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US Investigation Into Iraqi Government's Corruption Is 'Classified Information': State Department

Angelique van Engelen - 10/3/2007

The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is corrupt. The Bush administration knows it. Yet the State Department in Washington has decided that the investigation into this issue will be classified to the extent that all ‘embarrassing issues’ will stay out of the public domain. An October 4 hearing by the House government oversight and reform committee (which has powers to investigate any federal legislative issue) is seriously impeded by the secrecy.

Representative Henry Waxman, who is in charge of the Committee isn’t even allowed a copy of documents detailing the mishaps of the government in Baghdad. Waxman requested and then subpoeanad for the information, including a secret report prepared by the Baghdad embassy that details rampant corruption within the Iraqi government. But the State Department’s reply remains an outright NO. State Department officials refuse to communicate with Waxman’s committee about corruption in the Maliki government unless the Committee agrees to treat all information, including “broad statements/assessments,” as national security secrets. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is refusing to testify to the committee’s hearing.

The irony of the situation is that the report on corruption in the Iraqi government (pdf), is already widely distributed online. Secrecy News, picked it up from the Federation of American Scientists which published the full report shortly after The Nation broke the story.

Nevertheless, tensions are running high between the State Department and the House Committee, not least because of a letter that Waxman sent to the State Department, complaining about the situation. He writes that "The scope of this prohibition is breathtaking. On its face, it means that unless the Committee agrees to keep the information secret from the public, the Committee cannot obtain information from officials in the Office of Accountability and Transparency about whether there is corruption within the Iraqi ministries, how extensive the corruption is, or whether the corruption is funding the insurgency and undermining public confidence in the Iraqi government. The Committee also cannot obtain information about whether Mr. Maliki himself has been involved in comrption or has intervened to block comrption investigations of Iraqi officials close to Mr. Maliki."

A corruption-free Iraqi government is one of 18 Congressional goals for Iraq. Yet the Embassy's report points out that there are no funds specifically allocated to stamp out corruption and graft. This is a serious issue. A US Embassy official told The Nation that even its own investigation had been unfunded. That means they semi-voluntarily carried out the investigation - in between dodging the car bombs. Three cheers for the US Embassy. The draft report, is reportedly “SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED/Not for distribution to personnel outside of the US Embassy in Baghdad." But if you want to indulge in the sins of the Iraqi officials, these are pretty much them:

Quotes from the Embassy report:

“[The Maliki government is] not capable of even rudimentary enforcement of anticorruption laws’.

‘[The Maliki government] has impeded investigations of fraud and crime within the government’. Gosh, that’s original...

"The Ministry of Interior is seen by Iraqis as untouchable by the anticorruption enforcement infrastructure of Iraq."

"Corruption investigations in Ministry of Defense are judged to be ineffectual."

‘[The Ministry of Trade is] "widely recognized as a troubled ministry."

“[The Ministry of Health] is a sore point; corruption is actually affecting its ability to deliver services and threatens the support of the government."

“[Investigations at Ministry of Oil have been manipulated, and the] "CPI and the [Inspector General of the ministry] are completely ill-equipped to handle oil theft cases."

[Organized crime groups are stealing oil] "for the benefit of militias/insurgents, corrupt public officials and foreign buyers."