Lebanon

Last week instapundit linked to this article claiming that "Syria may have extracted through illicit activities alone as much as $41 million from Lebanon between 1991 and 2001." I found that number to be utterly unremarkable -- roughly $4 million a year is a mere rounding error at many U.S. government agencies I imagine. The correct order of magnitude was more likely in the tens of billions. I sent instapundit an email to this effect but never heard back.

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Today I spotted this article in the Wall Street Journal that seems to confirm my suspicions -- Syria plundered Lebanon in the billions, not millions.

A Lebanese economist, Joe Faddoul, presented a report to the French Parliament that estimates Syria has siphoned some $2 billion annually from Lebanon by working with allied Lebanese officials to rig parts of their economy so revenue was created for the Syrians in legal and illegal ways.