[xoxoxoBruce]

Part VIII of VIII

Context is crucial when talking about corruption, whether on a large or small scale. Most of the world’s countries that I have been are openly corrupt. I lived in Poland for about two years and got an eye full. I’ve seen plenty of corruption in Nepal, India and Romania. Thailand is very corrupt and yet booming along. During a break from Iraq, I was in Indonesia in 2007, when police stopped my driver (and others) and took money. My driver just grinned sheepishly and handed it over, like paying a toll on I-75 in Florida. It’s so easy to focus on the corruption in Iraq as if the sky is falling, but countries where corruption is low are islands in a sea of corruption.

Corruption is like arthritis. Not itself a fatal disease, it grinds at the body and slows it down. Corruption makes a country hold itself in contempt. Contempt for having it, for not standing up to it, for casting one’s eyes down to the floor while handing over the change instead of saying NO. Corruption is the absence of justice. Certain types of corruption depend on intimidation and the willingness to be intimidated, and diminish the stature of the nation that allows it to occur. Institutionalized corruption diminishes that nation in the eyes of its own citizens, and in the eyes of the world. Yet it is the job of the Iraqis to stop the corruption. Coalition civilians are assisting with training, technical assistance and capacity building, but the job of the Coalition military at the border is to attempt to interdict lethal aid. The best ameliorate to corruption is a truly free press. Without free press, forget it.

At the border were British soldiers, an Australian captain named Bret Grosser, and three Americans working for Dyncorp. One of the Dyncorp employees mentioned that the x-ray machine was not being used, that its motor had about 500 hours on it from running an air conditioner, but the machine had only taken about 60 images. Word came, too, that Iraqi officials had told all their people to tell the Coalition that no lethal aid was coming through the border. However, some Iraqis admit that it does, including the material being taken by boat down the Shat al Arab River toward Basra.