’ investigator Stuart Bowen told the Los Angeles Times newspaper. …The cash, which belonged to Iraq, was intended to pay for reconstruction. The money came from a special fund set up by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with Iraq’s own money, which was previously withheld from the country under harsh economic sanctions imposed against Saddam Hussein’s regime. The funds were airlifted aboard C-130 military cargo planes by the Bush administration in shrink-wrapped bricks, as part of a $20bn reconstruction package.”
– “US: Iraq Reconstruction Billions ‘May Have Been Stolen,'” BBC News, June 14, 2011