By host Tom Ashbrook:

The U.S. government is now spending a billion and a half dollars a week on the war in Iraq. That’s more than $200 million a day. And nobody is quite sure where all that money is going.

Government audits have found at least $20 billion unaccounted for, and everyone knows a big, ugly chunk has gone to fraud, corruption and war profiteering. Projects claimed but not built, huge overcharges, mountains of money just missing, and bundles of cash shipped home by soldier’s duffel bag.

With billions in U.S. dollars literally being flown around in the night by helicopter, by the ton, on pallets, anything can happen. And a lot has.

Hear about reconstruction and corruption in the Iraq war.

Guests:

T. Christian Miller, reporter, The Los Angeles Times. His forthcoming book is “Blood Money: A Story of Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq”.

Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA), member of the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations. He has traveled to Iraq three times and recently introduced legislation calling for greater accountability and transparency in Iraq contracting.

Tom Palaima, professor of classics, University of Texas at Austin. He lectured at West Point in October 2003 and has written about war and violence.