Iraq and the Financial Ghosts of Saddam…………..
“Iraq: Still Paying the Price for Saddam. In a statement drafted by the United States, the council on Friday expressed "its readiness, once the necessary steps have been taken, to review, with a view towards lifting, the restrictions" on trade in chemicals and other items that it first imposed in 1991, under two sanctions resolutions.” It’s a welcome move for Iraq, whose officials have been petitioning for their removal. The country’s UN Ambassador, Hamid al-Bayati, says the restrictions tie up some $24 billion in annual trade in agriculture and other industries. Many people are surprised to learn the sanctions still exist. The sanctions were widely credited for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children, who no longer had access to enough food or clean water……. Iraq will first have to prove to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it is in compliance with various treaties barring the development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The council’s action does not cancel Iraq’s obligation to pay 5 percent of its oil revenues to Kuwait for reparations from the war. Kuwait opposes ending Iraq's debt and has so far successfully lobbied the Security Council to do the same. But Council diplomats say that should change in the coming months as the UN outlines a plan to help Iraq end its costly dispute with neighboring Kuwait…………….”
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