Buffalo Post Op Ed - Iraq Corruption Should be Unmasked

This Op Ed by a former editor of the Buffalo News hits the target regarding State Dept.s inactivity regarding corruption in Iraq. He walks through the background on their failed support for anti-corruption efforts, and ends with my favorite quote:

The worst statistic of the war is certainly the lives of our brave young men and women that have been lost and the unknown number who have been maimed, physically and mentally. In addition, are American taxpayers pouring money into a fund for greedy Iraqis?

The issue is that we do the most to protect soldiers, but nothing to protect the taxpayer funds being thrown down the Iraq spending rathole of corruption. Until the US stops giving Iraq funding until Iraq cleans up corruption, why waste the money on Iraq? Let's give it to domestic programs and bring the troops home. If the US believes that democracy in Iraq is important enough to spend American lives, why doesn't it ensure that US funds are not wasted, and that Iraq starts using their hidden Oil profits on their own reconstruction programs?

Perhaps the newspapers should start a daily report of funds lost to Iraqi corruption and USG waste in the same space they report lives lost.
vj

==================================================

Iraq corruption should be unmasked
Murray Light
Updated: 04/27/08 7:05 AM

This is a letter I am sending to the Web sites of the presidential candidates.

Dear Hillary, Obama and John: On April 13 I watched a report on 60 Minutes by Steve Kroft that was called “Iraq: State of Corruption.” It involved interviews of Judge Rahdi, Iraq’s former top anti-corruption official, who had been tortured and imprisoned under Saddam Hussein and in 2006 held one of the most dangerous jobs in Iraq. He investigated 20 current and former ministers of Iraq.

According to Iraq and U. S. officials, theft and bribery are present in every Iraqi ministry. These ill-gotten gains are used to kill American troops and leave the country with little electricity, fuel and medicine. According to Rahdi, millions that were supposed to be spent on supplies for the new Iraqi army went for outdated equipment, and the rest of the money simply disappeared.

Rahdi alienated the Iraq political establishment and parliament tried to fire him. He received many death threats and had 30 bodyguards to protect him. Thirty-one of his staff members were killed. He left Iraq when threats to his family drove him out. He is living in the United States hoping for asylum so that he will be able to work here.

James Mattil was at the time the chief of staff of the State Department’s Office of Accountability and Transparency in Iraq. It was his job to assist Radhi. Mattil believes Radhi did a good job cleaning up the corruption given the assets at his disposal and the breadth of the problem. A report issued to the State Department was classified after parts of it were made known to the press. According to the report, corruption was rampant. “In some cases,” Mattil says, “the corruption involves the outright theft of government funds or bribery, with some of the money finding its way into the hands of the insurgents or Iraqi militias. In other cases it is the militias and insurgents themselves who control some of the ministries, who are involved in the corruption and are funding their activities through these actions.”

In October 2007, a House Oversight Committee held hearings at which Rahdi testified. He told the panel that Maliki blocked his investigations into the top levels of the Iraqi government. According to the Washington Post, Rahdi claimed that the ministries had stolen as much as $18 billion dollars. These cases cannot proceed without permission from Maliki, who issued an order that neither he nor his ministries may be investigated without his approval.

When questioned at the hearing about Rahdi’s testimony, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Chairman Henry Waxman, “I will have to get back to you. I don’t know precisely what you are referring to.” Six months later no answer or reported answer had been given.

I was a newspaperman for 50 years until I retired as editor of The Buffalo News. I still remember the words of Curtis D. MacDougall, my professor at the Medill School of Journalism, that the government has lied to the people far more often than the press. Today, I still believe the government lies to the people but I have lost faith in the press having the ability to ferret out the lies.

All three of you are members of the Senate, and so I ask you. Is this a true account or a fabrication? If the drain of America’s resources is not resolved, you will not be able to fund your plans for the economy, health insurance or education.

The worst statistic of the war is certainly the lives of our brave young men and women that have been lost and the unknown number who have been maimed, physically and mentally. In addition, are American taxpayers pouring money into a fund for greedy Iraqis?

Murray B. Light is the former editor of The Buffalo News

Find this article at:
http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/editorials/story/333184.html