Who couldn't have seen this coming?  Yesterday, a Democratic Policy Committee hearing discovered that the Bush administration has been turning a blind eye to corruption at the top levels of the Iraqi government. 

Two former State Department employees testified during the hearing, including Arthur Brennan, who used to run the Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT) in Iraq.  According to Brennan, their office was woefully understaffed.  What's more, the administration was hiding any potentially incriminating information for fear of jeopardizing their relationship with the Iraqi government. 

This juicy excerpt is from an AP report:

"Brennan also alleges the State Department prevented a congressional aide visiting Baghdad from talking with staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, office members were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers."

OAT was in Iraq ostensibly to help train Iraq's anti-corruption organizations. Brennan claimed, however, that not only were the State Department's policies completely antithetical to their mission, but they also fostered more corruption within the Iraqi government. 

Brennan testified that the State Department apparently tampered with his report to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).  In that report, Brennan had accused the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of blocking investigations of corruption among Shiite-controlled groups.  The State Department dismantled OAT over the SIGIR report last December.  They then went once step further, retroactively classifying the report in order to prevent the public from knowing about it. 

James Mattil, the former chief of staff under Brennan who also testified, summed up the Bush administration's blatant refusal to compel the Iraqi government to fight corruption.  He said, "It seems reasonable to conclude that the reasons are either, gross incompetence, willful negligence or political intent on the part of the Bush administration and more specifically, the Department of State." 

The Bush administration and the State Department have misled Congress, the American and Iraqi people from start to finish in this war...and now beyond!