Date Published: May 31, 2006   

Clyburn: U.S. must do better job with domestic issues in Iraq

By KATRINA A. JACKSON
Associated Press Writer

America has done an effective job militarily in Iraq, but is woefully lacking in addressing the country's domestic issues - including corruption in business and in the police force, says U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

Clyburn was in Baghdad on Wednesday. It is his first visit to Iraq.

"Corruption is rampant here and I think that we are pursing policies on the domestic side that contribute to the corruption," said Clyburn, who is part of a bipartisan congressional delegation visiting Iraq and other countries this week.

"I hear people all the time talking about running government like a business," Clyburn said. "Well, the government side of this operation is doing a tremendously effective job. But the business side, the private sector of this operation over here is doing a miserable job."

Addressing administrative and financial corruption was one of the priorities set this month by Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his new national unity government.

Clyburn said big government contracts, some of which have been awarded without competitive bidding, feeds the "culture of corruption" in Iraq.

A report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office last year said monitoring of civilian contractors in Iraq was so poor there was no way to determine how many contractors were working on U.S.-related security and reconstruction projects.

"We have been carrying on military operations in the Iraq for some time and we're up to nearly $300 billion in expenditures here. I wanted to develop a feel for myself, by being here, of what may or may not be happening" said Clyburn, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and says he did not vote for the resolution.

A supplemental spending bill is being considered by Congress that also includes funding for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Sure I support more spending in Iraq, but I would also support more accountability for that spending," Clyburn said. "Spending is not the problem here. The accountability is the problem."