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Text: Peng Yibin
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introduction
After Saddam Hussein was defeated and collapsed by the United States, the Americans did not leave as Iraq imagined, but announced the post-disaster reconstruction of Iraq, claiming to have invested $125 billion. However, to this day, Iraq is still in ruins, and this so-called post-disaster reconstruction seems to be empty.
(Post-war Iraq)
1. Whiteford's embezzlement
Whiteford is a colonel in the U.S. Army, and in 2003 he was assigned to Iraq as Chief of the Regional Reconstruction Funds Administration. The U.S. military allocated $125 billion to Iraq, half of which was under Whiteford's jurisdiction, and he also had the privilege of approving projects, which meant that he was not only the contractor, but also the finance.
Under such circumstances, it is too difficult for "free" Americans to be able to steal without being guarded. Soon someone came to the door, and Samuel, as a businessman, was in the business of helping people launder money, but this shady business was very popular in Iraq.
Samuel approached Whiteford and began to woo his relationship.
(Iraqi U.S. Army, unrelated to the picture and text)
Under Samuel's demagogy, Whiteford, who had no original intention, decided to make money, and Samuel also brought in Philip, who opened a company in Iraq, who was also American.
The three men cooperated, and Whiteford used his position to contract the contract to Philip, who, through his own company, dispersed the money to banks in other countries, commonly known as money laundering kickbacks.
The cooperation between the three men was smooth at first, but in 2005 a subcontractor in charge of Iraq's reconstruction suddenly reported Whiteford to the United States. Whiteford made a $200,000 project to build a swimming pool, but he had to take $100,000 himself, and then rip it off and give the subcontractor "just enough for a faucet." ”
(Iraqi U.S. Army, unrelated to the picture and text)
But no one expected that not long after the subcontractor's report letter was sent, he was mysteriously assassinated, apparently someone behind it. But it was precisely because of the appearance of this letter that some personnel of the US military learned of the incident, and then alarmed the top level of the US military and decided to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Whiteford alone embezzled more than 50 billion yuan and ate half of the entire reconstruction money, which instantly aroused the alarm of the United States, and in addition to the military, the American people were also extremely angry about this matter. When the deputy attorney general of the United States learned of this, he expressed his anger and said that all the officials involved in the Iraqi corruption case would be brought to justice.
(U.S. military, unrelated to graphics and text)
On February 13, 2009, the U.S. federal court held a trial on Whiteford's embezzlement case, and in the investigation of Whiteford, the U.S. Department of Justice found him guilty of "conspiracy," "bribery," and 11 counts of "fraud," and that Whiteford was seen as a rat and a scourge for stealing money.
In response to the charges, Whiteford said the charges he had been subjected to were unjust, and his lawyer also said that Whiteford was a man of affection and raised eight children with his wife and did not violate the laws of the country. In the corruption investigation, Lieutenant Colonel Harrison was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the rest were sentenced to prison or imprisonment.
(U.S. military, unrelated to graphics and text)
Second, there are people behind the corruption case
The case was taken lightly, and the outcome of the trial was not convincing to the outside world. First of all, Whiteford is a colonel, and if he can be sent to Iraq to serve in a high position, then behind him must be the top of the US military. In the end, only a few people were arrested or detained, a full 50 billion yuan, can these few people spend it all? How did they use the money?
It can be seen that behind this corruption case, there must be officials with a higher level than Whiteford, and the British "Independent" also agrees with this, first of all, in addition to the 50 billion embezzled by Whiteford, the United States actually has more than 100 billion yuan of funds used to rebuild Iraq, and its whereabouts are also unknown.
[The Independent]
Moreover, between 2004 and 2005, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense claimed to spend 1.3 billion to buy new weapons, and the US military was in charge of the Ministry of Defense. And the companies that bought it came from Poland and Pakistan, and in the end the helicopters were not sent to Iraq either.
The United States also conducted an investigation into this, and finally found out bizarrely that in this outrageous arms purchase case led by the United States, it was an Iraqi who was responsible for purchasing arms, but this Iraqi was in Poland and ran a pizzeria. is a person engaged in food who has nothing to do with the country's arms.
(Iraqi Armed Forces, unrelated to the picture and text)
At first glance, this person is an agent, and there must be other people behind it, but what is even more outrageous is that the United States has not followed this line to investigate. So you see, there must be a bigger figure behind the corruption case in Iraq, but the United States does not dare to investigate it anymore, because it involves high-level people, and it is not something that ordinary officials in the United States can promote.
In 2004, Dyer, an American contractor, decided to leave Iraq and return home, only to be shot. During his lifetime, Dale handed over to the government a very detailed list of corruption, a chain of corruption in Baghdad. Dell claimed that U.S. contractors in Iraq often traded power for money with U.S. officials.
(U.S. forces in Iraq)
Contractors get contracted projects by putting bribe money in pizza boxes and delivering them to officials' offices. Contractors who get projects often don't do their jobs well, most of them are delaying time, some don't even start construction, and some even run back home halfway through the reconstruction project.
But the U.S. military turned a blind eye to such a situation, and Dale was killed after reporting it, which of course was deliberately silenced. Under the deterioration of the situation in Iraq, the US government could not find out how many contractors there were, and as for the list provided by Dell, it did not cause the slightest splash, so it was held down by the United States.
(U.S. forces in Iraq)
Third, the U.S. military is often corrupt
The corruption of the US military has long been not an exception, but a normal occurrence. In 2011, Iraq's parliament wrote to the United Nations that the United States had embezzled $17 billion in Iraqi funds that had been stolen after the U.S. invasion, and Iraq hoped that the United Nations could help recover the money.
In 2014, a U.S. guard captain made $180,000 by falsely claiming that he had recruited 119 recruits to join the team. In the United States, military officers are often complained of for bribery or receiving kickbacks. In addition, the United States has also carried out a lot of corruption in Afghanistan.
(U.S. Navy Guard Corruption)
A contractor who provides air transportation services for the US military in Afghanistan said that because the helicopter he used was in disrepair, he was forced to pay $11.08 million to the US military, and American contractors used their positions to steal generators and cars from Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan, and it is not uncommon for the United States to owe money.
Most of the money that the United States has in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places is a bad debt that cannot be calculated. But no one dared to look it up, and at most they found a number. For example, the U.S. Congress found that during the Iraq and Afghanistan periods, at least $31 billion to $60 billion were missing, and they did not dare to investigate.
(U.S. Afghan Army)
The United States has 10,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, but it costs $45 billion a year, which means that one US military consumes $4.5 million a year, which is simply incredible. So in 2018, after Trump took office, he decided to investigate the situation in Afghanistan, and he sent three auditors, but as soon as he entered Afghan airspace, all the planes crashed and died.
At this point, Trump did not send anyone to investigate, because he also understood that he could not find anything. Until now, one person on the Afghan side spent 4.5 million US dollars, and no one found out that he was corrupt, and he said that he was innocent.
(Web image)
Resources
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science. Super Giant Rat": 50 billion corruption nest cases in the United States, more than 100 billion don't know what happened. [OL].2009.06.15.
The corruption of the U.S. military is simply to the point of madness! . [OL].2024.04.28.
China Daily: Iraq accuses the United States of embezzling 17 billion reconstruction funds and asks the United Nations to uphold justice. [OL].2011.06.21.
CCTV News.North America Observation丨How did the United States make Afghanistan's national disaster?. [OL].2021.09.08.
The Paper: Corruption in the US military is endless, and tens of billions of dollars in the war zone are unknown. [OL].2014.11.18.