Expressing the Sense of the House Regarding Withholding of Information Relating to Corruption in Iraq

EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE REGARDING WITHHOLDING OF INFORMATION RELATING TO CORRUPTION IN IRAQ -- (House of Representatives - October 16, 2007)

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the chairman of the committee (Mr. Waxman) for his important work in this area and moving the committee to take a look at this.

Look, the question is why does the Bush administration not want us to see this information about corruption in the Iraqi Government. One thing is clear, it is not that we are hiding something from the Iraqis that they don't already know. They know about the problem. In fact, we had Judge Radhi from the Iraqi Government who had been thrown out of his job because he was uncovering corruption testify.

So if it is not the Iraqis we are trying to shield this information from, why is it? It is pretty clear that the administration doesn't want the American people to hear it. I think they are finally understanding that their position is untenable.

Just yesterday the State Department sent a letter saying: ``There is no Department `directive' prohibiting officials from providing Congress any information relating to corruption in Iraq.'' That is just flatly false. In fact, we have a copy of the directive right here.

Before the committee began its hearings, we asked for some State Department officials to come before the committee and talk about corruption issues. Well, the night before they came before the Oversight Committee, they were given this directive. Here is what it says. These are the areas which are red lined. That means these are the topics that they are not allowed to talk about in public: ``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 purposes,'' and it goes on.

It is very clear that the State Department did not want their representatives coming before the committee to tell the truth about Iraqi corruption. And since then, when their officials actually came before the committee during the hearings, they refused to answer questions, the broadest kind of questions.

Let me give you an example of questions that Ambassador Lawrence Butler, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said he couldn't answer: whether ``the Government of Iraq currently has the political will or capability to root out corruption within its government.''

That's an important question for the American people.

Also: ``whether the Maliki government is working hard to improve the corruption situation so that he can unite his country.''

Another question that was put to the State Department representative by the committee: whether Prime Minister Maliki ``obstructed any anticorruption investigations in Iraq to protect his political allies.'' These are important questions to answer for the American people. These are questions that go to the heart of whether or not the policy in Iraq is succeeding or failing. They go to the heart of the question about whether the billions of dollars that taxpayers in this country have put into Iraq are being put to good use or whether they are squandered through waste, abuse, and corruption.

This resolution simply says let's not play games here. Let's not play games with the truth. Let's not try to hide the facts from the American people. The people of Iraq know well the problems they have with respect to corruption. In fact, some of their leaders have put their lives on the line and have had to flee Iraq when the government said they were getting too close to the truth.

But the people here need to know the truth, and the State Department and the Bush administration should not be using games to try and hide the facts and hide the truth from the American people on a very important issue.

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