Chief Thief!

Do we honestly think that we can snatch a country's riches right out from under people's feet? Apparently, Bush does!

"But what hasn't been on the table is at least as important to the formation of a new Iraq: the country's economic structure. The Bush administration has succeeded in maintaining a stranglehold on issues such as public versus private ownership of resources, foreign access to Iraqi oil and U.S. control of the reconstruction effort -- all of which are still governed by administration policies put into place immediately after the invasion. The Bush economic agenda favors foreign interests -- American interests -- over Iraqi self-determination.

Over a year ago, orders were put in place by L. Paul Bremer III, then the U.S. administrator of Iraq, that were designed to 'transition [Iraq] from a ... centrally planned economy to a market economy' virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat. Those orders were also incorporated into the transitional administrative law -- Iraq's interim constitution -- and the economic restructuring they mandate is well underway.

Laws governing banking, investment, patents, copyrights, business ownership, taxes, the media and trade have all been changed according to U.S. goals, with little real participation from the Iraqi people. (The Transitional Authority Law can be changed, but only with a two-thirds majority vote in the National Assembly, and with the approval of the prime minister, the president and both vice presidents.) The constitutional drafting committee has, in turn, left all of these laws in place.

A central component of the Bush economic agenda is foreign corporate access to, and privatization of, Iraq's once state-run economy. Thus, an early Bremer order allowed foreign investment in and the privatization of all 192 government-owned industries (excluding oil extraction)."
[...]
By all accounts, the draft constitution has failed to provide Iraqis with the means to control their economic future. As Iraq prepares for the October 15 referendum on the constitution, these crucial issues must be added to the debate, and the influence of the Bush administration countered, so that Iraqis can truly determine their own economic and political fate.

Just as discussions are finally emerging for ending the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, so too must the economic invasion be brought to an end.

I went to a grand opening of an Albertson's once and, of course, the store was brimming with free samples. In one spot there was a self-serve plate of brownie pieces under a plastic dome with a small opening for tongs to grab a sample. Some unsupervised child managed to get his hand in the hole and grabbed as many brownies as he could. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get his hand out with the fist full of brownies. So, instead of releasing some of them, he held onto them and proceeded to scream for his mother (you know I opted against a sample after that).

I guess that is part of the reason Bush says we won't leave. Our plan was to grab as much pirate's booty as we could for his corporate cronies. His hands are full (only with destruction and mounting casualties) and he won't let go. As someone said early on in the war, he claims he didn't go there for the oil (or other riches) ... but he sure isn't leaving without it.