[NYTr] Government Corruption Worsens Iraq Crisis

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Granma Daily - 31 July, 2007
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art16.html

Government Corruption Worsens Iraq Crisis

Meanwhile, 43 percent of the population suffers abject poverty.

WASHINGTON, July 30.— Rampant corruption, embezzlement and the
ineffectiveness of the Iraqi government are an additional obstacle to
the rebuilding of the country, reported EFE quoting an official US
audit released on Monday.

The group of inspectors found that the process of transferring projects
to Iraqi hands is failing. The office of the special inspector general
for Iraq notes that the administration of Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki
has not taken on its responsibility in the reconstruction projects in
which $44 billion US have been spent.

ANSA news service also quoted a report from NGO Oxfam circulated in
Amman, Jordan that states that the violence in Iraq tends to overshadow
the humanitarian crisis that affects nearly eight million people, a
third of the country’s total population.

According to Oxfam, "forty-three percent of Iraqis suffer from abject
poverty," with children the hardest hit.

The NGO alerts that these Iraqis are increasingly suffering from a lack
of food, shelter, potable water, medicines, medical attention,
education and employment.

Meanwhile, in fighting on Monday, a minibus exploded in a market area
of central Baghdad killing at least six persons, reported AP.

The US occupation forces also admitted that three of their soldiers
died in fighting in the province of Anbar.