Iraq: September 19, 2003

Archives

Iraqis, and many European nations, want Iraqis given control of Iraq as soon as possible. The US is refusing to do this, because a major problem in Iraq is corrupt officials and it will take a year or two to identify honest officials and let them work. The idea is that if there is to be a working democracy in Iraq, there has to be an honest judicial system and enough honest officials in charge to give democracy a chance of succeeding. But all other Arab nations, and several European ones (especially France)  prefer the old ways, as do many of the Iraqis eligible for high office. Europeans and Americans also differ in their attitudes towards corruption. In Germany, for example, insider trading and commercial bribery were only recently outlawed (under pressure from the US.) All of this is something of a guilty pleasure. No one wants to talk about dealing with corruption in Iraqi society, but dealing with it is at the core of any successful reform in Iraq.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close