Some news out if Iraq reads like the script of a bad made-for-TV movie. It features $300 million in U.S. currency being loaded aboard a chartered jet at Baghdad International Airport, destined for delivery to someone or something in Lebanon.
An alleged reason for the money shipment:
The money was to be used to buy tanks and other weapons from international arms dealers, the officials say, as part of an accelerated effort to assemble an armored division for the fledgling Iraqi Army. But exactly where the money went, and to whom, and for precisely what, remains a mystery, at least to Iraqis who say they have been trying to find out.
The plot thickens — and sickens — with charges flying back and forth between the interim Iraq government’s defense minister and Ahmed Chalabi. You may recall Chalabi as the former darling of the Bush administration, especially the neocon war hawks at the Pentagon. It’s believed Bush & Co. at one time had earmarked Chalabi to become the next ruler of Iraq, after Saddam was toppled — a development Chalabi promoted with all his might.
You may also recall that Chalabi is a fugitive from justice in Jordan, where there’s a warrant out for his arrest in connection with a bank embezzlement case. And ironically, since his return to Iraq, Chalabi wound up on the wrong side of the Bush administration for alleged dealings with, or espionage for, Iran.
So, just when you thought corruption was probably limited to however many hundreds of millions, or billions, Halliburton and a few miscellaneous other contractors could make off with, along comes this, from the same story:
The $300 million flight has been the talk of Iraq’s political class, and fueled the impression among many Iraqis and Western officials that the interim Iraqi government, set up after the American occupation formally ended in June, is awash in corruption. It is not clear whether the money came from Iraqi or American sources, or both.
“I am sorry to say that the corruption here is worse now than in the Saddam Hussein era,” said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, who said he had not been informed of the details of the flight or the arms deal.
Isn’t is gratifying, helping the formerly oppressed and now oh-so-grateful Iraqis give birth to a democracy that will transform the Middle East? Kind of sends patriotic chills down your spine, doesn’t it?
Just don’t expect President Bush or the Republican-controlled Congress to put much effort into dealing with corruption in Iraq. The only corruption charges they’re interested in pursuing are the ones they can pin on U.N. officials.
