Iraq corruption deflection
Recurring Galloway allegations a sideshow intended to deflect attention from the colossal current and long-term corruptions of the US in Iraq
Who is most trustworthy? Top left: Recently returned-to-office British MP George Galloway; Top right: US Senator Norm Coleman, Republican from Minnesota; Bottom, shaking hands: Current US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Iraq's President Saddam Hussein in 1983 when Rumsfeld was Special Envoy to Iraq.
The story today about British anti-war MP George Galloway being called out by the slithering senator, Norm Coleman, is just outrageous. See this previous Deep Blade post, and also this related story, for more background on Coleman's hatchet shop of an investigations subcommittee and the disingenuous right-wing media circus surrounding the so-called Oil-for-Food Scandal.
The reason for outrage is that insane levels of corruption associated with twenty-plus years of US-sponsored destruction and the current devastating US occupation of Iraq are being all but ignored in the public machinations of US officialdom, and peeps are barely heard in the media. Here are two links into the very convenient Iraq Occupation Watch newsblog that supply many details on the outrages:
Inspector General: The Big Corruption Cases in Iraq "Yet to Unfold"
US government official charged with auditing Iraq reconstruction is quoted, ``...There has also been evidence of corruption in some U.S.-funded deals. As of April 11, his office had received 131 potential criminal cases, and of these 62 have been closed, 35 referred to other agencies and 34 remain open.
'The big ones are yet to unfold ... We are talking tens of millions of dollars and not just thousands,' he said in an interview with Reuters, declining to provide further details of ongoing investigations.''
This story is barely above water with the Republicans vigorously acting to drown it -- in part with Oil-for-Food noise. Read too this transcript from last February of a hearing featuring Iraq occupation corruption whistleblowers held by Congressman Henry Waxman and other Democrats (the Republican leadership will not allow a regular Congressional hearing on these issues). Let's scratch the surface of this amazing hearing: ``There were numerous examples of padding payrolls. For example, the inspector general found 8,206 guards were on the payroll at one Iraqi minister -- 8,206 -- but they could account for only 602. So who's paying 8,206 when only 602 are working?''
Straight to Bechtel
According to Counterpunch author Jeffrey St. Clair, ``For the year 2004, Bechtel brought in more than $17.4 billion, a record haul for the company. That makes two record years in a row. Last year Bechtel earned more than $17 billion for the first time. Both peaks were all the more impressive given the senescent condition of the economy.
``Much of that robust income stream is coming from its operations in Iraq, where Bechtel is the king of contractors.''
St. Clair's piece from Counterpunch recounts with flair and pith the whole tale of Bectel's dealings in Iraq, including an excellent backgrounder on Rumsfeld's handshake with Saddam pictured above:
Rumsfeld landed in Baghdad in December 1983, where he held a series of meetings with Saddam and Tariq Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister. This secret conclave occurred at on of the bloodiest moments of the Iran/Iraq war, a war the US tacitly backed as a way to destabilize the revolutionary mullahs of Iran. By this time, it was well known by US intelligence that Saddam had used poison gas against Iranian troops, killing and maiming thousands.The allegations against George Galloway are a sick joke by comparison. In the absence of anything other than unsubstantiated documents very likely generated in Ahmed Chalabi's forgery shop, I am inclined to believe Galloway when he calls them ``patently absurd.''
Two decades later, as the Bush administration ramped up the war rhetoric against Saddam, Rumsfeld would claim that his journey to Baghdad was a heroic and virtuous mission, where he chastised the Iraqi strongman to his face for committing crimes against humanity.
Saddam, however, had the foresight to videotape several of the parlays. One infamous clip shows a deferential Rumsfeld smiling and shaking the hand of the Tiger of Tikrit. Later Rumsfeld, like a witness before the Iran/contra committee, would claim he had no clear recollection of pressing the flesh with Saddam.
However, the true motives behind those missions are now coming into focus, thanks to internal Reagan administration documents unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archives and through the excellent reporting of Jim Vallette. Rumsfeld did not browbeat Saddam over gassing Iranians and Kurds or for his pursuit of a nuclear bomb. He was there to beg the dictator's indulgence on behalf of Bechtel's dream pipeline to Aqaba.
