Are Tax $$$ (Iraq Recon. Funds) Propping up the Stock Market?

[elehhhhna]

Put these 2 articles together and what conclusions to you have? Are WE the owners of BILLIONS in stock? Which companies are WE propping up?

April 4, 2005:

...
A recently unearthed portion of a Defense Department memo sheds some light on the issue, suggesting that more than $14 billion earmarked for reconstruction was actually invested on Wall Street. The memo’s author and date are unknown. This portion of the apparently classified document — marked “page 3” — was mistakenly sent to Mid-America Seed Savers, a nonprofit organization in Lawrence, Kansas whose members had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Army’s alleged distribution of genetically engineered wheat seed to farmers in Iraq. The memo fragment is reproduced here in full:

Reconstruction fund enhancement - p. 3

<…> that among these, the scenario with greatest potential was investment in a medium-risk portfolio of U.S.-based securities. To accomplish this without incurring excessive and unwarranted scrutiny, the Secretary issued a classified order creating the Office of Special Brokerage Services (OSBS), to which management of the reconstruction funds was assigned. The OSBS, quietly through third parties, purchased approximately $5 billion in stock in February, 2004. Another $9.2 billion was invested the following month. As of December 31, 2004, the fund had shown a net growth of approximately -1.7%.

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2005/04/iraq_billions_secretly_invested_in_us_stock_market.html

Army Corps Faked Budget Entries (Funds for Iraq work were stashed)

The Army Corps of Engineers improperly created fake entries in government ledgers to maintain control over hundreds of millions of dollars in spending for the reconstruction of Iraq, according to a federal audit released Friday.

Corps officials listed $362 million in potential contracts for a nonexistent contractor labeled "Dummy Vendor" in a government database, an accounting trick to preserve funds due to expire at the end of this fiscal year, the audit said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-corps23sep23,0,6552813.story?track=tottext

THX Rainbow4321 for second uncovering story...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. well $14 billion wouldn't prop up much

maybe a few funds...but the 'differred' moneys in the Army Corps of Engineers is not really a surprise...the gov't does crap like that all the time.

sP