Ex-State officials allege corruption cover up

[choie]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.

Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department's Office of Accountability and Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats on Monday that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_corruption

[maddezmom]

1. like the guy they let escaped the Green Zone jail

By MARC SANTORA
Published: December 19, 2006
BAGHDAD, Dec. 18 — Iraq’s former electricity minister, the most senior official arrested on corruption charges here, made a brazen escape Sunday afternoon from an Iraqi jail in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

There were conflicting reports about how the former official, Aiham Alsammarae, who is a citizen of both the United States and Iraq, was able not only to break out of jail but also to elude capture in the four-square-mile area that includes the American Embassy, Iraq’s Parliament and the homes of politicians and members of the American military command.

In fact, the Americans were not even told about the jailbreak until the next day, said a senior Western official familiar with the investigation.

As of late Monday, neither the Iraqis nor the Americans had any idea of where Mr. Alsammarae had gone.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[elehhhhna]

5. It gets worse: that escapee has ties to Obama's acquaintance, Rezko

expect to hear about it ad nauseum in the GE:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=Aiham+Alsammarae+rezko

[barbtries]

10. that's priceless

i don't even know what to say. but in the coming years there are going to be some great and hilariously tragic movies made from this idiot occupation.

[maddezmom]

2. Mar '07 Iraq is becoming 'free fraud' zone

Corruption in Iraq under US-led CPA may dwarf UN oil-for-food scandal.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com



A former senior advisor to the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which ran Iraq until the election of an interim Iraq government last January, says that the US government's refusal to prosecute US firms accused of corruption in Iraq is turning the country into a " free fraud zone."

Newsweek reported earlier this week that Frank Willis compared Iraq to the "wild west," and that with only $4.1 billion of the $18.7 billion that the US government set aside for the reconstruction of Iraq having been spent, the lack of action on the part of the government means "the corruption will only get worse."


More than US money is at stake. The administration has harshly criticized the United Nations over hundreds of millions stolen from the Oil-for-Food Program under Saddam . But the successor to Oil-for-Food created under the occupation, called the Development Fund for Iraq, could involve billions of potentially misused dollars.


In late March, the New Standard reported, the annual Global Corruption Report issued by the "corruption watchdog," Transparency International (TI), heavily criticized the US for "mismanaging" Iraq's oil revenues and "for using faulty procedures for awarding reconstruction contracts."

more:http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0407/dailyUpdate.html

[truthisfreedom]

3. Amazing! Things are even MORE corrupt than under Saddam? Who would'a thunk?

I mean with a diligent, intelligent, detail-oriented president like bush at the helm, I expected better!

[dipsydoodle]

4. Well I never - what a surprise

:sarcasm:

[Usrename]

6. Pallets full of cash, 360 tons of it.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06312951.htm



Mid-2003: A reporter in Iraq stands on a pallet filled with shrink-wrapped bricks of C-Notes

“Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone?” — Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2006/10/04/its-ok-to-vote-for-foley-florida-elections-officials-say/?p=4583

[nashville_brook]

7. that is an incredible photograph! so glad that was documented.

i remember the story, but never saw the photos! wow.

[Usrename]

8. You know I've had some pretty bizzare dreams in my life....

... and I've never even dreamed of standing on a pallet of hundred dollar bills... the mind boggles!!!

[barbtries]

9. "so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad"?

it's the baghdad of their making. wtf

[onehandle]

11. Ex-officials: Bush admin. ignored Iraq corruption

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.

Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department's Office of Accountability and Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats on Monday that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored.

Brennan also alleges the State Department prevented a congressional aide visiting Baghdad from talking with staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, office members were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers' workload had been cut dramatically because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "evisceration" of Iraq's top anti-corruption office, he said.

The State 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," Brennan told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_corruption

[Jacobin]

12. Ignored it? Hell, they participated in it.

[Solly Mack]

13. Yep

[Ian David]

14. Mission Accomplished! n/t