Holy Diversion Batman!

This past Monday, there was a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing: An Inside View of the "Second Insurgency": How Corruption and Waste Are Undermining the U.S. Mission in Iraq.

While many of the projects audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these projects are now gone." -- Salaam Adhoob, Former Chief Investigator (Baghdad), Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity

There was an Anonymous Whistleblower witness. You can read his statement here. Here are some lowlights:

• Top Iraqi government officials within the Ministry of Oil and other Ministries have worked with Al-Qaeda and Iraqi Islamic States terrorists at the major northern oil refinery at Baji to steal oil from the refinery and sell it on the black market to enrich themselves and fund terrorist attacks against U.S. and Iraqi troops. When U.S. troops arrested the head of the oil refinery one year ago, these Iraqi officials used their influence through the U.S. Embassy to secure his release.


• High-ranking Iraqi government officials, including Ministers, Members of Parliament and judges, have received monthly salaries and gifts from foreign governments, including Iran and Saudi Arabia.


• Officials in Iraqi ministries have created private detainee operations through which innocent Iraqis are detained -- essentially kidnapped -- and then released in exchange for ransoms.

Hat tip to Christy Harden Smith at Firedoglake and the Washington Post.