Below are a series of political cartoons collected by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) from leading dailies within Iraq on corruption. In 2011, Iraq was tied for the 8th most corrupt country in the world by Germany's Transparency International. That was an improvement from the previous year when it was #4. A World Bank assessment of corruption gave Iraq a 5 out of 100 for 2010, with 100 being the best rank and 0 being the worst. The government has been completely incapable of stopping the widespread graft and bribery, because all the leading politicians and parties benefit from it. That led the chief anit-corruption official Judge Rahim al-Ogaili to resign in the middle of last year. The main anti-graft agency the Integrity Commission also told the SIGIR at the end of 2011 that the country's justice system is not able to deal with the problem. As a result, corruption is a constant issue in the Iraqi press as seen in these cartoons.
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| Corruption wave in "Tsunami Baghdad" (Al-Mada) |
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| The caption reads, "I swear to God, if I weren't so protective of Iraq's money, I wouldn't have deposited it in my personal bank account!" (Al-Sabah Al-Jadeed) |
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| It says Integrity Commission on the side of the mouse trap (Al-Mada) |
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| Cartoon shows politicians interfering in the work of the Integrity Commission as they try to combat corruption (Al-Mada) |
SOURCE
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, "Quarterly Report and Semiannual Report to the United States Congress," 1/30/12
Transparency International, “Corruption Perceptions Index 2011,” December 2011
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