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July
30, 2003
David
Lindorff
Poindexter the Terror Bookie
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
July
29, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
"Journalist Spotted! Journalist
Dead!" Guatemala Bleeds; US Press Yawns
Thomas
J. Nagy
The Belligerent Dr. Pipes
Kurt Nimmo
Tom Delay Goes to Jerusalem
Chris
Floyd
Dead Reckoning: Bush Warriors Sign Off on War Crimes
Robert
Fisk
Another Botched Raid; Another Massacre
Jason Leopold
Did Chalabi Help Write Bush's State of the Union Address?
Conn Hallinan
Food Bully: Bush's Biotech Shock and Awe Campaign
Dan
Bacher
Sacramento's War on Free Speech
Ray
McGovern
Cheney Chicanery
Website
of the Day
Julie Hilden Caught on Tape
July 26 / 27, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
NYT's Screws Up Again; Uday and
Qusay Deaths Bad for Bush; Gen. Hitchens at the Front
Gary
Leupp
Faith-Based Intelligence
Saul Landau
A Report from Syria
Stan
Goff
Bring 'Em On Home, Now!
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Book Cooking at Boeing
Andrew
Cockburn
The Sons Are Dead; Now the Blood Feud
Begins
Jason Leopold
CIA Points the Finger at the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans
Robert
Fisk
The Power of Death
Joanne
Mariner
Monsieur Moussaoui
Standard
Schaefer
Joblessness and the Invisible Hand
M. Shahid
Alam
The Global Economy Since 1800: a Short History
Harry
Browne
Northern Ireland: the Other Faltering Peace Process
Fidel Castro
Moncada, 50 Years Later
Lula
Democracy Requires Social Justice
Edward
S. Herman
Refuting Brad DeLong's Smear Job on Noam Chomsky
Ron Jacobs
Guided by a Great Feeling of Love: a Review of Gordon's The Company
You Keep
Julie
Hilden
A Photographer, an Offer and Cameron Diaz's Topless Photos
Adam Engel
Man Talk
Poets'
Basement
Keeney, Witherup, Short, Nimba, Guthrie and Albert
July
25, 2003
Francis
A. Boyle
Impeaching Bush
David
Krieger
15 Questions
Harvey
Wasserman
Pat Robertson's Supreme Fatwah
Steve Dunifer
Seize the Airwaves!
Dan
Bacher
Federal Judge Throws Out Bush Salmon Plan for Klamath River
Kurt Nimmo
Bread, Circuses, Uday and Qusay
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog
Website
of the Day
Stop the Wall!
July
24, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses...Again
Robert
Fisk
The Ugly Story of Camp Cropper: The
US Torture Camp in Iraq
David
Lindorff
Dumb and Dumber in Iraq
Christopher
Brauchli
Ashcroft Demands Death Penalty in
Puerto Rico
David
Vest
Dylan in Bend
Tom Turnipseed
Killing Saddam & His Family Won't Stop Killing of US Troops
Douglas
Valentine
A Nation of Assassins
Stew Albert
Contract Killing
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Weblog
Website
of the Day
Report on Palestinian Child Prisoners
July
23, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Caesar's Favor
David
Lindorff
Lynne Stewart's Big Win: Ashcroft
Rebuked
Mano
Singham
Iraq's Missing WMD Scientists
Steve
Perry
Better Late Than Never: the Press, the Dems, and Bush's Lies
John Stanton
Avoiding Plato's Republic in America: Is Anarchy the Only Hope?
Patrick
Bond
Bush and South Africa: a Petro-Military-Commerce Mission
Harry Browne
A Victory for a Disarming Irishwoman
Paul
Beaulieu
When the WTO Comes to Montreal
Robert
Fisk
The Sons are Dead, But the Resistance
Will Grow
William
Witherup
Georgie Porgie
Website
of the Day
Lieberman & Falwell:
True Love at Last
July
22, 2003
Diane
Christian
Bad Guy / Good Guy: War Forces;
Peace Frees
Jeremy
Brecher
Solidarity and Student Protests in Iran
Steve
Kretzmann
and Jim Vallette
Plugging Iraq into Globalization
Sam
Smith
Greening the Golden Triangle
James
Plummer
Smile, You're on Federal Camera
Lucretia
Stewart
This Day Shall Not Define My Life:
January 18, 2003
Website
of the Day
Iraq Coalition Casualties
Hot Stories
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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July
30, 2003
The
Hidden Cost of the Iraq War
"We're
Going to be Treated as Foreign Workers in Our Own Country"
By ZVI BAR'EL
Two million liters of water had to be pumped out
of the basement of the Iraqi central bank a month ago to make
the steel safes stored there accessible. A water pipe that burst
during the bombings produced the flooding, and no one knew
where the main pipe was to shut it off.
It wasn't the American civilian administration
that pumped the water out, but a special team sent by National
Geographic, which was looking for an equally important asset:
the treasures of the ancient city of Nimrod, parts of which
were actually found in those safes. After days of pumping, the
American administration was able to open the safes and remove
millions of dollars, which was used to pay the salaries of hundreds
of thousands of Iraqi officials. Every official received $30
to $50 as a first monthly payment, a small sum to cover basic
food items.
In the absence of written data on the
number of officials and the salary each was accustomed to receiving,
the American administrators got by, using verbal recommendations
from senior Iraqis, paperwork presented by those eligible for
salaries and a lot of trust.
The first decision was correct: money
had to flow to the citizens in order to calm the situation on
the street. Another decision, not to pay the thousands of soldiers
of Saddam Hussein, turned out to be dangerous and was changed
fairly soon after the large demonstrations they organized on
the streets of the big cities. Every soldier and officer received
a monthly salary of between $50 to $150 without doing a thing.
They are after all Saddam's men and former members of the Ba'ath
party, whom the Americans do not want to employ.
After that, money started flowing into
rebuilding of vital infrastructure. The U.S. Congress approved
a sum of $3.2 billion over a two-year period to finance the
initial rebuilding. Now it turns out that sum is a lot less
than what is needed. In an interview with Fortune magazine,
American administrator Paul Bremer says his administration
in Iraq "burns about a billion dollars a month." This
estimate, of course, does not include the military expenditures
that total a billion dollars a week.
To cover the civilian expenses, the U.S.
is using Saddam Hussein's frozen funds in U.S. banks, estimated
at around $10 billion. One billion dollars was stolen from Iraqi
banks and around $950 million of it has been recovered and is
being used by the civilian administration. Only some $350 billion
remains in the central bank and that is being used to cover
current expenses. According to Bremer's assessment, Iraq will
need around $1.5 billion a year for the next five years just
to restore electrical supply to all citizens of the country.
Early in July, Bremer was in Washington
to present an overview of the situation in "his country,"
saying he intended to transform the country into a market economy
within 18 months and to hold free elections and set up an elected
Iraqi government. He is striving to obtain additional funding
from donor countries whose representatives will convene in October
in the U.S. to discuss the rebuilding of Iraq, and he expects
Iraq's oil industry will soon start generating income in less
than a year. Not many would agree with these forecasts.
Colonization
A market economy is more a political
issue in Iraq at the moment than a purely economic one. The
concern in Iraq (and not only there) is that the privatization
plan for the oil industry will transfer this national asset
to foreign hands, and especially to American hands. Commentators
and analysts in Arab countries caution in sharply worded terms
against "the colonization of the oil fields," "the
sale of Arab assets to the American infidels" and "the
plundering of Iraqi wealth by occupiers" and again portray
oil as the real pretext for war.
The big contracts for rebuilding the
oil industry that went to American corporations such as Bechtel
($680 million) or consulting firms such as Bering-Point, these
commentators say, serve as convincing proof of America's intentions.
Bering-Point, for example, is, among
other things, to prepare Iraq's government companies for an
international public tender, prepare the Iraqi banks for commercial
operations and determine guidelines and help formulate the
new banking and stock trading laws. However, the sum the company
will receive from the American administration (an estimated
$60-200 million) does not include the cost of rebuilding the
communication infrastructure, which is so vital for the proper
management of the economy. The situation today is that American
officials must go to their Iraqi colleagues in order to have
business meetings. The Americans are not permitted to go outside
without a military escort, and so every meeting becomes a carefully
planned military operation. Telephones don't work and the use
of satellite phones is permitted only for truly vital matters,
and therefore PCs cannot connect to key systems in Iraq or
in the U.S. The first meeting of leaders of the central bank
and American economic representatives took place on the street
because there was nowhere to sit in the offices: all the equipment
had been plundered.
The lack of a communications system makes
it impossible to estimate the amount of damage and the needs
of every municipal or government department throughout Iraq.
This week, the administration began distributing cellular phones
to mayors and others in important positions. But they too cannot
help verify data submitted verbally and therefore the assessment
of the sum of money needed is merely a guess.
As for the hope that donor countries
will help with the costs of rebuilding Iraq, needless to say
many of the countries invited to Washington opposed the war,
and it is doubtful they will want to contribute to the cause
without ensuring a cut of future output for themselves.
Saddam's Iraq owes some of them more
than $300 billion and that includes war compensation; even if
they forgive part of the debt, that will not necessarily mean
income for Iraq. The Americans are hoping to get $7 billion
from the donor countries, a sum which even if obtained will
barely cover civilian administration expenses through the middle
of next year. Anyway, donor countries pledged $5 billion to
Afghanistan, and only half that sum has actually been transferred.
And there was no disagreement about that war.
Unemployment at 60 percent
Thus, the only thing left to do is rely
on the oil industry to bring in the remaining amount. But here,
too, a lot of spending will first be needed before one will
see income. Iraq produced more than 2.5 million barrels a day
before the first Gulf War in 1991. With the sanctions and oil-for-food-and-medicine
programs, production dropped. On the eve of the latest Gulf
War, it was around 800 barrels a day. To reach pre-war 1991
levels and perhaps to even increase production to 3.5 million
barrels a day, Iraq will need around $50 billion spread out
over several years. The income expected from this investment,
in the best-case scenario, should reach $20 billion for the
same period.
Optimistic assessments speak of a rapid
rebuilding within two years and long-term development over the
next five years.
The less optimistic assessments speak
of 10 years being needed to restore Iraq's situation to its
previous condition. All of this is based on several assumptions:
the price of oil remains around $30 per barrel and does not
drop due to the entry of large quantities of oil that will come
from Iraq; that Kuwait does not open its northern oil fields
quickly; and that Saudi Arabia accepts the ceiling determined
by the OPEC member countries.
The free market Bremer dreams of will
also require an end to subsidies for basic staples and that
will make it necessary to increase Iraqis' sources of income.
At the moment, in the absence of precise data, unemployment
in Iraq is estimated at 60 percent. Most Iraqis, if not all,
need food portions and medicines paid for by the United Nations
with money accumulated in the special Iraq fund as part of the
oil-for-medicine program. However, these funds are running
out, and the entire program is scheduled to end in November.
Experts sent by the Pentagon to check
the situation in Iraq proposes, for example, opening a bank
account for every citizen, in which their relative share of
oil income can be directly deposited; that way the U.S. shows
it is not exploiting Iraq, and the money is going directly to
Iraqis. These sums, however, will not replace jobs or uproot
the culture of unemployment that may take hold in the country.
The American administration plans to provide numerous jobs
by privatizing Iraqi industry and some 190 government companies,
but privatization requires investment, and this week several
leaders of banks and international corporations explained that
they did not plan to invest in Iraq while the security situation
is unstable. Now the circle has been closed.
Without security there will be no investment
and without investment it is doubtful whether it will be possible
to stabilize the country.
Amid the macro considerations and long-term
planning, a parallel economy is developing in Iraq. It is an
"economy" of dozens of money changers, who determine,
in the absence of a central policy, the Iraqi dinar-dollar exchange
rate. The daily fluctuations can go as high as 20-40 percent.
Gang leaders trade in stolen goods and
have open lots where they sell stolen cars and parts; burglaries
and kidnappings for ransom continue as does the arms trade.
Foreign correspondents traveling around Iraq tell of an active
arms market where pistols sell for $400-500 and grenades for
a few dollars. The grace period the Americans granted to anyone
who turned in his weapon ended on June 15 and yielded only 1,000
weapons or so.
There are also positive developments
such as Internet cafes where customers send email inside and
outside Iraq via satellite phones, which have become an alternative
to standard to telephone lines.
Post-war Iraq offers another option to
those seeking opportunities: real estate. Apparently Arab businessmen
are buying up properties across Iraq in anticipation of a rise
in prices, taking advantage of the poverty and willingness
of Iraqis to sell just about anything for any price, with no
government supervision.
"In another year, when we all wake
up, we'll suddenly see that Iraq no longer belongs to us,"
wrote an Iraqi journalist. "It will have gone to Saudi,
Kuwaiti, Egyptian and American millionaires. We will be transformed
into foreign laborers in our own country."
Former Iraqi army officers waiting in
Baghad this month for their first salary. Not paying them was
seen as too dangerous an option.
Weekend Edition Features for July 26 / 28, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
NYT's Screws Up Again; Uday and
Qusay Deaths Bad for Bush; Gen. Hitchens at the Front
Gary
Leupp
Faith-Based Intelligence
Saul Landau
A Report from Syria
Stan
Goff
Bring 'Em On Home, Now!
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Book Cooking at Boeing
Andrew
Cockburn
The Sons Are Dead; Now the Blood Feud
Begins
Jason Leopold
CIA Points the Finger at the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans
Robert
Fisk
The Power of Death
Joanne
Mariner
Monsieur Moussaoui
Standard
Schaefer
Joblessness and the Invisible Hand
M. Shahid
Alam
The Global Economy Since 1800: a Short History
Harry
Browne
Northern Ireland: the Other Faltering Peace Process
Fidel Castro
Moncada, 50 Years Later
Lula
Democracy Requires Social Justice
Edward
S. Herman
Refuting Brad DeLong's Smear Job on Noam Chomsky
Ron Jacobs
Guided by a Great Feeling of Love: a Review of Gordon's The Company
You Keep
Julie
Hilden
A Photographer, an Offer and Cameron Diaz's Topless Photos
Adam Engel
Man Talk
Poets'
Basement
Keeney, Witherup, Short, Nimba, Guthrie and Albert
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