Falah al-Sudani has submitted his resignation and after an investigation by Iraq’s Parliament it has been accepted by Prime Minister Maliki. An AP report said that at least 9 officials have been charged with corruption to include the trade minister’s two brothers.
Most would point out the failure of Iraq’s new government, but is it really a failure. To me it points out how far Iraq has come from its tyrannical days under Saddam Hussein. We have a government official submitting a resignation because of pressure from the people. Under the old regime this just would not happen. Not only could you not speak out against the government, you could not even have a job if you were outside the ruling party. Have a satellite TV, a cell phone…you are going to jail. Speak out against Saddam and you are probably going to the grave. But in today’s Iraq they have elections and because they are now a free people, there is pressure on politicians to do the right thing. That is why Maliki’s government has acted on this corruption and that is why Democracy is a good thing for the Iraqi people.
If we could only get rid of a few of our corrupt officials. We seem to elect and re-elect them over here. Maybe we should adopt their system.
