Corruption and confusion

In a strange way I feel more aware of what is happening in Iraq when I'm home in the UK than out here in Baghdad, because my internet access here is so limited. At present I'm sharing a very unreliable dial-up internet connection with my 5 collegues, and we only really get a semblence of a connection when the electricity is on (still only a few hours a day). So I can't continually scan the news and exchange dozens of emails a day with Iraqi friends. A car bomb went off about 3 blocks north of here at midday - our windows shook and I watched the smoke and prayed on the roof - but until the electricity came back on there was no way of getting much information about it short of walking over there, which wouldn't be particularly wise (I've just found some info - no casualties hamdulillah). There have also been quite a few mortar attacks on the Green Zone today, probably connected with the inaugral meeting of the National Assembly (at last! Though little seems to have come out of the meeting).

Actually I got a big shock when the internet did start working about half an hour ago: The second news item on the BBC's website today is on corruption in Iraq, based on Transparency International's Global Corruption Report, released today. I co-wrote the section of the report on Iraq (download as 1MB pdf), almost a year ago, and had completely forgotten about it - for once though I think the dreadful Iraqna phone network is working in my favour, protecting me from calls from journalists that I'm not quite prepared for! Here are some more articles about the report (for my own record, don't bore yourselves looking at them!): Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, AFP, Jazeera, Globe & Mail, CSM, TI's press release + more from Googlenews