Posted by: John Lee Hookum
Why Are We In Iraq? - 10/19/04 05:15 PM
Operation Iraqi Liberation
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=9468&fcategory_desc=Under
Why Are We In Iraq -- Bush Family $$$ Signs
By: Evelyn Pringle
After Dick Cheney's tenure at the Pentagon ended, in 1993, he spent
much of the next two years deciding whether to run for President. He
formed a political-action committee, and crossed the country making
speeches and raising money, according to Contact Sport, 2/16/04 New
Yorker.
Records from the FEC show that Cheney's PAC contributors included
executives of the companies that have since won the largest contracts
in Iraq. Among them were Thomas Cruikshank, Halliburton's CEO at the
time; Stephen Bechtel, whose family's firm now has a contract in Iraq
worth as much as $2.8 billion; and Duane Andrews, then senior VP of
Science Applications International Corporation, which has won seven
contracts in Iraq.
However, while Cheney and his pals may well be the most blatant
profiteers in Iraq, they are by no means the only ones involved in
this grand war profiteering scheme commonly referred to as the "War on
Terror." The #1 spot on the list belongs to the First Family.
War Is Family Business
Here's where the web of deceit really gets complicated. There are so
many ties between the Bush family, the defense industry and the global
arms trade, that its almost impossible to keep track of them all. But
yet the wide-spread ties are hardly ever even mentioned in the
mainstream media. Or a revelation might show up for a day or two and
then its like oh well, what's new.
Lets Start At The Top - The First President Bush
When Jr took office, Bush (Sr) was a member of the Carlyle Group. The
firm is almost entirely made up of ex-government officials and it is
said to be the world's most politically connected private equity firm.
The complaints about the Bush family connections with the Carlyle
Group began long before 9/11. As early as March 3, 2001, shortly after
Bush Jr's inauguration, Judicial Watch issued a press release that said:
"Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and
prosecutes government abuse and corruption, called on former President
George Herbert Walker Bush to resign immediately from the Carlyle
Group, a private investment firm, while his son President George W.
Bush is in office. Today's New York Times reported that the elder Bush
is an "ambassador" for the $12 billion private investment firm and
last year traveled to the Middle East on its behalf. The former
president also helped the firm in South Korea."
"The New York Times reported that as compensation, the elder Bush is
allowed to buy a stake in the Carlyle Group's investments, which
include ownership in at least 164 companies throughout the world
(thereby by giving the current president an indirect benefit). James
Baker, the former Secretary of State who served as President George W.
Bush's point man in Florida's election dispute, is a partner in the
firm. The firm also gave George W. Bush help in the early 1990's when
it placed him on one of its subsidiary's board of directors.
"This is simply inappropriate. Former President Bush should
immediately resign from the Carlyle Group because it is an obvious
conflict of interest. Any foreign government or foreign investor
trying to curry favor with the current Bush Administration is sure to
throw business to the Carlyle Group. And with the former President
Bush promoting the firm's investments abroad, foreign nationals could
understandably confuse the Carlyle Group's interests with the
interests of the United States government," stated Larry Klayman,
Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel.
"Questions are now bound to be raised if the recent Bush
Administration change in policy towards Iraq has the fingerprints of
the Carlyle Group, which is trying to gain investments from other Arab
countries who [sic] would presumably benefit from the new policy,"
stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton."
As a rule, I'm not a major fan of Judicial Watch; however in this case
their comments are almost prophetic.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, it became known that Bush Sr was
financially linked to the bin Laden family. The Sept 28, 2001 Wall
Street Journal (WSJ) reported that, "George H.W. Bush, the father of
President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi
Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm."
When Sr hooked up with the Carlyle Group, his special area of
influence was the Middle East, and especially Saudi Arabia investors.
One of the investors that he brought to Carlyle was the BinLaden
Group, a construction company owned by the family of none other than
future US #1 enemy Osama bin Laden. According to an investigation by
the WSJ, Sr convinced Osama's brother, Shafiq bin Laden, to invest $2
million of Bin Laden Group money with Carlyle.
According to the WSJ, "The senior Bush had met with the bin Laden
family at least twice in the last three years - 1998 and 2000 -- as a
representative of Carlyle, seeking to expand business dealings with
one of the wealthiest Saudi families, which some experts argue, has
never fully severed its ties with black sheep Osama in spite of
current reports in a mainstream press that is afraid of offending the
current administration."
I'm no expert, but I even knew that 6 months prior to 9/11, Osama
appeared in a video taken at his son's wedding, along with his mother,
his son and his son's new wife. I guess they family must have got into
a tiff after the wedding.
The WSJ went on to outline the details of the family's investment. The
bin Laden firm invested $2 million in Carlyle Partners II Fund, which
raised a total of $1.3 billion overall. The fund purchased several
aerospace companies among 29 deals. "So far, the family has received
$1.3 million back in completed investments and should ultimately
realize a 40% annualized rate of return," a Carlyle executive told the
WSJ.
On Sept 27, the WSJ said it confirmed that a meeting took place
between Sr and the bin Laden family through Sr's Chief of Staff Jean
Becker, but only after the WSJ showed Becker a personal thank you note
that Bush Sr sent to the bin Ladens after the meeting.
Here's a little know fact that may bring goose bumps to some. On 9/11,
Shafiq bin Laden was at a meeting in the office of the Carlyle Group,
and stood watching on TV as the WTC was destroyed under the
instruction of his brother
So in a nutshell, Osama's attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, which lead
to a massive increase in defense spending, most likely made the Bush
family a great deal of money. And the real kicker is that the attack
may have even enriched his own family.
How Does Carlyle Make Its Money?
Its been estimated that Carlyle has investments in over 300 companies,
and the majority of them derive revenues from military and security
contracts. In fact, Carlyle is the country's 11th largest defense
contractor. In 2002, it received $677 million in government contracts,
and in 2003, it was awarded contracts worth another $2.1 billion.
Business has definitely improved for the firm since Jr took office.
For example, one of its subsidiaries, Vought Aircraft, now holds over
$1 billion in defense contracts. Prior to 2001, the company's future
was iffy at best. Right before 9/11, it had actually laid off 20% of
its workforce. But low and behold, business picked right back up with
the air strikes on Afghanistan and the war in Iraq.
Carlyle's ties go directly into the Oval Office. In fact, a list of
past employees has Jr's name on it. He was actually employed by
Carlyle at on point in his life. According to a story in Harper's
Magazine, Jr held a position as a corporate director on the board of
the Carlyle subsidiary, Caterair. Until he was politely told to hit
the road because he didn't have anything to offer the company.
In addition, in March, 1995, while Jr was governor of Texas governor
and a senior Trustee of the University of Texas, the University of
Texas Endowment placed $10 million in investments with the Carlyle
Group. Who knows how much of that investment money benefited the bin
Ladens.
Side-Kick James Baker
Sr's top sidekick, James Baker, is also a player with the Carlyle
Group. He joined the firm immediately after his stint as Sr's
secretary of state ended, bringing a briefcase packed full of global
connections to the firm. Carlyle's revenues tripled after Baker came
on board.
Much like Bush Sr, Baker's main duty was to manage firm's
relationships with Saudi clients. He not only handled investment
deals, it was also his job to look after the key interests of Saudi
investors. For instance, when the Justice Department began an
investigation into the financial dealings of Saudi Prince Sultan bin
Abdul Aziz, guess who the prince turned to for help? You got it, Baker.
And get this, Baker is currently defending the prince in a trillion
dollar lawsuit brought by the families of the victims of the 9/11. The
suit accuses the prince of using Islamic charities to funnel millions
of dollars to known terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda.
Carlyle is also cashing in on the Homeland Security front and the
enactment of the Patriot Act. Two Carlyle companies, Federal Data
Systems and US Investigations Services, hold multi-billion dollar
contracts to provide background checks for airlines, the Pentagon, the
CIA and the Department of Homeland Security. USIS used to be a federal
agency, until it was privatized in 1996 and snatched up by Carlyle.
Needless to say, it's now making money hand over fist.
Baker & Carlyle Hard At It
Baker and Carlyle have been hard at it behind the scenes, profiting in
ways so blatant that a secret deal revealed by Nation Magazine (and
since reported in most major newspapers) gives a whole new meaning to
the term war profiteering.
As most people know, Bush Jr appointed Baker to be his special envoy
on Iraq's debt. His mission was to meet with presidents and prime
ministers around the world and ask them to forgive Iraq's debt in the
name of the reparation needs of the country.
When Baker was appointed, questions about conflict of interest were
raised because of his ties to the Carlyle Group, which has extensive
business interests in the Middle East. His law firm, Baker Botts, was
also brought up because both firms have strong links to the Saudi
Royal Family, which happens to hold a great deal of Iraq's debt.
In fact, the New York Times published an editorial upon the
announcement of Baker being appointed special envoy that called for
Baker to resign from both Carlyle because he was a partner, and Baker
Botts.
In response to the editorial, Jr said he doesn't read editorials, but
assured the world that Baker was a man of high integrity. Carlyle
submitted a signed statement that said: "Carlyle does not engage in
lobbying or consulting." and "Carlyle does not have any investment in
Iraqi public or private debt."
Well that was then and this now. According to confidential documents
obtained by the Nation, including a 65 page proposal to the Kuwaiti
government, Carlyle has sought to secure a $1 billion investment from
Kuwait using Baker's influence as debt envoy. The secret deal involved
a plan to transfer ownership of up to $57 billion in unpaid Iraqi
debts owed to Kuwait. The debts would be assigned to a foundation
created by a consortium in which the key players are the Carlyle Group
and the Albright Group, headed by former secretary of state Madeline
Albright, along with several other well-connected firms.
So it boils down to this, the Carlyle Group was engaged in lobbying to
secure Iraq's debt at the same time that Baker was asking the world to
forgive those debts. Under the deal, Kuwait would give the consortium
$2 billion up front to invest in a private equity fund, with half of
it going to Carlyle.
The Nation showed the documents to Jerome Levinson, and international
lawyer and expert on political and corporate corruption at American
University. He called it "one of the greatest cons of all time. The
consortium is saying to the Kuwaiti government, 'Through us, you have
the only chance to realize a substantial part of the debt. Why?
Because of who we are and who we know.' It's influence peddling of the
crassest kind."
Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University and a leading
expert on government ethics and regulations, told The Nation, that
this means Baker is in a "classic conflict of interest. Baker is on
two sides of this transaction: He is supposed to be representing the
interests of the United States, but he is also a senior counselor at
Carlyle, and Carlyle wants to get paid to help Kuwait recover its
debts from Iraq." She said, "Carlyle and the other companies are
exploiting Baker's current position to try to land a deal with Kuwait
that would undermine the interests of the US government."
Just listen how they described The Carlyle Group, "a private equity
team, has earned its reputation by successfully consummating deals at
the intersection of politics and finance, with its roster of political
stars, including, among others, former US Secretary of Defense Frank
Carlucci, former British Prime Minister John Major, and until
recently, former US President George Bush."
I like that "stars." Is that kind of like Hollywood stars except they
are from Washington?
The document goes on to state: "The extent to which these individuals
can plan an instrumental rule in fashioning strategies is now more
limited ... due to the recent appointment of Secretary Baker as the
President's envoy on international debt, and the need to avoid an
apparent conflict of interest." Yet it goes on to say that this will
soon change: "We believe that with Secretary Baker's retirement from
his temporary position, that Carlyle and those leading individuals
associated with Carlyle will then once again be free to play a more
decisive role..." according to The Nation.
I wonder if this means we're going to lose our special envoy. Retirement?
The proposal goes on to tell Kuwait that in the near future 40
state-owned Iraqi enterprises will be available for leasing and
management contracts. Is that kind of like privatizing public
utilities? 40 of them, huh? You mean we are going to do all that for
Iraq? Does that mean that the Iraqis might have clean water, and not
have raw sewage in their streets anytime soon? I suppose that would be
a good thing.
Now where in the world did the Iraqis ever get the idea that we wanted
to take over their country? I've never been able to figure out why
they would ever think that.
For those readers wondering about how much progress Baker has made in
the 10 months in his position as special envoy, I'd have to say not
much. The negotiations apparently are kind of stalled.
Senator Joe Biden recently asked Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
for Iraq, about the status of the international negotiations to get
other countries to forgive Iraq's debts. He asked, "Has a single
nation in the G8 ... formally said or requested of their parliaments
to forgive Iraqi debt?" "Not yet. No sir," Schlicher answered.
According to The Nation, "Not only has Baker failed to deliver any
firm commitmens for debt forgiveness; at the annual meeting of the
International Fund on October 2, it emerged that France had done an
end run around Washington and was pushing a debt-relief deal of its
own. ... a plan to cancel only 50% of Iraq's debts -- a far cry from
the 90-95 % cancellation Washington had been demanding. Yet Baker was
nowhere to be found."
By Evelyn Pringle e.pringle@sbcglobal.net
Original Link: http://www.independent-media.tv
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=9468&fcategory_desc=Under
Why Are We In Iraq -- Bush Family $$$ Signs
By: Evelyn Pringle
After Dick Cheney's tenure at the Pentagon ended, in 1993, he spent
much of the next two years deciding whether to run for President. He
formed a political-action committee, and crossed the country making
speeches and raising money, according to Contact Sport, 2/16/04 New
Yorker.
Records from the FEC show that Cheney's PAC contributors included
executives of the companies that have since won the largest contracts
in Iraq. Among them were Thomas Cruikshank, Halliburton's CEO at the
time; Stephen Bechtel, whose family's firm now has a contract in Iraq
worth as much as $2.8 billion; and Duane Andrews, then senior VP of
Science Applications International Corporation, which has won seven
contracts in Iraq.
However, while Cheney and his pals may well be the most blatant
profiteers in Iraq, they are by no means the only ones involved in
this grand war profiteering scheme commonly referred to as the "War on
Terror." The #1 spot on the list belongs to the First Family.
War Is Family Business
Here's where the web of deceit really gets complicated. There are so
many ties between the Bush family, the defense industry and the global
arms trade, that its almost impossible to keep track of them all. But
yet the wide-spread ties are hardly ever even mentioned in the
mainstream media. Or a revelation might show up for a day or two and
then its like oh well, what's new.
Lets Start At The Top - The First President Bush
When Jr took office, Bush (Sr) was a member of the Carlyle Group. The
firm is almost entirely made up of ex-government officials and it is
said to be the world's most politically connected private equity firm.
The complaints about the Bush family connections with the Carlyle
Group began long before 9/11. As early as March 3, 2001, shortly after
Bush Jr's inauguration, Judicial Watch issued a press release that said:
"Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and
prosecutes government abuse and corruption, called on former President
George Herbert Walker Bush to resign immediately from the Carlyle
Group, a private investment firm, while his son President George W.
Bush is in office. Today's New York Times reported that the elder Bush
is an "ambassador" for the $12 billion private investment firm and
last year traveled to the Middle East on its behalf. The former
president also helped the firm in South Korea."
"The New York Times reported that as compensation, the elder Bush is
allowed to buy a stake in the Carlyle Group's investments, which
include ownership in at least 164 companies throughout the world
(thereby by giving the current president an indirect benefit). James
Baker, the former Secretary of State who served as President George W.
Bush's point man in Florida's election dispute, is a partner in the
firm. The firm also gave George W. Bush help in the early 1990's when
it placed him on one of its subsidiary's board of directors.
"This is simply inappropriate. Former President Bush should
immediately resign from the Carlyle Group because it is an obvious
conflict of interest. Any foreign government or foreign investor
trying to curry favor with the current Bush Administration is sure to
throw business to the Carlyle Group. And with the former President
Bush promoting the firm's investments abroad, foreign nationals could
understandably confuse the Carlyle Group's interests with the
interests of the United States government," stated Larry Klayman,
Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel.
"Questions are now bound to be raised if the recent Bush
Administration change in policy towards Iraq has the fingerprints of
the Carlyle Group, which is trying to gain investments from other Arab
countries who [sic] would presumably benefit from the new policy,"
stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton."
As a rule, I'm not a major fan of Judicial Watch; however in this case
their comments are almost prophetic.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, it became known that Bush Sr was
financially linked to the bin Laden family. The Sept 28, 2001 Wall
Street Journal (WSJ) reported that, "George H.W. Bush, the father of
President Bush, works for the bin Laden family business in Saudi
Arabia through the Carlyle Group, an international consulting firm."
When Sr hooked up with the Carlyle Group, his special area of
influence was the Middle East, and especially Saudi Arabia investors.
One of the investors that he brought to Carlyle was the BinLaden
Group, a construction company owned by the family of none other than
future US #1 enemy Osama bin Laden. According to an investigation by
the WSJ, Sr convinced Osama's brother, Shafiq bin Laden, to invest $2
million of Bin Laden Group money with Carlyle.
According to the WSJ, "The senior Bush had met with the bin Laden
family at least twice in the last three years - 1998 and 2000 -- as a
representative of Carlyle, seeking to expand business dealings with
one of the wealthiest Saudi families, which some experts argue, has
never fully severed its ties with black sheep Osama in spite of
current reports in a mainstream press that is afraid of offending the
current administration."
I'm no expert, but I even knew that 6 months prior to 9/11, Osama
appeared in a video taken at his son's wedding, along with his mother,
his son and his son's new wife. I guess they family must have got into
a tiff after the wedding.
The WSJ went on to outline the details of the family's investment. The
bin Laden firm invested $2 million in Carlyle Partners II Fund, which
raised a total of $1.3 billion overall. The fund purchased several
aerospace companies among 29 deals. "So far, the family has received
$1.3 million back in completed investments and should ultimately
realize a 40% annualized rate of return," a Carlyle executive told the
WSJ.
On Sept 27, the WSJ said it confirmed that a meeting took place
between Sr and the bin Laden family through Sr's Chief of Staff Jean
Becker, but only after the WSJ showed Becker a personal thank you note
that Bush Sr sent to the bin Ladens after the meeting.
Here's a little know fact that may bring goose bumps to some. On 9/11,
Shafiq bin Laden was at a meeting in the office of the Carlyle Group,
and stood watching on TV as the WTC was destroyed under the
instruction of his brother
So in a nutshell, Osama's attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, which lead
to a massive increase in defense spending, most likely made the Bush
family a great deal of money. And the real kicker is that the attack
may have even enriched his own family.
How Does Carlyle Make Its Money?
Its been estimated that Carlyle has investments in over 300 companies,
and the majority of them derive revenues from military and security
contracts. In fact, Carlyle is the country's 11th largest defense
contractor. In 2002, it received $677 million in government contracts,
and in 2003, it was awarded contracts worth another $2.1 billion.
Business has definitely improved for the firm since Jr took office.
For example, one of its subsidiaries, Vought Aircraft, now holds over
$1 billion in defense contracts. Prior to 2001, the company's future
was iffy at best. Right before 9/11, it had actually laid off 20% of
its workforce. But low and behold, business picked right back up with
the air strikes on Afghanistan and the war in Iraq.
Carlyle's ties go directly into the Oval Office. In fact, a list of
past employees has Jr's name on it. He was actually employed by
Carlyle at on point in his life. According to a story in Harper's
Magazine, Jr held a position as a corporate director on the board of
the Carlyle subsidiary, Caterair. Until he was politely told to hit
the road because he didn't have anything to offer the company.
In addition, in March, 1995, while Jr was governor of Texas governor
and a senior Trustee of the University of Texas, the University of
Texas Endowment placed $10 million in investments with the Carlyle
Group. Who knows how much of that investment money benefited the bin
Ladens.
Side-Kick James Baker
Sr's top sidekick, James Baker, is also a player with the Carlyle
Group. He joined the firm immediately after his stint as Sr's
secretary of state ended, bringing a briefcase packed full of global
connections to the firm. Carlyle's revenues tripled after Baker came
on board.
Much like Bush Sr, Baker's main duty was to manage firm's
relationships with Saudi clients. He not only handled investment
deals, it was also his job to look after the key interests of Saudi
investors. For instance, when the Justice Department began an
investigation into the financial dealings of Saudi Prince Sultan bin
Abdul Aziz, guess who the prince turned to for help? You got it, Baker.
And get this, Baker is currently defending the prince in a trillion
dollar lawsuit brought by the families of the victims of the 9/11. The
suit accuses the prince of using Islamic charities to funnel millions
of dollars to known terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda.
Carlyle is also cashing in on the Homeland Security front and the
enactment of the Patriot Act. Two Carlyle companies, Federal Data
Systems and US Investigations Services, hold multi-billion dollar
contracts to provide background checks for airlines, the Pentagon, the
CIA and the Department of Homeland Security. USIS used to be a federal
agency, until it was privatized in 1996 and snatched up by Carlyle.
Needless to say, it's now making money hand over fist.
Baker & Carlyle Hard At It
Baker and Carlyle have been hard at it behind the scenes, profiting in
ways so blatant that a secret deal revealed by Nation Magazine (and
since reported in most major newspapers) gives a whole new meaning to
the term war profiteering.
As most people know, Bush Jr appointed Baker to be his special envoy
on Iraq's debt. His mission was to meet with presidents and prime
ministers around the world and ask them to forgive Iraq's debt in the
name of the reparation needs of the country.
When Baker was appointed, questions about conflict of interest were
raised because of his ties to the Carlyle Group, which has extensive
business interests in the Middle East. His law firm, Baker Botts, was
also brought up because both firms have strong links to the Saudi
Royal Family, which happens to hold a great deal of Iraq's debt.
In fact, the New York Times published an editorial upon the
announcement of Baker being appointed special envoy that called for
Baker to resign from both Carlyle because he was a partner, and Baker
Botts.
In response to the editorial, Jr said he doesn't read editorials, but
assured the world that Baker was a man of high integrity. Carlyle
submitted a signed statement that said: "Carlyle does not engage in
lobbying or consulting." and "Carlyle does not have any investment in
Iraqi public or private debt."
Well that was then and this now. According to confidential documents
obtained by the Nation, including a 65 page proposal to the Kuwaiti
government, Carlyle has sought to secure a $1 billion investment from
Kuwait using Baker's influence as debt envoy. The secret deal involved
a plan to transfer ownership of up to $57 billion in unpaid Iraqi
debts owed to Kuwait. The debts would be assigned to a foundation
created by a consortium in which the key players are the Carlyle Group
and the Albright Group, headed by former secretary of state Madeline
Albright, along with several other well-connected firms.
So it boils down to this, the Carlyle Group was engaged in lobbying to
secure Iraq's debt at the same time that Baker was asking the world to
forgive those debts. Under the deal, Kuwait would give the consortium
$2 billion up front to invest in a private equity fund, with half of
it going to Carlyle.
The Nation showed the documents to Jerome Levinson, and international
lawyer and expert on political and corporate corruption at American
University. He called it "one of the greatest cons of all time. The
consortium is saying to the Kuwaiti government, 'Through us, you have
the only chance to realize a substantial part of the debt. Why?
Because of who we are and who we know.' It's influence peddling of the
crassest kind."
Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University and a leading
expert on government ethics and regulations, told The Nation, that
this means Baker is in a "classic conflict of interest. Baker is on
two sides of this transaction: He is supposed to be representing the
interests of the United States, but he is also a senior counselor at
Carlyle, and Carlyle wants to get paid to help Kuwait recover its
debts from Iraq." She said, "Carlyle and the other companies are
exploiting Baker's current position to try to land a deal with Kuwait
that would undermine the interests of the US government."
Just listen how they described The Carlyle Group, "a private equity
team, has earned its reputation by successfully consummating deals at
the intersection of politics and finance, with its roster of political
stars, including, among others, former US Secretary of Defense Frank
Carlucci, former British Prime Minister John Major, and until
recently, former US President George Bush."
I like that "stars." Is that kind of like Hollywood stars except they
are from Washington?
The document goes on to state: "The extent to which these individuals
can plan an instrumental rule in fashioning strategies is now more
limited ... due to the recent appointment of Secretary Baker as the
President's envoy on international debt, and the need to avoid an
apparent conflict of interest." Yet it goes on to say that this will
soon change: "We believe that with Secretary Baker's retirement from
his temporary position, that Carlyle and those leading individuals
associated with Carlyle will then once again be free to play a more
decisive role..." according to The Nation.
I wonder if this means we're going to lose our special envoy. Retirement?
The proposal goes on to tell Kuwait that in the near future 40
state-owned Iraqi enterprises will be available for leasing and
management contracts. Is that kind of like privatizing public
utilities? 40 of them, huh? You mean we are going to do all that for
Iraq? Does that mean that the Iraqis might have clean water, and not
have raw sewage in their streets anytime soon? I suppose that would be
a good thing.
Now where in the world did the Iraqis ever get the idea that we wanted
to take over their country? I've never been able to figure out why
they would ever think that.
For those readers wondering about how much progress Baker has made in
the 10 months in his position as special envoy, I'd have to say not
much. The negotiations apparently are kind of stalled.
Senator Joe Biden recently asked Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
for Iraq, about the status of the international negotiations to get
other countries to forgive Iraq's debts. He asked, "Has a single
nation in the G8 ... formally said or requested of their parliaments
to forgive Iraqi debt?" "Not yet. No sir," Schlicher answered.
According to The Nation, "Not only has Baker failed to deliver any
firm commitmens for debt forgiveness; at the annual meeting of the
International Fund on October 2, it emerged that France had done an
end run around Washington and was pushing a debt-relief deal of its
own. ... a plan to cancel only 50% of Iraq's debts -- a far cry from
the 90-95 % cancellation Washington had been demanding. Yet Baker was
nowhere to be found."
By Evelyn Pringle e.pringle@sbcglobal.net
Original Link: http://www.independent-media.tv