Five to fifteen million dollars worth of oil goes missing on a DAILY basis from Iraq, the New York Times is reporting in its Saturday edition.
Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report.
The report by the accountability office is the most comprehensive look yet at faltering American efforts to rebuild Iraq’s oil and electricity sectors.
(snip)
Several analysts outside the government agreed that such a large discrepancy indicated that there was either a major smuggling operation in place or that Iraq was incapable to generate accurate production figures.
Gee, nobody in this administration, and certainly no Republican would EVER be involved in any kind of corrupt activity regarding big money, easy cash, and nefarious politics.
They would never load billions of dollars in cash onto cargo planes headed for Baghdad, then hand it out in duffel bags to "contractors" from the back of pickup trucks.
They would never illegally sell arms to Iran, an avowed enemy, and use the proceeds to fund, also illegally, the Contras, a right-wing terrorist organization in Nicaragua. No, not these decent, god-fearing people.
Looks like it's just one more way that the pirates are raping Iraq.
Since this occupation began, the biggest non-story, the elephant in the room that nobody discusses, is exactly where Iraq's oil is going. Into whose tankers is it being siphoned? Who's selling it? Who gets the money from the sale of it? There has been silence regarding this for the last four years. And now we know that not only have those questions been ignored, the people who are trying to answer them have discovered five to fifteen million dollars a DAY is missing.
I want to know what this is funding.
UPDATE: Marmar posted this link in the comments:
Mystery of the Missing Meters:Accounting for Iraq's Oil Revenue
And by God if this isn't just a great article on the whole "where is the oil going" question, and the issue of its theft, and the lack of any system to keep thefts from happening.
Meanwhile, right under their noses, smugglers are suspected to be diverting an estimated billions of dollars worth of crude onto tankers because the oil metering system that is supposed monitor how much crude flows into and out of ABOT and KAAOT - has not worked since the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Officials blame the four-year delay in repairing the relatively simple system on "security problems." Others point to the failed efforts of the two U.S. companies hired to repair the southern oil fields, fix the two terminals, and the meters: Halliburton of Houston, Texas, and Parsons of Pasadena, California.
Hm! Halliburton? Where have I heard that name before? That's the same company that this article reveals has been paid to build the same terminals over and over, after they keep getting blown up over the years.
And the Iraqis aren't stupid. Another reason why they want us GONE from their country is because we're in charge of their oil spigots, and we are letting their riches get pirated:
"Iraq is the victim of the biggest robbery of its oil production in modern history," blazed a March 2006 headline in Azzaman, Iraq's most widely read newspaper.
I highly recommend this article, and this site, Corpwatch.com. Thanks, marmar for the link!