Secret Trade Negotiations with Iraq

With Iraq in war damaged shambles, with ongoing insurgency, a devastated economy and excessive unemployment, two officials of the interim Iraqi government met with American Undersecretary of State Robert Zoellick for two days behind closed doors and on Sunday signed several agreements having to do with the Iraqi economy and future American economic involvement in Iraq. Because Iraq is so dangerous, the meeting had to be held in Jordan.

The Press was excluded from the meetings, and news coverage of the agreements seems almost non-existent. An account in the Jordan Times indicates the meeting participants had input from business interests, but there was no indication of any input received from labor, environment, consumer or human rights advocates. Presumably President Bush gave authorization to Zoellick on how to negotiate, but I am not aware of any significant public discussion of this agenda in Congress. The source of authorization for the Iraqi officials apparently is just as vague, since there does not seem to have been any significant public discussion of the agenda in Iraq either. But then, what passes for the current Iraq government is barely one step removed from its status as an American puppet.

The Iraq official who co-chaired the meetings was Ali Allawi, a former Iraqi exile and nephew of Ahmad Chalabi, who many say was the primary source of false information about Iraqi WMD. Many Americans might be surprised to learn that Chalabi is currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. The Iraqi exile community planned for a long time how to get America to overthrow Saddam, and now that America has complied, the plan seems to have moved into the stage of using Iraq to enrich businessmen with the right political connections. Robert Zoellick’s background shows he keeps the interests of corporate America foremost.