Taking Graft to New Heights
| Wed Oct. 28, 2009 1:01 PM PDT
I've never heard of the Italian news agency ADNkronos, but today they report a pretty spectacular statistic:
Kabul, 28 October(AKI) - Anti-corruption officials believe graft is eating up a staggering 75 percent of the Afghan government's revenues, a news conference heard on Wednesday. A senior official in Afghanistan's anti-corruption department, Muhammad Yasin Osmani, said most of the revenues were being wasted due to administrative corruption.
....Finance ministry spokesman Aziz Shams admitted government revenues were being squandered but said Osmani had over-dramatised the situation.
But does Aziz Shams mean over-dramatized in the sense of "wrong" or over-dramatized in the sense "making too big a fuss over it"? Steve Hynd wants to know.
Continues Below
Continued From Above
Comments
glass houses & all that
Submitted by junebug on Wed Oct. 28, 2009 2:17 PM PDT.
Frankly, Drum, I'm a little more concerned about US corruption. Because if those crackerjack reporters over at the Times are onto anything, then Ackerman's math makes sense:
"CIA money funds a politically connected drug dealer. Opium funds the Taliban. We are in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. How much CIA money has indirectly funded the Taliban?"
Maybe the better question is, how many Taliban IED's have been bought & paid for with US tax dollars?
As long as it's revenue
Submitted by B on Wed Oct. 28, 2009 2:30 PM PDT.
As long as it's revenue neutral. I say we sow poppy seeds across the 15% of Afghanistan we control and use the profits to bribe officials and build a few schools. If we're good at it we'll drive the prices down and hit the Taliban where it hurts, if not, at least we'll break even. That and steal their women in intra-valley raids.
If you can't beat them . . .
Well if anyone knows
Submitted by MNPundit (not verified) on Wed Oct. 28, 2009 2:51 PM PDT.
Well if anyone knows grafted, it's the Italians.
Well if anyone knows graft,
Submitted by MNPundit (not verified) on Wed Oct. 28, 2009 2:51 PM PDT.
Well if anyone knows graft, it's the Italians.
Now, see, we've transplanted
Submitted by Art Eclectic on Wed Oct. 28, 2009 3:19 PM PDT.
Now, see, we've transplanted all the best parts of Western culture to our friends over there finally. They are well on their way to all sorts of financial shenanigans that may even impress their US mentors in scope and bravado.
Mission Accomplished.
Actually
Submitted by daCascadian (not verified) on Wed Oct. 28, 2009 3:45 PM PDT.
He was suggesting over-dramatized in the sense of "everyone does it and so who cares".
''The war on terror is not a clash of civilizations. It is a clash of civilization against chaos, of the best hopes of humanity against dogmatic fears of progress and the future.'' - John F. Kerry
This simply sounds like the
Submitted by cld (not verified) on Thu Oct. 29, 2009 6:57 AM PDT.
This simply sounds like the Republicans perfect ideal government --a 'service provider' they can use, or not, and an environment of unfettered opportunity for enlightened self-interest.
