Iraq Scrapes Bottom of International Corruption Index

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Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International just released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, and Iraq is almost at the bottom of the barrel, tied with Myanmar and Guinea. This is the first year TI has not figured Iraq’s pre-war record of corruption into its findings. Not that the transition has helped: Last year, Iraq was ranked 137 out of 158; this year it’s 160 out of 163. Goodbye, Oil for Food scam, hello Bagmen of Baghdad. Not that we care where our billions of dollars in reconstruction money are going, anyhow…

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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