There were 55,000 'ghost soldiers' in Iraqi army in 2014.

Rhys Essien

Basically,non existent troops on the government payroll whose salaries were collected by corrupt officers.

The new prime minister Haider al-Abidi is making a start to clean up all this corruption but Id say he has some challenge ahead.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/08/31/meet-the-man-trying-to-bring-iraq-back-from-the-brink/

Its a shame considering the reserves of oil that Iraq have.They have so much that every man,woman and child of their 33 million population could be a millionaire.

donegaLroad

Rhys Essien wrote: »

Basically,non existent troops on the government payroll whose salaries were collected by corrupt officers.

The new prime minister Haider al-Abidi is making a start to clean up all this corruption but Id say he has some challenge ahead.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/08/31/meet-the-man-trying-to-bring-iraq-back-from-the-brink/

Its a shame considering the reserves of oil that Iraq have.They have so much that every man,woman and child of their 33 million population could be a millionaire.

there were also non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003, who's existence were falsely verified by corrupt politicians.

moc moc a moc

And these people wonder why their country is in a world of ****.

The Backwards Man

You don't have to go to Iraq for that. Manys a house in Ireland was built on an extra wage packet or two.

smash

Ghost soldiers huh... I guess Winter's coming after all.

The Backwards Man

The Backwards Man wrote: »

You don't have to go to Iraq for that. Manys a house in Ireland was built on an extra wage packet or two.

I know a crowd who were doing building work in a large hospital in Cork and were sent off to do work on the head of the hospital's (CEO? Director?) own private house while signing in for work on the hospital.

I thought that was pretty sickening, given the state of our health service and the wages paid to senior staff in it.

cometogether

Deleted User wrote: »

I know a crowd who were doing building work in a large hospital in Cork and were sent off to do work on the head of the hospital's (CEO? Director?) own private house while signing in for work on the hospital.

I thought that was pretty sickening, given the state of our health service and the wages paid to senior staff in it.

Should be names and shamed

Streetwalker

What a fu cking mess that country is. Thanks team America.

cometogether

cometogether wrote: »

Should be names and shamed

I'd love to! I'd love to get on to the Irish Examiner and tell them to follow it up.

But heard it from one of the guys and he would know if I leaked it, and he would obviously have to deny it.

It takes a lot to shock me about what happens in this country, but that was a jaw dropping one.

Steppenwolfe

Among other corrupt practices, the checkpoints take kickbacks and it's shared out all the way to the top. The higher up you are the more lucrative it is. Some of the top officer posts sell for up to $1m. A lot of those Iraqi officers are entrepreneurs, not soldiers. With no real leadership it's no wonder ISIS are kicking their ass.

gramar

So what? There are millions of 'ghost' women on Ashley Madison.

Nodin

They weren't very spooky ghosts, given the effect they had on the enemy.

The Randy Riverbeast

They need to reforge the sword that was broken in a fight against George Bush so that the ghosts can fulfill their oath by fighting against ISIS.

RayCon

Why the surprise ? .. sure they made a game out of it ...

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130501214026/callofduty/images/9/9b/Call_of_Duty_Ghosts_cover.jpg

Iseedeadpixels

Nah what they really meant was these guys

topper75

The Randy Riverbeast wrote: »

They need to reforge the sword that was broken in a fight against George Bush so that the ghosts can fulfill their oath by fighting against ISIS.

One does not simply walk into Iraq. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly.

Fratton Fred

topper75 wrote: »

One does not simply walk into Iraq. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly.

You're confusing Iraq with Middlesbrough.

frostyjacks

Wait until they see the claims for army deafness.

Manic Moran

In Afghanistan we decided to let "acceptable corruption" go. For example, if an officer pocketed money, we looked to see what he did with it. If it lined his own pocket, he had him arrested. If he diverted it to a fund for the families of killed soldiers, we let it go. Both are illegal by Western standards, but the second wasn't really a bad thing given the local culture and effect on the force. That said, we did get people removed from the rolls when we discovered it.

biko

Ghost Recon, shirley?