Bringing Bushite Ideals to Iraq

According to the Boston Globe, American contractors swindled hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraqi funds. But while courts in the United States are beginning to force contractors to repay reconstruction funds stolen from the American government, Iraq is out of luck. Why? Not only is their no provision in U.S. law, it just so happens that one of the very first laws passed during the American occupation by the Iraq "government" gave American contractors immunity from prosecution. So contractors who failed to do the work they were paid for are home free.

''In effect, it makes Iraq into a 'free-fraud zone,' " said Alan Grayson, a Virginia attorney who is suing the private security firm Custer Battles in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former employees. A federal jury last month found the Rhode Island-based company liable for $3 million in fraudulent billings in Iraq.