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American values, corrupted
Posted: December 6, 2007
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There’s one thing we have accomplished in Iraq. A thriving economy. The only thing is, it’s an economy based on widespread corruption.
Don’t have a job? Not to worry, if you can come up with $500, just like that you’re a member of the Iraqi police force. And if you decide to drop, your commanders will gladly accept your salaries. To the tune of more than $100,000 a month.
Want a promotion? Get a fake college degree, just $40.
Interested in starting your own business? Open a carwash in Baghdad. Get a compressor, the water’s free because it’s readily available from broken city pipes.
Your third-grader needs a textbook? You can buy them (stolen from the Ministry of Education) at bookstores for three times what schools once charged.
Depending on your point of view, this war was and is either immoral or not. But this is for sure: What’s going on in Iraq now is a sin.
Iraq has been named the third most corrupt country in the world. Only Somalia and Myanmar were worse. And the extent of the theft is staggering. Some American officials estimate that as much as a third of what they spend on Iraqi contracts and grants end up unaccounted for or stolen.
$18 billion in Iraqi government money has disappeared since 2004. Bush’s boy, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki actually undercut anticorruption efforts by requiring that investigators get his permission before pursuing ministers or former ministers on corruption charges. And he refused to rescind a law that lets his ministers exempt their employees from investigation.
In Iraq Rule of Law is Rule of Lawlessness. When theft and corruption become survival tools, everyone’s left feeling dirty.
Support our troops. Support our economy. Support our values. Bring our troops and our dollars home. Now.
Don’t have a job? Not to worry, if you can come up with $500, just like that you’re a member of the Iraqi police force. And if you decide to drop, your commanders will gladly accept your salaries. To the tune of more than $100,000 a month.
Want a promotion? Get a fake college degree, just $40.
Interested in starting your own business? Open a carwash in Baghdad. Get a compressor, the water’s free because it’s readily available from broken city pipes.
Your third-grader needs a textbook? You can buy them (stolen from the Ministry of Education) at bookstores for three times what schools once charged.
Depending on your point of view, this war was and is either immoral or not. But this is for sure: What’s going on in Iraq now is a sin.
Iraq has been named the third most corrupt country in the world. Only Somalia and Myanmar were worse. And the extent of the theft is staggering. Some American officials estimate that as much as a third of what they spend on Iraqi contracts and grants end up unaccounted for or stolen.
$18 billion in Iraqi government money has disappeared since 2004. Bush’s boy, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki actually undercut anticorruption efforts by requiring that investigators get his permission before pursuing ministers or former ministers on corruption charges. And he refused to rescind a law that lets his ministers exempt their employees from investigation.
In Iraq Rule of Law is Rule of Lawlessness. When theft and corruption become survival tools, everyone’s left feeling dirty.
Support our troops. Support our economy. Support our values. Bring our troops and our dollars home. Now.
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