Bush calls for 90% write-off of Iraqi debt

[Lori Price CLG]

Bush calls for 90% write-off of Iraqi debt

George Bush is to press Iraq's creditors to write off as much as 90 per cent of its $42bn (£23bn) sovereign debt at this week's G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia.

The move is unlikely to find much favour with France and Russia, the two biggest creditors, which have been arguing for a more modest cut of between 50 per cent and 65 per cent.

<snip>

[physioex]

1. OK OK....I suppose I can agree with this...

This is probably one of the issues I can agree with Bunnypants. Let's start them off on a clean slate so they can have a stable government. Methinks Bill Clinton also championed this idea....

[scisyhp]

13. Clean slate my ass. If it wasn't for the sanctions, the war

and the occupation Iraq would have handled its debt easily with
a fraction of its oil revenues. Now the occupying powers should be
responsible for those payments. France and Russia forgiving the
Iraq's debt will be nothing but a grant of $30 billion to the US
on their part. And if they wanted to give such money away they
could sure as hell find a friendlier recipient for it.

[physioex]

14. I agree with all that.....

I wasn't born yesterday, I know all that....I am SOLELY talking about the erasure of debt. My point was I tend to disagree with everything Bunnypants says, but I can go along with erasure of debt...

[Mokito]

15. The sad part is that the average Iraqi

will see little or nothing from this money, at least not to their advantage.

[physioex]

16. That will be a decade atleast....EOM

[Mokito]

18. And that's an optimistic approach! nt

[scisyhp]

35. Erasure of debt is the only way to go

if the debtor cannot pay up. The occupying powers (US/UK) are
hardly in position to claim poverty and insolvency. In fact,
Iraq's debt will be but a small fraction of what they are
spending on maintaining the occupation. If international justice
were to prevail the whole debt would be even a smaller fraction
of the reparation payments due to Iraq from US/UK. I don't hear
Bush asking for debt cancellation for other countries which are in
much direr financial straights than Iraq or which owe money to
the US. He is basically asking for French and Russian money to
finance the US/UK occupation and plunder of Iraq. What gull.

[Barkley]

36. This is Bush's way of "defaulting" on Iraq's debt.

I think 'old Europe' has already pretty much predicted that Bush and Blair have no intentions of making good on Iraq's debt while their
in charge.

Of course you don't hear Bush pleading for other countries because this request (which essentially is a demand) is not about Iraq but America and the U.K.

We're negotiating their foreign debt ... and we are to believe that this will be a sovereign nation on June 30, 2004?

[Gloria]

37. I don't think so....write off the debt of

a puppet government, which is controlled by US private companies to a large extent?????

[physioex]

2. Hi Lori...

:hi: I saw your website...

[Lori Price CLG]

5. Did you like it?

:)-Lori

http://www.legitgov.org/

[physioex]

6. Yes..it's quite nice...

How long have you been doing this? What got you started?

[Lori Price CLG]

7. I'll PM you, but Mike R. started it at the end of 2000, after the coup.

I compile a newsletter every day, btw.
[e-mail]

:)-Lori

[physioex]

8. Oppss..I just saw your message...

Please check your mail on DU.

[FormerOstrich]

3. What happened to Baker?

Wasn't he traveling the world to take care of this? What became of that initiative? Where is he?

[Lori Price CLG]

9. Probably working on the next coup d'etat in November.

It's more frightening when the members of the Bush terror team *don't* rear their ugly heads. Speaking of terrorists, where's Dick Cheney?

:)-Lori Price

[VolcanoJen]

4. Somebody call Bono.

I wonder what he'll say, after spending the last several years in a rather fruitless effort to forgive the debt of third-world countries. :-(

[dbt]

10. An impertinent question, please.

While the debt should be forgiven, IMO, we all know the Regime never does anything without an eye toward making a few of bu$h's contributors rich(er).

So how does writing off 90% of Iraqi debt benefit the BFEE?

:hi:
dbt

[Kinkistyle]

11. Well Iraq is a property of BushCo-Halliburton

So the less expenses and payouts it has to make on this failed piece of capital, the more money in their pockets.

[dbt]

12. Thank you, japanduh!

Anybody else?

:hi:
dbt

[Mokito]

17. I follow japanduh's logic

By invading and occupying Iraq, the American regime and the new (sock-puppet) Iraqi regime inherited the national debt. Remember that * first called to drop the full 100% of the debt.
In short, I think they believe that every penny they can cut of the debt will lower their 'exclusive' price for oil, that's also why I believe they never will have the best interest of the Iraqi people in mind, only their own pockets.

[dbt]

19. And thank YOU, Mokito!

This is why I come to DU!

:hi:
dbt

[Guaranteed]

20. The less debt Iraq has, the cheaper they can sell us oil.

That increases profit margins for Bush's buddies. This is also why Bush wanted those 20 B's that we gave them to be a gift, and not a loan. Basically that's taxpayer money subsidizing Bushco.

I say this every time this debt forgiveness issue comes up, but no one ever seems to listen.

[dbt]

23. I am listening, BGL

Good point and THANK YOU!

:hi:
dbt

[JCMach1]

21. Most of this is for weaponry during the Iran/Iraq war...

We PUSHED France into selling weapons so WE could APPEAR neutral...


Up yours W...

[mia]

28. and not be "embarassed" by chemical sales from US

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/crude_history_lesson/

U.S. diplomat James Placke was dispatched to meet with Iraqi diplomat Kizam Hamdoon on April 6. At that session, Placke reportedly asked his Iraqi counterpart to make sure that Iraq did not “embarrass” the United States by purchasing its chemical weapons from U.S. suppliers. In a memo about that meeting, Schultz, a former president of Bechtel, wrote: “We would ask the Government of Iraq’s cooperation in avoiding situations that would lead to a difficult and potentially embarrassing situation.”

[burrowowl]

22. Make the WB and

Oil, so-called Defense companies pay and pay back the tax payers.
Let BFEE pay and may they be homeless on the streets, etc.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. He's so predictable.

To his buddies, the spoils of war.

I like the way he gives away the public's money so easily to buy votes and allies. That's been his pattern from the beginning. For Cheney's asbestos buddies, they tried to limit liability; for pharmaceuticals, the same; for private faith-based groups, free public money; for Iraq, billions of public money to pay for bribes. I just never expected that France and Russia would need to be bribed.

[Cooley Hurd]

25. I have a better idea...

How about the Bush family underwriting the Iraqi debt? They broke the country and all...:grr:

[Darranar]

26. This way he doesn't have to worry...

while stealing it all.

But if there was actually going to be a real, legitimate, sovereign, democratically-elected government of Iraq, I'd support this.

[moondust]

27. Forget it.

Iraq is sitting on enormous wealth. Better to write off debt in third world countries that have few prospects of ever becoming wealthy.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

29. When's he going to propose that 90% of Americans' debts be...

...written-off?

[kodi]

30. i called for my banks writing off 90% of my debts too. they laughed at me

here's what will happen. bush will get more of what he wants out of russia and france, but only at a price. bush will agree that the US will to provide funds to both nations in other areas and eventually, the US tax payer will be paying back the iraqi loans to the french and russians.

[Massacure]

31. I doubt the Russians will write off a lot of Iraqs debt.

They are already poor enough as it is.

[mia]

32. odious debt

"is not an obligation for the nation; it's a regime's debt, a personal debt of the power that has incurred it, consequently it falls with the fall of this power. If a despotic power incurs a debt not for the needs or in the interest of the State, but to strengthen its despotic regime, to repress the population that fights against it, etc., this debt is odious for the population of all the State.

How much is the debt to the United States and how was it developed?
Iraq is believed to owe the United States about $4 billion, including interest. Most of the debt is thought to involve U.S. financing for Iraqi agriculture. Many close friends of the United States provided billions of dollars in military help to Iraq during the 1980s war, but little hard evidence has been published that the United States provided much more than technical military aid.


The truth will endanger our national security.
...Many of these firms tried to defend themselves by establishing that providing military material to Iraq had been the actual, if covert, policy of the U.S. government. This was a difficult case to make, especially considering the rules of evidence governing investigations involving national security matters.

[gristy]

33. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer was telling

Jerry to file a claim with the USPS for a stereo that Jerry had broken. Jerry said no, that would be defrauding the post office. Kramer said it was ok and the post office wouldn't be hurt because they would simply
write it off.
Jerry, in all his wisdom, realized such a thing would constitute fraud.

[cliss]

34. Isn't that something?

Foreign powers are fighting about something that doesn't belong to any one of them. As a matter of fact, thousands of deaths have occurred because of the fact that the Iraqis were blessed with the world's second largest supply of oil.

Saddam had oil contracts with both France and Russia before the US marched in and took over the joint. So no, these 2 countries should be reimbursed in some way.

Otherwise, it just looks too damn greedy by the US. We all know about our reputation, but.........that's a little much.

[Lori Price CLG]

38. The U.S. is also subsidising Iraqi gasoline, $1.50 per gallon.

CLG's summary of the article:

U.S. subsidy keeps gasoline at 5 cents a gallon in Iraq

While Americans are shelling out near-record prices for fuel, Iraqis pay only about 5 cents a gallon for gasoline — a benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies bankrolled by American taxpayers. The U.S. pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel that it delivers to Iraqi filling stations. Before the W-ar, Reichwing hawks lied and stated that by invading Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein, America would benefit from increased exports of oil from Iraq, which has the world's second-largest petroleum reserves. Now the price for gasoline in the United States is averaging $2.05 a gallon — 50 cents more than the pre-invasion price.

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/