(March 7, 2003) France now has an estimated $4 billion in debts owed to it by Iraq as a result of arms sales and infrastructure construction projects. The debt is another reason U.S. officials believe France is opposing military force to oust Saddam.
The strange case of Falluja 2
(March 6, 2003) According to the Guardian, confidential files reveal Tory ministers’ roles in the approval of a gas-producing facility in Iraq and plans to hide it from the U.S.
How deal got the green light despite nerve gas warning
(March 6, 2003) From 1982 on, Saddam Hussein was filling an arsenal of shells and bombs with mustard gas and nerve agents at his main chemical munitions complex, Muthanna, in the desert 50 miles north-west of Baghdad.
Britain’s dirty secret
(March 6, 2003) A chemical plant was secretly built by Britain in 1985 behind the backs of the Americans. Ministers in the then Thatcher government secretly gave financial backing to the British company involved, Uhde Ltd, through insurance guarantees.
U.K. export credit agency secretly funded Iraqi chemical weapons plant
(March 1, 2003) Earlier this year, journalist David Leigh documented the fascinating story of how a chemical plant the U.S. identified as a key component in Iraq’s chemical warfare arsenal, was secretly built by Britain in 1985 with financial backing from the government’s export credit agency, Export Credits Guarantee Department. The British taxpayer was forced to write a compensation cheque for ?00,000 to the German-owned company after final checks on the plant, completed in May 1990, were interrupted by the outbreak of the Gulf war.
Iraq’s odious debts
(February 12, 2003) Russia and France have good reason to oppose a war with Iraq: They stand to lose more from Saddam Hussein’s ouster than any other countries in the world.
The rat that roared
(February 6, 2003) The future government in Baghdad may very well not consider itself responsible for paying Saddam’s debts. Does this alone condition the Chirac response to a fin de regime in Iraq?
France: Iraq has WMD
(January 26, 2003) The French seem perfectly satisfied that the money they pay Saddam for oil goes toward WMD programs and supporting the military. Iraq owes France over $8 Billion in oil IOU’s and France has huge oil development contracts with Saddam.
‘Free Iraqis’ meet in Washington to discuss reconstruction
(December 10, 2002) The participants agreed that Iraq’s debts are of two types: civilian debts […] and military debts. […] Military debts should be renegotiated because they were incurred by a government that was not representative of the population.
Allies in bed with Saddam
(September 13, 2002) British Aberdeen Asset Management Trust has invested in North Korean and Iraqi debt. "It’s toxic stuff," admits Colm McDonagh, an Aberdeen fund manager, "but when it moves, it really moves."
Pay role
(September 2, 2005) "It would be appropriate for banks and Arab debtors to write off large parts of the odious loans they made to Saddam, and for Kuwait to forgive the war compensation it is due. A clean slate, not new money, is what Iraq’s economy needs most."
Iraqi-born economist focuses on the future of Iraq
(August 12, 2002) Interview with Salah Al-Sheikhly, former head of Iraq’s Central Bank.
Dealing with Iraq’s foreign indebtedness
(February 1, 2000) Wajeeh Elali proposes a pragmatic debt-management strategy for Iraq. On the topic "Who is to blame?" Elali includes the "imprudent lending practices" of some western and Arab creditors.