Plunder

Forthe · Post by **Forthe** » September 23, 2003, 3:33 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3130776.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3126522.stm

Yes lets sell everything to multinationals before we have a representative government in place to represent the actual owners.

Make sure you insert that the sales cannot be reversed into the "constitution" you write up for the Iraqis. Then seal the deal by not allowing any amendments to the "constitution".

Edit: Copy\Paste is not my friend.

Post by **Sylvus** » September 23, 2003, 3:35 pm

Was that first link a mis-paste or am I not seeing the correlation?

masteen · Post by **masteen** » September 23, 2003, 3:46 pm

They're both caused by teh evils of capitalism!!!

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » September 23, 2003, 3:52 pm

"The surprise announcement by Iraqi Finance Minister Kamel al-Kilani dominated the second day of meetings organised by the International Monetary Fund in Dubai"

LOL...that announcement actually came as a surprise? I dont know about anyone else, but I expected it.

Fallanthas · Post by **Fallanthas** » September 23, 2003, 6:19 pm

I will assume that you read far enough to see that oil and any other natural resources are specifically left out of this decision.

How the hell did you think Iraq was going to be rebuilt? Concrete trucks and carpenters were going to spring out of the sand?

Ajran · Post by **Ajran** » September 23, 2003, 6:37 pm

about as much chance of that as the weapons of mass destruction doing the same thing.

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » September 24, 2003, 3:10 pm

Interesting stuff. I have been looking around for some more information relating to this and there is some, but it is still fairly sparse so far.

The BBC stories seem to be actually talking about multiple reforms and are lumping them together and I think this is somewhat confusing the issues. The two main reforms being talked about being allowing foreign ownership of enterprises in Iraq and the privatization of the national industries. Although these will certainly ultimately impact each other, the timelines seem to be different.

According to http://www.iraq-today.com/news/business/00022.html

(Iraq Today) - Paul Bremer, the CPA administrator for Iraq, issued a new law for foreign investment in Iraq after completing consultation with the international financial institutions and coordination with Iraqi governing council. The law grants the right of having private projects all over Iraq with or without an Iraqi partner. The fields of investment do not include the sectors of natural resources as for primary excavation, primary processing. The law does not cover banks or insurance companies. At present foreigners are not allowed to buy real estate either. The acts of the law could be amended through consultations between the Administrator and the Iraqi governing council for the sake of public interest. The law works in harmony with the Secretary's General report of Security Council on 17 July 2003, which was related to the UN resolution No.1483 in 2003. The law takes into consideration that foreign investment will develop Iraqi infrastructures and industry. The law should provide new opportunities of jobs and increase the capital.

This seems like it is taking place immediately (although the article does not state this explicitly, so its possible that implementation will be delayed). It seems to imply that currently a business wanting to work within Iraq currently needs an Iraqi partner, this would change that. This should be a positive change, bringing needed capital into the country.

The BBC article doesn't really go into detail about the timeframe for the privatization issue, but apparently it is a bit further off.

http://www.iraq-today.com/news/business/00016.html

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's new finance minister said on Thursday a clear framework for the privatisation of the country's state industries would be in place in two years.

Kamel al-Keylani, appointed last week by the US-backed Governing Council, said the idea of selling off Iraq's state industries, particularly its prized oil sector, would first have to be sold to the Iraqi people.

"The period is very clear, not less than two years," Keylani told Reuters in an interview. "We will first identify which sectors can be privatised, lay the foundations and make sure the issue is acceptable to the Iraqi people."

After decades of highly centralised economic management under Saddam Hussein, privatisation is a sensitive issue for Iraqis. Many believe the US-led war which toppled Saddam in April was aimed at seizing control of Iraq's oil reserves, second only to those of Saudi Arabia.

Keylani, a former businessman, said it would take time for Iraq's fledging cabinet to reach a consensus on the details of a privatisation programme.

"The new government is only one week old so we need to sit with each other and discuss these issues," he said. "Every ministry has its own opinion. It is too soon to set a deadline or give a start date."

Privatization should also ultimately be a very positive reform for the Iraqi economy. It would be nice if some of it could be accomplished in less than 2 years, but given the fact that the government itself is still being put together it isn't that suprising it might take a while. It will also be interesting to see how they go about the privatization. Although the end goal is desirable, there certainly exists the potential for problems in implementation.

For an interesting read on how the Czech Republic privatized their national industries after the fall of the Soviet Union, see http://reason.com/9504/hazlett-czech.apr.shtml

Vetiria · Post by **Vetiria** » September 24, 2003, 5:56 pm

How the hell did you think Iraq was going to be rebuilt? Concrete trucks and carpenters were going to spring out of the sand?

How about the countries that destroyed Iraq in the first place?

Forthe · Post by **Forthe** » September 24, 2003, 9:00 pm

Nice post Chmee.

I have no problem with the privatization of industries. I wouldn't even have a problem with the Iraqis selling everything to multinationals themselves. I think everyone has the right to fuck themselves.

I do have a problem with the US selling Iraq to multinationals basically creating a slave state in Iraq. Hopefully an (truely) elected Iraqi government is in place before any of this takes place.