Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Throwing money away from the problem

Army Capt. Michael Nguyen was the civil affairs officer for a battalion in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, until recently. But he allegedly took the wads of cash he was supposed to distribute for humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects and instead mailed them home to himself. All told, he is charged with waltzing off with $690,000. A West ...

587973_090309_cashmoney2.jpg
587973_090309_cashmoney2.jpg

Army Capt. Michael Nguyen was the civil affairs officer for a battalion in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, until recently. But he allegedly took the wads of cash he was supposed to distribute for humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects and instead mailed them home to himself. All told, he is charged with waltzing off with $690,000. A West Point graduate, Nguyen bought a BMW and a Hummer. (One post on a West Point alumni discussion board says his mistake was that he should have married and hidden the money in his wife’s account.) 

You’ve got to wonder when the battalion commander and operations officer woke up to the fact that the aid and reconstruction they were paying for wasn’t happening. Then again, the battalion commander in an unusual move requested relief six months into his unit’s tour in Iraq and then retired from the military, according to the Tacoma News-Tribune.

Photo: Flickr user alsalam

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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