Report: Iraq Is 3rd Most Corrupt Nation

Another dubious distinction. I'm not sure this is what our troops are fighting and dying for over in Iraq. This is not my idea of success, as the Bushies have been claiming lately:

In the perpetual evaluation of how much (or how little) progress Iraq is making these days, the government in Baghdad faces another unwanted superlative—third most corrupt country in the world.

Iraq ranks above only lawless Somalia and the repressive regime in Burma for the perceived level of corruption among the 179 countries analyzed in the annual survey by Transparency International. Iraq scored even lower than it did last year, somehow managing to outdo even a notorious offender like Haiti.