Iraq, the failed state that over 4,600 (and counting…) Americans died to free from some evil tyrant 13 years ago, is still ranking high internationally in something. Unfortunately, that something is corruption.
A couple of other places where America has been intervening for freedom also made the list.
Germany’s Transparency International released its newest corruption index for 2015, and as usual Iraq was on the list. The ten worst countries in its new study were Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan, Angola, Libya, Iraq, Venezuela, and Guinea-Bissau.
Seven of those nations held the same worst ranks last year. Iraq received the same score that it had for the last two years.
Most Corrupt Countries On Transparency International Corruption Index 2015:
1. Somalia
2. North Korea
3. Afghanistan
4. Sudan
5. South Sudan
6. Angola
7. Libya
8. Iraq
9. Venezuela
10. Guinea-Bissau
In Iraq, corruption is rampant throughout the state. The ruling elite use graft and bribes to maintain their patronage systems, their militias, and to enrich themselves. That’s also the reason why there is no real push to end it; if one top official was taken down it would threaten all the rest.
According to experts, that’s despite repeated promises by the prime ministers, the complaints of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and protests that occur almost every year demanding action on the issue. Current U.S.-chosen Prime Minister Haidar Abadi, for example, announced a reform program in August 2015 that was supposed to address corruption, but he was focused more on building up his own base and going after his rivals than actually addressing the problem, and nothing substantive was done. No one, including America, wants to seriously touch the golden goose that keeps the Iraqi good times going.
BONUS: See who else is on the top ten corruption list? U.S. occupied Afghanistan is No. 3. Libya, where the U.S. overthrew another evil tyrant with no follow-on plan, is No. 7. Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan are all places with active U.S.-led miniwars afoot.
It is almost as if there is a pattern here…
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John Poole said...
1The photo of a slackened bundle of greenbacks is a powerful image. Too bad it isn’t encoded on a computer disk nestled in a deep space probe heading towards the edge of the known cosmos. It explains more about human nature than a notable recording or painting.
03/30/16 9:04 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
2Actually, that’s a photo of a Goldman Sachs employee paying off Hillarious.
03/30/16 10:22 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
3Bauer- that is my point- it is universal and fatal- not just toxic. The lust for power which money represents might be our undoing as a species.
03/30/16 10:29 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4Of course, in terms of total dollars in bribes the US is still number one:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kbr-unaoil-corruption_us_56fafbf1e4b0a06d5803f5b8?aczy0jh9rv9jatt9
03/30/16 11:05 AM | Comment Link
Bruce said...
5And KBR is a mere $usidiary of Cheney’s Halliburton!
03/30/16 11:34 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
6Bauer- I needed and appreciate your comforting pep talk, I was believing that America wasn’t number Uno in anything.
03/30/16 2:27 PM | Comment Link
Iraq Ranks In Ten Most Corrupt Countries In World, Again http://wem… | Roy Schestowitz - API Key Placeholder said...
7[…] Ranks In Ten Most Corrupt Countries In World, Again https://wemeantwell.com/blog/2016/03/30/iraq-ranks-in-ten-most-corrupt-countries-in-world-again/ after we 'liberated' […]
03/30/16 7:59 PM | Comment Link