Iraq Corruption By "Western Standards"

Oh, this is rich.... "Premier of Iraq Is Quietly Firing Fraud Monitors" (NYTlimes)

"BAGHDAD — The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here."

Western standards! Western standards! You mean like Wall Street robber barons who Ponzi-schemed trash loans, driving the world into a financial abyss? You mean like lobby-ridden D.C. with legislators on the take and worse.... like Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens convicted of 7 counts of fraud but still in office (for now). Those Western standards?

The Iraq crimes.... "One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials."

This sounds like business as usual, Western standards.

After all, we gave our Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion plus dollars to "rescue" our economy. It's estimated he has probably spent half of if, or about $350 billion. Why "estimated?" Because Paulson won't tell anyone how the money was allocated! Even Congress! Western standards.

"...Stuart W. Bowen Jr., who leads an independent oversight office in Washington, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and who is currently working in Iraq, said he knew of six of the dismissals. He said the inspectors general were vulnerable because once their offices were created, the United States provided little support and training for what was a startling concept for the bureaucracy, which was shaped by the secrecy and corruption of the Saddam Hussein era."

Look, why is anyone surprised that the Bush administration provided little support and training, they can't govern here. After legislating strict oversight for the $700+ billion bailout, that oversight was never made operational.

Secrecy?... you mean like the way Undisclosed Location Cheney and Executive Privilege Bush operate?

Really, what can we expect unless we set the example? Let's just quit throwing good money after bad in Iraq.... let's no longer "occupy" ourselves with their corruption of our billions and concentrate on cleaning up our own act.

No more U.S.-made Baghdad billionaires! Bring our troops home.