Audit: Corruption in Iraq a 'Pandemic'
Tuesday August 1, 2006 8:16 PM
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Corruption is ``a virtual pandemic in Iraq,'' threatening rebuilding efforts, international aid and citizen confidence needed for a fledgling democracy, a government report said Tuesday.
One Iraqi official has estimated that corruption costs the country $4 billion annually. A recent survey indicated a third of Iraqis polled had paid a bribe to get products or services in the past 12 months and that they had a ``core mistrust'' of the army and police.
The details are cited in the quarterly report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
``Unless reforms are put in place, corruption may jeopardize the political stability of the new government,'' said an audit included in the report.
``Successfully addressing corruption in Iraq is indubitably a multigenerational process, but the severity of the current problem begs for a better-resources effort,'' Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr. said in the report, recommending greater spending on anti-corruption programs.
His office was created by Congress and reports administratively to the departments of State and Defense as well as Congress.
^---
On the Net:
Special Inspector General Iraq Reconstruction http://www.sigir.mil
Link Here
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Corruption is ``a virtual pandemic in Iraq,'' threatening rebuilding efforts, international aid and citizen confidence needed for a fledgling democracy, a government report said Tuesday.
One Iraqi official has estimated that corruption costs the country $4 billion annually. A recent survey indicated a third of Iraqis polled had paid a bribe to get products or services in the past 12 months and that they had a ``core mistrust'' of the army and police.
The details are cited in the quarterly report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
``Unless reforms are put in place, corruption may jeopardize the political stability of the new government,'' said an audit included in the report.
``Successfully addressing corruption in Iraq is indubitably a multigenerational process, but the severity of the current problem begs for a better-resources effort,'' Inspector General Stuart W. Bowen Jr. said in the report, recommending greater spending on anti-corruption programs.
His office was created by Congress and reports administratively to the departments of State and Defense as well as Congress.
^---
On the Net:
Special Inspector General Iraq Reconstruction http://www.sigir.mil
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 5:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home