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Iraq's Dysfunctional Elite

A new ruling Iraqi oligarchy is squandering Iraq’s wealth.
An electrician walks past wires connected to a local generator in Baghdad January 23, 2011. Iraq is slowly getting back on its feet after decades of war and economic sanctions, but a chronic power shortage is hobbling the development of local industry just when it is needed most. An unemployment rate that some officials say runs at 30 percent represents not just an economic challenge but also provides muscle for a lingering insurgency as the sectarian warfare unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion fades

Last month, demonstrators in the southern Iraqi cities of Nassiriya and Basra organized nightly rallies to protest the government’s failure to provide enough electricity for households during the notoriously hot summer. With temperatures exceeding 113 degrees Fahrenheit during July and August, most households get less than 12 hours a day of electric power. The Iraqi government spent $28 billion to reform electricity services, which became one of the most critical problems in the country since the second Gulf War in 1991.

The failure to handle this problem is another cause for the increasing disillusionment with the government. Responding to the popular rage, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a TV interview that he was manipulated by the minister of electricity and his staff, who provided him with incorrect information about their system's capacity. Although the minister of electricity position has been rotated among five people since 2006, none of them managed to make tangible improvements. But this did not prevent political parties from competing to obtain this position, a contest driven less by a "commitment" to social welfare and more by the fact the ministry is contract-rich. During a TV interview, Khalaf al-Ileyan, whose party was "awarded" this ministry according to a 2006 power-sharing agreement, said that he was offered a $2 million "down payment" and a monthly $1 million if he accepted a nomination for this position. 

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