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By Molly Hennessy-Fiske The Los Angeles Times
Washington - A Bush political appointee and former Silicon Valley executive who has faced opposition in his bid to bail out Iraq's struggling factories is under investigation by the Defense Department on mismanagement allegations.
Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Paul A. Brinkley, who heads an economic task force in Baghdad, is accused of mismanaging government money and engaging in public drunkenness and sexual harassment, a Defense Department spokesman said last week.
The allegations stem from a 12-page memo filed this month by two former members of the task force. The charges are being investigated by the Defense Department's Office of the Inspector General.
Bob Love, director of operations for the task force, said he was shocked by the allegations, saying they were related to "personnel issues." He said the former task force members were dismissed before they filed their complaint.
"As someone who has traveled extensively with Mr. Brinkley, I don't believe any of that is substantiated," Love said, speaking for Brinkley, who is on vacation. "He has dedicated his life to this effort."
Although Brinkley has won support from military commanders for his campaign for taxpayer-funded investment in Iraqi factories, the plan is opposed by State Department officials here who believe the former state-run factories should be privatized.
Brinkley has argued that Iraqi factories need a jump-start to compete with the international companies now serving Iraq, importing everything from fruit to air conditioners.
"They're so worried about having socialism here," Brinkley said of his critics at the State Department. "The free market already won. A free market will take hold - they just need a shot."
But critics note that despite Brinkley's efforts and millions spent on the factories, only nine of about 200 have been restarted, creating about 4,000 jobs - fewer than the 11,000 Brinkley's task force projected in December.
Only one U.S. company has contracted with the factories. And the task force's "Buy Iraqi" campaign, which Brinkley launched this month at a news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, has not yet convinced big retailers that Iraqi factories can deliver on orders, given the country's fragile infrastructure and poor security.
Brinkley is asking U.S. department stores to create "Buy Iraqi" sections in the holiday season to market leather coats and handbags from Baghdad, hand-woven carpets from Kirkuk and clothing with hip-hop motifs from Mosul.
Sami Araji, the deputy minister for industry and mining, said Iraqi goods could compete against low-cost imports from countries such as China, India and Thailand, and he hoped that American shoppers would see them as a way to help the Iraqi economy.
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