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Hissyspit

(45,788 posts)
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 10:30 PM Apr 2013

Karzai’s Office Gets Bags Full of C.I.A. Cash

Source: New York Times

Karzai’s Office Gets Bags Full of C.I.A. Cash

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Published: April 28, 2013 75 Comments

KABUL, Afghanistan — For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.

All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.

“We called it ‘ghost money,’ ” said Khalil Roman, who served as Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff from 2002 until 2005. “It came in secret, and it left in secret.”

The C.I.A., which declined to comment for this article, has long been known to support some relatives and close aides of Mr. Karzai. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash delivered directly to his office show payments on a vaster scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-leaders-office.html

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Karzai’s Office Gets Bags Full of C.I.A. Cash (Original Post) Hissyspit Apr 2013 OP
This is news? derby378 Apr 2013 #1
Is this why we have to cut back on Meals on Wheels Samantha Apr 2013 #2
That is not a fair comparison. russspeakeasy Apr 2013 #5
Exactly what I thought! ^^^^^^^^ ReRe Apr 2013 #23
We need a bill entitled The Frances Haskell Meals on Wheels Restoration Act Samantha Apr 2013 #34
This should not be happening in this country :-( ReRe Apr 2013 #39
Please raise your hand if you are surprised.. russspeakeasy Apr 2013 #3
ceiling cat asks: why has nothing changed? delrem Apr 2013 #4
"And why is there NO FUCKING CHANGE?" russspeakeasy Apr 2013 #7
they were told to keep the change. olddad56 Apr 2013 #12
“Problems cannot be solved with the same mind set that created them.” ~Albert Einstein DeSwiss Apr 2013 #25
So is required a real opposition, not just rhetorical bullshit, however pleasant the speeches. delrem Apr 2013 #28
Yours is very kind of mind set that Einstein was talking about. DeSwiss Apr 2013 #29
So how do we withdraw our power from the system? newfie11 Apr 2013 #30
Sorry, this is a personal journey each of us must take. DeSwiss Apr 2013 #37
Just for fun, I'm asking you to cite where Einstein said 'Doing the same thing over and over again Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #32
Contact..... DeSwiss Apr 2013 #38
THAT's MY MONEY.. and yours Voice for Peace Apr 2013 #6
More taxpayers' money being given away again Rosa Luxemburg Apr 2013 #8
I believe so. I ate there a few years ago. Hissyspit Apr 2013 #11
It's good to be the puppet of a US client state magellan Apr 2013 #9
Karzai will leave Afghanistan as soon as we do, and he will visit his Swiss bank accounts kwassa Apr 2013 #10
I believe you are correct. russspeakeasy Apr 2013 #14
CIA has to spend all that drug money somewhere. olddad56 Apr 2013 #13
+1000 DeSwiss Apr 2013 #26
America -- making the world safe for corruption JDPriestly Apr 2013 #15
What U.S. government officials knew, when did they know it, and who approved it? Newsjock Apr 2013 #16
Spreading democracy one bag of cash at a time pmorlan1 Apr 2013 #17
Maybe they can open up part of W's lie-brary to this subject? Hulk Apr 2013 #18
Big deal, the USG prints $3 billion of Monopoly money every day. Psephos Apr 2013 #19
I can hear Alex Baldwin now... Left Coast2020 Apr 2013 #20
Who is Alex Baldwin? Is he one of the brothers of the famous actor Alec Baldwin? Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #33
'Ghost Money' Octafish Apr 2013 #21
Reminiscent of the $12- 18 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills No Vested Interest Apr 2013 #22
Ya know, I've got an idea where we might trim costs to help the deficit if it's important. Kablooie Apr 2013 #24
Oh that?!? That's just the Widows and Orphans Fund money. DeSwiss Apr 2013 #27
Why don't they just give them PATRICK Apr 2013 #31
"Accounts of off-the-books cash...?" Robb Apr 2013 #35
Impeach the CIA! Hubert Flottz Apr 2013 #36

derby378

(30,252 posts)
1. This is news?
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 10:41 PM
Apr 2013

Former UNOCAL executive, on very friendly terms with Herr Decider and Lord Cheney? Hellooooooo?

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
23. Exactly what I thought! ^^^^^^^^
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 02:04 AM
Apr 2013

... We have some effed up priorities in this country. Someone needs to tell the CIA to send some of that cashola to PO to pay off the sequester for our neediest citizens.

Samantha

(9,314 posts)
34. We need a bill entitled The Frances Haskell Meals on Wheels Restoration Act
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:31 AM
Apr 2013

and a brave legislator who will take the challenge to restore the money to this program. Check out the video at the link if you have not yet heard her story.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/martin-bashir/51650471#51650471

Make her story known worldwide. This is truly pathetic -- a 98 year old woman in Tennessee depends on Meals on Wheels for her one good meal a day. The U.S. Government cannot afford to feed its indigent seniors but the CIA has millions to drop off to Karzai but cannot afford to supplement daily food costs of aging, poor Americans.

This is beyond shameful. But forget about contacting Corker or Blackburn to sponsor such a bill, we need to brainstorm for the name of a candidate who would step out and then contact him or her repeatedly asking for restoration of the funds to finance Meals on Wheels.

If you have any thoughts on this, please post them for us to discuss.

Sam

http://www.enca.com/world/karzais-cia-millions

delrem

(9,688 posts)
4. ceiling cat asks: why has nothing changed?
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 11:04 PM
Apr 2013

Why does the CIA have access to all this unaudited money, 10's of millions here, 100's of millions there?
US spends more than Afghanistan's GNP on war, there, so makes the Afghanistan war into a game, of sorts, where the Afghan people, deprived of the chance to build a peaceful civil economy and eventually develop their own natural resources, depend 100% on US bribes to survive. This is how many years after 9/11, and what kind of over-strained connection to the Saudi terrorists and the Afghan people?

It isn't just the Iraq war that was wrong, but this extended Afghanistan war is wrong. It simply isn't justified by any facts - and it's even wrong to call it a war, it's an occupation.

Why is this war extending into Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Mali, Syria, .... ? What is the justification for this never ending expansion of a "war on terror"?

And why is there NO FUCKING CHANGE?

russspeakeasy

(6,539 posts)
7. "And why is there NO FUCKING CHANGE?"
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 11:14 PM
Apr 2013

There is a change, we are expanding this fucking "war on terror" until the fucking arms dealers in this world have ALL THE FUCKING MONEY.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
29. Yours is very kind of mind set that Einstein was talking about.
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 04:50 AM
Apr 2013

In this case, it is your BS (belief system) that is unsustainable and benign. At least real bullshit has organic properties which is good for plant growth and ultimately sustaining human life. To recommend OPPOSITION is the same sad and tired formula that got us where we are.

Another thing Einstein said was: ''Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome is one definition of insanity.'' At some point it is my hope that people will finally and truly learn this lesson that has been attempted to be taught over the ages. But rarely if ever does it seem to stick.

And that is: Opposition to tyranny most often fails because it is predictable and thus easily contained by a superior force. As does a tree that opposes a stronger wind. What tyranny cannot control nor do without, is us. What is therefore required is not an OPPOSITION to power, but rather a withdrawal of our power from the system. Because it is the system cannot function without our power.

We know this, and yet we keep having to learn the same lessons over and over again. And we keep demanding action and OPPOSITION, and we end up predictably defeated and divided -- as we are now. Which can only mean we haven't learned any lessons at all.

Your response is further proof.....

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
37. Sorry, this is a personal journey each of us must take.
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 03:42 PM
Apr 2013

Don't be afraid.

The answers won't come from me nor anyone else. They have to come from you.

I've come to my own conclusions about these matters as all of us must eventually. We can't keep cheating and looking off each other's papers.

If you can't understand what I'm saying, you need to do more searching.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
32. Just for fun, I'm asking you to cite where Einstein said 'Doing the same thing over and over again
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:23 AM
Apr 2013

expecting the same results is one definition of insanity'. Of course you can't because there is no record of him saying this, and the attribution is recorded only after the first actual published use of the phrase, not by Albert but in the Narcotic Anonymous Handbook in the early 1980's.
Einstein said no such thing. People claim he did, but they do so without citation because he did not say it. The reasons they'd want to claim Albert said it are obvious as it becomes a way of saying 'Einstein called you crazy' which carries more impact than simply accusing the opposition of being insane directly and personally.
Einstein was heavily published, often quoted. He did not say that. Look it up.

magellan

(13,257 posts)
9. It's good to be the puppet of a US client state
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 11:27 PM
Apr 2013

Now I'm not sure whether to incorporate or become a dictator so I can get in on some of that free cash myself.

kwassa

(23,340 posts)
10. Karzai will leave Afghanistan as soon as we do, and he will visit his Swiss bank accounts
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 11:29 PM
Apr 2013

I predict the Taliban will take over within two months or less of our departure.

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
15. America -- making the world safe for corruption
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 11:47 PM
Apr 2013

and drug running.

This is just the worst I've heard. Unbelievable. This is not supposed to be what our country stands for?

Was this Petraeus' doing? If not, whose?

Now we know where our Social Security money went. Karzai and how many others like him?

Newsjock

(11,733 posts)
16. What U.S. government officials knew, when did they know it, and who approved it?
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 11:57 PM
Apr 2013

Outside the CIA, that is.

This is absolutely unconscionable, regardless of which administration(s) are involved or culpable.

pmorlan1

(2,096 posts)
17. Spreading democracy one bag of cash at a time
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 12:07 AM
Apr 2013

I guess we shouldn't be too surprised by the bags of cash the CIA handed out to the Afghanistan government in exchange for "influence". After all isn't that the same process we use here in the US to influence (buy) our own lawmakers?

Wow, the US helping to create a democracy and subverting it all at the same time. It just brings a tear to my eye. The next time I hear a politician trying to take credit for spreading democracy I will immediately think of this story.

 

Hulk

(6,699 posts)
18. Maybe they can open up part of W's lie-brary to this subject?
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 12:08 AM
Apr 2013

Sure, we can have a little link with video's showing the flow of all that money we managed to save from the tax-breaks to the rich, and how it all ended up in Karzai's office in large plastic bags? Such a shameless country..when so many are sick and starving here at home.

Psephos

(8,032 posts)
19. Big deal, the USG prints $3 billion of Monopoly money every day.
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 12:11 AM
Apr 2013

The CIA is handing over Monopoly money. Yawn.

Every day, another thousand rubes wake up to the reality that when a government prints money with nothing behind it, it is transferring wealth from working people to itself. The money it "gives" away costs it nothing.

It's all fake money at this point. The endgame is not in question.

At least they should start printing those FRNs on softer, more absorbent paper. That way they would have some value.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
33. Who is Alex Baldwin? Is he one of the brothers of the famous actor Alec Baldwin?
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:26 AM
Apr 2013

Alec often says his critics are virtually illiterate, but that seems harsh to me....

No Vested Interest

(5,156 posts)
22. Reminiscent of the $12- 18 million in shrink-wrapped $100 bills
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 01:16 AM
Apr 2013

shipped on pallets to Iraq in 2003-2004.
Only some of the money to Iraq wasn't even secret - it was distributed off the back of trucks, IIRC.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
27. Oh that?!? That's just the Widows and Orphans Fund money.
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 02:48 AM
Apr 2013
- We provide the widows and orphans, and Karzai gets the funds.....

K&R

Remember Air America? Now it's just: AMERICA

PATRICK

(12,227 posts)
31. Why don't they just give them
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 07:43 AM
Apr 2013

ATM cards drawn on the National Treasury similar to how NYS runs its welfare programs? Then we could get some of back through user fees.

Or help Karzai set up lotteries and casinos since he is in Dutch with Islamic moralists anyway. Or make him a Fox guest anchor, or "author" a best seller hyped by the US media.

Robb

(39,665 posts)
35. "Accounts of off-the-books cash...?"
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:36 AM
Apr 2013

Not exactly off the books if there's an accounting of it somewhere.

With someone's signature on the bottom.

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