Missing in action: defense dollars AWOL.

• Author: Soave, Robby
• Position: Citings - Iraq is missing $2.6 billion of government money - Brief article

HAS ANYBODY seen $2.6 billion lying around? The Department of Defense recently admitted that it had no idea what has become of billions of dollars belonging to the Iraqi government.

An audit released in July by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction revealed that various government agencies failed to keep track of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil proceeds. The oil fund was intended to help rebuild key infrastructure in Iraq, where basic services such as electricity and running water have been absent in much of the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Yet no specific agency was ever tasked with managing the money. Some 96 percent of the proceeds were never deposited in Treasury Department bank accounts...