Gag order prevents discussion of $23 billion missing in Iraq

A gag order by the United States has been applied to 70 court cases involving top U.S. companies accused of siphoning billions of dollars out of Iraq, according to a new report issued today by the BBC. To date, more than $23 billion has been lost, stolen or not accounted for in Iraq, the BBC found. Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told the BBC that the abuses "may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history." The full story is here.