US flew $12bn in cash to Iraq

The US Federal Reserve sent record payouts of more than $12 billion in cash to Baghdad on giant pallets aboard military planes shortly before the United States gave control back to Iraqis.

The money, which had been held by the United States, came from Iraqi oil exports, surplus dollars from the U.N.-run oil-for-food programme and frozen assets belonging to the ousted Saddam Hussein regime.

Bills weighing a total of 363 tons were loaded onto military aircraft in the largest cash shipments ever made by the Federal Reserve, said Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.