(January 15, 2004) The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) said yesterday it would try to help in the reconstruction of Iraq but stressed the conflict-hit country must pay its swelling debt which caused its suspension from the Fund 12 years ago.

(January 15, 2004) John Snow and James A. Baker III briefed International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials on Baker’s efforts to persuade countries to forgive much of Iraq’s massive debt, officials at the lending institutions said Thursday.

(January 13, 2004) Iraq’s finance minister on Tuesday urged countries to which Iraq owes billions of dollars to write down or even write off the debt to allow the country to recover from three wars and three decades of dictatorship.

(January 5, 2004) Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq called on its Arab neighbors to help supply and pay for arms for the war effort. Baghdad later insisted that the aid was in the form of grants, not loans, and therefore repayment was not required.

(January 5, 2004) It is in our interest to help Iraq so the situation there stabilizes. Unless it does so, we will not see a single koruna," Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said.

(December 29, 2003) China will consider cutting Iraq’s debts or writing them off out of humanitarian concern, state radio quoted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as saying on Monday.

(December 29, 2003) Japan would be prepared to eliminate the vast majority of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club creditors are prepared to do so in the context of a Paris Club agreement," said a statement by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

(December 25, 2003) Most Iraqis consider former president Saddam Hussein a criminal for gassing his own people and attacking neighboring countries, yet they still believe he deserves a fair trial before Iraqi judges, according to poll results released Thursday in Baghdad. More than half the respondents said Saddam’s execution was the preferred outcome of any court proceeding.

(December 19, 2003) Iraq is swamped by more than $120 billion in debt that clouds its economic future. Where did it come from? Why did so many Western democracies, including the United States, lend so much money to President Saddam Hussein.

(December 18, 2003) British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the U.S., France, Germany and Italy on Thursday in calling for a "substantial reduction" of Iraqi debt using the framework of the Paris Club during the course of 2004.

(December 18, 2003) The exact percentage of debt reduction that would constitute ‘substantial’ debt reduction is subject to future agreement between the parties.

(December 18, 2003) Paris Club President Jean-Pierre Jouyet dismissed demands by non-governmental groups that Iraq’s debt be classified as "odious" debt contracted by an illegitimate leadership, a concept implying the debts would not even be considered as debts.

(December 18, 2003) Campaigners who are calling for Iraq’s debts to be recognised as "odious" yesterday denounced the process under way to reduce Iraq’s debts, saying the country would still be saddled with huge repayments.