Official: Iraq Wants to End Its Monopolies

[Barrett808]

Official: Iraq Wants to End Its Monopolies
By SHAFIKA MATTAR, Associated Press Writer
Sun Jul 17, 4:58 PM ET

AMMAN, Jordan - Iraq wants to launch a privatization program that would end state monopolies over industry, an Iraqi official said Sunday on the eve of an international meeting to assess reconstruction activities.

Adel Karim, a deputy minister for industrial development, said Iraq wants to sell cement, brick and pharmaceutical factories as a first step. He declined to discuss details or say if the oil sector may also be considered, but he conceded that deteriorating security could hamper the plan.

"The security situation in Iraq is extremely bad, and obviously safety remains a top priority for businessmen who think about coming to invest in Iraq," Karim told The Associated Press. He spoke on the sidelines of a workshop on investment opportunities in Iraq, organized by his ministry in cooperation with the American Chamber of Commerce in Jordan.

On Monday, international organizations and representatives of 60 countries, including the United States, plan to gather to review Iraq's reconstruction checklist and coordinate with donors.

The two-day closed meeting, to be held on the coast of the Dead Sea, is sponsored by the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq. The group was launched in early 2004 by the United Nations and the World Bank to help donor nations channel resources and coordinate support for Iraqi reconstruction and development.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050717/ap_on_re_mi_ea/jordan_iraq_reconstruction

[hibbing]

1. sounds like American style capitalism

Socialize the cost, privatize the profits..lovely

[joemurphy]

2. Why am I not surprised? n/t

[Djinn]

3. "Iraq" wants to

or some people within the US backed "government" who are bound to profit personally from it wants to?

since when have privatisation plans supported by the usual suspects EVER helped the people of any nation.

[Barrett808]

4. Of course, this was the neo-con plan all along

No reason to think the delusional Bush mobsters have come to their senses. As Naomi Klein has convincingly argued, fear of privatization is one of the primary motivations of the insurgency.

[Djinn]

5. and it's obvious why that is

ask any Victorian if they beleive there phone service is better or cheaper since Telecom was privatised? or if their electricty is cheaper or more efficient since the break up of the SEC, or if they beleive the public transport system is better or cheaper since we sold that too.

it's a total CROCK that private companies can run things better than publically owned companies/utilities.

the only people that benefit are those with financial intersts in the rewarded private sector

[bloom]

8. it's the Iraq "makeover" show... eom

[Canuckistanian]

6. Wow, they came up with all on their own

Brilliant! Perhaps Enron can get back into bidness...

[Tempest]

7. It would be interesting to know Karim's background

I'm willing to bet he was an exile who hadn't set foot in Iraq in 50 years and has ties to oil companies.

[daleo]

9. Isn't that sweet.

They just happen to want to do exactly what the neo-con PNAC philosophy wants them to do too. It sure is nice when your desires line up with those of the army that invaded you.

[WinkyDink]

10. Paul Bremer

Bremer pretty much made sure of this, no?

[IndianaGreen]

11. This is America's plan, not Iraq's

The people of Iraq will become our slaves as they are forced to pay true market value for electricity, public transportation, and health care. Another victim to the World Bank and the IMF.

When will America stop raping Iraq?

[Voltaire99]

12. The civilized west completes another corporate raid.

Thus the pivotal reason for permanent US bases in Iraq: to watch other all the new "investments" for the new white owners back home.

[1932]

13. Who the hell is going to be rich enough to buy these businesses now????

This is why China is taking 30 years plus to convert to capitalism. This is why Russia is trying to undo all its corrupt shock-therapy privatizations from the 90s.

You can't have a fair sale that maximizes value for Iraqi citizens and which puts these assets in the hands of Iraqis who aren't already super-powerful (and the only way anyone is powerful in Iraq now is because of corruption and not because they're good entrepreneurs) when the country is in the middle of the turmoil it is in.

Duh.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Articles like this are similar to watching a car wreck in slow motion.

You know what's causing it, you know it'll be goddawful, and you're helpless to stop it.

This would be as good a time as any for our loud right-wing Bible thumping self-promoting, "pious" "moral" majority to start trying to pull this country back from a dive into fetid, filthy, murderous greed unseen in the world's history. They couldn't have created a nastier "government."