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11
Dec
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by QuestionGirl
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American Polls over time looking at the Iraq issuesIraqis polled say they want the US out
Read the things that L. Paul Bremer did as the initial Czar of Iraq after the invasion and tell me that we wouldn-t hate that person/people as well if similar laws were enacted here by an invading force!!!
Read the full entry at Wikipedia…tip of the iceberg is below.
One of the CPA’s (Coalition Provisional Authority) most important tasks was the reconstruction of Iraq’s infrastructure. While Iraq’s oil infrastructure was rapidly repaired — with the notable exception of the meters — the progress of the reconstruction of Iraq’s potable water, sewage and electricity systems was disappointingly slow. Defenders argued that this was due to the unanticipated volume and fierceness of those resisting the Coalition’s occupation. Critics argued that the manner in which Bremer and his aides, awarded reconstruction contracts played a big role. Most contracts were awarded to well connected US firms. Only 2% of the reconstruction contracts in 2003 were awarded to Iraqi firms.
The Coalition Provisional Authority under Bremer issued 100 Orders, which they define as “binding instructions or directives to the Iraqi people that create penal consequences or have a direct bearing on the way Iraqis are regulated, including changes to Iraqi law” (here, where the full text of each is available). The economic policies are largely based on free market ideas, emphasizing protection for foreign investors and contractors, while replacing the tax system with a highly regressive structure.
Order #39 allows for the following:
1. privatization of Iraqs 200 state-owned enterprises;
2. 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses;
3. national treatment of foreign firms;
4. unrestricted, tax-free remittance of all profits and other funds; and
5. 40-year ownership licenses.
Order #40 turns the banking sector from a state-run to a market-driven system overnight by allowing foreign banks to enter the Iraqi market and to purchase up to 50% of Iraqi banks.
Order #49 drops the tax rate on corporations from a high of 40% to a flat rate of 15%. The income tax rate is also capped at 15%.
Order #12 enacted on June 7, 2003 and renewed on February 24, 2004, suspended all tariffs, customs duties, import taxes, licensing fees and similar surcharges for goods entering or leaving Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that may apply to such goods.
Order #17 grants foreign contractors, including private security firms, full immunity from Iraq’s laws.
Order # 81 prohibits Iraqi farmers from using the methods of agriculture that they have used for centuries. The common worldwide practice of saving heirloom seeds from one year to the next is now illegal in Iraq.
One interpretation of international law is that Bremer’s orders are illegal as they fundamentally alter Iraq’s existing laws. This as transformation of an occupied country’s laws violates the Hague regulations of 1907 (the companion to the 1949 Geneva conventions, both ratified by the United States), and the U.S. Army’s Law of Land Warfare.
