Corruption in Iraq under US-led CPA may dwarf UN oil-for-food scandal

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://ads.addesktop.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad10246a.cgi/if/v=1.0A/SZ=1X1A/kw=KEYWORD/2168/CNW/RETURN-CODE/

A former senior advisor to the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which ran Iraq until the election of an interim Iraq government last January, says that the US government's refusal to prosecute US firms accused of corruption in Iraq is turning the country into a "free fraud zone."
Newsweek reported earlier this week that Frank Willis compared Iraq to the "wild west," and that with only $4.1 billion of the $18.7 billion that the US government set aside for the reconstruction of Iraq having been spent, the lack of action on the part of the government means "the corruption will only get worse."

More than US money is at stake. The administration has harshly criticized the United Nations over hundreds of millions stolen from the Oil-for-Food Program under Saddam . But the successor to Oil-for-Food created under the occupation, called the Development Fund for Iraq, could involve billions of potentially misused dollars.


In late March, the New Standard reported, the annual Global Corruption Report issued by the "corruption watchdog," Transparency International (TI), heavily criticized the US for "mismanaging" Iraq's oil revenues and "for using faulty procedures for awarding reconstruction contracts."

The report also criticizes efforts to rapidly privatize Iraqi assets and industries as a means of reducing the country’s debt. TI warns that unless immediate corrective measures are taken, Iraq’s reconstruction could become 'the biggest corruption scandal in history.'


more...

[ixion]

1. You mean it hasn't already?

hmmmm... I guess I've seen it as morally, ethically, spiritually and policitally corrupt from day one.

But hey, I'm just a member of the reality-based community. :eyes:

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. So are we lining Bremmer and Company against the wall

in the metaphorical sense?

Nope, they have connections to the representative of God on Earth... (and no for the freepers I don't mean the Pope)

(And yes some of the freepers believe the young dictator to be the representative of God on earth)

[Karenina]

3. May? MAY???

Spit... sputter... cough... spew!!!!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[todwest]

4. ROFLMAO

I was going to post the exact same thing. HEHE.

[leftchick]

5. In this administration you are rewarded for corruption....

~snip~

Even those who quit after presiding over key failures in Iraq are honored. Getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom were former CIA Director George Tenet (who oversaw the bogus intelligence on Iraq’s WMD), Gen. Tommy Franks (who failed to anticipate the intense Iraqi insurgency), and Iraq administrator Paul Bremer (who tried to impose an unrealistic economic reform plan that contributed to the chaos).

[AlCzervik]

6. So maybe the un scandal was just a red herring

Quick look over there!

[LynnTheDem]

7. Link not working?

Does anyone have another link? TIA!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. here's another link......sorry

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0408-09.htm

[leftofthedial]

9. whaddya mean "may"

It's the biggest theft in history.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. indeed!

[Voltaire99]

11. Compare this w/today's piece on AFL-CIO silence on Bush's war

Money makes the world go round. War money makes it go round faster.

[skip fox]

12. Wow. Boy oh boy! Wait till O'Reilly gets ahold of this!!!!

(Geez, it's been a long week.)

:toast:

[DrZeeLit]

13. May? Helllllllooooooooooo..... DUH

We will never know.... but HECK...it's so easy to GUESS.
Just paint Cheney's picture over the whole thing.
Scam City.

We'll be in a deep financial depression and he'll be accessing his Swiss accounts.