These fictional soldiers may be the ones Obama was counting on to fight the Islamic State — after all, his “vetted moderates” among the “Syrian rebels” are no more real than these guys.
“Iraq PM Haidar al-Abadi promises corruption crackdown after probe finds 50,000 ghost soldiers,” AFP, November 30, 2014 (thanks to Bill):
Iraq’s prime minister Haidar al-Abadi has promised to crackdown on corruption after an investigation uncovered the existence of 50,000 “ghost soldiers”.
“The prime minister revealed the existence of 50,000 fictitious names” in the military, Mr Abadi’s office said in a statement.
The 50,000 jobs were equivalent to almost four full army divisions.
“Over the past few weeks, the PM has been cracking down to expose the ghost soldiers and get to the root of the problem,” Mr Abadi’s spokesman Rafid Jaboori said.
He said the investigation started with a thorough headcount during the latest salary payment process.
Soldiers confirmed that salaries were paid only recently after a two-month delay about which they were given no explanation.
“There are two kinds of fadhaiyin,” one experienced officer in the security forces said, using a word which, literally translated, means “space men”, and refers to the fictitious soldiers crowding the payroll.
“The first kind: each officer is allowed, for example, five guards. He’ll keep two, send three home and pocket their salary or an agreed percentage,” he said.
“Then the second and bigger group is at the brigade level. A brigade commander usually has 30, 40 or more soldiers who stay at home or don’t exist,” the officer said.
The problem, the officer said, was that brigade commanders faced pressure to bribe their superiors with large amounts of money to keep their jobs.
He said for those reasons, the thousands of soldiers who defected or were killed this year across Iraq were rarely declared as such.
The United States, which occupied the country for eight years, has spent billions of dollars training and equipping Iraq’s military.
Yet the army collapsed when fighters from the Islamic State jihadist group launched a sweeping offensive in June….
Ursula says
Now why doesn’t that surprise me? Corruption in Muslim countries is a given and you should never trust them.
umbra says
islamic armies … much more impressive on paper than they are in reality.
duh_swami says
Must be an error in a computer entry. You don’t think Iraqi officials are corrupt do you?
Don McKellar says
Well, at least the US Military Industrial Complex profitted from this fiasco. Is that a good thing? If you work in that sector it is. If you’re a taxpayer who does not, well…
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
50,000 ghost soldiers = 50,000 payees for no-show jobs. That’s a whole lotta jing, as in a whole lotta U.S. taxpayer dollar jing. Cha-ching! I wonder if they have direct deposit over there in Babylon.
I wonder how the investigation is doing on what happened to the $6.4 billion shrink wrapped on pallets that went missing. Could this money have been… stolen? Oh, it sez here that the U.S. gubmint has officially closed that investigation as unsolvable.
Wolfgang says
That’s ok Blackwater or Credence clearwater stole it…..all good…
RonaldB says
This reminds me of nothing so much as “The Mouse that Roared.” In this Peter Sellers movie, a small country declares war on the US, counting on the history that the US traditionally showered money on nations that it conquered.
The US government must have taken the script for “The Mouse that Roared” literally.
Wolfgang says
Its all OK……..all good ! …….they would just drop their weapons at the first sign of a fight anyway……as for the money ? the Fed will just print some more, all in all no loss…[ just for the taxpayer] .
move along nothing to see her folks…….
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Oh, I dunno about that. The primary raison etre of the Federal Reserve is to preserve the value of the U.S. dollar. In its first century of operation, the U.S. dollar only lost 93% of its value. That’s a full 7%, almost a tenth, that held during the past century. As for the zero-interest rate thing, it’s only been six years now, and true it has wiped out a lot of retired couples, but it’s been a boon for the stock market, and it’s a tenet of economics that a healthy national economy should have no incentive for personal saving, and we now have no such incentive. It’s magic.
Wolfgang says
Magic as in fraud……boon for the stock market , but that’s a giant ponzi scheme anyway, also its a fait a compli that this shell CANNOT go on forever, in that sense its a zero sum game, fiat money has never worked and never will, sure for a time it work’s but there does come a point when the scheme does not work, Bernie Madoff proved that, his scam was just nickel and dime stuff compared to Jamie Dimon.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
… also its a fait a compli that this shell CANNOT go on forever.
Yes, it is going to happen, and the more Communist China succeeds at subverting the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency, the sooner the reckoning will be.
The trouble with all this is the narrow group of elites we’ve given power for many decades, they’re not so smart anymore. Even if they pocket enormous wealth via crony capitalism and crooked political economy, they’re left living in a broken down country with streets that are lot gamier than they are even now. The streets will go bad in the suburbs, too. Look for police force sizes to grow fast.
Wolfgang says
Besides 2 to 3 percent growth for developed nations is a crock……study Von Mises and you will see that. Nations cannot outgrow their earth resources [ Which is happening right now with energy such a sweet light crude oil] , then that leads to other large problems which in turn are self perpetuating destructive cycles, so called alternative products such as electric cars are one, they are not and never will be viable, the list just goes on.
Wolfgang says
The Ultimate reality……
That ” debt ” effects everything………Uncle Sam has a diminishing pool of taxpayers and tax liability can only increase, the only item keeping the lid on things is the military industrial complex.
U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Even the Australians have got in on the act ( fiat money creation ) and they have their own giant debt clock ticking…….
Australian Debt Clock
http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/
world debt clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html
Salah says
“These fictional soldiers may be the ones Obama was counting on to fight the Islamic State”
Obama is not and will not fight the Islamic State. These stupid and ineffective “airstrikes” are nothing but a saving-face game.
Obama doesn’t even has a say in this fight; he has to follow orders from his masters: the Muslim Brotherhood thugs comfortably sitting in the W.H.
He helped them rise to power in the so-called “Arab Spring.” When this failed he’s helping them now achieve the same results through openly declared violence.
The enemy is in the W.H.
Buraq says
You couldn’t make it up! Fictional soldiers, a President who fantasizes and a bunch of thugs with a fictional holy book, Al Qur’an.
Clowns, all of them!
Irony Man says
“They only march on paper sir!”
Sharpe’s Regiment.
winoceros says
Captain Tuttle.