Probe International

(September 29, 2003) Kuwaiti parliamentarians reacted angrily to a US suggestion the country drop demands for billions of dollars in war reparations owed by former foe Iraq, newspapers said yesterday.

(September 25, 2003) World Bank President James Wolfensohn told reporters that U.S.-published estimates ranging from $50 billion-$70 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction effort were "in the ball park."

(September 25, 2003) “Think of what we would be asking Iraqis were we to suggest they fashion a new economy, a new democracy, while literally in the dark eight hours a day.” -L. Paul Bremer, administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

(September 24, 2003) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said the result of the administration’s proposal would be for U.S. taxpayers to help repay debt that Saddam Hussein owed to European nations before his government was toppled.

(September 24, 2003) Policymakers and debt watchers are considering a scheme that two economists have drawn up to eliminate lending to odious regimes, such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

(September 24, 2003) Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of Seven creditor nations ended their one-day meeting in Dubai, urging all bilateral creditors to join them in canceling "100 percent of their eligible claims."

(September 22, 2003) All the countries, all the countries, are going to have to engage in debt forgiveness for . . . this new country to have any possibility of getting off the ground.

(September 22, 2003) "About 90 percent of Iraq’s potential, virtual debt is war-related . . . I cannot see how a country like Iraq can bear this burden," said Marek Belka, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority body raising money for Iraq’s reconstruction. "A serious, serious write off [is needed]," he added.