Bremer ruled Iraq between May 2003 and June 2004 and he has written a book ” My Year in Iraq : The struggle to build a Future of Hope “, it is a memoir by ambassador Paul Bremer , Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, published in the USA on 9 January 2006,It covers the period between May 2003 to July 2004 . As a matter of fact this book contained a combination of the facts and the illusion in telling events and many fatal errors mentioned in his book, recording things that it seem right in its appearance but its interior void ( appearance and reality) and his book revealed how the harsh sectarianism has been digging in moral and psychological fabric of Iraqi society, and revealing the depth of falsehood in those well knitted notes by Bremer and showing his inaccurate ideas and views and information which are exaggerated for the goal that he is seeking to achieve and his project which was commissioned to implement it .
By comparison, after fourteen years later between what Bremer called (A future of hope) and what exists on the ground today.
Bremer does not mention in his book of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its appendixes of 1977 for the protection of the victims of international armed conflicts as he does not talk about resolution 1483 adopted by the UN Security Council on May 22 2003, which acknowledged the fact that the United States is an “occupation force” and therefore it is subject to international humanitarian law.
To uncover the facts and to shed light on what was focused in his policy on Iraq , we point out that Bremer took a hundred orders that any elected government is unable to change, because it is the basis of democracy according to his claim; including Resolution No. 81 , which provided for preventing Iraqi farmers from using protected seeds and they are not allowed to preserve seeds, and nor to share with others, they are not entitled to re planting the harvested seeds.
Including also Resolution No. 39 , which allows the privatization of 200 state – owned Iraqi companies , as its ownership became foreign by 100% and it was treated as the national treatment in terms of transfers of profits and other funds that are exempt from taxes and restrictions , ownership licenses and for 40 years.
Among decisions taken by Bremer is the decision No. 12 issued in 2003 and renovated in 2004, and that provides to the suspension of customs duties and taxes on imports and additional license fees for goods that enter or exit of Iraq, and all other trade restrictions that apply to such goods.
Including Resolution No. 17, which grants foreign contractors, including private security firms, full immunity from Iraqi laws, in addition to the 30 law on financial management and prevent the export as Bremer prevent Iraq from exporting many industrial products and raw materials.
Bremer focused , in his book on establishing sectarian bases among the Iraqi people noting that he was a constant reminder that the Shiites do not commit the tragic mistakes they made in 1920, i.e the resistance to the British and enable Sunnis to rule Iraq for 80 years , “p . 130,”
And Bremer says: The number of Iraq’s population ’25 ‘million while the population census , a’ 27 ‘million people, according to Iraqi civil registration and records of the ration card.
Perhaps to determine the three period of weeks Bremer claimed that the the coalition forces ,achieved during which the alleged victory in the occupation of Iraq , in which there are a lot of false allegations on the facts of history noting that the war with Iraq began in 1991 , ‘the war’ where Iraq faced ’33’ army supported by global air force which began the bombing and the destruction.
All the infrastructure so that churches and mosques have not been spared from his aggression.
The oil embargo and economic , scientific, cultural blockade in 1991 also continued to also as preventing Iraq , which even from importing pencils under the pretext that the material involved in weapons industry of mass destruction , which it was discovered after the ’15’ year of the inspection it was a lie and a crime against humanity, because that siege very briefly did not hurt the Iraqi government , but the Iraqi people, especially children, the elderly and the numbers of international and humanitarian organizations are telling harm pictures of what Iraqis suffered in which hundreds of thousands of elderly, women and children die from the lack of food and medicine.
Perhaps it is useful to remember that this blockade punctuated by many air strikes missile, and the recent war can be summarized by saying that the first missile strike on Baghdad reached the ‘3000’ of ground missile ; meaning the war began since 1991 , and not 2003 as claimed by Bremer.
Bremer was determined to sow sectarianism , to divide the Iraqi people into rival sects and nationalities unheard by Iraqi people and do not constitute the truth of his reality.
Among claims of Bremer in his book: The Iraqi people consists of the following percentages: Shiites make up 60 percent and the Kurds 20% , while Sunnis make up 19% and the fixed evidence to respond to it is confirmed by the census of 1957, as well as the census of 1977 as the ratios identified by Bremer were not accurate as the census of Iraqi population did not mark across its history since independence in the population survey to the religious community , but a prominent title was nationalism and religion noting that in the religion of Islam did not happen to refer to the doctrines.
The concepts of looting:
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The fabricated anger of US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld who cast in the press conference on the attendees expressed by saying that it ‘s normal as the muggers loot because they are freed from the clutches of oppression practiced by the Iraqi government, and here I remind Rumsfeld to what happened in Los Angeles of robbery and looting , or that it was a democratic plunder?
This means that happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina from the theft and looting of large – scale was democratic looting, then why to focus on stealing a vase? And not to talk about the theft of ancient ruins that were smashed and looted after hitting the Iraqi museum by an American tanks to let the prepared thieves to do the worst shameful act which obliterated Iraq’s history and historical memory, especially that this museum has not been protected, as happened with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which its walls have not been touched. It seems that the US administration has especial concepts for looting, killing and demolition as in dealing in the classification of democratic countries and the countries of dictatorship which are contrary to the approach of political science taught in universities, unlike the United Nations charters, which has become a tail belongs to the policy of the American Unipolar policy and prevailing in the world.
In fact, what happened is chaos can be exposed to any civilized or backward country, which happened is a natural consequence of the plight of the people that the the siege made him to live a state of deprivation for a long time, and as well as a result to resolve the army, police and security agencies and leave things loose suggesting that this mess was planned to be an objective beginning for a crooked and deformed building.
Bremer says, Iraq did not produce enough electricity before the war to meet demand, so the Baathists followed the rationing of electricity and it was natural that the Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north get the minimum quotas.
And the ones who work in electric power plants are the sons of the whole people of different religions and nationalities , how a segment of society can be deprived on the account the other segment and that the electric power sources in Iraq are multiple and the most important generation is through hydro dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and perhaps the Dukan Dam and Dam of Darbandikan , which are located in the Kurdish region are the largest two witnesses of the electrical power sources for the whole of Iraq and as the other dams, and the Kurdish administration take fully share and then give the surplus of the need to the main network and this is the state of the three Kurdish provinces of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk , then how they were deprived ‘of Electrical energy ‘ , the obligatory requires you to sow the seeds of sedition to justify what you’ve done from destruction. The other power plants which are located in Basra, as well as in Musayyib and run by the people of southern Iraq, these huge stations established in all regions of Iraq.
The Iraqi countryside was before the rule of 1968 deprived of electricity in general, and the state has made a great effort , witnessed by all the Iraqi countryside , a campaign for rural electrification and general directorate was founded under the name “directors of rural electricity” and completed for the delivery of electricity for every Iraqi village, not only that , but the floating electric powers were distributed in remote areas of marsh for all the people of the marshes in the south and this is known to everyone.
But after the second Gulf War, the electrical generating stations throughout Iraq were targeted and destroyed, and the country became complaining about massive shortages of electric power generation, and re built the electricity, but not as what it was before the war, because the blockade imposed by the Security Council was the cause of the acute shortage of electricity, and poor maintenance.
Bremer continues his claims that the oil ministry has survived because US troops ordered to guard the site, indicating that it contains records and data on the northern and southern oil fields, which are the legacy of the Iraqi people. It is known that all things occurred in Iraq, especially Baghdad , is one of the American occupier measures , so why all the facilities that referred to by Bremer in his book hit by looting and pillaging except the oil ministry because it contains records and data on the oil fields , which Bremer considered it the legacy of the Iraqi people, the legacy of Iraq depends on the protection of the occupier, while the museums which were looted under the eyes of the Americans and by their provocation were not his legacy?
And as if the oil which was the main reason for the war is the legacy of people, while museums and the people’s money and its banks and economic tally are not an inheritance to the people?
The march of the bloody events in Iraq have proven so far since 9/4/2003 and till now that Iraq with all social, cultural, political and economic components have been targeted. And all was planned outside the border has become a reality on the ground today.
And Bremer added by saying that he would delay the elections for lack of availability of population census , but Iraq was the first country in the region conducted a general census of the population and that was in 1937 and continued it until it came the ration card which was an accurate annual census after the year 1990, but when he says that in order to create filmy arguments for those around him .
Waste of public funds in Iraq
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Public funds have been before 2003 dominated by absolute security and manipulation on it was a major sin, and the evidence that the courts were witnessing when the discovery of any corruption has occurred in the money and referred juggler to the courts on charges of embezzlement , whatever the degree, there is a sharp and precise legal system that protects public property , which is the property of the whole people, but it did not empty from any transgression on public property just like any country in the world, and it was not so a sharp phenomenon but Iraq was considered as one of the countries that was rarely seen overtaking on public money.
After the occupation
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and after the 2003 occupation a book issued under the title out of Iraq , authored by George McGovern and William Polk( A practical Plan for Withdrawal Now) and includes important information I will refer to one of them which is the subject of chasing the fugitive stocks , the book says : “Iraqi assets required urgently to establish a separate system of accounting and auditing , that during the period of administration of Iraq by the authority CPA , which means the period of Bremer , the United Nations handed over billions of dollars owed to Iraq under the oil – for – food program to this authority that Iraq’s oil revenues for the same period is amounted by $ 13 billion.
Here it is difficult to guess the Iraqi oil revenues because no one knows how much is the real production, as it is known in the global measurements, and the hardest so that the occupation authorities have neglected the practical side of production measure to hide the facts.
Christian Aid organization : in that period , the coalition authority was called to provide sufficient information so that the Iraqis to know where the proceeds of their oil have been spent , and the British government has to to use its influence as part of the coalition authority to reveal these facts, and the Iraqi interim government to be honest and transparent with the Iraqi people , it must inform the Iraqi people of the spending of their oil revenues.
The US report revealed the fate of Iraq funds looted by the civil administrator Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority, as the CPA received $ 21 billion which was in the United Nations Fund and this was confirmed by United Nations officials, including the representative of Iraq.
The organization considered this as a flagrant sin committed by the United Nations and the UN Security Council in their decision to put Iraqi oil revenues and other funds at the disposal of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
The director of the organization “Christian Aid, a Christian in London” Helen Collenson throughout the year, which the CPA took over the power in Iraq, it was impossible to obtain any information about what was done to the Iraqi money and where to spend it, while the resolution 1483 clearly states that the proceeds of Iraqi oil are to be placed in a reconstruction fund of Iraq (DFI) to meet the needs of the Iraqi people and monitored by independent accountants.
In the reports that indicated to strong and clear accusations of the CPA in its handling of Iraqi funds. But the CPA did not respond or give any explanations about the fate of these funds.
The organization confirmed that during the preparation process Bremer gave the Iraqi government around two billion dollars before the transfer of power, so the government is accused of taking decisions for the disbursement of these funds.
Iraq’s oil represents enormous wealth, and the fact that half of the population are still unemployed, Iraqis desperately need to be able to see that the oil revenues began to act to alleviate poverty and improve their living standards, and Christian Aid called the Coalition authority to provide sufficient information so that the Iraqis know where the proceeds of their oil have been spent but to no avail.
Iraqi funds looted and wasted, which were acquired by the US administration and the occupation authorities and their followers during the days of aggression, or after entering Baghdad and to impose its control over Iraq and its resources and its potential can be summarized as follows:
- TheUS administration issued in 2003 and in the course of military operations on Iraq a decision to put the hand on the Iraqi funds in various parts of the world , amounting to more than $ 13 billion, and then followed by another decision issued after the occupation of Iraq allowed the United States to seize Iraqi funds inside the US United to confiscate it , amounting to more than $ 3 billion , and the US administration allowed itself to dispose of Iraq ‘s frozen funds.
- Later, news were leaking about the acquisition of the US administration on the frozen Iraqi funds which in turn, the Bank “UBS” the second – largest Swiss bank in March 2003 recognized that it transferred Iraqi assets to the US government without the permission of the official Iraqi authorities. The bank did not disclose the size of these funds, while his spokesman, “Excel Langer”, told the Swiss News Agency that the confiscation of the money comes after that froze of the US Treasury to Iraq ‘s assets in 17 US banks, including “UPS” branch in the United States.
- the SNB has already announced that the presence of assets belonging to the Iraqi government registered in a number of Swiss banks, and then the New York Times revealed in October of 2003 that the US administration was able to confiscate one billion and 700 million dollars of Iraqi frozen assets , and the fixed fact that after the absence of the Iraqi state, the US administration could to confiscate the entire frozen funds totaling $ 13 billion and dispose of them without impunity, and all experts believed that this matter has become a foregone conclusion since the first days of the occupation.
- After 2003 US forces collected only in Baghdad and presidential palaces and special complexes a number of billionaires, the total was announced about $ 6 billion , as it took possession of the $ 4 billion which were the assets of the Central Bank of Iraq and the rest of the Iraqi banks from foreign exchange.
- At the end of the Iraq war, large amounts of money were available at the disposal of Provisional Authority headed by Paul Bremer, in order to be spent on rebuilding the country.After eight months, when Bremer left office $ 8.8 billion of those funds were disappeared.
- Under UN Security Council Resolution 1483 on March 22 ,2003 all of these funds have been transferred into a new account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York , under the name of Iraq ‘s development fund and it was scheduled to be spent by the Coalition Provisional Authority , in a “transparent manner … for the benefit of the Iraqi people.”
- In June 28 from ayear earlier, when Bremer left Baghdad early two days ago to avoid a possible attack on the way to the airport, the Coalition Provisional authority spent of $ 20 billion of Iraq’s money with $ 300 million from the funds of the United States. And concerning the “reconstruction” of Iraq, the US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Bremer confirmed that the reconstruction of Iraq has been spending by the “liberated country”, ie by the Iraqis themselves.
Although Bremer was supposed to run Iraq’s money in a transparent manner, noting that advisory and control body have not established, but in October 2003, about six months after the fall of the regime for the independent international financial supervision on the Coalition Provisional authority expenses (this body comprising representatives from the United Nations and the World Bank and the international Monetary Fund and the Arab Fund for economic and social development).
Initially, the advisory and control body spent months trying to find auditors approved by the United States, finally, in April 2004, it was the appointed an Office of the company KPMG in Bahrain, but it was fouled, where the company wrote in an internal report saying that “we faced with rejection and resistance from CPA staff regarding to provide information required to complete our procedures, “,. The staff of the Commission explained that the cooperation with them was not given the required priority. Also, the Commission did not hold only one meeting in the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, while the rest of the meetings in the ministries were constantly being postponed. In addition, the auditors have faced troubles in obtaining permits to enter the Green Zone.
The auditors discovered that the authority of the coalition were not retain hundreds of millions of dollars in cash accounts of records in the basement, and it awarded contracts worth billions of dollars to American firms without bids, and has no idea of what was happening to the funds drawn from Iraq’s development fund, which was spent by the ministries of the Iraqi interim government.
Lack of transparency led to allegations of corruption of Iraqi money, looting was rampant, and millions of dollars lost from the Central Bank of Iraq. Between 11 million to $ 26 million from the wealth of Iraq seized by the CPA was missing , and the payroll was filled with the names of hundreds of employees who do not exist, millions of dollars paid to contractors for the ghostly work s that are non – existent, for example , lists organized at $ 3.397. $ 505 million for “persons that they are not existed in the field of work” and “incorrect costs” and a contract for one oil pipeline repair.
At the same time the Advisory and Monitoring Body of Iraq discovered that the export of Iraqi oil was conducted without oil Counter Flow Meter, so the State Oil Marketing Organization nor the US authorities could not to give a convincing explanation. One executives in the oil field says,”The only reason for the lack of control that is not wanting to know the quantity to be exported through the pipeline.” Officially, Iraq was exporting worth 10 billion dollars from oil in the first 2003 US invasion which was not calculated, in addition to additional exports worth $ 4 billion.
This means creating money out records can be used by the Americans and their allies from the Iraqis, without registration and documentation, to cover expenses that are not known, including invasion costs beyond what has been recognized by the Bush administration to Congress and the international community.
The auditors in the advisory and monitoring body have conducted a review of 225 contracts totaling $ 327 million files to find whether the embassy ” is able to determine the present value of the obligations of the paid and unpaid contracts “, but the embassy was unable to determine the value, as auditors says “Our review showed that the financial records estimated payments in amounts less, and estimated liabilities of unpaid amounts higher. Also the auditors 300 reviewed other contracts worth 332.9 million dollars, “Of the 198 files were reviewed, it was found that 154 where no evidence on the receipt of services or goods, and 169 where no price lists, and 14 in which no proof of payment, it is clear that the Americans do not see the need to calculate the national income to the Iraqis now, as it did not see the need for it when Bremer was in charge.
The official of US embassy mission nor the military commander did not respond to the invitation of auditors to comment on it, and instead, the contracts official of US Army pointed out that “peaceful conditions in which we thought in the initial planning is still far from reconstruction efforts.” This marked diminution and acknowledgment that we do not expect from the Americans to care when they spend money of other people to finance the war.
The lack of accountability does not stop with the Americans, as the Inspector General for the reconstruction of Iraq issued a report detailing evidence of fraud and corruption in the Iraqi interim government during Bremer ‘s administration, where he found that $ 8.8 billion – the entire Iraqi interim government spending from May 2003 to June 2004 – has not been calculated properly, ministers and senior officials were free to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in cash as they want before the eyes of American “advisers” .
The auditors pointed out that the “members of the Coalition Provisional Authority did not review and compare the financial performance and the budget and operations with the planned results or expected.”
They also noted that there amounts have been spent without the presence of receipts to prove it, schools, hospitals, water and electricity sectors – which were supposed to get benefit from the money.
And the last audit of the advisory and monitoring body pointed out that the Iraqi government is talking about “incomplete accounts” and “lack of Iraqi ministries to document of the competition for contracts” and “potential embezzlement of oil revenues” and “significant difficulties in ensuring completeness and accuracy of the country ‘s budget and control expenses” and ” not to deposit oil export revenues in the appropriate accounts in flagrant violation of the UN security Council resolution No. 1483 “.
The British al-Guardian stressed that the absence of real accountability deprived Iraq of knowing of national wealth that is spent on reconstruction, or seep into accounts in secret banks outside the country.
Shatha Khalil
Translated by: Mudhaffar al-Kusairi
Economic Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies