Bremer touts (oil) privatization in Iraq

[Nambe]

Reuters News Service

U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer said Tuesday Iraq should consider privatizing its state-owned sectors and allowing foreign investment in its oil industry before a permanent sovereign government takes over.

Bremer said that a soon-to-be-appointed governing council of Iraqis needed to give clear backing to the entry of foreign capital to reassure private investors.

"Privatization is obviously something we have been giving a lot of thought to," Bremer told reporters. "When we sit down with the governing council ... it is going to be on the table." ---


Very Good Voter’s Guide

[I AM SPARTACUS]

1. Tout: (Bremer): definition...

tout (noun) -
1. one who sells advice about gambling or speculation (especially at the racetrack)
Synonyms: tipster

[Nottingham]

2. Who can Pay the MAN! This is Capitalism at its finest!

Observe the free market


NOT! :bounce:

[mbperrin]

4. Well, damn! Whoda

ever thought that we'd suggest that Iraqi oil should be owned and controlled by foreign corporations!!!????!!!

Just goes to show.........

</total detachment with reality>

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. But what about George the Dumbass's comment when arguing for war?

The oil belongs to the Iraqi people.

[LauraK]

16. Did he say the Iraqi people? Guess it doesn't matter with him.

[Cocoa]

5. who asked him?

Bremer should quit acting like he's just giving his advice. The U.S. is going to try to impose its will on Iraq.

[thinkahead]

6. I for one am shocked

seriously. Who would have thunk it. Who would have thought they would do something for big oil. Out of left field. Never saw it coming.

[LauraK]

7. Holy target practice! Another target on our soldiers heads!

Paul, you have spent way too much time with rummy. You could wind up sharing a cell with him. Is that what you want Paul? Is it Paul?
Do you know how he feels about towel-heads Paul. Do You?

Oh yes Paul, I wouldn't go back to Lebanon until you expain why you are giving Arab oil fields to Halliburton for free if they 'rebuild' it. I think that cell with rummy is the best place for you Paul.

By the way Paul, wellcome to DU.

Laura

[Barrett808]

8. "We cannot wait (for) an elected government here to start economic reform"

Of course not. What was I thinking?

[Jack Rabbit]

9. Thief!

Invade the country, declare yourslef the government, and sell it out from under the people.

Liberation is a protection racket.

[AntiCoup2K4]

11. Well, isn't that basically what they did HERE??

Sure, the initial overthrow of the government was "peaceful", but they pulled the "Shock and Awe" bullshit to paralyze the country with fear 9 months later.

Then they proceeded to sell the entire government out to their corporate shithead friends.

It's almost the same game plan. Except the Iraqis are fighting back more than the Americans are :evilfrown:

[Erika]

12. Agreed

Greed appears to rule without any thought of those who were originally there. How sad, and how sad we still accept it as such. W's buddies will set up their descendants for several life times through their invasion of Iraq, and probably Liberia, while the original inhabitants go lacking and the poor and the middle income American taxpayer pay for any initial development costs. And the GOP sheeple don't even see it.

[Rollins]

10. What are you folks talking about?

The US is already recognizing leaders from 7 different ethnic groups within Iraq that include the support of 1000s.......well 100s.......er......7 Iragi citizens, 2 chickens and a mangy dog from next door.

All joking aside politics always comes down to money. The question here is are the Shiite and Sunni leaders going to turn over and oppress their people, or at least tone down hatred of the US for large amounts of our tax dollars? I don't think they will, they are too proud.

All Bush and Bremer are worried about is how much money will it take to pay the leaders to instill fear in the public deep enough so they stop bombing the pipelines.
:hippie:

[wtmusic]

13. Puppeteering er, I mean governing council?

No doubt they will be the voice of the Iraqi people.

Entry of foreign capital? Let's start with the entry of some American capital to fix the infrastructure we destroyed and get some oil flowing again.

Where's that money going to come from? Oh, I think about $10B peeled back from that tax cut oughta do it. After all--doesn't that oil really belong to the Iraqis?

[ze_dscherman]

14. Hey, come here, grab it fast - favourite conditions

Paul "Ali Baba" Bremer does some PR work again, since independent security advisors just some days ago declared that open revolt in Iraq would have an "even chance". To attract investors (and that has always been U.S. politics) in such a situation the stake must be pretty high. High risk - high profits.

Bremer is in Iraq to guarantee that the robbing of Iraq runs smooth - this is even more obvious after this poorly covered move of turning over Iraq to the Big and Greedy.

- block all political moves by Iraq (they are not ripe for democracy yet)
- obstruct the work of NGO's (read their complaints about the situation in Iraq)
- deny/fail to deliver basic services and security (this land is in chaos and needs strong rule)
- appoint/select a pro-forma "governing council" (no real power, but a good opportunity to take a share of profits)
- prod them into selling their country to foreign investors

[Mechatanketra]

15. Bender says, "Thank you and good night!"

As the late Steve Kangas so exhaustively pointed out, the focus of the lion's share of American foreign intervention since WWII has been thwarting industrial nationalization. If Iraq hadn't nationalized its oil supplies, we wouldn't be there. :eyes: