Estados Unidos no Iraque: fracasso na Contabilidade

O The New York Times comenta o fracasso norte-americano no Iraque na criação de um sistema contábil moderno (U.S. Faults Its Bid to Replace Iraq's Accounting System, de James Glanz e Andrew Kramer, 25/10/2007, p. 12). O projeto era substituir o sistema contábil corrupto de Saddam Hussein por algo que possibilitasse maior controle, em especial das receitas do petróleo.

BAGHDAD, Oct. 24 -- An American project to replace the Iraqi government's opaque and easily manipulated Saddam Hussein-era accounting system has failed to achieve its goals after four years and more than $38 million, an American oversight agency reported Wednesday.

An early objective of the American occupation was to streamline the corrupt Iraqi bureaucracy that had flourished under Mr. Hussein, and establish controls that would make it more difficult to divert the enormous Iraqi oil revenues that provide nearly all of the government's budget.

But the American oversight agency, called the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said Wednesday in a report that the system the United States had chosen had shown a ''lack of understanding of the existing Iraq financial and business processes,'' and had not taken root.

As a result, the new system has had little impact on Iraq's financial apparatus, said Ginger Cruz, a deputy inspector general in the office. The old system remains in place, she said.

''The convoluted way that they used to do accounting under Saddam was created for secrecy and control,'' Ms. Cruz said. (...)