Topic: Staying the course in one war but losing the war of coruptio
Fitnessfanatic's photo
Sat 09/08/07 07:38 PM
Here's an article on the amount of corruption that an Iraqi official quit over and is now seeking asylum in the US.

Iraqi official: ‘Corruption has crippled Iraq’
Top watchdog resigns, accuses al-Maliki Cabinet of corruption

Official alleges corruption in al Maliki cabinet
Sept. 7: A top corruption fighter in Iraq says the U.S. should no longer support that government. NBC’s Lisa Myers reports.
Nightly News

U.S. officials say the battle to clean up Iraq's government has suffered a "serious blow" with the resignation of the nation's top corruption fighter. The former watchdog, Judge Radhi Al Radhi, tells NBC News that Iraq's current government, headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is riddled with so much corruption that the U.S. must stop supporting it. Rahdi is now in the United States, and his departure from the Iraqi government comes just as the U.S. prepares for a key report from Gen. David Petraeus about the military "surge" in Iraq.

Until last week, Rahdi headed the Iraqi government department responsible for rooting out graft and fraud in Iraq's young government. It is called the Commission on Public Integrity, or CPI. It refers its investigations into corrupt officials to Iraqi courts for prosecution.

But Rahdi recently resigned, and he says that was because of numerous threats on his life by corrupt Iraqi officials. "They have militias," he says, "and they attacked my neighborhood with missiles and these missiles fell very close to my house." If he returns to Iraq under current circumstances he believes he'll be killed.

Rahdi says there is corruption at the highest levels in various ministries. Prime Minister al-Maliki is not corrupt himself, he alleges, but protects corrupt ministers and allies and has repeatedly obstructed investigations.

"He is protecting all the accused people who belong to his political bloc," he says. "He has interfered a lot in many ways. At first, he had issued orders for us not to try or even bring any cases to court with any previous or current ministers."

Rahdi complains pervasive corruption has crippled Iraq and added to the suffering of the Iraqi people. "The reconstruction of Iraq has almost stopped," he says. "[There's] no water, no electricity, no gas, no oil."

He explains corruption is a key factor: "This corruption has made our economy stale. It's frozen our economy; freezing our economy led to a lot of unemployment. Therefore crime and terrorism is occurring everywhere in Iraq. The militias are smuggling the oil and using that money to buy weapons."

His investigations have revealed graft and fraud throughout the Iraqi government, including cases against high-ranking officials in the Oil Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Transportation Ministry. "There have been millions of dollars spent rebuilding the Ministry of Defense, but the security day after day is getting worse," he says. "Also, many millions have been spent on the Ministry of Interior, and still there is no security. The same thing happened in the Ministry of Health: The militias stole medicine, and they took medical and health equipment. I don't even want to tell you about the Ministry of Trade, where they're giving food to people that is not edible for any human being."

The al-Maliki government says corruption is a problem but denies blocking criminal investigations. And it has counterattacked — accusing Rahdi himself of being corrupt, charges U.S. officials dismiss. An al-Maliki spokesman says al-Maliki cooperated with Rahdi.

One critic of Rahdi is Sheikh Sabah Al-Saady, a minister of parliament who oversees corruption issues. American officials are skeptical of him. He told NBC that there are 50 charges against Rahdi and that Rahdi fled from Iraq. Radhi dismisses the charges, as do American officials. Some speak anonymously because they are not permitted to talk to the press.

But Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, has worked with Judge Radhi and says he thinks highly of him. "Judge Radhi by my judgment was an honorable man and an effective crime fighter in Iraq, and it’s a loss for Iraq that he is no longer there," Bowen told NBC in an interview.

"This is a very serious blow to the corruption-fighting effort in Iraq," Bowen said. Bowen's office monitors how U.S. funds are spent in Iraq and investigates crimes involving U.S. projects in Iraq.

Rahdi clearly despairs for his country and says there is no longer any hope of progress under the current Iraqi government. He says of America, "When they realize that that they're paying money and lives without results, they will stop the support." Asked if the U.S. should drop support of the al-Maliki administration because of corruption, he answers "yes."

U.S. officials say they expect Rahdi to seek political asylum here, escaping threats from the very government America is supporting.

The al-Maliki government already has named his replacement at the Commission on Public Integrity, a man U.S. officials say was previously accused of corruption.




Hennnery's photo
Sat 09/08/07 09:17 PM
WHY DID WE ATTACK IRAQ ???

TO TOPPLE A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT ???

WELL ALL I KNOW IS THAT SADAM RAN BAGDAD 10,000 TIMES BETTER THAN Dubya EVER WILL...

UNDER SADAM CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES LIVED IN PEASE...

JEWISH SETTLERS LIVED IN PEASE...

PALITINIAN SETTLERS HAD A HOME...

SADAM BROKE A FEW EGGS,But We Americans are learning that Iraq can be a very hostil place to Camp...

Under BUSH, Iraq has always been a very peofitable KILLING FIELD...

If you are in Iraq,your only mission is to die,or to get killed tryig to die...

How can America be so delusional as to think it could ever WIN A WAR That was created for them to Die In ??? yawn

Fitnessfanatic's photo
Sat 09/08/07 09:39 PM
So we continue to fight a war to help place a corrupt government in power. The funny thing is back in the 80 the US help Saddam stay in power. Heck in 1984 a Iraqi missile hit a US navy ship but we didn't do any thing because they said it was an accident.
We're just replacing a old corrupt nation that was once our ally with new corrupt nation will HOPEFULLY be our ally.

Hennnery's photo
Sun 09/09/07 12:14 AM
laugh For you to understand WAR and Why NEW WARS A STAGED AND FAUGHT,you need only read The UN Plan for Global Population...

In it you will find that According to their plan 7/10's of The Global Population must be exterminated...

So WAR, FAMIN, OODY GOVERNMENT TAKEOVRS,SHIP SINKING's,HIJACKING's,FORESTFIRES,FLOODS,
PESTULANCE,PANDEMENICS and if we all get real Lucky, perhaps those jokes can stear a Good Sized Space Rock into Impacting Earth...

Oh and NASA has good clear photo's of Planet-X now,but they won't show them to you...

The Iraqi People never were our enemy...

100% of Americas problems dwell on US soil...

evad28's photo
Sun 09/09/07 01:35 AM
how could iraqi's live in peace when saddam killed his own people ?

as well as take most of their cash and use it to try and create weapons of mass destruction.he deserved to get taken out.hell he even killed his own brother,or had him executed.

im just still wondering why we didnt send the war over to afghanistan where the real problem is.

no photo
Sun 09/09/07 06:07 AM
A corrupt government in Iraq?

Well, I guess "president" S*** Stain's plan to make the Iraqi govt. just like ours really DID suceed after alllaugh .

davinci1952's photo
Sun 09/09/07 08:16 AM
there are worse dictators in Africa involved in genocide for years...let's bomb them too...how nice that we can pick and choose which criminal to go after...flip a coin.....there are many to choose from...

no surprize that a corrupt government such as ours would put a corrupt gang in charge...

no photo
Sun 09/09/07 08:27 AM
About the worse dictators, Davinci.....

That's what I've been telling people for a long time.