America puts Iraq up for sale
 

haha, New zealand and creative headlines :)

22.09.2003
By PHILIP THORNTON and ANDREW GUMBEL
Iraq was in effect put up for sale yesterday when the US-backed administration announced it was opening up all sectors of its economy to foreign investors in a desperate attempt to deliver the much-needed reconstruction.

In an unexpected move unveiled at the meeting of the Group of Seven rich nations in the Middle East, the Iraqi Governing Council, appointed by the United Sates, announced sweeping reforms to allow total foreign ownership without the need for prior approval.

The move, accompanied by cuts in taxes and tariffs, is likely to fuel concerns that Iraq is being turned into a golden opportunity for profiteering by multinational corporations relying on political connections. Already, the biggest reconstruction contracts have been allocated to major US firms such as Bechtel and Halliburton, which have ties to the Bush administration. They were selected behind closed doors, with no opportunity for competitors to present bids.

It is also a dramatic departure from Saddam Hussein's centralised management of the Iraqi economy, which was reasonably successful in capitalising on the country's oil wealth to build state-of-the-art hospitals, schools and other infrastructure, at least until the upheavals of the Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War and the imposition of United Nations sanctions from 1991.

One Arab expert, who asked not to be named, said: "There's a fear that privatisation of too many things will lead to things being sold off for a mess of potage."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydispl...bsection=world

something like 37 percent of Iraqis now feel that Iraq was BETTER off with saddam.. and the number is rising.. haha but who cares what the iraqis think.. haliburton has its deals and we're not leaving till they've milked it for all its worth >:

They should just give Iraq to one of the neighboring countries and let them administrate it. Do the Iraqis have so much nationalism that they couldn't stand living in Syria or Jordan instead?

I don't think that would work, due to the inconvenient fact that everybody over there seems to hate everyone else.

Let Australia annex them, then. No one hates Australia. Do they?

Canadians do. >:

One day we'll give those bastards what for. >: