Hedgie --
There has lots of speculation on ownership of Iraqi assets by the
extended family of Saddam Hussein. Before the Iraq war began, The New
Yorker magazine had reported that the family had used its position of
influence to acquire coveted land in the Tikrit region. Numerous
publications have speculated about the family's deposits in Swiss bank
accounts.
However, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce "most major
industrial enterprises were state-owned" -- dspite what Vivienne Walt
writes in the San Francisco Chronicle. And most other reports note
that cash flowing into the Finance Ministry was then available to the
Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, and to his family members.
U.S. Department of Commerce
"Overview of Key Industry Sectors in Iraq," (June 4, 2004)
http://www.export.gov/iraq/bus_climate/sector_overview.html
Here's Walt's original article (which you'd referenced):
San Francisco Chronicle Online
"New Iraq Stock Market Off to a Booming Star," (Walt, July 19, 2004)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/19/MNGFE7NSET1.DTL&type=printable
One of the early orders written by L. Paul Bremmer, director of the
Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), is a very broad order seizing
assets from Baath Party members and turning them over to the Iraqi
state. The first link below is a list of all of 100 CPA orders and
clarifications on their implementation; the second is the property
seizure Order #4:
Coalition Provisional Authority
"CPA Official Documents"
http://www.cpa-iraq.org/regulations/#Orders
CPA
"Management of Property and Assets of the Iraqi Baath Party," (Bremer,
May 25, 2003)
http://www.cpa-iraq.org/regulations/20030525_CPAORD_4_Management_of_Property_and_Assets_of_the_Iraqi_Ba_ath_Party.pdf
You may find interesting this summary of the relevant CPA orders,
which notes that these key legal steps were taken regarding business
in Iraq:
*& Order #12: suspension of all tariffs on imports.
* Order #17: immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law for foreign contractors
* Order #39: the goal of privatization of the 200 major Iraqi
enterprises; allowance of 100% foreign ownership and free remittance
of cash; and a 40-year license.
* Order #49: a flat corporate tax of 15% (down from 40% in the Hussein era).
Guerrilla News Forum
"The Hand Over That Wasn't," (Juhasz, July 21, 2004)
http://www.guerrillanews.com/war_on_terrorism/doc4892.html
---
STATUS OF PRIVATIZATION
========================
After Order #49 was put into place, Tom Foley, then director of
privatization, said that the state enterprises to be sold would
include cement and fertilizer plants, phosphate and sulfur mines,
pharmaceutical factories and the country's airline. More recently,
Michael Fleischer, the current head of privatization (and brother to
Ari Fleischer, former White House spokesman) said that the goals of
privatization would be both diversification and privatization of
government enterprises.
Asia Times
" US unions take up Iraqi labor cause," (Bacon, July 30, 2004)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FG30Ak02.html
Note that this is an audio clip. It does an excellent job of
detailing the issues with jump-starting investment in an atmosphere of
violence. It also notes that little of the Iraqi government's income
in the near future is expected to come from taxes and none from
corporate taxes, so Industry Minister Hajem al-Hassani expects 30-40%
of the needed investment to come from outside Iraq:
National Public Radio (NPR)
" Privatization in Iraq Stalls After Handover of Power," July 16, 2004
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3471056
Trading resumed on the Iraq Stock Exchange started again on Sunday,
July 18, at 10 a.m. for the first time in 15 months, with 27 companies
trading initially. As the San Francisco Chronicle article notes,
trading is now scheduled for 2 hours on Wednesday and Sunday mornings.
However, Henry T. Azzam, of investment banking firm Jordanvest, says
that over the next few months 100 companies that were on the "old"
Baghdad Stock Exchange have the right to go public and will do so:
The Daily Star/Lebanon
"Security a major obstacle for Iraq's economy," (Azzam, July 27, 2004)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=6647
The Chicago Tribune notes that some 90% of the Iraqi economy is in the
hands of government-owned enterprises in this overview of economic
conditions:
Chicago Tribune
"Iraqi industries limp toward future," (Rodriguez, July 26, 2004)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0407260190jul26,1,1981911.story?coll=chi-news-hed
---
This Google search strategy used three basic resources for a search on
Iraq privatization:
* Wall Street Journal online at www.wsj.com
* NY Times online
* Google News
For a newspaper that specializes in business topics and which has
taken to writing editorials about how to pursue the ongoing Iraq war
in Fallujah, the Wall Street Journal coverage of this topic is
shockingly incompetent. There's only one relevant article on
privatization in its archives -- picked up from the Associated Press.
By contrast, there are some excellent websites, including this one:
ContractWatch.org
http://www.contractwatch.org/index.htm
And finally, Google's News search turns up a VERY different set of
results for Google.com. Unfortunately, news services are increasingly
pulling their news links after two or three weeks, so some links to
news stories are dead.
Other Google search strategies:
Iraq + privatization -- and note that the results are very different
with this American spelling than the U.K. English spelling -- Iraq +
privatisation
Hussein + Iraq + industry
Hussein + ownership + industry
"Coalition Provisional Authority" + order
"al-Hassani" + "industry minister"
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
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