[Atrus]

One of my clan members is an FBI agent. He and a team of feds were deployed to Iraq shortly after Baghdad fell and he sent a few of us photos of these huge pallets of money they had found. The cash was stored in metal boxes. This was money collected from a number of Sadam's palaces according to the report, and it never left Iraq. He would not say how much they collected, but if we're to believe the Pentagon 9 million of it turned up missing.

I think your teacher may have the amount and location wrong. A while back I recall hearing news reports and then a Military Channel documentary where they interviewed troops in Afghanistan. They showed pallets of cash brought by chopper, and the amount was 12 million. Money to be used to pay off the local War Lords so they would assist in finding Bin Laden. Oh well.

It was amusing because the Pentagon called wanting to know what bank they had the money stored in. Well, there were no banks as we know of, so they kept the two large pallets in their tent barracks and each night one of the officers would sleep on the stack of cash. Sweet dreams.

What disturbs me most about the financial aspects of the War on terror is how it's being paid for. No Iraqi oil, no pitching in by our allies - with an average cost of 8 billion dollars a month - and before it's over an estimated TRILLION dollars in debt. And who do we owe 90% of that debt to - our good friends and helpful trading partners the Chinese.

Don't get me started.

~A