{"id":41227,"date":"2019-10-17T03:22:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T03:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41227"},"modified":"2019-10-17T03:22:26","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T03:22:26","slug":"archaeologist-zahi-hawass-there-isnt-a-country-that-doesnt-love-egyptian-archaeology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41227","title":{"rendered":"Archaeologist Zahi Hawass: \u2018There isn\u2019t a country that doesn\u2019t love Egyptian archaeology\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBAGHDAD: Following a wave of deadly anti-government protests, Baghdad has announced a slew of measures to stem corruption \u2014 but stopped short of targeting the worst offenders.<\/p>\n

\nAnalysts say Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, an independent with no real popular support, is hostage to the parties that appointed him a year ago to lead one of the world\u2019s most corrupt countries.<\/p>\n

\nThat makes it exceptionally hard for him to point fingers at the main culprits, they say.<\/p>\n

\nSince dictator Saddam Hussein\u2019s ouster in a US-led invasion in 2003, $450 billion have evaporated into thin air, either in fake contracts or deep into the pockets of corrupt politicians, according to official data.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe question of corruption can only be dealt with seriously and decisively,\u201d a government anti-corruption official said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cBut the prime minister can\u2019t do that because he knows that all (politicians) are involved and that they were chin deep in corrupt dealings well before he took up his post,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

\nAnti-graft campaign group Transparency International last year ranked Iraq the world\u2019s 12th-most corrupt country, based on expert analysis and opinion surveys.<\/p>\n

\nThe problem is so endemic that Iraqis have a nickname for the biggest culprits: \u201cHitan,\u201d Arabic for \u201cwhales.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe official cited three common practices: Border guards taking bribes to waive customs duties, illegal petrol trading, and unlawful buying and selling of state-owned land and luxury homes.<\/p>\n

\nThe final practice, sometimes involving properties confiscated from ex-regime officials, implicates some parties and politicians currently in power, the official said.<\/p>\n

\nAn official from the office of the Petroleum Ministry\u2019s inspector general said \u201cmany incidents of corruption\u201d had been uncovered.<\/p>\n

\nThe department \u201cmanaged to stop the construction of an oil pipeline to Jordan, because each kilometer was being priced at $1.5 million,\u201d a price it deemed excessive, he said on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\nThe operation snared oil traffickers and transport company owners \u201clinked to corrupt parties,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nBut in a blow to officials working to tackle corruption, Parliament has \u201cfrozen\u201d the work of anti-corruption offices that had been set up in each of Iraq\u2019s ministries.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis decision does nothing to improve the day-to-day lives of demonstrators who are strangled by poverty,\u201d said the official, currently on enforced leave.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt\u2019s only going to encourage corrupt officials to keep doing what they want.\u201d According to the official from the government\u2019s anti-corruption commission, the decision to freeze the inspectors\u2019 activities \u201ctargets low-ranking civil servants, while it is the mafias from the big parties\u201d who are most at fault.<\/p>\n

\nAbdul Mahdi has announced that \u201ca list of names of 1,000 civil servants\u201d accused of corruption had been referred to the courts.<\/p>\n

\nSoon afterward, he promised, \u201ca first list of high-ranking officials will be brought before justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAmong those named were ex-ministers and officials still in office, according to Abdul Mahdi\u2019s office, although no names have yet been announced officially.<\/p>\n

\nIn recent years, at least two trade ministers have been convicted for corruption. But by the time their judgment was read, the ministers had already fled abroad. The problem is so widespread in Iraq that anti-corruption protests have become something of a tradition.<\/p>\n

\nIn the latest round, which erupted on Oct. 1, 110 people were killed \u2014 the vast majority of them protesters who were shot dead.<\/p>\n

\nThe spontaneity of the demonstrations, as well as their intensity, have put an unprecedented amount of pressure on the authorities, said MP Huda Sajjad.<\/p>\n

\nSajjad, an MP on the list of ex-PM Haider Abadi who is now in opposition, believes measures currently in place simply aren\u2019t up to the task of stamping out corruption.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe anti-corruption measures don\u2019t meet expectations,\u201d Sajjad said. \u201cCorruption is what keeps all the parties working together in the system.\u201d But the pressure on the government is relentless.<\/p>\n

\nOn Saturday and Sunday, firebrand Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr called on supporters to turn this weekend\u2019s Arbaeen religious commemorations into anti-corruption rallies.<\/p>\n

\nProtesters have called for fresh demonstrations on Oct. 25 \u2014 the first anniversary of Abdul Mahdi\u2019s government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BAGHDAD: Following a wave of deadly anti-government protests, Baghdad has announced a slew of measures to stem corruption \u2014 but stopped short of targeting the worst offenders. Analysts say Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, an independent with no real popular support, is hostage to the parties that appointed him a year ago to lead one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}