Tuesday, January 12, 2010

So, how's that Afghanistan thing working out? Oh ...


Via BCL, we learn:

KARZAI MOCKS CANADA BY RENAMING CROOKED CRONY

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has delivered a scathing rebuke to Canadian soldiers and taxpayers by nominating to his cabinet a disgraced former minister who presided over the embezzlement of up to one-third of Canadian aid dollars donated under the U.N.’s Law and Order Trust Fund (LOTFA).

In naming Zarar Muqbul as his new counter-narcotics minister, Karzai delivers a forehand smash into the court of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is already under fire for proroguing Canada’s House of Commons - in part to avoid a parliamentary committee’s probe into the Afghan government’s mistreatment of battlefield detainees.

The siphoning off of Canada’s LOTFA contributions is arguably a more flagrant abuse of trust than the issue of prisoner abuse. The financial support is intended to strengthen the National Police and kick-start Afghanistan's rule of law.

Canadians have donated at least $80 million to the scheme since 2002, with the Harper government tipping in $12 million seven months ago.

The embezzlement and detainee scandals share a common denominator: the Prime Minister and his aides have tried for years to sweep both under the carpet.

Up to a third of $92 million. Hmmmmm ... I wonder what we could have done with that cash.

Pity.

BONUS TRACK: Apparently, Stephen Harper and the Harperettes are still pretty proud of that whole LOTFA thing. One wonders if (or when) that page is going to quietly disappear.

Don't worry, I have a screenshot.

1 comment:

The Seer said...

Have you no exposure to Government? Have you never submitted a proposal for government action without discussing funding sources — how you proposed to raise the revenue to pay for this grand new program?

Think. It takes money to run a government. With all these Western bureaucrats sticking their noses into everything you do, you cannot, in Afghanistan, explicitly or formally tax your biggest industry, because the Western bureaucrats all want you to shut your only substantial industry down.

Who better to run an informal tax system than the king of graft?

wv (no shit) decia, except, with the font used for wv's, iut looks like de cia.