Strangechord

Antonia Juhasz, a program director with the International Forum on Globalization, came to speak at PSU yesterday. I saw her with my globalization seminar class and other students at noon and then again at 7:30 pm with Jeremy. The evening talk had a huge turnout as Greg Palast, investigative journalist extraordinaire, was also on the bill. The new edition of his book about the stealing of the 2000 election among other things, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, is available.

Jeremy and I made plans to meet for dinner at a great little Thai restaurant across the street from campus and then walk over to hear the speakers. As I was waiting outside the restaurant for him, Antonia Juhasz came strolling up the sidewalk with two women from my globalization seminar class. It turns out they had the same place in mind for dinner as we did and Jer and I got to join them! What luck! We spent an hour sharing a meal with her and asked her all about her 10+ years of activism - both in the streets all over the world and in policy work on Capitol Hill and in San Francisco. She was bright, down-to-earth, congenial, and her enthusiasm and clarity really stood out.

Her talk was entitled, “Ambitions of Empire: The radical reconstruction of Iraq’s economy and the making of a quagmire”.

Here’s a run-down, typed directly from my informal notes. It’s important to note, none of this is speculation or bias. Most of what she said is documented in U.S. government contracts (with Halliburton, BearingPoint and Bechtel, etc.), and the rest is commentary on this fact. I’ve bolded what I think are the most key bits. If you aren’t aware of this agenda, please read the following notes and be informed as to what’s really going on in Iraq:

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She believes that both policy work and street organizing are important.

Bottom line: the economic invasion of Iraq, set up way ahead of time, is an even more important agenda (and issue) than the military invasion. These contracts were written up to a year before the invasion in March 2003.

Right-wing, neo-liberal, free market-implemented measures in Iraq - in hyperdrive. Measures that would never go over within the U.S. are being implemented in Iraq. (e.g. flat tax and union busting) Iraq is the neo-liberal ideologues’ playground. Foreign corporate ownership of oil and water - in Iraq to “get their foot in the door” - it’s a new, wide-open market.

Iraq is very different from Afghanistan. Iraq has greater wealth of resources (e.g. water-rich) and a highly educated population. There’s this completely wrong-headed perception in the West that Iraqis are backwards, poorly educated, uninformed, don’t know how to take care of themselves, helpess, and that the U.S. has come to “liberate” them from their backwardness.

Economic “reconstruction” (read: takeover) entails privatization of everything that was state-run: healthcare, water, education - all the things Iraqis have come to expect for free will now be in the hands of profit-makers. Leases, management contracts covering every sector of the economy, nothing left unsold, preferably within an 18-month timeframe.

There are plans to set up an Iraqi business round table just like the American Business Round Table. This is bad news. The Business Round Table makes impactful decisions negatively affecting lives without any input from workers, women’s groups, etc.

Paul Bremer - used to be on the board of Bechtel (one example of conflict of interest among hundreds). Contracts were co-written by Grover Norquist, with Bremer signed them into effect, including BearingPoint contract:

1. privatization of all former state-controlled resources
   
2. the allowance of 100% foreign (non-Iraqi) ownership of businesses in all sectors (including news media)
   
3. no preference may be made for Iraqi company over foreign company, Iraqi labor over foreign labor, when engaged in projects (no wonder Iraq currently has 70% unemployment among a highly trained and educated workforce)
   
4. unrestricted repatriation of profit (i.e. “hot money” may flow freely in and out)
   
5. contract calls for 40-year term of ownership

Contracts are expected to dovetail nicely with an incoming government, because the U.S. will call the shots. The U.S. will only allow the Iraqi government to be filled with those who share the pro-market ideology. It will essentially be a puppet government backed by the U.S.

Bechtel - one of the top water privatizers in the world. Problem with privatization of water lies with something so necessary for survival being tied in to profit. Water is to this coming century as oil was to the 20th century - a tremendous opportunity for corporations to co-opt a dwindling and highly demanded natural resource for profit.

Contrary to the popular belief that privatizing increases efficiency, Bechtel is doing a terrible job managing the water system presently - there’s sewage in the streets, people cut off from safe drinking water. Doing a bad job because the corporation is not working with Iraqis, who are more than capable and who know their water system best. Hospitals, also now under private contract, are in terrible condition presently.

How can this be long-term economic reconstruction if the U.S. and corporations are not allowing Iraqis to be involved?? Sets up a situation where Iraqis become dependent on foreign control of formerly Iraqi-run services.

Paul Bremer is protected by private hired security personnel - not U.S. military troops. This is very telling.

JP Morgan/Chase Manhattan given lionshare of banking contracts in Iraq.

The goal (of U.S. corporate and neo-liberal interest) is to implement a Middle East Free Trade agreement (think NAFTA for the Middle East) by 2015 - to expand the above sorts of provisions to all countries in the Middle East. Be warned: Iraq is just the beginning.

Point is that Iraqis aren’t getting to decide their fate - the U.S. is imposing free market provisions on Iraqis. Iraqis are used to dealing with U.N. groups, not foreign corporations. While sending the U.N. is not some perfect solution, it’s what Iraqis say they want most. The continued presence of U.S. troops and corporate contractors, and the constant shutting out of Iraqi voices, is rightfully exacerbating hostility toward the West.

“Insurgents” are merely reacting to the takeover of their country by interests other than their own. U.S. is seen as aggressive occupier. Profit should not be a motivating factor in going to war, and it was.

The administration’s purpose in”War on Terror” talk is to propagandize what’s really going on and spin American public to vote for Bush. The irony is that Bush in office and U.S. troops in Iraq make Americans less safe. If Bush wins the election this year, it sends a disastrous message to the world that the American people are aligned with American hegemony and policy being implemented worldwide.

Vote wisely, but also push to make this economic takeover of Iraq more commonly known - to drive a wedge.

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Please pass this information on to friends and family!

Further reading:

• Iraqis not America’s to sell, Privatization in disguise, and Iraq under the U.S. thumb by Naomi Klein
  
• Windfalls of War: U.S. Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Center for Public Integrity
  
• Linked articles from a variety of sources courtesy of Occupation Watch