Iraq

BushCo: We hire thieves and morons!

Well, they've fingered one bad apple, already:

The Iraqi government is expected to issue a warrant for the arrest of Hazem al-Shaalan, the former Defence Minister, in connection with the disappearance of more than $1 billion a senior corruption investigator in Baghdad said yesterday.

Now, who hired Mr. Shaalan, you might ask? The Independent has the answer:

Among those whom the US promoted was a man who was previously a small businessman in London before the war, called Hazem Shaalan, who became Defence Minister.

Mr Shalaan says that Paul Bremer, then US viceroy in Iraq, signed off the appointment of Ziyad Cattan as the defence ministry's procurement chief. Mr Cattan, of joint Polish-Iraqi nationality, spent 27 years in Europe, returning to Iraq two days before the war in 2003. He was hired by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and became a district councillor before moving to the defence ministry.

Another hiring coup for the Bush team! They don't just hire incompetent morons, they hire outright thieves! What does Viceroy Bremer have to say about Cattan, the man the Iraqi government has an APB out for?

Mr Bremer says he has never heard of Mr Cattan.