"Iraqi PM Taking On Iraq Deficit"

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden during the opening of a UN conference in Stockholm Thursday May 29, 2008. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday called for international support to help Iraq develop into a 'capable state.' Rice, speaking before a U.N. conference outside of Stockholm that is to review the progress of Iraq, said nations needed to give the country help with its development projects.  Thu May 29, 5:54 AM ET

 Iraq's prime minister called Thursday for neighboring countries to forgive debts and war reparations that he said hindered his nation's recovery despite a reduction in violence.

Opening a U.N. conference on Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his government had kept the country from descending into the "abyss of civil war" but needs to shed the burden of reparations and debt in order to move forward with reconstruction and development.

"Iraq has achieved major success in the battle against terrorism with the support of the international community," al-Maliki said in Arabic.

Iraq has at least $67 billion in foreign debt — most incurred during the rule of Saddam Hussein and owed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

In addition, the Geneva-based U.N. Compensation Commission says $28 billion remains to be paid in compensation for Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq gives 5 percent of its oil revenue to meet the compensation claims.

The country is expected to reap tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue this year because of worldwide record-high fuel prices. Oil brought in $16 billion in the first quarter of the year and $5.9 billion last month alone.

But the Iraqi government maintains it should not be obligated to repay debts incurred by Saddam's dictatorship, which denied basic rights to its own citizens, including any say over government policy.

More than 500 delegates from dozens of countries and international organizations were attending, including Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Mottaki said the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq was responsible for the "grave" situation, while his country and other neighbors have played a "prominent role" in reconstruction.

"Due to the mistaken policies pursued by the occupiers in Iraq, the situation of security in Iraq is now so grave that it has cast its shadow on life in this country," Mottaki told delegates.

Live TV footage of the conference showed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rolling her eyes and smirking as Mottaki was speaking. The U.S. government has repeatedly accused Iran of arming militants for attacks on Americans in Iraq, a charge Iran denies

Rice urged Iraq's Arab neighbors to support it through official visits and by opening embassies in Baghdad.

"I would hope that the international community would accelerate its efforts to help make Iraq a capable state," she said.

Kuwait last month said it was looking to buy a building for an embassy in Baghdad's U.S.-guarded Green Zone. It would be the first Kuwaiti Embassy in Iraq since the 1990 invasion.

    Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has gone before the UN requesting waivers on Iraqi debt incurred under the Saddam Hussein regime, particularly from neighboring Sunni dominated Arab states, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. To me al-Maliki is showing prudence in taking on his nation's deficit before it rises into the astronomical deficit the Bush regime has brought on America. Al-Maliki and his Shite led government will have to give more concessions to the minority Sunni Iraqi but the Prime Minister is a pragmatic secular Shite, who I feel, really loves his country and wants a stable and prosperous Iraq. The next Presidential administration in America could take a cue from Nouri al-Maliki, after impeaching or convicting President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Of State Rice, to appeal for waivers on some or all of the debt the Bush regime incurred in it's ill fated invasion and occupation of Iraq. The next President needs to set his or her number one priority to bringing down the deficit, by any means necessary, including withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, reforming social security and medicare where these institutions are no longer entitlements, setting a moratorium on "corporate welfare" and spurious commodities futures speculation, perhaps even to the extent of declaring bankruptcy because of the policies and actions of the Bush Administration. Such a President will not be popular (I don't think we will have to worry about Obama cutting the deficit. He plans lots of "deficit spending" like all far left liberals) In my opinion, Hilary Clinton is more likely to bring down the deficit between the Democrat candidates. She sleeps with the former President that left his office with America in a surplus and she has the pragmatism to be fiscally  conservative , even though she is a liberal Democrat.

tags: iraq  nouri al maliki  bush  politics  middle east  president  2008  takebackameirca  america  us  clinton  obama  

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