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Ralph Peters is a regular columnist with the New
York Post.
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 The
Worst Plague
Washington must not compromise with corruption...
[Ralph
Peters] 2/20/06
Corruption
kills.
What does
a standoff be tween a Texas sheriff's department and Mexican
soldiers over a drug bust have in common
with the electoral victory of Hamas and the
current government crisis in Kenya?
Here's a
hint: They all tie in with the fate of Iraq's new government,
the Enron trials and environmental degradation in China.
The winning — and
losing — answer is: corruption.
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Ralph
Peters is a retired Army officer and the author of 19 books,
as well as of hundreds of essays and articles, written both
under his own name and as Owen Parry. He is a frequent columnist
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No single
factor has been as destructive of good government and the hopes
of billions of struggling human beings.
AIDS? Malaria?
Avian flu? Corruption undercuts efforts to provide decent health
care — just as it wrecks education systems and corrodes
social bonds. Corruption is the great plague that makes all
others worse.
Corruption
kills. Sometimes directly, as when Mexican narco-insurgents
shielded by regional politicians assassinate journalists fighting
to clean up their country. Or when a crusading African politician
dies in an "accident."
Usually,
though, corruption kills indirectly. By robbing honest chances
for better lives. By siphoning off funds meant for sewage systems
or piped water. By delivering medicines long past their expiration
dates — or no medicines at all.
From Latin
America to China, university spaces and grades are for sale,
while government jobs and contracts require kickbacks. Meritocracy — that
great human hope — doesn't have a chance. Markets are
distorted, and capitalism, which relies on the rule of law,
gets a bad name where it never had a chance. The poor suffer.
And they vote their desperation, putting fanatic religious
parties in power in Palestine or electing a demagogue to the
presidency in Venezuela.
Corruption
makes a mockery of every religion, every system of government,
every public institution. From Argentina through Nigeria to
Pakistan, countries that should've punched their way to the
economic middleweight bouts failed miserably instead — while
privileged citizens bought luxury homes in Europe.
Corruption
makes wars worse, too. Illicit arms deals, the lure of profits
from "blood diamonds" or narcotics, or simple land
grabs increase human misery geometrically. The Vietnam-era
slogan "War is Good Business" applies far more viciously
to the crippled "developing" world than it ever did
to our own country.
Yes, we have
corruption in the United States. You bet. After sex and violence,
corruption's easily the third-oldest human pastime. But we
don't look away. When we encounter corruption, we get angry.
And we prosecute. Whether the case involves executives so rich
they think they're untouchable, arrogant D.C. lobbyists — or
members of Congress. It may take time, but here the corrupt
go to jail.
Elsewhere,
they go to Paris. Or Geneva. Or parliament.
Elsewhere,
billions of human beings are born without hope if they don't
belong to the right family, the right clan or tribe or the
right religion.
Elsewhere,
the rich and powerful not only steal from the poor and helpless,
they rub their superiority in the faces of those they've dispossessed.
If you want
to see cruelty more pernicious than physical torture, study
corrupt societies. Much of the immigration, legal and illegal,
to the USA isn't just a flight toward hope but a flight away
from corruption and its consequences.
Corruption
undercuts our strategic ambitions, too. In the course of a
how-to-fix-Iraq discussion on Capitol Hill last fall, I remarked
that, as long as we don't quit, the greatest threat to Iraq's
future isn't terrorism, but the deeply embedded tradition of
corruption. I don't think the senator hosting the meeting believed
me, but I was deadly serious.
Without a
sense of social responsibility that transcends blood and sect,
it's hard to build a rule-of-law democracy. Corrupt politicians
don't just steal money — they steal their country's future.
While we
don't tolerate corruption here at home, we're still too willing
to overlook it abroad. Yes, we have sound anti-corruption laws
for our multinational corporations. But the scrutiny still
isn't what it should be. And laws are worthless unless enforced.
As you'd
expect, the hypocritical Europeans are much worse — despite
holier-than-thou European Union anti-bribery rules (honored
about as often as the old Soviet constitution). As for the
Chinese and other up-and-coming economic players, they don't
even pretend to obey international anti-corruption codes.
And we don't
call them on it. Back in the overrated 1960s, a now-forgotten
novel had a great title, "Everybody Knows and Nobody Cares." When
it comes to global corruption, that's a perfect slogan.
Yes, fighting
corruption abroad is tough. We lose contracts. "Friendly" governments
turn against us. Demagogues blame us for their own sins. Nationalists
are outraged.
But doesn't
the fate of billions of human beings matter more?
Washington
has to take an uncompromising stand against corruption — and
not just a rhetorical one. If we're remotely sincere about
democracy, human rights or religious tolerance, the battle
starts with the fight against corruption.
It's about
self-interest, too. 9/11 had its roots not only in religious
fanaticism but also in the suffocating corruption of the Middle
East. Nothing will deter hardcore fanatics, but give the average
man or woman a chance and they're far less likely to strap
on a suicide bomb.
Meanwhile,
those Enron trials aren't about what's wrong with our system.
They're about what's right with it. -one-
Ralph Peters'
latest book is New
Glory: Expanding America's Global Supremacy
This
piece first appeared in the New York Post
copyright 2006 - NY Post
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