Friday, August 12, 2005
Iraq and Privatisation
I agreed with getting rid of Saddam but feel that things have been badly handled since the take over. Decisions have been made which have encouraged chaos and disorder rather than lessened them. This article by Michael Meacher in the Times gives further food for thought regarding the occupation of Iraq. Maybe I'm being hopelessly naive. What does everyone else think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Depends whether you think that foreign investment is a bad thing. Mr Meacher and Kim Il Sung seem to agree that it represents a form of colonialism.
I did a short post on the accuracy of some of Mr Meachers claims here, which may be of interest.
The question is - after reading this do we feel that making lots of money was a primary reason for the invasion, or a happy by-product?
Here's uncle Johann eloquently arguing that democracy without economic freedom is a) shallow and b) likely to fail.
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=535
"When Blair talks movingly about Iraq's brave election monitors, risking their lives to set up polling booths, he cannot simply leave out economic issues. Meaningful democracy means the freedom to set economic policy - and Iraq's capacity to do this has just been locked in a dark and undemocratic cage. [...]
The IMF agenda being imposed on Iraq over the next decade - irrespective of what Iraqis say at the polls - will have a warping effect on the country's politics. Iraqi politicians will not be able to argue about schools, hospitals or taxation, the bread-and-butter of politics in every successful democracy. No; those decisions will be taken by the IMF in Washington. So what will happen? The political vacuum will almost certainly be filled by tribal resentment and religious disputes - it's all that is left. This pattern has been established in Kosovo, where IMF economic rule over the past five years had led to a resurgence of sectarian disputes and far-right tribalism.
So when Tony Blair spoke [...] about this being a simple fight between "democrats and terrorists", I feel stirred but manipulated. He's right that the Sunni fundamentalists blowing up election offices and Shia children must be defeated if there is to be any hope of a decent Iraq. But the IMF-dominated Allawi-land he is offering Iraqis - while somewhat better - is not democracy and it is not freedom."
Hadn't spotted Bishop Hills comment when I posted mine, so my initial (and rather glib) question may be unfounded. (Would love the know more.)
Johann still worth a read though.
Inspired by the good Bishop here's a link to all 100 orders:
http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/#Orders
By the way, a warm welcome to Bishop Hill - not sure if he'll visit us again, but his own blog is well worth checking out:
http://bishophill.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the kind words - I'm sure I'll drop by again.
Post a Comment