The first figures are in from an Iraqi investigation of its own semi-collapsed army. It turns out that the Iraqi government was paying for at least 50,000 ghost soldiers and its expected that the actual figure is significantly higher. Their salaries were going into the pockets of officers and commanders. In other words, the Iraqi army that the U.S. built up between 2003 and 2011 to the tune of something like $20-$25 billion didnt just collapse. Significant parts of It were never there to begin with. The American process of reconstruction in Iraq, civilian and military, was always, in truth, a process of deconstruction as well. So I think we should all feel confident as hell when Congress sends new rounds of money and the Pentagon sends new advisers to do it all over again. The second time is gold! Tom The Iraqi army has been paying salaries to at least 50,000 soldiers who don’t exist, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday, an indication of the level of corruption that permeates an institution that the United States has spent billions equipping and arming. A preliminary investigation into “ghost soldiers” — whose salaries are being drawn but who are not in military service — revealed the tens of thousands of false names on Defense Ministry rolls, Abadi told parliament Sunday. Follow-up investigations are expected to uncover “more and more,” he added. Abadi, who took power in September, is under pressure to stamp out the graft that flourished in the armed forces under his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. Widespread corruption has been blamed for contributing to the collapse of four of the army’s 14 divisions in June in the face of an offensive by Islamic State extremists. washingtonpost/world/middle_east/investigation-finds-50000-ghost-soldiers-in-iraqi-army-prime-minister-says/2014/11/30/d8864d6c-78ab-11e4-9721-80b3d95a28a9_story.html
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:30:01 +0000
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