U.S. troops caught stealing

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

Four U.S. soldiers were arrested this week for trying to steal nearly $1 million from the Baath Party’s secret stores of cash. Troops combing an exclusive Baghdad neighborhood searching for fugitive Iraqi officials found cottages full of heavy, metal boxes. Each box contained millions in uncirculated $100 bills, neatly tied in bundles of $100,000. Several soldiers allegedly pocketed a few bundles each. “You can understand how the greed took over,” one officer told the New York Post, “when just one wad of this cash can pay off your mortgage, send your kids to school.” The total amount of the cash, which U.S. officials believe was hidden away by fleeing Baath Party officials, is estimated at $700 million.