Corruption rampant, rising, senator says

Sen. John Warner says forces are being diverted to deal with corruption- linked violence. Sen. John Warner says forces are being diverted to deal with corruption- linked violence. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Corruption rampant, rising, senator says 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

2006-02-03 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that widespread corruption and criminality are "pushing Iraq down into a morass."

Warner said corruption in Iraq is increasing, despite U.S. efforts over the last three years to eliminate corrupt practices that were rampant during the Saddam Hussein era.

"The corruption, the payoffs, the graft -- all of this is just, in a sense, overlaying the courageous work of coalition forces," Warner said during a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel was hearing testimony from U.S. intelligence officials on worldwide threats.

Warner painted a grim picture of U.S. forces increasingly diverted from battling insurgents in Iraq so they could deal with corruption-linked violence.

"It's almost like it's pushing Iraq down into a morass." Warner said.

"And a lot of the activities of the coalition forces, particularly the U.S. forces now, are directly or indirectly dealing with these situations. I've been told through my sources if you were to quantify it, the criminal corruption problem is now -- equates to the seriousness of the insurgency problem."

One witness, Army Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified that corruption was at the root of some of the daily violence in Iraq.

"I'm not sure that the level of criminal engagement is at the level of the insurgency, but I think it's a very serious problem," he replied when Warner asked his opinion. "And I see that a great deal of the violence that we are experiencing in Iraq today does have a relation to a criminal element, as opposed to an insurgent element with a political purpose."

U.S. and Iraqi officials last November established a joint anti-corruption taskforce and urged additional training on combating corruption for Iraqi government officials.

The Americans also have helped the Iraqis establish a commission on public integrity and a contract-auditing board to improve oversight of contracts awarded to Iraqi companies.

Warner's assessment of corruption contrasts to the view of Bush administration officials.

President Bush last December acknowledged that corruption in Iraq "is a problem at both the national and local levels." But he was upbeat about the prospects of eliminating it, calling it one of several "challenges common to young democracies."

In a report to Congress last week, the administration's special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction warned that "corruption directly undermines the effectiveness of U.S. reconstruction efforts and impedes Iraq's progress toward becoming a democratic, market-oriented society."

The special inspector general also has reported misuse of funds by U.S. officials, saying that millions of dollars have been squandered or stolen outright.