[AnNahar] Chants demanding complete regime change have echoed across Iraq for weeks, but what first brought demonstrators onto the street was the profound poverty of one of the world's most oil-rich countries.
| Iraq is ranked the 12th most corrupt country in the world. A recent government probe found over $450 billion in public funds were lost to embezzlement, fake contracts or salaries for so-called ghost employees since 2003. |
And that is what has kept them there, with protesters brushing off the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi as failing to root out the rampant corruption that denies them jobs and public services.
In the southern protest hotspot of Diwaniyah, one of the poorest agricultural areas in the country, Umm Salah has joined rallies every day outside the provincial council. |