Bush style democracy at work in Iraq:
From A.P.
"Iraq has issued arrest warrants against the defense minister and 27 other officials from the U.S.-backed government of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi over the alleged disappearance or misappropriation of $1 billion in military procurement funds, officials said Monday."(x)
"For months, Iraqi investigators have been looking into allegations that millions of dollars were spent on overpriced deals for shoddy weapons and military hardware, apparently to launder cash, at a time when Iraq was battling a bloody insurgency that still persists."(x)
"With strong U.S. backing, Allawi was named head of the first transitional government after the U.S. returned sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004..."(x)
"(w)arrants were issued against Allawi's labor, transportation, electricity and housing ministers, as well as 23 former Defense Ministry officials, said al-Lami, who heads Iraq's De-Baathification Commission, part of the Commission of Public Integrity."
yowza. That much cash floating around and the aformentioned "bloody insurgency." It stands to reason that a bit of that money might be helping the seemingly more well equiped and lethal insurgent.
"In Monday's worst attack, a suicide bomber drove his car toward a U.S-Iraqi checkpoint at an entrance to the Green Zone -- the most fortified sector of Baghdad, where government offices and the U.S. Embassy are located behind a maze of blast walls and checkpoints.
Iraqi police opened fire on the car as it approached, and it detonated. The car was packed with 11 mortar rounds and 60 pounds of explosives, Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams said."
So second puppet Allawi and friends hire cronies, plunder a billion bucks and leave the country. Meanwhile we may have very well funded the very insurgency we are trying to "defeat". These guys took the Norquist/neo-con rape to a new level - short term has been refined even more. They seemed to have learned well from their partners in Washington. Only difference is, they know when to split.
"Many of the officials are believed to have left Iraq".
Karl has a passport, no?