Iraq more corrupt than Africa

I knew violence was bad in Iraq. I also knew that corruption was a big deal. Whenever there's a disaster, natural or manmade, there's always a high probablity of corruption in the reconstruction efforts. But the sheer level of corruption in Iraq is mind boggling, though not surprising since the economic potential for US corporations was the main reason for the invasion in the first place.

US-occupied Iraq is the second most corrupt country in the world, according to the independent business-friendly organization Transparency International. Africa is the continent most associated with corruption in the minds of most people, yet no country in Africa is more corrupt than Iraq.

There's more than a little irony to this. World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz is on a crusade. A crusade to stamp out corruption, particularly in Africa. In his previous job as Deputy Defense Secretary, he was on another crusade: to invade and rebuild... Iraq. Too bad his anti-corruption crusade didn't start a few years earlier.

I'm sure this report will enhance his credibility when he lectures Africans on transparency.

Why does it matter? There's the obvious fact that money lost to corruption can't be used to build roads and schools. Additionally, some of the corruption ends up funding militias and insurgents.

Furthermore, a watchdog within the government also noted with alarm the loss of 14,000 weapons destined for Iraqi government use.

So thanks to corruption, your tax dollars are inadvertantly funding and arming the insurgents trying to kill our troops.

The watchdog referred to corruption as "the second insurgency. This money that's stolen doesn't merely enrich criminals but frequently goes out to fund criminal militias or insurgents."

The Bush administration's response:phase out the position of auditor, whose job it is to monitor and report on corruption in the reconstruction efforts.

For the administration, opposing anything that smacks of accountability and purging any internal sign of independent thought isn't just their policy, it's part of their DNA.