Iraq Ranks In Ten Most Corrupt Countries In World, Again

by | Mar 30, 2016

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Iraq, the failed state that over 4,600 (and counting…) Americans died to free from some evil tyrant 13 years ago, is still ranking high internationally in something. Unfortunately, that something is corruption.

A couple of other places where America has been intervening for freedom also made the list.

Germany’s Transparency International released its newest corruption index for 2015, and as usual Iraq was on the list. The ten worst countries in its new study were Somalia, North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan, Angola, Libya, Iraq, Venezuela, and Guinea-Bissau.

Seven of those nations held the same worst ranks last year. Iraq received the same score that it had for the last two years.

Most Corrupt Countries On Transparency International Corruption Index 2015:

1. Somalia

2. North Korea

3. Afghanistan

4. Sudan

5. South Sudan

6. Angola

7. Libya

8. Iraq

9. Venezuela

10. Guinea-Bissau

In Iraq, corruption is rampant throughout the state. The ruling elite use graft and bribes to maintain their patronage systems, their militias, and to enrich themselves. That’s also the reason why there is no real push to end it; if one top official was taken down it would threaten all the rest.

According to experts, that’s despite repeated promises by the prime ministers, the complaints of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and protests that occur almost every year demanding action on the issue. Current U.S.-chosen Prime Minister Haidar Abadi, for example, announced a reform program in August 2015 that was supposed to address corruption, but he was focused more on building up his own base and going after his rivals than actually addressing the problem, and nothing substantive was done. No one, including America, wants to seriously touch the golden goose that keeps the Iraqi good times going.

BONUS: See who else is on the top ten corruption list? US occupied Afghanistan is No. 3. Libya, where the US overthrew another evil tyrant with no follow-on plan, is No. 7. Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan are all places with active US-led miniwars afoot.

It is almost as if there is a pattern here…

Reprinted with permission from WeMeantWell.com.

Author

  • Peter van Buren

    Peter Van Buren spent a year in Iraq as a State Department Foreign Service Officer serving as Team Leader for two Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Now in Washington, he writes about Iraq and the Middle East at his blog, We Meant Well.

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