Gunship Free Enterprise

[Aidoneus]

Gunship Free Enterprise
David Bacon, December 18, 2003

In 1958, Iraqi nationalists and radicals threw out the king imposed on them by the British after World War One. Over the next five years of relative freedom and democracy, Iraq began putting together a nationalized, planned economy, based on its oil wealth. Hundreds of factories were eventually constructed, making it the most industrialized country in the Middle East. A new deepwater port was built on the Persian Gulf, Umm Qasr, which became a lynchpin in that plan. From its piers Iraq began to ship the goods from those factories to buyers in other countries throughout the region. The port became a symbol of progress and independence, an achievement of the Iraqi revolution.

Today Umm Qasr, under the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, has become war booty. It was the first Iraqi enterprise to be turned over, not just to a private owner, but to a foreign one. Even before U.S. troops had reached Baghdad, in Washington DC the Bush administration gave the concession for operating the port to Stevedoring Services of America, a politically-connected firm handling cargo around the world that has a long history of anti-labor policies. To Iraqis, instead of a symbol of national pride, Umm Qasr now represents the new era of foreign domination. And as a foreign corporation has taken over the operation of what once was a crown jewel of the Iraqi economy, the status of the people whose living depends on the jobs the port provides hangs in the balance.

Free Enterprise at Gun Point

The free trade ideologues of the Bush administration see the occupation of Iraq as a beachhead into the Middle East and south Asia. Their first objective is the transformation of the state-dominated economy of what was once one of the region's wealthiest countries. Tom Foley, a Bush fundraiser put in charge of implementing this vision on the ground, said his goal is a "fully thriving capitalist economy." Privatizing Umm Qasr began the transformation of the Iraqi economy -- from one based on nationalization and production for domestic welfare, to one based on ownership by transnational corporations, sending their profits out of the country.

--snip--

Iraq on the Block

In Iraq, the occupation authorities, known as the Coalition Provisional Authority, have taken other important steps to benefit foreign operators like SSA. In an October 8 phone press conference, Tom Foley, who now directs private sector development for the CPA, announced a list of the first state enterprises to be sold off, including cement and fertilizer plants, phosphate and sulfur mines, pharmaceutical factories and the country's airline. In preparation, on September 19, the CPA published Order No. 39, which permits 100% foreign ownership of businesses, except for the oil industry, and allows repatriation of profits.

Order No. 37, also issued on September 19, suspends income and property taxes for the year, and imposes a flat tax on individuals and corporations in the future of 15%. Rightwing ideologues haven't been able to get the U.S. Congress to pass a flat tax proposal despite years of advocacy, but Iraq has become the free-marketeers' playground.

Meanwhile, conferences take place once or twice a week in Washington and London, in which Iraqi enterprises and contracts are put on display, and transnational corporations come to examine profit-making opportunities. Just one conference scheduled for December 10 at Washington's National Press Club by Equity International, a business consulting service, features the attendance of executives from Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Rockwell Automation, Foster Wheeler, The Livingston Group, Nissan Motor Co, M/A-COM, Federal Security Systems, Danimex Communications, Global Transportation Systems, Applied Industrial Technologies, Comprehensive Health Services, Washington Group International, International Truck and Engine Corporation and diplomats from countries participating in the occupation coalition.

--snip--

http://www.guerrillanews.com/corporate_crime/doc3643.html

When DUers upstairs and those elsewhere defend the occupation on "humanitarian" grounds, these pigs and robbers thank you.

[dastardly]

1. You're right

Damn straight. The country was better off under Sadaam. Why can't anyone else see that?

[bemildred]

2. They live there. It muddies up their vision.

[Darranar]

3. This is how democracy in Iraq is being made impossible...

I never had much hope for it in the first place, but if any nation's resources, industries, and facilities are controlled by foreign firms, true democracy in such a state is impossible.

[Aidoneus]

4. ..and that was the whole point

The PR blitz is just for domestic consumption.

[Darranar]

5. That is true.