Allawi's government decried as corrupt

[leftchick]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/37FF50AE-F3C8-4ED7-828D-594411718E28.htm

A top Shia leader tipped to become Iraq's next prime minister has branded Iyad Allawi's interim government the most corrupt in the country's history.


A close confidant of Grand Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, Husain Shahristani lashed out at the Allawi government and singled out Defence Minister Hazim Shaalan as the main offender.

"It is very well known in the country that the corruption is very widespread from the police to the judicial systems ... as a matter of fact Iraq has never known the level of corruption prevailing now," Shahristani said.

"A lot of public funds have gone missing under the Coalition Provisional Authority ... and even now," he said, of the disbanded US occupation authority.




Husain Shahristani is a close confidant of Ayat Allah al-Sistani

[Cooley Hurd]

1. 9 bil... that's a lot of scratch...

Good for Shahristani - after living under Saddam for so long, he knows corruption when he sees it!:thumbsup:

[cthrumatrix]

18. Bremer thinks it's all "OK"...accounting problems...thats all

[mordarlar]

20. $300,000 was put on a plane by Allawi's Defense Ministry ....

officials.

The article is only partially available on the NYT website. It has been archived.

>>>THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: MISSING MONEY; MYSTERY IN IRAQ AS $300 MILLION IS TAKEN ABROAD

By DEXTER FILKINS; JAD MOUAWAD CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FROM NEW YORK FOR THIS ARTICLE. (NYT) 1461 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 1 , Column 6

DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 1461 WORDS - Earlier this month, according to Iraqi officials, $300 million in American bills was taken out of Iraq's Central Bank, put into boxes and quietly put on a charter jet bound for ... The money was to be used to buy tanks and other weapons from international arms dealers, the officials...<<<

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20915F73A5C0C718EDDA80894DD404482

Interesting thing is... this story is strikingly familiar to another that came out within weeks of this one.


>>>U.S. Contractor Slain in Iraq Had Alleged Graft
# The weapons dealer had accused officials in the Defense Ministry of a kickback scheme.

By Ken Silverstein, T. Christian Miller and Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — An American contractor gunned down last month in Iraq had accused Iraqi Defense Ministry officials of corruption days before his death, according to documents and U.S. officials.

Dale Stoffel, 43, was shot to death Dec. 8 shortly after leaving an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad, an attack attributed at the time to Iraqi insurgents. Also killed was a business associate, Joseph Wemple, 49.

The killings came after Stoffel alerted senior U.S. officials in Washington that he believed Iraqi Defense Ministry officials were part of a kickback scheme involving a multimillion-dollar contract awarded to his company, Wye Oak Technology, to refurbish old Iraqi military equipment.

The FBI has launched an investigation into the killings and whether they might have been retaliation for Stoffel's whistle-blowing activities, according to people familiar with the inquiry. The FBI declined to comment.

Stoffel, of Monongahela, Pa., made his allegations in a Dec. 3 letter to a senior Pentagon official and in a meeting with aides to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). Soon after, Stoffel was summoned to the Taji military base in Iraq by coalition military officials to discuss his concerns about his contract. He complained about payment problems with a mysterious Lebanese businessman designated by the Iraqis as a middleman, sources said.<<<

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-death20jan20,0,2295167.story?coll=la-home-headlines

When confronted about the $300,000 cash being flown out of the country by Sistani's group Allawi's officials said they were sending it into Lebanon for weapons. This was reported in the NYT article.

[okoboji]

2. Husain Shahristani

must be mistaken, the U.S. would never endorse a corrupt government

/sarcasm

[roguevalley]

3. considering Saddam was the last government, my mind beggers

to picture a government more corrupt.

[leftchick]

4. The US Government

is pretty damn close.

[jmcgowanjm]

17. How can a stooge be more corrupt than his master? n/t

[roenyc]

5. guess no body does it better then a neo-con! nt

[TomClash]

6. A new possibility

Americans stole the $9b!

Bush could call it "Liberty Loot" or "Freedom Funds"

[LynnTheDem]

7. LOL! "Liberty Loot" is great! :D

So a top Shia thinks "Saddam without the mustache" Allawi is corrupt. bush's handpicked former CIA-paid carbombing terrorist is corrupt.

Imagine that! :wow:

[ixion]

8. I'm sure they just chalk it up as a 'liberation' fee

They're so good with taxation w/o representation, er, I mean charging fees.

[TomClash]

14. "Liberation Fee" LOL!!

eom

[12345]

9. They probably split it, 50/50, 60/40, what's your guess?

[TomClash]

16. With the Bushes?

90/10

[KansDem]

21. Try 90/90

The Mesquite Mafia will find a way...

[tanyev]

10. He better get used to it.

Who does he think won this "election"?

[ECH1969]

12. Right now three different parties

Did well in the election and the Religious Shiites are trying to keep Allawi from winning over the Kurds and thus the job of Prime Minister.

[jmcgowanjm]

15. if you don't know how many voted, how do you know who won

"I think everybody's got to be pretty excited about what
you've seen on TV and what you're hearing on the news,"
Turner said of the election. "To see the Iraqi reaction is
pretty heartening, and if the threats were halfway accurate,
then you have to be really proud of the security that was put
in place."-

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - The commanding general of the
101st Airborne Division (returning soon to occupied Iraq.)

Shaykh Ra‘d Hamdani, the General Secretary of the Council
of Chiefs of Tribes of Iraq announced that the percentage
of voters who cast ballots in the sham elections held by
the Americans on 30 January did not exceed
35 percent.-IRWednesday

According to preliminary figures provided by a joint US and
Iraqi taskforce that safeguarded the vote, fewer than 1400
people cast ballots in the city of (Samarra)
200,000.

The figure includes votes from soldiers and police, most
of whom were recruited from the Shia south.

Commission spokesman Farid Ayar indicated that around
eight million people may have voted, or about 60% of
registered voters.

He (Chalabi) said United Iraqi Alliance monitors
estimated turnout exceeding 50% in Salah al-din
province

http://electronicIraq.net/news/1849.shtml

[Igel]

22. One can make some educated guesses.

Of course, it's just possible that a 80-year-old Shi'a living in Irbil won 99.9% of the vote.

Odds are the unified Kurdish slate, Allawi's secular Shi'a slate, and the unified Shi'a religious slates are the top three vote-getters.

So now we see politics; but it's probably not overly wise to impute US political views on other cultures.

[jmcgowanjm]

24. not overly wise to impute US political views on other cultures

Understatement.

Another educated guess:

The ugliest, most unpopular, least recognized truth ever told

by Agent Orange, Unknown News
Feb. 1, 2005
The Iraqi Resistance movement has quite possibly saved
the world from WWIII, though the end of the story has not
yet been written...

http://www.unknownnews.org/050201a-ao.html

[leftchick]

23. thanks for the link...

I love that blog, it is very informative!

:hi:

[NYC Liberal]

11. Pssst...hey, did you know that Hitler's government

oppressed Jews? :o </sarcasm>

[yellowcanine]

13. I am SHOCKED!

[4dsc]

19. Some things never change

they were corrupt under Saddam and now this... It all fits..