Transparency International: Corruption Index and the Arab World

Whenever I read an index of international ranking, I never take them seriously anymore only because I have regularly checked their Middle East section and found so many flaws, whether it is Reporters without Borders on freedom of the press or the Freedom Index of the lousy right-wing, Freedom House which basically gives bonus points for countries (like Jordan) which follow US orders, or even Transparency International and its annual corruption Index.  Just look at the newly released Corruption Index for 2012: they list Saudi Arabia (a country owned by a family where the lucrative contracts are awarded to family members) ahead of Lebanon and Argentina and Bulgaria and even India.  I mean, Lebanon and Argentina and India have corruption, but more than Saudi Arabia and Kuwait?  These consistent mistakes and flaws in such index are partly due malfeasance and partly due to ignorance among their Middle East staff.