Corruption, Iraq and Motes in Our Eyes Posted by Heather Hurlburt

An Army captain who sounds dedicated, sincere and thoughtful has been making the rounds with his argument, in a New York Times op-ed and on NPR, that the corruption of Iraqis is a major obstacle to success in Iraq.

This strikes me as one of those observations that is quite true yet wrong-headed, for a number of reasons:

1) as offensive as it is, costing Iraq $5-7 billion a year according to an Iraqi official quoted in the Iraqi Study Group report, corruption among Iraqis is a secondary, not a root, cause of the violence and disintegration plaguing the place.

2)  Less corruption would make the task of reconstruction and peace-building easier but not remove anyone's fundamental grievances; therefore it should come in priority after interventions that might resolve fundamental problems.

3)  Then there's the problem of howling about Iraqi corruption when the Coalition Provisional Authority has "insufficient accounting" for $8.8 billion of Iraq's oil money.  And, in case you've forgotten, corruption cases involving US contractors continnue to languish under-prosecuted.  Two allegations -- $50 million involving firm Custer Battles and Halliburton subsidiary KBR's $108 million overcharge for fuel -- are equivalent to a year and a half's worth of Iraqi oil smuggling.

So I'm sure Captain Montalvan is sincere himself; but isn't there a risk that this lets us shift blame to Iraqis for things they do instead of honing in on things we've done wrong -- and could undo or at least demand accountability for?  It's tempting to think that maybe Iraqis are "hopelessly corrupt" and t hat's why our efforts may fail.  But, as we used to say on the playground, if they are, what are we?

3) 

Comments

[Zathras]

I have no doubt that Captain Montalvan, should he chance to read Ms. Hurlburt's post, would say she is also very sincere, at least on the Internet, where no one can see your eyes roll.

Montalvan sounds as if he can speak for himself. However, I rather doubt that the typical veteran of two tours in Iraq -- after pointing to specific corruption problems and how they damage the war effort, and suggesting specific steps to address them -- would regard "what about Halliburton?" and "as we used to say on the playground" as particularly constructive responses.

[timoteowork]

"2) Less corruption would make the task of reconstruction and peace-building easier but not remove anyone's fundamental grievances; therefore it should come in priority after interventions that might resolve fundamental problems."
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Actually, less corruption would mean that monies spent on reconstruction efforts (building and improving infrastructure) would reach their aim and that monies for social programs would reach their intended recipients. These would be key to the formation of a government that serves its people and would address the fundamental complaint that the Iraqis have: the government isn't working, isn't improving their lives.

[CPT Luis Montalvan]

The correlation between corruption and violence is certainly an interesting topic of discussion. We could discuss that correlation at length but I would simply note that it follows along the same glidepath of the “What came first…the Chicken or the egg?”

Regardless of your position concerning the causal relationship, the bottom line is that we have not addressed corruption in the fashion that we need to. So, ultimately, the major point that I maintain is that is greater discussion of the relationship must happen and action must follow that discussion or we will not achieve a favorable conclusion to the War in Iraq.

While I respect your opinion greatly and am glad that you are considering the matter, I would offer that one doesn’t truly appreciate the magnitude of the problem until one spends considerable time there. To date, I have received many positive responses from superiors concerning the recommendations given.

As for shifting of blame, you must consider that I have to consider my entire audience. While you have the luxury of the 1st amendment in its purest form, as a member of the Armed Forces I do not. If you wish to read about American corruption I would point you in the direction of Mr. Bowen’s 10 reports (SIGIR). They speak for themselves.

It is very important that we win in Iraq for many reasons. To that end, it will take a lot of measures to do so, to include enhancing security, improving the economy and furthering the political systems. But, success in those areas in the short, mid, and long term isn’t achievable unless we regain the initiative and address corruption in the fashion that is needed. I am very confident that we can and will do so and the recommendations offered are in the keeping with the spirit of that monumental endeavor.

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