Corruption in Iraq 'Pernicious,' State Dept. Official Says

[babylonsister]

Corruption in Iraq 'Pernicious,' State Dept. Official Says

By Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 16, 2007; Page A13

Official corruption in Iraq is "real, endemic and pernicious," and remains a major challenge to building a functioning, stable democracy there, a senior State Department official said yesterday in response to congressional charges that the department is concealing the extent of the problem.

"Corruption is a reality in Iraq," the department's Iraq policy coordinator, David M. Satterfield, said. "Iraqis at every level have failed to put the nation's interests ahead" of their own and those of their religious, ethnic and tribal affiliations, he said.

Satterfield's comments, in a conference call with reporters, followed angry congressional charges that the State Department has refused to respond to questions about the issue and has unnecessarily classified and redacted U.S. government documents outlining malfeasance in the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

His comments came on the eve of a House vote on a Democratic-sponsored resolution stating that the State Department has abused its authority by withholding information about the extent of corruption in the Maliki government. On Friday, Democratic chairmen of the House committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Appropriations, Foreign Affairs and Armed Services wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding "honest answers" about corruption that may be "fueling the insurgency and endangering our troops" in Iraq.

The latest salvos are part of a running battle that began last month when oversight committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) asked Rice to hand over internal U.S. Embassy documents detailing extensive corruption in the Iraqi government, and demanded that she and other senior officials testify before his committee. The department responded that Rice's schedule was full and offered other officials it said were better versed on the details. Rather than open congressional testimony, it said the officials would brief Waxman's committee in private. The requested documents, the State Department said, were unavailable for use in public session.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501831.html?nav=rss_world

[robinlynne]

1. corruption in the USA, pernicious, I say.

(sorry, it was just leaping out.)