[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 734 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 734

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
       withholding of information relating to corruption in Iraq.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 12, 2007

  Mr. Waxman (for himself, Mr. Tierney, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. 
  Lynch, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Ms. Norton, Ms. McCollum of 
Minnesota, Mr. Van Hollen, and Ms. Schakowsky) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
       withholding of information relating to corruption in Iraq.

Whereas Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, 
        testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on 
        October 4, 2007, that the ``rising tide of corruption in Iraq'' is ``a 
        second insurgency'' that ``stymies the construction and maintenance of 
        Iraq's infrastructure, deprives people of goods and services, reduces 
        confidence in public institutions, and potentially aids insurgent groups 
        reportedly funded by graft derived from oil smuggling or embezzlement'';
Whereas David Walker, the Comptroller General of the United States, testified at 
        the hearing that ``widespread corruption undermines efforts to develop 
        the government's capacity by robbing it of needed resources, some of 
        which are used to fund the insurgency'';
Whereas Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former Commissioner of the Iraqi 
        Commission on Public Integrity, testified at the hearing that 
        ``corruption in Iraq today is rampant across the government, costing 
        tens of billions of dollars, and has infected virtually every agency and 
        ministry, including some of the most powerful officials in Iraq'', that 
        ``the Ministry of Oil [is] effectively financing terrorism'', and that 
        Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ``has protected some of his relatives 
        that were involved in corruption'';
Whereas the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, chaired by 
        General James L. Jones, U.S.M.C. (Ret.), reported on September 6, 2007, 
        that ``sectarianism and corruption are pervasive in the MOI [Ministry of 
        Interior] and cripple the ministry's ability to accomplish its mission 
        to provide internal security of Iraqi citizens'' and that ``the National 
        Police should be disbanded and reorganized'';
Whereas on September 25, 2007, the State Department instructed officials not to 
        answer questions in an open setting that ask for ``Broad statements/
        assessments which judge or characterize the quality of Iraqi governance 
        or the ability/determination of the Iraqi government to deal with 
        corruption, including allegations that investigations were thwarted/
        stifled for political reasons'';
Whereas Members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked 
        Ambassador Lawrence Butler, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near 
        Eastern Affairs, at the hearing whether ``the Government of Iraq 
        currently has the political will or the capability to root out 
        corruption within its Government'', whether ``the Maliki Government is 
        working hard to improve the corruption situation so that he can unite 
        his country'', and whether Prime Minister Maliki ``obstructed any 
        anticorruption investigations in Iraq to protect his political allies'';
Whereas Ambassador Butler refused to answer these questions at the hearing 
        because ``questions which go to the broad nature of our bilateral 
        relationship with Iraq are best answered in a classified setting'', 
        although he did answer questions at the hearing that portrayed the Iraqi 
        Government in a positive light;
Whereas the State Department retroactively classified portions of the report 
        titled ``Stabilizing and Rebuilding Iraq: U.S. Ministry Capacity 
        Development Efforts Need an Overall Integrated Strategy to Guide Efforts 
        and Manage Risk'', which was released at the hearing by Comptroller 
        General Walker and which addressed the commitment of the Iraqi 
        government to enforce anticorruption laws;
Whereas the State Department also retroactively classified two reports on 
        corruption in Iraq prepared by the Office of Accountability and 
        Transparency in the United States Embassy in Iraq;
Whereas the United States has spent over $450,000,000,000 on the war in Iraq and 
        the President is seeking over $150,000,000,000 more; and
Whereas more than 3,800 members of the United States Armed Forces have been 
        killed in Iraq and more than 28,000 have been wounded: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) as Congress considers the President's request for over 
        $150,000,000,000 more for the war in Iraq, it is essential that 
        Congress and the people of the United States know the extent of 
        corruption in the Iraqi government and whether corruption is 
        fueling the insurgency and endangering members of the United 
        States Armed Forces;
            (2) it was wrong to retroactively classify portions of the 
        report titled ``Stabilizing and Rebuilding Iraq: U.S. Ministry 
        Capacity Development Efforts Need an Overall Integrated 
        Strategy to Guide Efforts and Manage Risk'', which was released 
        by the Comptroller General of the United States at the hearing 
        of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on October 
        4, 2007, and other statements that are embarrassing but do not 
        meet the criteria for classification;
            (3) it is an abuse of the classification process to 
        withhold from Congress and the people of the United States 
        broad assessments of the extent of corruption in the Iraqi 
        Government; and
            (4) the directive that prohibits Federal Government 
        officials from providing Congress and the people of the United 
        States with ``broad statements/assessments which judge or 
        characterize the quality of Iraqi governance or the ability/
        determination of the Iraqi government to deal with corruption, 
        including allegations that investigations were thwarted/stifled 
        for political reasons'' should be rescinded.
                                 <all>