BAGHDAD, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to Iraq during the war were stolen by Iraqi officials, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction says.
"Hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars ... [were] stolen by senior Iraqi officials for their own personal gain," Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. told CNBC Saturday.
While Bowen said he was satisfied most of the money made it to the entities meant to get it, he said he still had questions about what happened to some of the money left over when the Coalition Provisional Authority was disbanded.
"Two hundred and 17 million [dollars] was in the basement of the Republican palace in cash," Bowen said. "That last tranche is what we continue to be concerned about."
Bowen said he would investigate the status of as much as $12 billion in assets shipped to Baghdad between 2003 and 2004.
The United States should take some basic financial lessons from its experience in Iraq, he said.
"Pouring cash -- hundreds of millions in dollars of cash -- across a war zone is a foolish thing to do," he said.
"And it will bring out the lesser parts of certain people and lead them to criminal conduct. I've had to go and pursue them, investigate their wrongdoing and ensure their prosecution."
