Factsheet on the "handover” in Iraq.

by: Iraq Occupation Focus

Middle East: According to the Iraq Occupation Focus, there has been very little change in the way in which Iraq is governed, because all the principal decisions still remain in the hands of the American and British military forces.

For instance, any contract signed under the auspices of the Provisional Government can not be reviewed, while all state enterprises have been opened up to privatization, read foreign (or US or UK) ownership, and any foreign corporation receives 40-year contract leases, tax-free repatriation of profits, and all tariffs and subsidies are abolished.

The possibility of the newly appointed government (or even its successor) of rolling back or abolishing these changes with impunity and without any consequences is highly remote due to the presence of US and UK forces as well as the increasing US and UK penetration of Iraqi institutions since the US embassy to be run by the former US ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, John Negroponte, is to be largest US embassy in the world.

If you would like to read the factsheet in full, please go to:
http://www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk/resources/handover_factsheet.pdf

Please feel free to reproduce and circulate the Factsheet, and to use it as you think best in your campaigning work against the occupation. It is vital that we explain to people why this "handover" does not provide real self-determination for Iraqis and that the occupation has certainly not come to an end. We will be producing more Factsheets on occupation-related issues in the near future.

Source: Iraq Occupation Focus