Rice calls corruption in Iraq ‘pervasive’

[babylonsister]

Rice calls corruption in Iraq ‘pervasive’
By Susan Crabtree
October 25, 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice fought off tough questions from House Democrats Thursday over charges that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had issued an edict protecting top ministers, including a cousin, from corruption investigations.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has held numerous Iraq-related hearings, raised claims that Maliki had issued a decree in April that no one in the top levels of the Iraqi government — including the presidential office, council of ministers and current and previous ministers — could be investigated for corruption without his approval.

At a hearing before the panel in early October, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, testified that al-Maliki had protected family members from corruption investigations, including Salam al-Maliki, Iraq’s former transportation minister and the prime minister’s cousin.

Al-Radhi resigned last month and fled Iraq after he and his family were attacked and 31 of his anti-corruption employees were killed. He said corruption has affected “virtually every agency and ministry, including some of the most powerful officials in Iraq.”

Despite the incendiary charges, Rice remained calm and conceded that corruption was “a pervasive problem” in Iraq.

“There's a problem in the ministries, there is a problem in the government, there are problems with officials,” she said. “It is our job to put in place anti-corruption efforts, to help the Iraqis do so themselves.”

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rice-calls-corruption-in-iraq-pervasive-2007-10-25.html

[robinlynne]

1. can't possibly be as bad as washington though. trillions disappearing?

[BOSSHOG]

2. Republicans "putting in place anti-corruption efforts"

limbaugh is right, they are all comedians.