Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Just Say No
With a title like that, you'd think I'd be talking about drugs. Right?

Noooooooo.

The ghost of Nancy Reagan as invaded the Pentagon in the new anti-corruption program in Iraq:
The NYT leads with corrupt Iraqi officials in the oil industry enabling the insurgency. In one example, the crooked director of a major oil-storage plant near Kirkuk is accused of orchestrating an attack on his own facility. But fear not, American officials have declared the week starting Feb. 19 to be Anti-Corruption Week.
Sure. That'll do it. How about some swell posters to go with that slogan, and some lapel pins! How keen! I'll bet the Iraqis, particularly those insurgents, will line up for a neat new CD of anti-corruption songs! And of course, they'll turn in their IED's and rocket propelled gernades in order to get a Rummy signed certificate of completion in the new "Anti-Corruption Program", suitably frameable of course (disclaimer: buy frame at your own expense).

Sheesh .....
The curious thing about the NYT lead on graft in the Iraqi oil industry is that the WP places a very similar story on page A17. Both stories, the Post's more so, focus on the case of Meshaan al-Juburi (Mishan Jubouri in the WP), an Iraqi lawmaker who is accused of stealing millions from a program aimed at protecting the country's oil pipelines and, possibly, funneling some of that money to the insurgency. But while the Post sticks to the events surrounding al-Juburi, the Times examines the broader "pattern of government corruption enabling the flow of oil money and other funds to the insurgency." Ali Allawi, Iraq's finance minister, estimates that nearly half of all oil-smuggling profits goes to the insurgents.
How nice to fund both sides of the war. When they say the United States is at war with itself, they're not kidding.
Written at 9:36 AM by Greyhair.
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