Corruption and the War on Terror
By Douglas Farah
The disheartening story in the Washington Post today highlights one of the greatest vulnerabilities in fighting terrorism anywhere in the world-high tolerance for corruption and the disgust this fuels in the populations.
Having covered wars several continents, there has never been an armed conflict where those in rebellion did not have legitimate concerns, anger and frustration over the level of corruption and impunity for the corruption, in the regimes they were fighting.
The apparently rampant corruption in Iraq, mostly stealing U.S. taxpayer money, not only cheats us, but is one of the most helpful elements to all the different insurgencies operating in that country.
Nothing undermines the legitimacy of a government than widespread corruption and the tolerance of corruption by that government's backers. This was true in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, the DRC, Angola, etc. etc. Corruption and impunity from that corruption are cancers that destroy one's allies and strengthens ones enemies. My full blog is here.
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