A former senior Arab official used to respond to questions about corruption in his country by saying, in effect, that corruption exists everywhere. While that was broadly true, his answer often sounded like an attempt to justify corruption at home. Many would reply, again in effect, that although corruption exists everywhere, what matters is its scale, how it differs between, say, a European country and an Arab one, and how seriously the authorities pursue those responsible and hold them accountable.
That former official's remarks inevitably come to mind when following reports about corruption in Iraq. One can hardly believe what is being reported about developments in the land of the two rivers.
Among the most astonishing revelations was Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's statement that one party had offered him $200 million to close a corruption case involving the Ministry of Oil.
He made the disclosure during a meeting with the press just hours after taking office. The report was so startling that I reread it to make sure I had understood it correctly. What shocked me even more was discovering that it was indeed accurate: it had been published openly, it came from Iraq's prime minister himself, and the amount was exactly as reported, a two followed by eight zeros.
You cannot help asking yourself: Has the appetite for illicit wealth reached this point? Has the brazenness of the corrupt in the city of al-Rashid become so great that they feel no hesitation in offering a bribe to the prime minister himself? Has the scale of theft become so enormous that such an offer, with all those zeros, can be made so casually?
Anyone willing to offer a $200 million bribe must have stolen many times that amount. The original sum must have belonged to the category of figures followed by nine zeros, in other words, billions rather than merely millions or even hundreds of millions.
In the introduction to his interview with al-Zaidi, published in this newspaper the day before yesterday, Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel wrote that he had felt sympathy for the prime minister when he was nominated for office. That was exactly how I felt when I first saw his name put forward to lead the government.
Ali al-Zaidi is a businessman and financier. From what the media reported when he was nominated, he is already a prominent figure in the business world. He therefore has no need for anything the premiership can offer. He already has wealth, and with wealth come prestige and every comfort of life. He needs neither money nor any other personal gain from leading the government, apart from the inevitable "headache" that comes with holding high public office in the Arab world.
Even so, he accepted the position without concern for the difficulties awaiting him. He could easily have concealed the unprecedented bribery offer, but instead he insisted on making it public. The message was not merely that he had rejected the offer, but that he intended to arrest those whose corruption had reached the point where they dared to bribe the head of government himself.
From his first day in office, he appeared determined to tackle Iraq's two most dangerous issues: corruption and weapons in the hands of militias.
What kind of man knowingly places himself in such a position and then chooses to confront challenges of this magnitude? As for corruption, we watched the arrest campaign that one night sealed off Baghdad's Green Zone and brought some of the country's leading corruption figures before justice. It was as though its slogan echoed the famous words of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi in Iraq: "I see heads that have ripened, and the time for harvest has come."
The operation was striking. Tanks surrounded and sealed off the area, while heavily armed police looked as though they were besieging fortified strongholds. It is hardly surprising. Those who can offer a bribe of that magnitude likely live behind heavily fortified walls and are prepared to defend their stolen fortunes as fiercely as they would defend their own lives.
As for weapons in the hands of militias, al-Zaidi warned them from his very first day in office. His position, one that few would dispute, is that weapons should remain exclusively in the hands of the state and that every armed group must surrender its arms to the government.
The Sadrist Movement was the first to respond, announcing that it would hand over its weapons and integrate its military wing, the Peace Brigades, into the government security forces. That was a hopeful sign for Iraq. The Imam Ali Brigades later followed the same path. The remaining factions have little choice but to do likewise. Al-Zaidi has given them until September 30 to comply, after which each incident will be dealt with accordingly.
A man in Ali al-Zaidi's position could rightly be said to have put his hand into a hornet's nest, fully aware of the dangers that entails. Yet he appears neither intimidated nor deterred. May God grant him success in the mission he has undertaken, in proportion to the sincerity with which he pursues it.
