Category Archives: Iraq-Corruption

دولة علي بابا

 

 

                         دولة علي بابا

 

  في تشريح سلطة الفساد والمحاصصة في العراق

 

 

                    صلاح النصراوي

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“متى كان ذكر المهتوك حراما،

والتشنيع على الفاسق منكرا،

والدلالة على النفاق خطلا،

 وتحذير الناس من الفاحش المتفحش جهلا؟

…والله تعالى يقول (لا يحب الله الجهر بالسؤ من القول الا من ظلم).

 

 

 

 

 

                                                          ابو حيان التوحيدي

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                             تمهيد

 

هذا الكتاب هو جزء آخر من سلسلة الكتب التي اصدرتها منذ الغزو الأمريكي للعراق عام 2003 والتي وثقت واستعرضت فيها جوانب متعددة من اوجه الإحتلال والمآلات الكارثية التي انتهى اليه، والتي ادخلت العراق في نهاية الأمر في نفق مظلم لا قرار له، ولا بصيص من نور يبدو في آخره، كما وضعت العراقيين على درب العذابات والآلام الطويل الذي لا يزالون يحدون فيه دون أي أمل في نهاية قريبة له.واذا كانت الكتب الاخرى قد تناولت متابعاتي وملاحظاتي وتقديراتي الشخصية منذ بدء الإستعداد للغزو الى ما انتهى اليه العراق من بلد يقف على حافة الهاوية، فان “دولة علي بابا، في تشريح سلطة الفساد والمحاصصة في العراق”، كما يوحي عنوانه خصصته لتوثيق ودراسة وتحليل الحجم الفعلي للفساد، تلك الآفة السرطانية التي ظلت هي التعبير الأبرز لحصاد تلك التجربة الأليمة، وعصارة آثارها ونتائجها المرة التي سيظل العراقيون يتجرعونها سنينا، وربما عقودا، اخرى قادمة.

ومن خلال تشريح سلطة الفساد يسعى الكتاب الى تفكيك عدة مسلمات على رأسها مسلمة أساسية راجت منذ الغزو وهي ان العراق اصبح دولة شيعية، او حتى دولة يهيمن عليها الشيعة، بسبب ما احدثه سقوط النظام الذي كان يقوده السنة العرب منذ تأسيس الدولة العراقية الحديثة بداية القرن الماضي من تمكين للشيعة وصعودهم على المسرح السياسي في العراق وفي المنطقة.يأتي هذا الكتاب في إطار جهد لطرح منهج وأفق جديدين لتاريخ الفترة التي اعقبت الغزو من خلال نقض هذه المسلمة واثبات ان الأمر لم يكن سوى اعتلاء جماعات الإسلام السياسي الشيعي في العراق دست الحكم وإنحدارها، مثلها مثل اية سلطة غاشمة اخرى، الى مستنقع الفساد وفشلها باقامة دولة العدالة الناجزة التي طالما انتظرها الشيعة.

ان الهدف من رواية تراجيديا الفساد الكبرى في عراق ما بعد الإحتلال هو ليس فقط لنقض الرواية التي تم الترويج لها عن بناء عراق ديمقراطي تعددي توافقي على انقاض نظام صدام حسين الدكتاتوري، وانما ايضا هز السردية التي روجت لها جماعات الإسلام السياسي الشيعية التي استولت على السلطة بعده بانها جاءت لتنهي مظلومية الشيعة المستمرة من بزوغ شمس الدولة الجديدة وان تقيم بدلاً عنه نظاما يستند الى تلك المبادئ السامية التي رسختها التجربة العلوية ومنهح آل البيت وعلى رأسها العدالة الإجتماعية.

في نهاية عام 2017، اي بعد ما يقارب من خمسة عشر عاما على الغزو اكتملت صورة العراق الجديد الذي بشر به المحتلون، بلد تعصف به رياح السموم التي تبغي اجتثاثه من جذوره، دولة مهيضة الجناح، مفككة، ومجتمع خائر القوى، كسير الروح، تفتك به الإنقسامات العرقية والطائفية.لم يصل العراق الى تلك الحالة فقط بسبب سياسات الإحتلال التدميرية والترتيبات الحمقاء التي وضعها لبناء الدولة الجديدة، او بسبب المؤامرات والصراعات التي ادارتها دول الجوار على أرضه، وانما ايضا بسبب انعدام المشروع الوطني الذي يستهدف بناء دولة كفوءة وعادلة تحل مكان دولة المشروع الإستعماري البريطاني بعد الحرب العالمية الأولى وأنظمة الإنحطاط والقهر والطغيان التي انتجته.

كانت الحرب على تنظيم داعش الإرهابي التي شنها تحالف القوات الأمنية الحكومية مع الجماعات المسلحة التي نظمت في إطار الحشد الشعبي والتي بدأت عام صيف 2014 قد استنزفت العراق حيث كلفته نحو مائة مليار دولار حسب اعتراف رئيس الوزراء حيدر العبادي، اي ما يعادل موارد ميزانية الدولة لنحو عامين، وهي نفس الفترة التي استغرقهما القتال، في حين انها احالت معظم المدن السنية التي جرت فيها المعارك الى أطلال من أحياء سكنية، وبنى تحتية مهدمة، في الوقت الذي بقي الكثير من سكان تلك المدن نازحين في الخيام او مشردين داخل وخارج العراق.بطبيعة الحال ان الثمن الذي دفعه العراقيون من شهداء وجرحى ومن تضحيات باهظة كان اكبر بكثير من التكلفة المادية للحرب والتي اتضح في كل صفحة من صفحاتها انه كان يمكن تجنبها لولا انماط الفساد السياسي والإدراي والمالي التي ضربت بمنظومة الحكم، ومن بينها الأجهزة الأمنية، والتي سمحت لتنظيم داعش الإرهابي ان يتمكن من اجتياح نصف العراق وان يعلن دولة الخلافة الكاريكاتورية على ارضه.ربما كانت الحرب تلك قد قضت على الخلافة المزعومة، لكنها بالتأكيد لم تقض على جذور الغضب والرفض لدى سنة العراق من مشاعر الإحباط والإقصاء والتهميش التي يشعرون بها منذ سقوط الدولة التي هيمنوا عليها نحو ثمانين عاما.

من ناحية ثانية، كانت الضربة القاصمة التي وجهت لمشروع الإستقلال الكردي، بعد اجبار قيادة إقليم كردستان على التخلي عن نتائج الإستفتاء بشأن الإنفصال، قد اعادت القضية الكردية في العراق الى المربع رقم واحد.وعلى الرغم مما بدا للوهلة الاولى انتصارا للدولة المركزية على الميول الإنفصالية التي اظهرتها القيادات الكردية، الا انه سرعان ما اتضح ان المحاولات التي جرت بعد ذلك لتحجيم الفدرالية الكردية وتقليص مكاسبها المتحققة قد اضافت المزيد من الملح الى جرح الكبرياء الكردي الذي انفتح مع انهيار حلم الإستقلال.ومثلما كان الامر مع صعود داعش فان أزمة الإستفتاء على إستقلال كردستان لم تجر بمعزل عن الفساد الذي ضرب الدولة العراقية برمتها وبضمنها الإقليم الكردي.لقد تجسد المشروع الكردي منذ بداية تاسيس دولة ما بعد الإحتلال الأمريكي بظاهرة “ريع الازمات”، وهي حالة الإعتياش على الموارد الطبيعية (النفط والغاز) في مناطق النزاعات والتي تستهدف فيها الأطراف المتصارعة الحصول والسيطرة على اكبر قدر ممكن من الموارد.واذا كان هناك من دروس للأكراد انفسهم عن اخفاق مشروع الإستقلال والهزيمة والذل اللذان شعروا به، فان فشل مشروع الإستقلال الكردي كان سيعني من دون حل جذري للأزمة مع المركز العودة من جديد الى حلبة الصراع على الحصص في الموارد الذي تأسس على الفساد ونهب موارد وأموال الدولة، مما يعني استمرار تلك الدوامة اللعينة من الصراع التاريخي الكردي العربي والصراعات الإثنية الاخرى التي دخلها العراق منذ عام 2003.

ان محاولة القيادات والنخب الشيعية الحاكمة تجيير هاتين النتيجتين، اي هزيمة دولة الخلافة التي اعلنتها داعش وتبدد الحلم الكردي بالإستقلال، لصالحها بإعتبارهما انتصارين للحكومة التي تقودها الجماعات الشيعية كانت في الواقع تعبيرا عن قصر نظر شديد واستباق مبكر للأحداث، كما انها عكست العادة التي دأبت عليها هذه الجماعات في الخداع والتبجح والتي تؤكد بدورها المأزق الذي تعيشه الدولة بسبب عجز قيادتها وعدم كفائتها وفسادها، وهي الأسباب التي تقف وراء كل الأزمات الاخرى.ورغم ما تشي به من أغراض سياسية انتخابية فقد كان تأكيد رئيس الوزراء حيدر العبادي ان المعركة القادمة التي سيشنها بعد داعش وخطر الإنفصال الكري ستكون ضد الفساد هو اعتراف دامغ على ان الخراب الذي انتجته ممارسات الفساد لحكومته والحكومات السابقة هي التؤم الشرطي لظهور كل الأزمات التي عانى منها العراق.

في الصفحات التالية سأتناول كل هذه القضايا من خلال تجربة الحكم في “دولة علي بابا” منذ نشوئها بعد الغزو الأمريكي عام 2003، والتي اسس لها من خلال العملية السياسية التي اشرف الإحتلال على اطلاقها، مستعرضاً من خلال مقدمة نظرية الجوانب المتعلقة بالمظلومية الشيعية التي استندت اليها جماعات الإسلام السياسي الشيعي التي اختطفت الدولة ثم تأسيسها لدولة الفساد الجديدة، بدلا عن دولة الحق والعدل العلوي التي كانوا يدعون الإنتساب اليها، وبعد ذلك استعراض مطول لأهم الميادين التي طالها الفساد في الدولة وفي المجتمع في العراق.

ما جاء في الفصول الستة عشر التي تستعرض تفاصيل الفساد هي غيض من فيض، اذ لم يكن ممكنا على الإطلاق الإلمام بجميع، او اغلب، قضايا الفساد التي عانى منها العراق خلال هذه الفترة لأسباب لا تخفى على احد.ولكن الأمثلة التي ضربت في الكتاب والوقائع التي جاءت فيه وتم الإشارة اليها في الهوامش والمراجع والمصادر يمكن ان توفر مرجعا مهما للمعنين، سواء لتوثيق بعض قضايا الفساد، او لمتابعة خريطة اتساع وتمدد هذا الورم السرطاني في الجسد العراقي ومعرفة آثاره المدمرة.

لم يكن ممكنا ابدا الوصول الى المعلومات التامة لرواية قصة الفساد في العراق كاملة، ليس فقط بسبب غياب الشفافية، وحجب المعلومات وعادة الإنكار المتأصلة لدى القادة والمسؤولين، بل وايضا بسبب المخاطر التي يتعرض لها الصحفيون والباحثون في محاولتهم الوصول الى المعلومات والبيانات، او التحقق منها، وهي مخاطر دفع ثمنها فعلا العديد من الصحفيين العراقيين الذي حاولوا القيام بهذه المهمة الجليلة.شخصيا حاولت سواء في مسعى الإعداد لهذا الكتاب، او ما نشرته من خلال مقالات صحفية عن الفساد، التواصل مع جهات ومؤسسات حكومية وبرلمانية معنية من خلال البريد الإلكتروني للسؤال والبحث وللتدقيق والتحقق في المعلومات الواردة في المصادر، الا ان كل محاولاتي تلك ذهبت ادارج الرياح.

لكن مع ذلك فان وقائع الفساد التي اشير اليها في ثنايا الكتاب، ورغم كونها جزءاً يسيراً مما دون في سجل الكتابات العامة عن هذه الظاهرة في مختلف أجهزة الإعلام ووسائل التواصل، اضافة الى مرويات مرموقة من صفحات التاريخ الشفاهي لهذه المرحلة جاءت على لسان بعض المقربين من الأجهزة الرسمية، او شهود العيان، تبقى لدي ذات مصداقية عالية نظرا لتطابقها بشكل يكاد يكون شبه كامل مع احداث ووقائع الحياة اليومية التي عاشها العراقيون، ومع تقارير ودراسات دولية معتبرة تناولت ظاهرة الفساد في العراق.يبقى اني سأعتبر نفسي مسؤلا عن صياغة الرواية العامة لوقائع هذا الفصل المأساوي من تاريخ العراق واتحمل مسؤوليتها وتبعاتها المهنية والأخلاقية والقانوينة لوحدي، آملا ان اكون قد اجتهدت فأصبت، غير ساع الى الحسنات، او الثواب، الا اكمال الرسالة التي اخذتها على عاتقي منذ ان بدأت تباشير الغزو الأمريكي للعراق في دحض الأساطير التي روج لها الأمريكان عن اهداف احتلالهم، وعن ذلك التاريخ الزائف والأوهام التي سعى لصنعها من اتوا بهم لحكم العراق.

ان هدف الكتاب يبقى مراجعة وتدوين لجزء من تاريخ هذه المرحلة المأساوية، ليس فقط من اجل نقض السرديات البالية التي انبنت عليها حكاية العراق الجديد وكل الأكاذيب والخدع التي رافقتها، بل كذلك لتذكير الأجيال القادمة من العراقيين بمسؤوليتها الأخلاقية والوطنية في اعادة قراءة هذه المرحلة التعيسة من تاريخ وطنهم من أجل إعادة وضع الأحداث ونتائجها في موضعها الصائب، بل الأكثر والأهم من ذلك، من اجل اتمام ما اخفق فيه جيلنا فيه، وهو توفير الأدلة الدامغة عن وقائع قضايا الفساد، احدى وسائل تدمير العراق، وتحديد كل ابطالها الأساسيين والثانويين، من اجل ان تتولى هذه الأجيال ما فشل فيه جيلنا، والقيام بملاحقتهم في كل مكان، لكي يدفعوا ثمن تلك الجرائم الخسيسة التي ارتكبوها في خراب العراق وتدمير خيارات شعبه.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iraq’s odd anti-graft drive

Iraq’s odd anti-graft drive

The war against corruption in Iraq is being waged by an unexpected warrior, writes Salah Nasrawi

As Iraq’s war against the Islamic State (IS) group remains under the international spotlight, an anti-graft war in Baghdad has gone largely unnoticed. But while the war against IS could reshape Iraq’s future, the war against corruption seems to be the latest twist in the spat between Iraq’s competing politicians and rival groups.

For months, a Facebook account profiling Ahmed Chalabi, one of Iraq’s most controversial politicians and a high-level Shia official, has been trying to harness popular anger against corruption in the Shia-led government of Prime Minister Haider Al-Abbadi by releasing horrendous accounts of graft cases online.

Allegations of political corruption in Iraq have made their way onto the social networks before, but the new revelations are particularly significant because they are coming from Chalabi, who also serves as the head of the country’s Parliamentary Finance Committee.

Efforts made to reach Chalabi were unsuccessful, and messages copied to a second Facebook profile using Chalabi’s name to confirm the two pages’ authenticity went unanswered. However, an in-depth search has showed that although Chalabi has dismissed one posting in a statement, he has not asked to remove the Facebook account, which also carries the subtitle “community” with his name.

For many Iraq watchers the ambiguity behind the two Facebook pages will be deliberate in order to make the embarrassment go away. To them, the accounts and documents that detail the corruption cases can hardly be disputed and indicate reliable sourcing.

Few Iraqi officials named in the corruption episodes on Chalabi’s Facebook page sought to respond to the allegations or refute their authenticity, they note.

Why Chalabi, in the light of the watchers’ theory that the Facebook account is associated with him would want to wash the Shia-led government’s dirty linen in public remains unclear. But his anti-corruption drive has raised both doubts and speculation. While few Iraqis believe their political leaders are capable or willing to tackle the endemic graft problem in the country, many perceive Chalabi’s campaign as underlining a deep rift within the ruling Shia alliance.

Chalabi’s background sheds light on the aim behind his surprising anti-graft campaign. This former banker turned politician was a prominent figure in the Iraqi opposition that sought to oust former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein following the Gulf War in 1991.

Chalabi’s falsified reports about Baghdad’s weapons of mass destruction circulated by the mainstream US media were used as a pretext by the Bush administration to invade Iraq in 2003 and topple Saddam.

Chalabi, who became the darling of the Bush administration, was favoured by the Pentagon to succeed the former Iraqi dictator before he was found to be lacking public support inside Iraq. He was sidelined after he failed to receive a parliamentary seat in the first post-Saddam elections in 2005.

But the most striking aspect of his political career remains his involvement in a bank scam in Jordan, a scandal which is believed to have undermined his chances to run the country after Saddam. In 1992 a court in Jordan sentenced Chalabi to 22 years in prison in absentia and ordered the repayment of $30 million of the bank’s money it said he had embezzled.

Chalabi has always maintained the charges against him were politically motivated. But reports compiled by investigators for the international media have described how millions of dollars of depositors’ money was transferred to other parts of the Chalabi family empire in Switzerland, Lebanon and London and not repaid.

This seems like a dubious career for an anti-corruption campaigner and makes sceptics doubt his motivation. The disclosure also offers a rare insight into Iraq’s secret world of political corruption.

Chalabi, or those who run the Facebook page in his name, began posting tales of the horribly corrupt Iraqi government a few months ago. To ramp up public expectations he has been using “For a Better Iraq” as a slogan for his campaign.

Chalabi does not shy away from admitting that the US-led invasion, which he backed and pressed for more than 12 years ago, has been the main culprit in the massive corruption that has plagued Iraq since then.

For example, he cites two ministers appointed by the US-installed Coalition Provisional Authority who spirited away millions of dollars in graft before disappearing. Former minister of electricity Ayham Al-Samaraie was even helped out of a Baghdad jail by American security men who flew him out of Iraq.

“That is how it all started,” Chalabi said on his Facebook timeline. He said that the incident had set a precedent for the “smuggling” of prison inmates, even terrorists, to become routine in post-Saddam Iraq.

“This is how the blood of the Iraqis has become so cheap,” he wrote.

According to Chalabi’s narrative, corruption went viral throughout the two terms of former prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s rule in 2006-2014. After taking over from Al-Maliki, Al-Abbadi has not only failed to fulfill election promises to curb corruption but has also let the epidemic phenomena continue and grow.

One of the main reasons for government corruption to continue, in Chalabi’s view, is because Al-Abbadi still “relies on the same ignorant advisers and corrupt bureaucrats” as before. In a post this week, Chalabi wrote that one of Al-Abbadi’s advisers was a former butcher who had not obtained an education certificate.

“We will not stay silent, when we see you leaving the country in ruins,” Chalabi wrote. “You will lose local and international support, and you will not be able to continue your four-year term in office,” he warned Al-Abbadi.

A recurrent theme in Chalabi’s anti-graft postings is Iraq’s Independent Elections Commission. He cites several cases of corruption by commissioners, including profiteering and taking advantage of their posts to appoint relatives.

One commissioner, Chalabi wrote, had hired his brother who had presented a forged certificate. Another member, he wrote, was using a villa confiscated from a Saddam regime senior official as a residence without paying rent. A third, he said, received 12 million dinars monthly salary in addition to 20 million dinars for security while he spent most of his time abroad.

Another target of the Chalabi campaign is the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB). He has made scathing criticisms of the ICB governor, Ali Al-Allak, who he has blamed for the recent sharp depreciation of the local currency.

According to Chalabi, Al-Allak has no previous experience in banking or finance and was living on welfare in Canada before he was made Al-Maliki’s chief of staff. “He did not even work as an accountant in a grocery store,” Chalabi wrote.

Chalabi ranted in one posting at the government department responsible for displaced Iraqis. While millions of Iraqis have been seeking refuge from violence in other towns or live in dusty tent cities facing the summer heat and shortages of water and electricity, millions of dollars in government and foreign aid have disappeared.

Chalabi’s list of corruption is long and includes allegations of bribery to release imprisoned terrorists, money-laundering and racketeering by officials and journalists.

The response to Chalabi’s Facebook tirades have not been entirely positive. They have even sparked a backlash on the social network, with many users pointing out that Chalabi has failed to carry out his duties as an MP and head of the Parliamentary Finance Commission to take legal and constitutional action to pursue corrupt officials.

“Be brave and unveil all the corruption cases and take offenders to court,” wrote one user. “This is good, but you are head of the Finance Committee, so why don’t you question them in parliament,” responded another.

“One seat and one voice wield no influence inside the parliament,” came the answer to the comments on the timeline.

Instead of stoking up publicity, exposing corruption scandals in Iraqi on social media has proved to be more of a political blood sport than a call for a reckoning. Corruption has become deeply entrenched in the bureaucratic and political system of the country, and few Iraqis believe their political leaders are capable or willing to tackle the endemic graft problem.

Most of Iraq’s political class are believed to be involved in one type of corruption of another, manipulating the country’s rich resources in order to create rents they can use to secure control of the government.

Corruption in Iraq is not only widespread and endemic, but also systematic and institutionalised. It includes bribery, embezzlement, money-trafficking and laundering, extortion, patronage, cronyism, fraud, legal plunder, nepotism and plutocracy.

In 2014, the international NGO Transparency International said Iraq was the fifth most corrupt country in the world out of the 175 countries surveyed.

This article appeared first in Al- Ahram Weekly on June 18, 2015

Iraq tightens its belt

Iraq tightens its belt

The people of Iraq will face severe hardships under the country’s new austerity budget, writes Salah Nasrawi

With oil prices plummeting and the economy squeezed by inefficiency and corruption, Iraq’s parliament has approved a belt-tightening budget. The step is widely seen as having significant ramifications for the country’s volatile domestic politics and the war against the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

Iraq’s 328-member House of Representatives endorsed the country’s 2015 budget last week. The budget approval followed weeks of squabbles over cuts, allocations and what oil price the government should base the budget’s projected revenues on.

The lawmakers approved a cut of nearly three per cent in spending, bringing the total expenditure in the budget to $99.6 billion, down from the $102.5 billion the cabinet had initially proposed in the draft.

Before sending the bill to parliament for ratification, ministers warned that this would be an austerity budget, slashing the country’s bloated public sector and freeing up funds for military spending as Iraqi forces battle IS.

Iraq’s government had originally forecast a $125 billion budget for 2105, but faced with still-falling prices for its oil exports it was forced to slash this by some 20 per cent.

The new budget is based on a price of $56 for a barrel of crude, lowered from $70 and then $60 a barrel in earlier drafts. The expected budget deficit will still be around $19.1 to $21.1 billion, however.

One of the main hurdles that delayed the budget’s endorsement were objections from some Shia members to an oil-export deal struck in December between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government.The Shia MPs said the deal would unfairly benefit the Kurdistan Region at the expense of the Shia-populated oil-producing provinces in the south.

Sunni lawmakers also threatened to boycott the vote because the budget did not include funding provisions for a national guard, a new security force to be set up to fight IS and police Sunni-populated provinces.

Many lawmakers also objected to the oil price assumption in the budget, saying it was unrealistic as market prices had slipped below $50 a barrel with no concrete indications that they would rebound in the foreseeable future.

The reduction in oil prices is expected to strangle Iraq’s economy at a time when the country needs a boost in resources to cement its fractured national unity and sustain the war against terrorism.

While the government said it would not cut salaries or pensions, other reductions in the lavish spending of oil money, such as generous allowances, travel and office expenses, were announced.

But the bulk of the funds to cover the deficit will come from taxation, borrowing and withdrawals from the country’s reserves, estimated at $75 billion. While the Central Bank is expected to provide funds from its reserves, the government said it would also issue bonds in foreign currencies.

Under the provisions of the budget the government will be able to meet part of the deficit by introducing new taxes, levies and duties. Obligatory saving accounts are also to be opened for senior government officials to deposit part of their salaries.

Since the fall of the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the US-led invasion in 2003 Iraq’s parliament has had difficulty passing annual budgets in regular order. Wrangling over budgetary allotments are routine, and last-minute deals usually come at the expense of a solid fiscal plan.

Worse still, Iraqi governments throughout this period have failed to present their final revenue and expenditure accounts for review and endorsement before passing the next annual budget.

Last year, parliament was unable to approve the state budget because of a dispute between the central government and the autonomous Kurdistan Region over independent oil exports from the region.

The crisis allowed former prime ministerNuri Al-Maliki to use budget advances and emergency provisions, circumventing the checks and balances enshrined in the constitution to ensure limits imposed by parliament are respected.

As a result, billions of dollars in unchecked spending are now unaccounted for. Lawmakers have said that Iraq’s state coffers were nearly empty when the government of Prime Minister HaidarAl-Abadi took office in August. Iraq’s economy has been hard hit by decades of war, international sanctions and inefficiency.

But the country’s current economic ills are largely due to the abysmal economic policies of post-Saddam governments. Instead of working to rebuild the economy and sustain growth in basic sectors, they relied heavily on oil revenues to bankroll the budget.

Though Iraq is the second-largest producer of crude oil in OPEC, the oilproducers’ organisation, the country’s economy is in a shambles due largely to mismanagement, poor public spending and rampant corruption.Some 70 per cent of the budget has been going to pay for food imports, energy subsidies and funding an inflated bureaucracy and ramshackle armed forces.

Government policies are mainly responsible for the decline in productive sectors.Agriculture has been neglected, and less than 15 per cent of the country’s total area is now being cultivated. The agricultural sector, which used to employ one third of the work force, now accounts for less than four per cent of the country’s GDP.

The manufacturing, construction and electricity industries are in tatters and account for only eight per cent of national wealth. Thousands of state-owned industries andsubsidised factories have shut down because of a lack of electricity and poor maintenance.

Iraq’s banking system is largely dysfunctional, and without an overhaul, analysts say, the economy has little hope of competing with its oil-rich neighbours. Iraq has failed to invest in sovereign wealth funds, unlike oil-exporting countries in the Gulf, whose investments are now being used to cover budget deficits and public spending.

Corruption comes at the top of the reasons behind the depletion of Iraq’s coffers. According to some lawmakers, some $750 billion has been lost in corruption, waste and inefficiencies over the last ten years.Though Al-Abadi promised to combat corruption in his policy statement to parliament when he took office, there have been no signs that his government has taken concrete steps to bring corrupt officials to account or recover stolen money.

One day before the parliament passed the 2015 budget, a report by the World Bank warned that Iraq faces “a crisis which will have important implications for the welfare of its people.”The report said that about 20 per cent of Iraq’s population lived below the poverty line in 2012 and a significant portion of the Iraqi people was vulnerable to falling into poverty.

It said “poverty declined only modestly” since 2012 and “deep deprivations in non-monetary dimensions persisted.”The report painted a grim picture of Iraq before the current crisis. It said close to half the population had less than primary level education and almost a third of children aged up to five years old were stunted.

The report said over 90 per cent of households in Baghdad and the central and southern provinces received less than eight hours of electricity a day, a third of men and 90 per cent of women aged 15 to 64 were neither employed nor looking for work, and more than 60 per cent of the calories consumed by the poor came from a nationwide food subsidy programme.

“Addressing this crisis will take time and concerted effort,” the report said.

Looking forward, there are real concerns that the new belt-tightening budget will have serious impacts on the lives of most Iraqis. Moreover, there are concerns that the combination of falling oil prices and the austerity measures will have adverse implications for the country’s stability and hurt efforts to fight IS extremists.

This article appeared first in Al Ahram Weekly on Feb.5, 2015

Iraq’s fishy business

Iraq’s fishy business

A mysterious Russian plane landing in Baghdad airport prompts questions of illicit oil-for-weapons deals with IS, writes Salah Nasrawi

The news came first from a Jordan-based television channel owned by an Iraqi Kurdish tycoon and well known for his dubious business. A Russian cargo plane landed at Baghdad airport on 2 November with some tons of weapons on board after it was denied permission to land in Suleimaniya International Airport in the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Al-Tagheir TV reported.

The delivery of weapons and ammunition to a country in a state of war shouldn’t have made headlines except that the story surrounding the plane started growing more mysterious after the Baghdad government distanced itself from the shipment.

The stunning reports must have also raised concern with the US administration which is leading an international coalition to support Iraq in the war against the barbaric Islamic State (IS) terror group which has seized one third of Iraq’s territories.

Details about the plane and its cargo gradually began emerging highlighting suspicions that the weapons on board may have been on their way to IS.

According to accounts given by Kurdistan’s media, the Russian plane was approaching Suleimaniya when it was denied permission to land in the city’s international airport which is under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main parties in the region.

Kurdish media outlet Awene quoted Head Manager of Suleimaniya International Airport Tahir Abdullah as saying the airport refused to grant permission for landing because it had no prior knowledge of the plane’s arrival. Awene quoted a PUK official as saying the plane was carrying 44 tons of weapons, including anti-tank rockets, guns and night vision equipment.

Basnews, another Kurdish outlet quoted Atta Sarawi, a local Kurdish official, as saying the plane was expected to land in Suleimaniya airport. “There was coordination in this regard but there were communication problems with Baghdad. So, the plane continued its flight to Baghdad,” Sarawi said. A translated version of Basnews story appeared on the Arabic news outlet Elaf on 12 November quoted Sarawi as saying the weapons on the plane were sent to the “Kurdistan Region.”

On 15 November Basnews came with another story on its website saying the weapons “might have been sent to a senior Kurdistan Democratic Party official.” It quoted “unofficial” sources as saying that the pilot of the Russian “military plane” which started its journey from the Czech Republic told Turkish air traffic controllers in Adana, southeast Turkey, that the plane’s cargo was mainly a cigarettes shipment bound to Iraq.

In Baghdad, Iraqi government officials kept their mouths shut about the plane and its dangerous goods until the news finally came out setting off a flurry of speculative reports. The Ministry of Transport, which is responsible for civil aviation, said permission for landing at the capital airport was granted after the pilot informed the tower that the plane was running out of fuel.

“The decision to grant the plane permission to land came in line with Chicago Agreement on International Civil Aviation in order to avoid a risk of falling,” said the ministry in a statement on 15 November.  It said the pilot was instructed to land on a runway in the airport used by the army. The plane then parked in an area under the Ministry of Defense’s control and weapons were seized, the ministry said.

Both the centeral government and the Kurdistan Region’s authority said they are conducting an investigation into the case. Neither Moscow nor Prague, however, reacted to the news. Also, the US military which is participating in defending the Baghdad airport and participate in air control of the Iraqi airspace made no mention of the incident.

Yet, in another version of the story widely circulated on social networks and TV programmes, the weapons in the plane were sent to a prominent Suleimaniya-based Kurdish businessman who is closely connected to the PUK, which is headed by Iraq’s former President Jalal Talabani.

According to these reports the businessman, who is known to be a hugely rich man who has made his fortune in illicit deals and contracts, is also accused of conducting trade with the IS terror group. A well-known Iraqi analyst told the Baghdadiya television this week that the Kurdish businessman was also responsible for supplying IS with at least one shipment of pick-up vehicles now used by the militants in fight against Iraqi soldiers and the Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmergas.

Another Iraqi television network, Al-Sharqiya reported on its website that “several officials in a big a Kurdish-owned mobile company, their sons and a middleman who are close to one of the main (Kurdish) parties are suspects” in the plane case.

Conspiracy theories abound that the same entrepreneur runs investment portfolios of Kurdish parties and have business relations with top officials in Kurdistan and the Baghdad cenetral government.

The shadowy role of businessmen in Iraq has grown since the US invasion in 2003. Many of these businessmen were involved in scams in the US reconstruction projects following the invasion and before that in the UN-led oil-for-food scheme during Saddam Hussein’s era. Billions of dollars are believed to have been skimmed in the two programmes and went mostly into the pockets of these businessmen and corrupt politicians.

Since it is hard to confirm these reports, eyes are now turned toward the Iraqi authorities and the KRG to unveil the secrecy surrounding the plane, who was ordering the shipment and which is its final destination. The allegations are so serious that prompted Kurdish Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani to tell reporters that “it is considered high treason.”

The disclosure comes at a time when Baghdad’s authorities and the Kurdish government are gridlocked over oil, budget and weapons delivery to the Peshmergas. The Obama administration has been putting pressure on both sides to resolve their disputes and work together to fight the Islamic State terror group.

The Baghdad government suspended allotments of Kurdistan in the state budget, including the Peshmergas salaries after its government started exporting oil produced in their region independently. Under an interim deal the central government agreed last week to will pay $500 million to the KRG, from the state budget while the Kurds will let the Iraqi government receive 150,000 bpd of the oil produced by the Kurds.

On Saturday, Hawal, a Kurdish news outlet, said the Peshmergas are refusing to take part in the fight against IS unless their full salaries are resumed. It quoted Dleir Mustafa, Deputy Head of the Peshmerags Committee at the KGR parliament, as saying that another precondition for the Peshmergas to fight IS is to allow weapons delivery direct and not through the Baghdad government.

Since IS captured Mosul and several other key Sunni-populated cities in June, reports emerged of Kurdish oil traders smuggling oil from IS controlled areas in Iraq and Syria into neighbouring as far as Afghanistan. According to Western intelligence reports the smuggled oil is sometimes sold for a price as low as US $20 per barrel.

The US Treasury Department estimates that IS takes in millions of dollars a month from oil sales. Other estimates range between US$274,000 to three US$ million a day. Trafficking might have been cut down by US-led coalition air strikes on oil production and refinery targets in IS territory.

Last week KRG Interior Minister Karim Sinjari disclosed that Kurdish security forces have captured 11 individuals charged with smuggling oil with IS and for investigation. Turkish officials have denied or downplayed reports about smuggling IS’s oil through Turkey.

Hawal, the Kurdish news service, reported last week that large amounts of money are being transferred through the Kurdish controlled areas to towns taken by IS. It quoted Nouzad Barzanchi, head of the Security Department in Kirkuk as saying transactions are being made to people in Mosul and Shirqat which are under IS control. Baghdad media have reported that several bureaus in the capital are being investigated for transactions made to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and France which the Iraqi intelligence believes went to beneficiaries connected with IS.

Some of the money which is being transferred through licensed exchange bureaus are believed to be payments for other smuggled goods such as wheat, barley and cattle confiscated from farmers and raisers.

Corruption in Iraq has been endemic since the US invasion nearly twelve years ago. Iraqi state officials have been acting as enablers for corrupt deals in a number of ways involving a range of businesses. In many cases there have been reports of corrupt professionals and army officers who are selling arms or intelligence to IS and other terrorist groups which are later used in attacks against government offices or security forces.

Like many previous cases of corruption before we may not know the secret behind the Russian plane. Yet, the revelations of the oil-for-weapons deal have unveiled a trio of deeply corrupt politicians, terrorists and dubious businessmen who are not only losing the country’s significant proportions of its wealth, but they band together to destroy it.