Corruption and the pointless "surge"

[Red Knight]

Honestly---the story of waste and corruption regarding the billions we send to iraq has been buried in the news. It's not even open for discussion. Every time funding comes up the story is always---the troops.

That's not even half the story. But the media refuses to cover it.

Iraqi corruption may make 'surge' pointless
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http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/OPINION/710140355/1027/OPINION01



Monitor staff


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October 14. 2007 10:06AM


Here's a simple question New Hampshire voters should ask every presidential candidate: "Why are we paying for some of the bullets the insurgents are using to kill our soldiers?"

Here's David Walker, comptroller general of the United States, addressing House committee hearings this month on the scope of corruption in Iraq: "Widespread corruption undermines efforts to develop the government's capacity by robbing it of needed resources, some of which are used to fund the insurgency."

The next question voters should ask: How much of the hundreds of millions of dollars American taxpayers have spent to pay for reconstruction efforts in Iraq has been used for that purpose?

Here's Judge Radhi al-Radhi, the chief of anti-corruption efforts in Iraq's government until, while he was in Washington for Justice Department training, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ousted him from his position. Maliki accused al-Rahdi of corruption and froze his assets, stranding him in the United States, David Corn of The Nation reported.

Al-Rahdi told the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee chaired by California Rep. Henry Waxman that corruption was rampant in almost every sector of Iraqi government, and little or no attempt was being made to prevent it. When his office tried, Maliki quashed prosecution attempts. His office's investigations led to the death of 31 of its employees and 12 of their family members. Some were tortured - one with an electric drill, one hung on a meat hook.

Corruption is costing the Iraqi government tens of billions of dollars, al-Rahdi said. Some of that money is being funneled to sectarian militias. Though 5 million Iraqis have fled, the government is spending the same amount on ration cards. Food and supplies never make it to their destination. Ministries are fulfilling between 2 and 5 percent of their obligations, al-Rahdi said.
The Bush administration has asked for $255 million more in aid for Iraq's government this year, but the Government Accountability Office has said no more money should be sent until it's clear that it will further U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Corn believes that the Bush administration is doing all it can to keep the public from knowing about the extent of Iraqi corruption and the waste of their money. To admit that Iraq's government is too corrupt to function is to admit that the surge to buy that government time was a mistake.

Several other U.S. officials testified at Waxman's hearing. Among them was retired New Hampshire Superior Court justice Arthur Brennan, who served in Baghdad briefly as head of the State Department's Office of Accountability and Transparency, the agency charged with documenting the extent of corruption in Iraq's government.

Asked whether he found any coordinated U.S. strategy for combating corruption during his service in Iraq, Brennan, according to a transcript of the hearing, said "No."

Brennan's report and other information provided by those with knowledge of the situation has been stamped classified, and officials have been prevented from discussing the matter. On orders of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the State Department is refusing to provide Congress with the information about corruption in the Maliki government.

"The scope of this prohibition is breathtaking," Waxman said in a sharply-worded letter of complaint to Rice. "On its face, it means that unless the committee agrees to keep the information secret from the public, the committee cannot obtain information from officials in the Office of Accountability and Transparency about whether there is corruption within Iraqi ministries, how extensive that corruption is, or whether the corruption is funding the insurgency and undermining confidence in the Iraqi government."

Not all the corruption, it appears, is in Iraq.

[Atman]

1. Sounds like they've embraced American-style corporate "democracy"

Time to bring the troops home. The Iraqis have obviously figured out how our government works.

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