IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 734 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 

withholding of information relating to corruption in Iraq. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 12, 2007 

Mr. WAXMAN (for himself, Mr. TIERNEY, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the withholding of information relating to corruption 

in Iraq. 

Whereas Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for 

Iraq Reconstruction, testified before the Committee on 

Oversight and Government Reform on October 4, 2007, 

that the ‘‘rising tide of corruption in Iraq’’ is ‘‘a second 

insurgency’’ that ‘‘stymies the construction and maintenance of Iraq’s infrastructure, deprives people of goods 

and services, reduces confidence in public institutions, 

and potentially aids insurgent groups reportedly funded 

by graft derived from oil smuggling or embezzlement’’; 


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•HRES 734 IH 

Whereas David Walker, the Comptroller General of the 

United States, testified at the hearing that ‘‘widespread 

corruption undermines efforts to develop the government’s capacity by robbing it of needed resources, some 

of which are used to fund the insurgency’’; 

Whereas Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, the former Commissioner of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, testified at the hearing that ‘‘corruption in Iraq today is 

rampant across the government, costing tens of billions 

of dollars, and has infected virtually every agency and 

ministry, including some of the most powerful officials in 

Iraq’’, that ‘‘the Ministry of Oil [is] effectively financing 

terrorism’’, and that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ‘‘has 

protected some of his relatives that were involved in corruption’’; 

Whereas the Independent Commission on the Security Forces 

of Iraq, chaired by General James L. Jones, U.S.M.C. 

(Ret.), reported on September 6, 2007, that ‘‘sectarianism and corruption are pervasive in the MOI [Ministry of Interior] and cripple the ministry’s ability to accomplish its mission to provide internal security of Iraqi 

citizens’’ and that ‘‘the National Police should be disbanded and reorganized’’; 

Whereas on September 25, 2007, the State Department instructed officials not to answer questions in an open setting that ask for ‘‘Broad statements/assessments which 

judge or characterize the quality of Iraqi governance or 

the ability/determination of the Iraqi government to deal 

with corruption, including allegations that investigations 

were thwarted/stifled for political reasons’’; 

Whereas Members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Ambassador Lawrence Butler, 


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Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern 

Affairs, at the hearing whether ‘‘the Government of Iraq 

currently has the political will or the capability to root 

out corruption within its Government’’, whether ‘‘the 

Maliki Government is working hard to improve the corruption situation so that he can unite his country’’, and 

whether Prime Minister Maliki ‘‘obstructed any 

anticorruption investigations in Iraq to protect his political allies’’; 

Whereas Ambassador Butler refused to answer these questions at the hearing because ‘‘questions which go to the 

broad nature of our bilateral relationship with Iraq are 

best answered in a classified setting’’, although he did 

answer questions at the hearing that portrayed the Iraqi 

Government in a positive light; 

Whereas the State Department retroactively classified portions of the report titled ‘‘Stabilizing and Rebuilding 

Iraq: U.S. Ministry Capacity Development Efforts Need 

an Overall Integrated Strategy to Guide Efforts and 

Manage Risk’’, which was released at the hearing by 

Comptroller General Walker and which addressed the 

commitment of the Iraqi government to enforce 

anticorruption laws; 

Whereas the State Department also retroactively classified 

two reports on corruption in Iraq prepared by the Office 

of Accountability and Transparency in the United States 

Embassy in Iraq; 

Whereas the United States has spent over $450,000,000,000 

on the war in Iraq and the President is seeking over 

$150,000,000,000 more; and 


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Whereas more than 3,800 members of the United States 

Armed Forces have been killed in Iraq and more than 

28,000 have been wounded: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) as Congress considers the President’s re4 quest for over $150,000,000,000 more for the war 

5 in Iraq, it is essential that Congress and the people 

6 of the United States know the extent of corruption 

7 in the Iraqi government and whether corruption is 

8 fueling the insurgency and endangering members of 

9 the United States Armed Forces; 

10 (2) it was wrong to retroactively classify por11 tions of the report titled ‘‘Stabilizing and Rebuilding 

12 Iraq: U.S. Ministry Capacity Development Efforts 

13 Need an Overall Integrated Strategy to Guide Ef14 forts and Manage Risk’’, which was released by the 

15 Comptroller General of the United States at the 

16 hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Govern17 ment Reform on October 4, 2007, and other state18 ments that are embarrassing but do not meet the 

19 criteria for classification; 

20 (3) it is an abuse of the classification process 

21 to withhold from Congress and the people of the 

22 United States broad assessments of the extent of 

23 corruption in the Iraqi Government; and 


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1 (4) the directive that prohibits Federal Govern2 ment officials from providing Congress and the peo3 ple of the United States with ‘‘broad statements/as4 sessments which judge or characterize the quality of 

5 Iraqi governance or the ability/determination of the 

6 Iraqi government to deal with corruption, including 

7 allegations that investigations were thwarted/stifled 

8 for political reasons’’ should be rescinded. 

Æ 


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