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A new dimension in Iraq: Theft and Bribery

As if the country did not have enough problems, the NY Times today reports on a new and dangerous dimension to life in Iraq - theft and bribery.

Yes, perhaps the death-toll is down, but life for the "locals" seems to lurch from one crisis to another. Even the seeming "exchange" or switching of Shiites or Sunnis into the other's neighbourhood can only be a recipe for disaster down the track.

So much for the now much-vaunted claims to some sort of "success" in Iraq - whatever that might mean!

"Jobless men pay $500 bribes to join the police. Families build houses illegally on government land, carwashes steal water from public pipes and nearly everything the government buys or sells can now be found on the black market.

Painkillers for cancer (from the Ministry of Health) cost $80 for a few capsules; electricity meters (from the Ministry of Electricity) go for $200 each and even third-grade textbooks (stolen from the Ministry of Education) must be bought at bookstores for three times what schools once charged.

“Everyone is stealing from the state,” said Adel Adel al-Subihawi, a prominent Shiite tribal leader in Sadr City, throwing up his hands in disgust. “It’s a very large meal, and everyone wants to eat.”

Corruption and theft are not new to Iraq, and government officials have promised to address the problem. But as Iraqis and American officials assess the effects of this year’s American troop increase, there is a growing sense that, even as security has improved, Iraq has slipped to new depths of lawlessness.

One recent independent analysis ranked Iraq the third most corrupt country in the world. Of 180 countries surveyed, only Somalia and Myanmar were worse, according to Transparency International, a Berlin-based group that publishes the index annually."

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