Corruption in Iraq

[Puppycow]

Nonstop Theft and Bribery Are Staggering Iraq

BAGHDAD, Dec. 1 — Jobless men pay $500 bribes to join the police. Families build houses illegally on government land, carwashes steal water from public pipes, and nearly everything the government buys or sells can now be found on the black market.

Painkillers for cancer (from the Ministry of Health) cost $80 for a few capsules; electricity meters (from the Ministry of Electricity) go for $200 each, and even third-grade textbooks (stolen from the Ministry of Education) must be bought at bookstores for three times what schools once charged.

“Everyone is stealing from the state,” said Adel Adel al-Subihawi, a prominent Shiite tribal leader in Sadr City, throwing up his hands in disgust. “It’s a very large meal, and everyone wants to eat.”

This is why, like with South Vietnam, it seems like we cannot will a viable state into existance in Iraq. Iraq is near the very bottom of the CPI (Corruption Perceptions Index) in some pretty alarming company: Myanmar, Somalia, Haiti.

I cannot see any reason for hope. Yes, the "surge" is working somewhat to temporarily reduce violence, but we can't surge forever, and with this level of corruption, I don't see how Iraq doesn't end up as a failed state when we leave eventually.

 

[sinclairmcevoy]

History repeats itself once again.

 

[cloudshipsrule]

Consider your source.

 

[Elind]

My source is called "The Thief of Baghdad" which predates all this other crap.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Why do you hate America?

They are just beginning a proud history of corrution. Why, in a few years I expect they will have a President that steals an election!

 

[lionking]

I was optimistic that ultimately a semblance of a lawful, peaceful society would emerge until it became clear that the most corrupt sectors were the police and the army. I too have given up hope, at least in the medium term.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Corruption in Iraq

Water in an ocean.

This is nothing new. How the hell is it news?

DR

 

[Puppycow]

Corruption in Iraq

Water in an ocean.

This is nothing new. How the hell is it news?

DR

I know it is not new, but I think it's news that it doesn't seem to be getting any better.
And if you have to break the law to become a policeman, that seems to bode ill for law and order in the long run. The point is that we are throwing good money after bad, but it's not improving things. Rather it is fueling lawlessness.

Consider your source.

Always do.

 

[OneShotKi11]

Hes just trying to make another point on how we are never going to win this war we are in!

 

[cloudshipsrule]

There's never a winner in a war! Everyone loses.

In fact, I don't think wars ever really even end, it's just that sometimes there is a long lull in-between battles which can last years or even decades.

(I'm only being slightly sarcastic with this. Part of me actually believes it.)

 

[Garrette]

There's never a winner in a war! Everyone loses.

In fact, I don't think wars ever really even end, it's just that sometimes there is a long lull in-between battles which can last years or even decades.

(I'm only being slightly sarcastic with this. Part of me actually believes it.)

One might win a war if one assumed there were an end state in politics. There isn't, so wars and the peace between them are simply steps on the road. And different spots on the spectrum.

 

[JoeEllison]

Didn't they used to have a potentially viable country there? Oh, yeah... and then America blew it up.

 

[Garrette]

Didn't they used to have a potentially viable country there? Oh, yeah... and then America blew it up.

Depends what you mean by viable. There is merit to the argument that the new may be horrible but is no worse than the old and has the advantage of at least opening the game to more players.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Depends what you mean by viable. There is merit to the argument that the new may be horrible but is no worse than the old and has the advantage of at least opening the game to more players.

Indeed, it also has the disadvantage and inefficiency that a non autocratic mode of governance brings with it. Not sure if I should ask Joe if he thinks efficiency is more important than freedom, or where the balance will be found. That line of discussion usually ends up in one or the other accusing the opposite of being a fascist, or an apologist for fascists.

Now, if you were a Sunni, or for example a Chaldean Christian, the Saddam era was a bit less unpalatable than otherwise, I suspect.

Is less unpalatable the goal to be striven for? I wonder sometimes at our own "lesser of two evils system" and find the slight parallel tinged with irony.

DR