The Los Angeles Times broke a disturbing story yesterday (and see Update below) that highlights yet another problem facing Iraq's fledgling democracy: corruption. As Ken Silverstein, T. Christian Miller and Patrick J. McDonnell write,
An American contractor gunned down last month in Iraq had accused Iraqi Defense Ministry officials of corruption days before his death.
The difficulties apparently involved "payment problems" with a "mysterious Lebanese businessman" who was acting as a middleman. in a mulit-million dollar arms deal (See update below).
As the article notes, a week after the killings, a video appeared on the internet purportedly from a heretofore unknown terrorist group called Brigades of the Islamic Jihad which showed photographs and identity documents of the slain men. Reports the Times,
The timing and the unusual details of the killings have raised suspicions in the U.S. and Iraq that the video was a ruse to disguise an assassination.
Stoffel was not your normal businessman. Apparently he worked in the 1990s on a "top-secret" U.S. project "to buy Russian, Chinese and foreign-made weapons for testing for the U.S. military. His particular expertise was Eastern Europe and the Ukraine. For more on his past activites, go here.
In a tantalizing, but vague, element to the story, the Times reporters write that shortly before his death, Shaw met and corresponded with John A. "Jack" Shaw, then deputy undersecretary of Defense for international technology security, "whose office monitored weapons sales to Iraq." Evidently, Stoffel warned Shaw about Iraqi "corruption and self-dealing" involved in his contract to refurbish Soviet T-55 tanks and artillery for the new Iraqi army.
Shaw, you may recall, was one of the loudest voices last October claiming that the Russians had helped transport munitions from the Al-Quaqaa weapons facility into Syria. In July, 2004, he raised the Pentagon's ire by launching unauthorized and ethically clouded probes into cellphone licensing agreements. According to the Times' Miller, Shaw--who seems to be something of a loose cannon--claimed that he had
uncovered serious, credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing by U.S. government employees pertaining to taking official acts in exchange for bribes.
He also claimed to have uncovered a conspiracy by London-based Egyptian tycoon Nadhmi Auchi to take over Iraq's cellphone service (see my post "Iraq, Disconnected"). He himself fell under suspicion of attempting to line his own pockets with cell phone licensing agreements.
In a letter written to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on December 3, 2004--the same day that Stoffel's raised his official warnings about graft--Shaw accused senior Pentagon officials of over $265 million in bribes, missing and misappropriated funds pertaining to Iraq's cellphone service. According to Shaw's letter, figures involved in the scandal included Douglas Feith, his former law partner Mark Zell, Ahmed Chalabi and others. On December 10, the Defense Department dismissed Shaw from his position.
According to the Times a investigation into Stoffel and Wemple's deaths is "ongoing."
Update: Dexter Filkins in the New York Times reports today that early this month, $US 300 million was withdrawn from Iraq's Central Bank and put on a charter jet for Lebanon. Apparently, the money was intended for "international arms dealers" to buy "tanks and other weapons" manufactured in Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States. In short, the very activities that brought Stoffel to Iraq.
The current whereabouts of the money is a mystery, Filkins writes. He adds that the deal--which involved no public bidding, nor approval by the Iraqi cabinet--may have been set up to avoid financial controls which America established in order to help Iraq's international credit.
Reverberations have gone to the top of the Iraqi totem-pole. Last week, Chalabi accused Iraqi Defense Minister Hazim al-Sha'alan of corruption involving the arms deal. Yesterday, al-Shaalan said he would order Chalabi's arrest on charges of "maligning" him and his ministry.
The arms deal was approved by four senior members of the Iraqi government, including Prime Minister Allawi and al-Sha'alan. The idea, according to Iraqi Defense Ministry officials, was to expedite purchases of armaments to fight the fascist paramilitaries.
Still, questions remain. Is Stoffel correct, and Defense Ministery officials are involved in corruption involved in this arms deal? Was Stoffel cut out of the proceedings, and, after threatening to expose what he knew, assassinated? Why did he contact Shaw? What happened to the money? How corrupt is the new Iraqi government?
Second Update: January 22: CNN reports that Iraqi officials are denying that the government will arrest Chalabi, claiming Sha'alan's threat was mere "electioneering." Also Juan Cole notes bad blood has long existed between Sha'alan and Chalabi, and offers a good run-down on the man Dick Cheney sought to groom for Iraq's Prime Minister. The matter of the missing $300 million is still unresolved, however, as is Stoffel's murder.
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