Challenges in Combating Corruption and Fixing Accountability: In Iraq’s Perspective
Sabhi Saleh

Abstract
Iraqis know that corruption is ravaging their country but believe it is immutable because it has became a way of life for them. This belief has adverse effects for Iraqis who take little notice of the vice but feel its effects. While fighting corruption will take large groups of paper led by a strong leader, it will take the will of the complaining masses. It is apparent that the masses drive corruption and can successfully drive it in reverse. The biggest barrier to corruption is the lack of understanding of how to reverse the existing practices because of the insurmountable challenges they encounter. This paper seeks to break down the challenges into understandable concepts which the public can understand in order to join in the fight against corruption. It will attempt to demonstrate that Iraq may not benefit much from external intervention in one hand and on the other hand it demonstrates the cost of corruption as a result of mismanagement due to lack of skills, knowledge and experience of the most of the Iraqis officials and that become too difficult to handle and that results into major problems in the development of the Republic of Iraq. The complex nature of Iraq and their social setting indicates that the war must be waged only by Iraq to solve its problem of corruption. Although corruption is a global phenomenon but it will seek to and has to determine what the country should do in order to fight corruption and achieve accountability for public offices.

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