Oh, OK . . . I GET IT! We're gonna give Iraq back to the Iraqis when there's nothing left to give back. The tagging of James Baker as the guy who'll "deal with" Iraq's debt is absolutely classic, considering the fact that Baker works as a lawyer for Saudi Arabia, a country which claims Iraq owes it about $43 billion. This is the same James Baker who's doing everything he can to make sure nobody finds out what role the Saudi's had in the WTC/Pentagon attacks.

Greg Palast, writing for TomPaine.com, has more. Excerpts:


Let's ponder what's going on here.

We are talking about something called "sovereign debt." And unless George Bush has finally 'fessed up and named himself Pasha of Iraq, he is not their sovereign. Mr. Bush has no authority to seize control of that nation's assets nor its debts.

But our President is not going to let something as trivial as international law stand in the way of a quick buck for Mr. Baker. To get around the wee issue that Bush has no legal authority to mess with Iraq's debt, the White House has crafted a neat little subterfuge. The official press release says the President has not appointed Mr. Baker. Rather Mr. Bush is "responding to a request from the Iraqi Governing Council." That is, Bush is acting on the authority of the puppet government he imposed on Iraqis at gunpoint.

I will grant the Iraqi "government" has some knowledge of international finance; its key member, Ahmed Chalabi, is a convicted bank swindler . . .

Much of the so-called debt to Saudi Arabia was given to Saddam Hussein to fight a proxy war for the Saudis against their hated foe, the Shi'ia of Iran. And as disclosed by a former Saudi diplomat, the kingdom's sheiks handed about $7 billion to Saddam under the table in the 1980's to build an "Islamic bomb."


Be at peace.