"A SECOND INSURGENCY"

That's how the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction described the corruption in Iraq. Now, we learn the criminal Bush regime deliberately ignored the corruption. The moral? THE GOP CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.


2 ex-officials accuse U.S. of ignoring Iraqi corruption
USA TODAY
Posted by Michael Winter at 07:00 PM/ET, May 12, 2008 in Iraq


Two former State Department officials today accused the Bush administration of repeatedly ignoring corruption at "the highest levels" of the Iraqi government to protect Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

One also contended that the corruption had contributed to the deaths of Americans and Iraqis and was helping the insurgents.

The allegations came at a hearing by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Arthur Brennan, who last year briefly headed the department's Office of Accountability and Transparency in Baghdad, said the State Department "has negligently, recklessly and sometimes intentionally misled the U.S. Congress, the American people and the people of Iraq."

"In a sense, the Department of State has contributed to the killing and maiming of US soldiers, the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians; the bolstering of illegal militias, insurgents and Al-Qaeda," he told senators. "Billions of U.S. and Iraqi dollars have been lost, stolen and wasted, it is likely that some of that money is financing outlaws and insurgents such as the Medhi Army."

The department's policies "not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government," he said, calling the anti-corruption efforts "little more than window dressing."

Brennan's chief of staff, James Mattil, testified that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored.

Last week the Christian Science Monitor wrote that Iraq was becoming a "free-fraud zone" because of the Bush administration's refusal to prosecute U.S. firms for alleged corruption.
That wasn't exactly news, however. Reports of corruption date back to at least 2005.