The Iraqi government is in danger of being brought down by the wholesale smuggling of the nation’s oil and other forms of corruption that together represent a “second insurgency”, according to a senior US official. Stuart Bowen, who has been in charge of auditing Iraq’s faltering reconstruction since 2004, said corruption had reached such levels that it threatened the survival of the state. “There is a huge smuggling problem. It is the No 1 issue,” Mr Bowen told the Guardian. The pipelines that are meant to take the oil north have been blown up, so the only way to export it is by road. “That leaves it vulnerable to smuggling,” he said, as truckers sell their cargoes on the black market. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.