Half a Billion in Gold found in Iraqi Truck

Reuters | May 23rd, 2003 | Reuters

[12B]

17:15 23May2003 RTRS-UPDATE 1-US seizes what may be $500 million in gold in Iraq

(Add details, background) WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - American troops have seized what appears to be $500 million worth of gold bars from a truck in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Friday. The 2,000 40-pound (18 kg) bars were seized on Thursday at Qaim on the Syrian border in western Iraq by soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the U.S. military's Central Command said in a statement. It said the bars could be gold and worth as much as $500 million, depending on karat weight and purity. The Central Command, which headed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to depose President Saddam Hussein, said soldiers found the bars while conducting "a routine traffic control search" of a Mercedes truck near the border. Two occupants of the truck, who were taken into custody, told the soldiers they had been told the bars were bronze, according to the command statement. The two also told soldiers they had been paid 350,000 Iraqi dinars (about $350) to pick up the truck in Baghdad and drive it to Qaim and turn it over to an individual. U.S. troops last month found an estimated $600 million in U.S. cash in boxes near Baghdad palace complexes. This month, U.S. officials said Saddam's son Qusay took about a billion dollars in currency from the central bank in Baghdad just before the Iraq war, but that most had been recovered. ((Reporting by Charles Aldinger and Will Dunham, editing by Stuart Doughty; Reuters Messaging: steve.holland.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1 202-898-8300, fax +1 202-898-8383)) For Related News, Double Click on one of these codes: [G] [UKI] [EMK] [C] [MTL] [GRO] [SOF] [RNP] [DNP] [PGE] [GOL] [US] [NEWS] [WASH] [IQ] [MEAST] [CRU] [PROD] [SY] [MET] [LEN] [RTRS] Friday, 23 May 2003 17:15:51 RTRS [nN233960] {EN} ENDS

[adam_az]

No no no.... Not gold BARS...

[Teacher317]

errr... for some reason, I thought that was 1.5 billion... cut that number in third, please!

[Scenic Sounds]

Damn, Delta finally found my lost luggage! ;-)

[ClancyJ]

So funny!

[swheats]

If true, this will help to refinance the rebuilding of Iraq...

Mario Cuomo will have to go back to Hannity and say, once again, "I was wrong". These carping democrats should be made to pay a fine everytime they're caught badmouthing without the facts.

[Darksheare]

Hmmm.. this wouldn't happent o be part of Saddam's raid of Iraq's wealth before lighting off for Syria now, would it?
How much anyone wanna bet that Sadman is in Syria?

[OutSpot]

Me thinks that Sadam is in Syria!

[Grampa Dave]

We need to send stuff like this to Sean. He loves to remind the rat losers of what they said on the radio and on his tv show.

I'm working on a short and pithy email to send to these lunatic libs when they come out with a new lie.

It will go something like this, "Jayson Blair must be in charge of your thinkless tanks when you come out with garbage like this!"

[Publius6961]

BUMP

[RetiredArmy]

Is this part of the tax cut for the rich? ;^)

[oceanview]

actually, that is the key point here. if we really control the country, who the h*ll is giving orders to load trucks and move 500 million in gold across the border to Syria. this is another one of these "fishy" stories coming out of iraq.

[buffyt]

...and I saw a little bit of a debate on TV last night where there was a military man, a conservative young man, some liberals, some conservatives.... all debating whether US should have attacked Iraq or not. One of the liberals, of course, blamed all the problems in the Middle East on Poverty! They aren't poor over there, they just have dictatorships, regimes, and royal families who keep all the money for themselves, rob the country blind, steal, pilfer, enrich themselves, all while the people in the countries are starving. Somehow they manage to deflect all the blame on the US and UK.

[Free Trapper]

About 40,000 pounds is what I consider a typical load for an 18 wheeler.

Long ago I moved as much as 89,000 with a semi.A little slow on the starts and stops but nothing unmanagable.

[Free Trapper]

A 40 or 45,000 pound load of copper plate or rod and the trailer looks nearly empty.

It would be more empty looking with gold but what a thrill to haul home.:O)

[Magnum44]

Never seen it.

Your obviously not a Clint Eastwood fan. If you are, you need to go rent it.

[Beck_isright]

Obviously Ted Kennedy or a relative wasn't driving it or it would have crashed on a bridge over the Euphrates.

[Allan]

Bump

[scott7278]

I was wondering where my gold went. I'm so glad they found it. Now I'd like it back, the sooner the better...

[scott7278]

What a good idea -- since it's already budgeted, it won't "cost" anything to give it back to us (using their reasoning).

Then they can go ahead and cut their spending for our other tax cut, too. Might as well feed one bird two worms.

[randog]

More like a botched Arab version of "Kelley's Heroes". (A much better movie BTW)

There you go with them negative vibes!

(BTW, I agree--KH was much better than Three Kings).