« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Pentagon Soft-Pedals Iraqi Gov Corruption
Sometimes the Pentagon presents misleading Iraq data. Other times, it minimizes its own findings, as it does on one of the most controversial aspects of the Iraqi training effort: endemic corruption and sectarianism in the Ministry of the Interior.
Interior, which controls the police, is the sharpest weapon of Shiite power in Iraq. Here's the Government Accountability Office's report:
[M]ilitia influence affects every component of the Ministry of the Interior, especially in Baghdad and in other key cities, according to DOD. This influence, along with corruption and illegal activity, constrains progress in the development of Ministry of Interior forces.
Notice that attribution: "according to DOD." But look at the relevant section of the June 2007 Pentagon quarterly report on Iraq (pdf), beginning at page 31. The top line is what GAO describes, on both the question of militia infiltration and corruption. But then the Defense Department explains it away:
The [Ministry of the Interior] still struggles with internal corruption, and the ministry made continued efforts this quarter to address this problem. Key to these efforts is effective investigations when allegations appear to have credibility.
In support of that statement, the report lists over 1900 internal corruption investigations which have resulted in the firing of nearly 900 ministry employees. But, according to a memo from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, those investigations don't exactly go anywhere.
In the memo, which was obtained by David Corn, embassy officials cite Interior's uncanny ability to stop inquires from going forward. The ministry, according to the memo, has been "co-opted by organized criminals." Iraqi investigators had even "expressed their fear of being assassinated should they aggressively pursue their duties at [the Ministry]."
It'll be worth hearing what Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus make of the Interior Ministry's apparent gangsterism. The ministry, of course, is responsible for part of what the DOD June 2007 report calls "one of the strategic objectives" of the war, and sugar-coating what the ministry does hardly serves anyone's purpose -- except maybe those of the militias.
Comments (3)
M M wrote on September 5, 2007 1:39 PM:Clearly naive question, but at what point does the DoD's spinning on behalf of the Bush administration's policy--whether about the Ministry of Interior or sponsoring tours through its Potempkin Village market it bought $2,500 per vendor--become counterproductive to the military itself when it becomes stretched to the breaking point supporting a policy of long term presence in Iraq that won't work and is not in our national interest? When did it become the military's job to follow to spin for the political purposes of a given administration when that administration is leading the military itself over a cliff? Hopefully, the Joint Chiefs finally fulfill their obligations to the military and tell Bush no for once and stop the spin BS.
Rodney Lamprey, jr. wrote on September 5, 2007 3:44 PM:It is right there in the Iraqi Constitution that the Bushies helped write!!! "Investigators work at the pleasure of the Ministries", so if an Iraqi Ministry decides to assassinate investigators and stall any corruption invesigations, you shouldn't assume that anything improper has been done. Obviously, the Ministries have Executive Privledge over their internal gangsterism, and shouldn't be subjected to oversite which might prevent them from open corruption. The Iraqi Ministers regret these politically motivated accusations that they murdered anyone for improper reasons.
The Oracle wrote on September 6, 2007 2:21 AM:The Bush administration will get around to cleaning up all the cronyism and corruption in the Iraqi government they helped install following Bush and Cheney's preemptive March 2003 invasion of Iraq...as soon as the Bush administration gets around to cleaning up all the cronyism and corruption inside their executive branch in Washington D.C.. All that's necessary is some good old-fashioned unfettered oversight and transparency.
Oh.
Wait a minute. Maybe I've been wrong about the Bush administration. They actually have been highly successful in spreading to Iraq their special Republican brand of democracy...cronyism...corruption...religious litmus tests...political litmus tests...disappearing people into prisons where they rot...torture...smear campaigns...religious zealots filling government positions and calling the "shots," often literally, over in Iraq.
Mission Accomplished!!! What Bush and Cheney and all the culture of corruption Republicans have been doing to our democracy they've exported over to Iraq. Heckuva job, Bushie.
It's obvious now that all of us sane, patriotic U.S. citizens have been looking at the wrong "benchmarks," versus the "benchmarks" that the Bush administration has been following.
Our sane, patriotic "benchmarks" are 1) U.S. Constitution, 2) Bill of Rights, 3) separation of church and state, 4) government of the people, by the people and for the people, 5) honest elections with verifiable results, 6) oversight of our public servants and accountability where necessary, 7) the right to privacy.
The Bush administration, and culture of corruption Republicans, obviously have other "benchmarks" in mind.