60 Minutes: Corruption in Iraq Killing US Troops With US Dollars
By Bill W. Monday Apr 14, 2008 2:45pm
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60 Minutes on Sunday explored the rampant corruption going on throughout the Iraqi government, and how much of the up to $18 billion missing or unaccounted for has been finding its way into the hands of militias that have been responsible for attacks on coalition forces. What's more, they detail how Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was able to immunize all current and former Iraqi officials, including himself and his family, from any further investigation or prosecution, the State Dept's refusal to cooperate with any investigation, the ostracism and apparent abandonment of the one Iraqi official who braved death threats, and the murder of dozens of his staff, to successfully prosecute corrupt officials before PM Malaki effectively shut him down, and how one such former official, Aiham Alsammarae, who had already been convicted and was set to face even more charges for billions of missing funds while he was the Minister of Electricity, brazenly escaped a Green Zone jail with the help of U.S. contractors (twice) and is currently living large in a Chicago suburb.
Full 13 minute report and transcript here. A look at some of the events, documents and key players after the jump.
Judge Radhi al-Radhi: The former head of the Commission on Public Integrity who was tasked with weeding out corruption in Iraqi government. Judge Radhi was pushed out of his job by PM Maliki and forced to flee Iraq, lucky to have gotten out alive, unlike the 31 members of his staff and their family members who were murdered. He currently resides in a Washington DC suburb as he seeks asylum in the US. Judge Radhi basically has been abandoned by the State Dept as they have thus far refused to cooperate, as Judge Radhi has, with ongoing Congressional investigations into corruption in Iraq.
Memo (PDF) banning Judge Radhi's Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) from investigating Iraqi officials without the consent of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Aiham Alsammarae: A wealthy Iraqi expatriate and Chicago area resident with dual citizenship recruited to become the Electricity Minister under Paul Bremer. Alsammarae was later the only Iraqi official found guilty, not in absentia, of corruption, and had more charges pending relating to billions in missing funds when he was busted out of a green zone jail - twice: The first time on Oct 11, 2006 when, reportedly, the two US contractors assigned to protect him overpowered Iraqi police and rushed him from a courtroom to the US embassy but later returned him. The two contractors later claimed they “were fired for doing our jobs, per protocol and with the full knowledge and blessings of our superiors” as Alsammarae claimed that his life was in danger. A spokesman for DynCorp later confirmed much of those details. A few weeks later investigators in the US looking into an Iraqi power plant deal involving Antoin "Tony" Rezko, leaked that they wanted to talk to Alsammarae about how his former college buddy managed to land that contract. Then the second time Alsammarae escaped he was apparently freed from a Green Zone jail on Dec 16, 2006 by a team working for Blackwater USA, and despite being wanted by Interpol he managed to return to the US a few weeks later. He currently resides in his gated Chicago suburb where homes range "from $1.5 million to $4 million."
While the following is speculation on my part, I must admit that the timing and manner of Alsammarae's escape, his ability to return to the US and resume his life apparently open and unimpeded, and the timing of his name popping up in a politically sensitive case nearly a year before Attorney General Gonzales resigned raises all kinds of flags for me, as I would think it might anyone who has followed closely the US Atty Scandal and the Don Siegelman saga. All that said, I really hope I'm wrong about that.
In Sept 2007 the State Department retroactively classified this previously "Sensitive but Unclassified" report detailing widespread fraud, intimidation and embezzlement within the Iraqi government, but not before it made its way onto the internets. Since then, the State Department has thus far refused to cooperate with Congressional investigations or turn over documents relating to corruption in Iraq.
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Those soldiers better not complain or else they'll be branded as traitors!
I wondered when y'all would post this.
a numbing and painfully NOT surprising piece on the very poor foundation on which we (the U.S.) are attempting to construct a democracy.
worst experiment EVAR!
Makes me kinda miss America.
Doin a heckava job there...Decider guy.
What a fucking joke...
But hey I heard Obama's pastor said something about Sean Hannity! Let me get back to my round-the-clock coverage of that much more important issue...
The naysayers must be swallowing crow. Iraq is shaping up into a western style democracy.
Why are the Bush criminal traitors still allowed to go to the White House every day?
Why aren't they in jail?
How bad does it have to get?
INVESTIGATE. INDICT. IMPEACH. IMPRISON.
Another day, another hint of stupidity from this entire occupation. Who thinks this will be seen on Bushed on Countdown?
by the way, the anti-dote to this grim segment was the piece on John Kanzius and his remarkable (and potential) cancer remedy.
put tears in my eyes. see it here.
Heck of a job, Chimpy.
Criminals. All of them.
Mission accomplished.
What time did it come on?
Here in Texas it was almost time for the Simpsons, but 60 Minutes which should have been on an hour ago, was still delayed by some damn golf game.
1:30 to 7:30 for golf?
so, just who are the terrorists we are fighting over there
so we won't have to fight them over here.
could that be bush and cheney and the bush administration?
it just seems to get clearer everyday that bush and cheney
are the terrorists over here we should be holding in gitmo.
who else has demolished the Constitution for their own
fascists-dictatorship?
Nice to know the tax dollars we had to hand over are going to such a good and successful cause, isn't it? We hand the money to one group of crooks and they hand it to another group of crooks.
Why are American private contractors helping Iraqi crooks escape? Who is paying them to make this happen?
Hell, even in the Animal Farm the swine had the scruples to revise their Constitution to justify their idiocy, in Amurca our politicians just pretend we don't have one.
World's most Dangerous Jobs: The poor guy in charge of investigation corruption in Iraq
And we are worrying about what will happen to Iraq if we pull out! They, the Iraqis, have no intention of doing anything until we do pull out. They don't want us there, they only want the money we continue to pour into Iraq. Is it any wonder progress is not being made in infrastructure, schools, etc. All the money we send is going into the pockets of the criminal Iraqi government. Bush is one of the stupidist people on earth but why does everyone in the Republican congress go along with this idiot. Surely someone there has a brain and has figured this out. If not, then we are in worse trouble than anyone thought.
60 Minutes: Corruption in Iraq Killing US Troops With US Dollars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mpqXu0z3wU
ysbaddaden @ 12:
Not just golf. The Masters. Hee hee.
If US money is being funneled to the opposition and the "War" machine is sending them the loot, aren't they creating their own enemy just to stay in business?
This is why I quit watching 60 Minutes years ago. They keep digging up criminal activities and then nothing is ever done about any of it. Not one damn thing. That show is too depressing for me.
underdog @ 15:
where have you been for the last 7 yrs ? bush and cheney HAVE rewritten
the Constitution to suit their whims. have you heard of Directive 51?
look it up and then decide if bush has not revised the laws to suit himself.
TheConstitution @ 20:
Bingo.
18 billion dollars that Chimpy McBush lost being used to kill our troops who are over in Iraq due to the Chimpy McBush and Team Treason lying us into war is interesting and all, but...
Couldn't we hear more about Edward's haircuts? I mean, where was the follow up on that important story?
Or hows about an in depth analysis on something that Obama's pastor said, that dead horse was just simply not beaten enough!
Also, does no one but me remember that poor missing white girl on one of them there islands?
Let's get back to the important stories, people!
liberAL @ 17:
and you have answered your own inquiry with your last sentence.
ysbaddaden @ 12:
Really. And the Simpsons look like geniouses compared to the clowns running Iraq.
[Deleted. You know chris, it's pretty easy for us to pick you out in a crowd, even when you wear the Groucho glasses or add an 's' and a 'y' to your name-Sitemonitor]
TheConstitution @ 20:
our govt has done this with every head of state for many decades now.
noriega, saddam to mention just two. this list is endless.
first they suit us to do a job for us, then we go after them as enemies.
our friends first and then our enemies.....whatever would the
militar complex do without this on goin profit machine?
SHOCKING!!!
The Democrats will hold their usual hearings on this, express their usual outrage at the Iraqi government and the Bush Administration's complicity and cover up, and then as usual they will do nothing and will let Bush & Co get away with essentially robbing the American people again.
The Dems are no better than the Repubs.
pissed off patricia @ 14:
My guess is Alsammarae cut a deal with the Feds (and by Feds, I really mean the Bush admin) to sandbag Obama/Blagojevich (??) (This all occured under the Gonzales DOJ, and all it would take is a well-timed 'Oct surprise' subpoena to appear in the case to spawn a media frenzy and a serious shift on the polls) in exchange for having Blackwater bust him out and get him a pass back home. So, to answer your question, if my hunch is correct, we paid to make it happen.
-Occam's Razor-
#29
The Dems are no better than the Repubs.
The Dems are worse than the Repubs. They continue to sit by and let the Repubs do whatever they want including ripping the Constitution to pieces. There are so many instances where the Democrats have jumped up and condemned the Repubs about something but then that is the end of it. We never hear about the subject again. I will do whatever it takes to get a Dem in the WH but after that I don't give a damn about the Dems and will not vote for any of them again. What a worthless bunch. Every time I see wimpy Reid and liar Pelosi I want to scream. They are traitors to the Democratic Party. If they don't want to impeach Bush & Cheney I would be in favor of impeaching Reid and Pelosi. They would not be missed.
Another Bush success story.
Jeeze I hate these guys.
Every day the Bush Administration is involved in another jaw-dropping screw-up, blunder, crime or scandal.
I'll admit it: I have scandal fatigue.
How much more crap can go wrong? How much more can Bush thumb his nose at the Constitution while the Congress sits back and does nothing? How long can the press discuss the finer points of the word "bitter"?
How many times can McCain have an "honest mistake" before someone realizes that he actually doesn't know what he's talking about? How many more reports about dying animal species and melting polar ice can I listen to, while our President thinks the issue "needs more studying"?
I can't pay attention to this stuff anymore.
No one with any power is going to do anything. Perhaps I should shut my brain off and go watch reality shows like the rest of our brain-dead country and hope that things magically get better.
Jerry @ 5:
Bush, leading by example.
Chris-Don't do it,man! that's exactly what the pond scum want you to do. Stay with it. I know exactly how you feel. I went through a period where I felt hopeless,but I can't give up.
dadams @ 22:
How DOES Cheney climb that ladder with cloven feet and a paint can in his hands?
Those pesky republicks hehehehehe...................................they sure know how to make a buck. Come on y'all, git on board the gravy train. No need to love anyone or care for a fuckin' thing except more money. Easy-n-sleazy Gawd's Own Pricks. BTW, what with all of the scrap metal in America going to China, how long before that comes flyin' back at us?
Im sick of hearing all this.
The Bush/Cheney Junta and The Republican Crime Syndicate continue to be allowed to get away with murder and nothing is being done by any opposition in congress or the streets of America.
We In Trouble Folks!!!
Jerry @ 5:
The occupation has so drained our National coffers that's all we can afford to eat anymore.
Dr. Acula @ 19:
I much prefer Mistresses.
liberAL @ 21:
The Dems will ignore this because they would rather wins more seats in Congress than do any real work on the Hill.
Corruption in Iraq, corruption in the Bush Junta! I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!
A day late, a dollar short American News Media.
underdog @ 37:
I said it before and I'll say it again; people like the Bush Administration's traitors and criminals are why the French invented the guillotine.
the corrupt , perverted and anti-democratic Iraqi
Govt. acts JUST like their patrons in the Bushit Whitehouse ,,,
Yippie !
Mission Accomplished ...
can our Troops come home now ?
Dr. Acula @ 23:
Exactly. Why is this so transparent to anyone with a half a mind (and I'm being generous to myself).
There are 40+ years of politicians that should be rotting in gitmo, waterboarded of course since that acceptable interrogation technique, until they admit they are in it to rape the country for their own financial gains.
motorfingaz @ 39:
what have i been saying? walnuts your next presnut!
Silence and inaction are enemies best friend.
pissed off patricia @ 14:
Why did US embassy staff help Rumsfeld flee the french police the other month, 30 minutes away from being arrested,
whisked into Germany by officials then US military base then US mil plane back to the USA.
Nice when you are a private citizen and US gov staff are busy bees helping you avoid police and arrest in a foreign country.
ChrisM70 @ 34:
The handful of Congresscritters working at exposing the scandals and asking questions also are fatigued.
I have a feeling they know they cant get serious heads on pikes, but a few resignations and the facts are being put on record,
small victories and getting it recorded that some cared and tried.
Can we get our next President to investigate Bush, Cheney and their buddies and indict them for the crimes they committed and the money they played a pivotal role in allowing their buddies to steal from US taxpayers (and then trying to cover up their involvement.)
Wow! Hold our officials accountable for their lies and crimes. What a concept!
yet, the back door draft is alive and kicking:
http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S411982.shtml?cat=565
chrissy @ 27:
Please don't delete Chrissy's comments. It allows us all a glimpse into the twisted logic and overall idiocy of the right wing. It helps me know that I am right to believe what I believe.
roooth @ 45:
I'd prefer Electric Bleachers for the lot of them! Let's have a National Lottery to see who gets to throw the switch! Put it towards the Iraq war debt. I know, I know...you can take fantasy too far.
JR @ 52:
Boss: De Plane! De Plane! I thought I was in dream land with having a National Lottery to see who throws the switch to the Electric Bleachers! To quote John Lennon: "You may say I'm a dreamer...but I'm not the only one"....
"...and some of them ill gotten gains, are being used to kill American troops."
At least their being put to good use.
The very last bit was the most maddening of all, as the grotesquely incompetent Condoleezza Rice reveals that, like McSame, she knows nothing about anything and is completely out of touch with the world. What a terrible Secretary Of State she is! My God.
Out of curiosity, if queen nancy did put impeachment back on the table for boosh and chinless, would they be stripped of the ability to even push for war in Iran?
Nothing is ever going to change till we have some representation in the US House. thirty-thousand.org
I thought you might be interested in this letter written by Army Corps of Engineers whistleblower Bunny Greenhouse, who was retaliated against after she testified to Congress last week. Ms. Greenhouse is calling on all Americans to support whistleblower protection for federal employees. To read her letter go to http://capwiz.com/whistleblowers/issues/alert...
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