‘As anti-occupation leaders recognise, the US could still exploit their divisions in an effort to offset its strategic defeat’, writes Seumas Milne.
In a last-ditch attempt to rescue some wafer of credibility from the west’s most catastrophic war of modern times, the story is taking hold in Britain and the US that after six years of horror Iraq is finally coming good. So quickly has this spin become accepted truth that politicians and pundits now regularly insist that if only General Petraeus is allowed to work his surge magic on Afghanistan, all could be well in that benighted land as well. One recent report in the Sunday Telegraph even claimed that the 4,000 British troops still in Basra are regarded as “heroes and liberators” by Iraqis now that their £8bn mission has at last been “accomplished”.
As the seventh year of the US-led occupation of Iraq begins tomorrow, facts on the ground tell a very different tale. Last week more than 60 people were killed in two suicide attacks on Iraqi police and army targets in Baghdad, while on Monday a 12-year-old girl was shot dead by American troops in a checkpoint incident in Nineveh province. It’s true that violence is well down on its gory peak of a couple of years ago and the power supply is edging up - to the level the US promised to achieve five years ago, at about 50% of demand. But a US soldier is killed on average every other day, Iraqi police and soldiers are dying at a much higher rate, and reported Iraqi civilian deaths are running at over 300 a month.
But so entrenched has the new narrative of success and wind-down to withdrawal become that such events are barely reported in the occupying states. The western media mostly long ago wearied of Iraq and its western-inflicted travails. Meanwhile, the US and its dependent Iraqi administration still hold tens of thousands of prisoners without trial; corruption and torture are rampant; the position of women has sharply deteriorated under US and British tutelage; and more than 4 million Iraqi refugees are still unable to return home - or vote in the less-than-free elections.
No wonder, according to the latest opinion polls, most Iraqis don’t share the Sunday Telegraph’s rose-tinted view of the role of British troops; they also show that Iraqis continue to oppose the original invasion and want all foreign troops to leave. But under President Obama’s plan, US withdrawal is far from assured: up to 50,000 troops will stay on after August next year (not counting contractors and mercenaries), and there is no guarantee of a full pull-out even by the end of 2011. And while resistance attacks are down - partly because of the creation of the US-sponsored Awakening Council Sunni militia, partly due to the reduction in US street patrols, and partly as a result of the demobilisation of the Shia Mahdi army - many expect that decline to be transitory.
A few days ago in the Middle East I met the leader or “emir” of one of the largest mainstream Iraqi resistance groups, the Sunni-based Islamic army. In his first interview with a western journalist, Sheikh Abu Yahya argued that the US had “suffered a historic defeat in Iraq, not only militarily, but also politically and morally”. There was no question, he said, of the resistance following the path of collaboration taken by the highly unstable Awakening Councils, most of whose members only joined because of poverty and unemployment: “We will continue fighting until the last American soldier leaves Iraq, however long that takes.”
But he accepted that the full-scale sectarian war unleashed in 2006-7, which he blamed on the US and Iran, had undermined the resistance and “reduced the scale” of America’s defeat. “The mutual sectarian cleansing only happened after Negroponte arrived,” Abu Yahya said, referring to the US ambassador to Iraq from 2004-5 who attracted notoriety as envoy to Honduras during the dirty war against the Sandinistas in the 1980s. “We think that when the US failed to beat the Sunni resistance, it decided to let the Shia wage war on us to neutralise the threat.”
Describing how US troops would come to a resistance stronghold, search for arms, encircle the area with tanks and then allow government-armed Shia militias to infiltrate and kill, Abu Yahya remarked: “When the jihad started, we only fought the Americans - but when the militia came, we had to fight on two fronts.” The creation of the Awakening Councils had caused even greater problems “because they came from within and were able to pass on details about the resistance”.
The truth is that the US played the sectarian card from the first days of the occupation, creating an administration and constitution based on a Lebanese-style confessional and ethnic carve-up of government jobs - which, in the context of Iraq’s complex and already damaged social fabric, laid the ground for a national maelstrom. That was fed by the vicious anti-Shia sectarianism of al-Qaida, brought to Iraq courtesy of the US invasion. The virus of Sunni-Shia confrontation then spread throughout the region, feeding the Arab “cold war” that now splits Lebanese, Palestinians and states across the Middle East.
This was a classic colonial divide and rule strategy that bought the US occupation time and brought Iraqis misery. Now there are signs that the sectarian and inter-ethnic fever in Iraq is subsiding. In January’s limited regional elections, several of the most sectarian and federalist parties - such as Abd al-Aziz Hakim’s US- and Iranian-backed Supreme Islamic Council - were cut down to size, while secular and nationalist forces made significant advances.
But like other resistance groups, Abu Yahya’s Islamic army will not take part in a political process it regards as “illegitimate and corrupt” unless there is reform of the sectarian structures as part of a negotiated US withdrawal. So far the US shows little interest in rewarding the people who fought it to a standstill over the past six years - but any pullout without such a deal is a recipe for renewed conflict.
There is no question that the US has suffered a strategic defeat in Iraq. Far from turning the country into a forward base for the transformation of the region on western lines, it became a global demonstration of the limits of American military power. But the failure of the resistance to bridge the sectarian divide and become a truly national movement is, as Abu Yahya acknowledges, an achilles heel that could yet allow the US to salvage long-term gains from the wreckage. If Iraq is to regain its sovereignty and control of its resources, and the US is to leave the country altogether, that weakness will have to be overcome.
s.milne@guardian.co.uk
Friday, 20 March 2009
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Iraqi Government "looking to bring in former Baathists"
From Monsters and Critics.com
Middle East NewsIraqi government "looking to bring in former Baathists" (Roundup) By DPAMar 14, 2009, 13:02 GMT
Baghdad - The Iraqi government is seeking to bring former members of the ousted Baath Party into the process of national reconciliation, an Iraqi newspaper reported Saturday.
In remarks published in Baghdad's al-Sabbah daily, Minister of State for National Dialogue Akram al-Hakim urged former members of the Iraqi Baath Party to sign off on the government's draft plan for national reconciliation.
He also called on them to help identify those responsible for abuses under ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime, regardless of their party affiliation.
Former Baathists should 'move quickly to sort out the criminals who committed heinous crimes against the Iraqi people, regardless of their political party or rank in the previous government,' al-Hakim said.
The Iraqi government has lately been trying to bring into a 'national reconciliation' process former members of the Baath Party, who accounted for approximately 10 per cent of the population before the party was banned after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's government in 2003.
Vice-President Adil Abdel-Mahdi last week met with Mohammed Rashad al-Sheikh Radi, formerly a senior member of the Baath Party, in the first public meeting between a senior figure from the new government and a senior member of the former ruling party.
'We need the goodwill and integration of all parties if we're going to successfully reconcile the country and build a national consensus,' Abdel-Mahdi said at the time.
Abdel-Mahdi, a Shiite Muslim, is a member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which was based in Iraq's old rival, Iran, during Saddam Hussein's rule. He spent most of the years of Baath rule in exile in France.
The attempts to include low-ranking members of the Baath Party in the national reconciliation process have touched a raw nerve among many who suffered under Baath rule.
On Saturday, Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite member of parliament from the ruling United Iraqi Alliance, defended the project as 'crucial to putting an end to sectarian strife.'
'The Baath Party and its ideology will not return to power or the political process,' he stressed. 'Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is committed to the...ban on the Baath Party.
'But engaging with Iraqis who once were Baathists, and who today want to return to dialogue with the rest of the country as Iraqi citizens, is the way to build the country democratically.
'The government has raised this issue from a position of strength, not weakness,' al-Bayati added.
The new Iraqi government is dominated by Shiite and Kurdish political parties that opposed the Baathist government which ruled Iraq from 1963 until the 2003 invasion.
In January 2008, the Iraqi parliament passed the 'Accountability and Justice Law,' which eased a ban on former Baathists' holding public sector jobs, including at schools and universities, while condemning the crimes of the Baathist government.
The number of people who lost their jobs in the subsequent purge is subject to dispute, but since a de-Baathification committee began work in 2004, more than 100,000 former low-ranking party members have been allowed to return to work.
© Copyright 2007 by monstersandcritics.com. This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Middle East NewsIraqi government "looking to bring in former Baathists" (Roundup) By DPAMar 14, 2009, 13:02 GMT
Baghdad - The Iraqi government is seeking to bring former members of the ousted Baath Party into the process of national reconciliation, an Iraqi newspaper reported Saturday.
In remarks published in Baghdad's al-Sabbah daily, Minister of State for National Dialogue Akram al-Hakim urged former members of the Iraqi Baath Party to sign off on the government's draft plan for national reconciliation.
He also called on them to help identify those responsible for abuses under ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime, regardless of their party affiliation.
Former Baathists should 'move quickly to sort out the criminals who committed heinous crimes against the Iraqi people, regardless of their political party or rank in the previous government,' al-Hakim said.
The Iraqi government has lately been trying to bring into a 'national reconciliation' process former members of the Baath Party, who accounted for approximately 10 per cent of the population before the party was banned after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's government in 2003.
Vice-President Adil Abdel-Mahdi last week met with Mohammed Rashad al-Sheikh Radi, formerly a senior member of the Baath Party, in the first public meeting between a senior figure from the new government and a senior member of the former ruling party.
'We need the goodwill and integration of all parties if we're going to successfully reconcile the country and build a national consensus,' Abdel-Mahdi said at the time.
Abdel-Mahdi, a Shiite Muslim, is a member of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which was based in Iraq's old rival, Iran, during Saddam Hussein's rule. He spent most of the years of Baath rule in exile in France.
The attempts to include low-ranking members of the Baath Party in the national reconciliation process have touched a raw nerve among many who suffered under Baath rule.
On Saturday, Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite member of parliament from the ruling United Iraqi Alliance, defended the project as 'crucial to putting an end to sectarian strife.'
'The Baath Party and its ideology will not return to power or the political process,' he stressed. 'Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is committed to the...ban on the Baath Party.
'But engaging with Iraqis who once were Baathists, and who today want to return to dialogue with the rest of the country as Iraqi citizens, is the way to build the country democratically.
'The government has raised this issue from a position of strength, not weakness,' al-Bayati added.
The new Iraqi government is dominated by Shiite and Kurdish political parties that opposed the Baathist government which ruled Iraq from 1963 until the 2003 invasion.
In January 2008, the Iraqi parliament passed the 'Accountability and Justice Law,' which eased a ban on former Baathists' holding public sector jobs, including at schools and universities, while condemning the crimes of the Baathist government.
The number of people who lost their jobs in the subsequent purge is subject to dispute, but since a de-Baathification committee began work in 2004, more than 100,000 former low-ranking party members have been allowed to return to work.
© Copyright 2007 by monstersandcritics.com. This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Islamic Finance may be cure for crisis, Vatican suggests
14 March 09
http://www.todayszaman.com/
By HAKAN KALAYCI
As world markets suffer under the weight of the ongoing global financial crisis, the Vatican has put forward a new suggestion, arguing that the principles of Islamic finance may represent a possible cure for ailing markets.
The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, recently published an article titled “Islamic finance proposals and ideas for the West in crisis,” prepared by Italian economists Loretta Napoleoni and Claudia Segre, in which it was suggested that the basic rules of Islamic finance could relieve suffering markets and particularly international financial systems. Noting that Islam prohibits “riba,” Arabic for the usurious loaning of money, the article argued that “sukuk bonds,” securities that comply with Islamic law, may be an alternative to interest. The article stressed that sukuk bonds are always real investments and never speculative.
The article said that in this atmosphere of crisis banks should take Muslims as an example and that the Islamic finance system may pave the way for the establishment of new rules in the Western world. The Vatican has suggested that the current capitalist system has failed. Pope Benedict XVI recently harshly criticized the capitalist system and the greediness of bank owners in the West. In the meantime, the Vatican itself has been badly affected by the crisis. It had recorded an 18 billion euro budget surplus in 2007, but this number had declined to 6 billion euros by the end of 2008 and is expected to fall further in 2009.
http://www.todayszaman.com/
By HAKAN KALAYCI
As world markets suffer under the weight of the ongoing global financial crisis, the Vatican has put forward a new suggestion, arguing that the principles of Islamic finance may represent a possible cure for ailing markets.
The Vatican’s official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, recently published an article titled “Islamic finance proposals and ideas for the West in crisis,” prepared by Italian economists Loretta Napoleoni and Claudia Segre, in which it was suggested that the basic rules of Islamic finance could relieve suffering markets and particularly international financial systems. Noting that Islam prohibits “riba,” Arabic for the usurious loaning of money, the article argued that “sukuk bonds,” securities that comply with Islamic law, may be an alternative to interest. The article stressed that sukuk bonds are always real investments and never speculative.
The article said that in this atmosphere of crisis banks should take Muslims as an example and that the Islamic finance system may pave the way for the establishment of new rules in the Western world. The Vatican has suggested that the current capitalist system has failed. Pope Benedict XVI recently harshly criticized the capitalist system and the greediness of bank owners in the West. In the meantime, the Vatican itself has been badly affected by the crisis. It had recorded an 18 billion euro budget surplus in 2007, but this number had declined to 6 billion euros by the end of 2008 and is expected to fall further in 2009.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Turkish military launches air operation on PKK bases in N. IRAQ
Turkey launched an air strike on bases of the terror organization, PKK, in northern Iraq, military said on Friday.
Turkish warplanes bombed Thursday PKK hideouts in the Zap-Avashin region in northern Iraq, army spokesman Brig. Gen. Metin Gurak was quoted by Turkish TV channels as telling at a weekly press briefing.
He said the fighters were careful to select their targets to avoid harming any civilians in the operation.
There were no reports of casualties.
It is the latest of a series of Turkish strikes against terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq, from where the PKK have staged hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets for decades.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11202098.asp?gid=244
Turkish warplanes bombed Thursday PKK hideouts in the Zap-Avashin region in northern Iraq, army spokesman Brig. Gen. Metin Gurak was quoted by Turkish TV channels as telling at a weekly press briefing.
He said the fighters were careful to select their targets to avoid harming any civilians in the operation.
There were no reports of casualties.
It is the latest of a series of Turkish strikes against terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq, from where the PKK have staged hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets for decades.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/11202098.asp?gid=244
Memo told Blair Aides Saddam Hussein posed no imminent threat
Paul Waugh
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22198.htm
March 12, 2009 "This Is London" -- Intelligence experts explicitly warned Tony Blair's aides that Britain was not in "imminent danger of attack" from Saddam Hussein, a confidential memo revealed today.
The row over claims that the Government "spun" its way into war with Iraq is likely to be reignited after the release of the document by the Cabinet Office.
The memo, released after a long-running Freedom of Information battle, shows Mr Blair's officials knew seven years ago that the threat from Saddam was not immediate.
Despite the warning, the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction included a claim that Baghdad was ready to launch an attack within "45 minutes".
Lord Hutton cleared the Government in 2004 of the charge that it tried to manipulate intelligence to pave the way for war.
But today Whitehall released a memo from former Cabinet Office defence expert Desmond Bowen, who later won promotion to policy director at the Ministry of Defence, which shows he disagreed Saddam posed an immediate threat.
The September 2002 memo, written to then Joint Intelligence Committee chairman John Scarlett and copied to Alastair Campbell, provides comments on an early draft of the government dossier on Iraq.
Mr Bowen wrote: "The question which we have to have in the back of our mind is 'why now?' I think we have moved away from promoting the idea that we are in imminent danger of attack and therefore intend to act in a pre-emptive self defence."
Another email published today underlines ministers' focus on how to get their message across in the media.
A memo from then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's office stresses the dossier had to be shown on the Sky News video "wall".
The email from Mr Straw's private secretary Mark Sedwill suggests the dossier needed a "very simple table".
Mr Sedwill wrote: "This should be brief enough to get onto the Sky wall ie no more than 5 bullets."
Another email, apparently from an intelligence official, says a part of the dossier on chemical and biological weapons would be "likely to give a misleading impression".
A further email, from unnamed officials, says "there is nothing we can point to that we know for sure is going to the BW [Biological Weapons] programme".
Mr Blair published the WMD dossier in September 2002, which critics believe paved the way for war the following spring.
An inquiry by Lord Butler found blunders in its compilation, with the "45 minutes" claim based on unreliable evidence.
A separate "dodgy dossier" was published in early 2003. It was discovered to have sections copied off the internet.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22198.htm
March 12, 2009 "This Is London" -- Intelligence experts explicitly warned Tony Blair's aides that Britain was not in "imminent danger of attack" from Saddam Hussein, a confidential memo revealed today.
The row over claims that the Government "spun" its way into war with Iraq is likely to be reignited after the release of the document by the Cabinet Office.
The memo, released after a long-running Freedom of Information battle, shows Mr Blair's officials knew seven years ago that the threat from Saddam was not immediate.
Despite the warning, the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction included a claim that Baghdad was ready to launch an attack within "45 minutes".
Lord Hutton cleared the Government in 2004 of the charge that it tried to manipulate intelligence to pave the way for war.
But today Whitehall released a memo from former Cabinet Office defence expert Desmond Bowen, who later won promotion to policy director at the Ministry of Defence, which shows he disagreed Saddam posed an immediate threat.
The September 2002 memo, written to then Joint Intelligence Committee chairman John Scarlett and copied to Alastair Campbell, provides comments on an early draft of the government dossier on Iraq.
Mr Bowen wrote: "The question which we have to have in the back of our mind is 'why now?' I think we have moved away from promoting the idea that we are in imminent danger of attack and therefore intend to act in a pre-emptive self defence."
Another email published today underlines ministers' focus on how to get their message across in the media.
A memo from then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's office stresses the dossier had to be shown on the Sky News video "wall".
The email from Mr Straw's private secretary Mark Sedwill suggests the dossier needed a "very simple table".
Mr Sedwill wrote: "This should be brief enough to get onto the Sky wall ie no more than 5 bullets."
Another email, apparently from an intelligence official, says a part of the dossier on chemical and biological weapons would be "likely to give a misleading impression".
A further email, from unnamed officials, says "there is nothing we can point to that we know for sure is going to the BW [Biological Weapons] programme".
Mr Blair published the WMD dossier in September 2002, which critics believe paved the way for war the following spring.
An inquiry by Lord Butler found blunders in its compilation, with the "45 minutes" claim based on unreliable evidence.
A separate "dodgy dossier" was published in early 2003. It was discovered to have sections copied off the internet.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Talabani leaves Tehran for Iraq
March 12, 2009BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani left Tehran on Thursday, heading for Iraq after his participation in the Economic Cooperation Organization summit as a guest of honor, read a presidential statement.
“The Iraqi ambassador to Iran and a number of Iranian officials saw off the President at the airport,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The summit was held on Wednesday (March 11) with the participation of the presidents of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Talabani, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Khalifa al-Thani; the Syrian vice president, Farouk al-Shara were guests of honor at the summit.
The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an intergovernmental international organization involving ten Asian nations. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities. The common objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union.
SH (S)/SR http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=109676
FREE AL-ZAIDI !
Cartoon by Ben Heine
Al-Zaidi : "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." SHOCKING NEWS!
Iraqi journalist Muntadher al-Zaidi has been sentenced to three years in prison for throwing his shoes at war criminal bush during a press conference in Baghdad.
If there was any ‘Justice’ it is bush who should be behind bars and who should be put on trial for committing genocide on the Iraqi people.
The brave Muntadher al-Zaidi should be freed immediately!
Shame on the judge who has passed this sentence!
Muntadher al-Zaidi should be congratulated for expressing his contempt at US terrorist and war criminal bush, the evil butcher of over one million Iraqis.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Şam'da Türkmen ve Aşuri Görüşmesi
10 Mart tarihinde ITC Suriye ve Lübnan temsilci yardımcısı Aydın Maruf, Aşuri Demokrat Hareketi siyasi büro üyesi Şimail Nino ve Aşuri Hareketinin Suriye sorumlusu Yunan İşo Kilyana'dan oluşan heyeti, ITC Şam temsilciliğinde karşıladı. Görüşmede Irak ve Türkmenlerin son siyasi durumu, Türkmen ve Aşurilerin arasındaki tarihi ilişkileri ve Irak'ta 31 Ocakta yapılan yerel seçimlerin sonucu değerlendirildi.
Ayrıca görüşmede ITC Şam temsilci yardımcısı Aydın Maruf, Musul ve Talefer bölgelerinde Türkmen seçmenlerine haksızlık yapıldığını söyleyen Maruf, Talefer bir Türkmen şehridir, bu şehirde 92 bin seçmenin isimleri Yüksek Seçim Komiserliğinde resmi kayıtları olmasına rağmen, yaklaşık 50 bin seçmen seçim gününde oy kullanma hakkı bazı gruplar tarafından engellendiğini ve yüksek seçim Komiserliğinde tarafsız davranmadığını ifade etti. Ayrıca görüşmede bir açıklama yapan Aşuri Demokrat Hareketi siyasi büro üyesi Şimail Nino, Musul'un bazı bölgelerinde özellikle Tilkef, Sincar ve Şeyhan'da aşırı bir şekilde seçim hilesi ve ihlaller yapıldığını vurguladı.
Irak Türkmen Cephesi
Suriye ve Lübnan Temsilciliği
http://bizturkmeniz.com/tr/index.htm
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Alan Greenspan vs. Naomi Klein on the Iraq War
Illustration by John Blackford. By Peter van Agtmael/Polaris (desert), Konstantin Inozemtsev/Alamy (money).
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go back to Iraq and ask you about, well, a piece by Jim Steele and Don Barlett that came out in Vanity Fair, where they’re talking about the billions lost in Iraq. And they begin their piece by saying, “Between April 2003 and June 2004, [$12 billion] in US currency—much of it belonging to the Iraqi people—was shipped from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad, where it was dispensed by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Some of the cash went to pay for projects and keep ministries afloat, but, incredibly, at least $9 billion has gone missing, unaccounted for, in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed.”
ALAN GREENSPAN: Well, let me say that what we were involved in was essentially endeavoring to create a viable currency for the central bank of Iraq. And what we did do was—I think very successfully—create what is a viable financial system, even under the circumstances that currently exist. There was, as far as I can judge, a huge drain of the resources into areas which nobody to this day can understand or follow. It had nothing to do with the central bank. In our relationships with them, we were merely acting as an intermediary to assist them in creating a system, which they now have, which is working reasonably well, despite all of the problems that are going on. The issue which you are referring to had nothing to do with the Federal Reserve in any of our relationships with the central bank.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, they are talking about, in one day, for example, the East Rutherford operation center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 100 Orchard Street in East Rutherford, a tractor-trailer truck pulling up, and though accustomed to receiving and shipping large quantities of cash, the vault had never before processed a single order of this magnitude: $2.4 billion in $100 bills. But ultimately, again, $9 billion of $12 billion gone missing in Iraq.
ALAN GREENSPAN: I am not familiar with any such evidence. And it was certainly not brought to my attention. I, frankly, find it very unlikely that those orders of magnitude were involved in any of the numbers that we were dealing with. You have to make certain that—there’s been a lot of confusion about losses, and people have used the dinar, the basic currency unit of Iraq, and assumed they were American dollars. And, of course, that gives you a highly distorted view. There’s been, I’ve seen, several reports fairly recently in which that sort of mistake was being made. But what I can tell you is that no such numbers of any order of magnitude of the type you are discussing came to the attention of the Federal Reserve.
AMY GOODMAN: This is based on that award-winning article in Vanity Fair, or the team who have won—
ALAN GREENSPAN: Let me put it this way, award-winning doesn’t necessarily—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, no, no. I mean Don Barlett and Jim Steele, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. I’m sure you know their work. But Naomi Klein?
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I would just add that it’s quite surprising, actually, that Mr. Greenspan is unaware of this scandal around Iraq’s missing billions, because Paul Bremer had to testify before Congress and was asked directly about those missing billions. It’s been the subject of very high-level investigations. There is a huge paper trail around it. So this is hardly a secret, and it’s hardly just a matter that’s confined to Vanity Fair.
Please see:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710
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