NOW HERE'S A GOOD REASON FOR INVADING IRAQ
Guardian Story here
NAOMI KLEIN, GUARDIAN - Next week, something will happen that will unmask the
upside-down morality of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. On October 21, Iraq
will pay $200m in war reparations to some of the richest countries and corporations
in the world. If that seems backwards, it's because it is. Iraqis have never
been awarded reparations for any of the crimes they suffered under Saddam, or
the brutal sanctions regime that claimed the lives of at least half a million
people, or the US-led invasion, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recently
called "illegal". Instead, Iraqis are still being forced to pay reparations
for crimes committed by their former dictator.
Quite apart from its crushing $125bn sovereign debt, Iraq has paid $18.8bn in
reparations stemming from Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
This is not in itself surprising: as a condition of the ceasefire that ended
the 1991 Gulf war, Saddam agreed to pay damages stemming from the invasion. More
than 50 countries have made claims, with most of the money awarded to Kuwait.
What is surprising is that even after Saddam was overthrown, the payments from
Iraq have continued. . .
Here is a small sample of who has been getting "reparation" awards
from Iraq:
Halliburton ($18m),
Bechtel ($7m), Mobil ($2.3m), Shell ($1.6m), Nestlé ($2.6m),
Pepsi ($3.8m), Philip Morris ($1.3m), Sheraton ($11m), Kentucky Fried Chicken
($321,000) and Toys R Us ($189,449).
In the vast majority of cases, these corporations
did not claim that Saddam's forces damaged their property in Kuwait - only that
they "lost profits" or, in the case of American Express, experienced
a "decline in business" because of the invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
One of the biggest winners has been Texaco, which was awarded $505m in 1999.
According to a UNCC spokesperson, only 12% of that reparation award has been
paid, which means hundreds of millions more will have to come out of the coffers
of post-Saddam Iraq.