The Washington Times reports that corrupt Iraqi politicians are funding militias.
Corrupt Iraqi politicians are funneling money to armed militias who support their parties while getting immunity from prosecution, U.S. officials and an Iraqi judge told lawmakers yesterday...
..."The corruption has helped fund the sectarian militias," said Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity (CPI)...
...The judge said several attempts to go after corrupt officials have been blocked by an Iraqi law saying active and former ministers cannot be prosecuted without permission from the prime minister. Ministry employees cannot be prosecuted without permission from the minister of the agency being investigated.
This sounds like very bad news. Let's face it -- corruption has always been a central crippling fact of Arab political life, and here it is again in Iraq. But in this case the corruption has been identified and publicized, along with the positions of those who might be able to do something about it by granting permission to prosecute the people involved. By coming forward to testify in Washington, the judge has come to the place where he can bring the most pressure to bear to make those prosecutions happen. This might not turn out so badly.
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