"Corruption here is worse now than in the Saddam Hussein era."

[BurtWorm]

MISSING MONEY
Mystery in Iraq as $300 Million is Taken Abroad
By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: January 22, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 21 - Earlier this month, according to Iraqi officials, $300 million in American bills was taken out of Iraq's Central Bank, put into boxes and quietly put on a charter jet bound for Lebanon. The money was to be used to buy tanks and other weapons from international arms dealers, the officials say, as part of an accelerated effort to assemble an armored division for the fledgling Iraqi Army. But exactly where the money went, and to whom, and for precisely what, remains a mystery, at least to Iraqis who say they have been trying to find out.

...

"I am sorry to say that the corruption here is worse now than in the Saddam Hussein era," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, who said he had not been informed of the details of the flight or the arms deal.

That charge is echoed outside of Iraq as well. Isam al-Khafaji, the director of the New York-based Iraq Revenue Watch, said corruption had become an "open secret" within the Iraqi government.

"There is no legal system to bring charges against anyone not following the rules and not abiding by the law, especially if you're a powerful politician," Mr. Khafaji said. "That's the tragedy of Iraq: Everyone runs their business like a private fiefdom."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/22/international/middleeast/22baghdad.html?hp&ex=1106456400&en=308db6b264aca618&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Sounds like certain of the Iraqis learn very well from their masters

"especially if you're a powerful politician" Imagine the loose money floating around that place right now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Omigod. We've exported my neighborhood to Iraq.

Poor sods.