Friday, March 20, 2009

AIG Iraq

From previous articles it is clear that AIG is a company that is not afraid to try new things.

Look at AIG Global Marine @ Iraq for example. Or other AIG endeavors in Iraq.

AIG has advertised that it has extensive capacity to handle many Iraq reconstruction and other financial endeavours.

It is interesting that this information is found on Iraq Coalition Org website:
AIG member companies have the capacity and expertise to handle the insurance needs of contractors and companies doing business in Iraq. There will be a variety of unique coverages needed in this effort. Listed below are some of the core coverages AIG member companies can provide. A more extensive list of products and services can be provided as individually required.
(Iraq Coalition, PDF). It must have worried AIG to know that that area of Iraqi "business endeavours" landed some Bush II officials in prison for a long time:
Bob Stein, the comptroller of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, received the longest sentence of any Bush official (as of yet) - nine years in prison for money laundering, conspiracy and bribery ... some of the money ... was cash in suitcases ...
(BBC, Wikipedia). And they must have been especially concerned to find that their bonus payments of $165 million, which drove the USA crazy, is dwarfed by Iraq reconstruction fraud that would shame even Bernie Madoff:
In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn, making it an even bigger theft than Bernard Madoff's notorious Ponzi scheme.
(British Independent). Yes, to be associated with large scale business endeavors in such a fraud rich environment, especially since they have banks in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Switzerland, was surely something they avoided like the plague.

That may not be the case, however, if the investigation of AIG's charges to taxpayers for federal contractors in Iraq, including KBR of Haliburton / Cheney "fame" (State Dept.).

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