Andrew Natsios

Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Andrew Natsios, then the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, went on Nightline and claimed that the U.S. contribution to the rebuilding of Iraq would be just $1.7 billion. When it became quickly apparent that Natsios’ prediction would fall woefully short of reality, the government came under fire for scrubbing his comments from the USAID Web site. Natsios stepped down as the head of USAID in January and is currently teaching.

Nightline, (23-Apr-03):

The American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this. Any more are . . . outlandish figures I’ve seen, I have to say, there’s a little bit of hoopla involved in this.