http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160616/1041415348/trump-obama-bush-army-crooks.htmlTrump Says US Iraq War Soldiers Stole $50 Million – He’s Probably Right
The nonprofit Center for Public Integrity found that 115 US soldiers were convicted of committing theft or bribery in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2005-2015. Government reports indicate that large amounts of cash, intended for Afghanistan reconstruction were reported as lost by US soldiers, leading to increased scrutiny by the US Congress.
It isn’t the first time that candidate Trump waded into this controversy, having remarked in September 2015, "Remember when they were handing $50 million in cash when they were going through Afghanistan? I want to know who were the soldiers who were carrying cash. 50 million dollars cash! Cash! How stupid are we? I wouldn’t be surprised with those soldiers if the cash didn’t get there."
The problem was very severe at the height of the US invasion of Afghanistan. In fact, officers up to the rank of full colonel were caught with their hand in the till," said McDonald. "For example, a West Point graduate, Army Captain Michael Ngyuen, returned to the United States and immediately bought a $70,000 BMW before he was caught with $300,000 in cash in the attic of his home in Oregon."
"He had been shipping home the money that he had made in bribes as a crooked contractor, he was shipping it home in the mail and he hadn’t touched his Army pay which went straight into the bank and this was just a low-level captain," noted McDonald. "There had been colonels and I wouldn’t be surprised if it went higher than that, but no general in the US military is going to be punished for most anything, because it is like a get-out-of-jail-free card once you are a flag officer."
"There was a US Army major in Iraq who killed herself after she was caught accepting $225,000 in kickbacks, there is the case of Captain Dan Gilliam who was nailed on charges of stashing over $400,000 in his luggage when he came back from his assignment as a US Army dispersing officer in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and there were so many more," said McDonald, detailing only a few cases.
