Failure to sign deal with U.S. would harm Iraq’s economy – experts

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Two Iraqi economists converged that failure to sign a proposed long-term Iraq-U.S. security pact would immensely harm Iraq’s economy. “The economic impact on Iraq would be huge if the agreement was not signed and an international resolution protecting Iraqis’ wealth becomes absent after December 31,” Yonadem Kenna, the chairman of the Iraqi parliament’s economic committee, said. He said Iraq would be facing several hardships and claims of trillions of dollars in debts and “unfair” compensations decided by courts after Iraq invaded Kuwait in the 1990s. The Iraqi and U.S. sides are negotiating a long-term security deal that should govern the presence of the U.S. military on Iraqi soil after the end of this year, when an international mandate for the U.S. army to intervene in Iraq by virtue of a UN Security Council resolution is set to expire. “Failure to sign the agreement could lead to security chaos, which would definitely wreak havoc on the Iraqi economy, because it will be impossible to have economic boom in an atmosphere of anarchy,” Kenna told IraqiNews.com. The economic benefits from the agreement signing would have the United States, a great superpower that plays a key role in the UNSC, seeking a fresh resolution protecting Iraq’s wealth and consequently Iraq’s funds in the United States, he said. He pointed out that the U.S. Congress wanted to channel the Iraqi funds inside the U.S. Federal Reserve into U.S. conglomerates but U.S. President George W. Bush made good use of his pocket veto against the decision. “In the case that Iraq would not sign the agreement, the United States then would not be committed to protecting Iraq’s money, let alone Iraq’s loss of the sum of $16 billion the United States has appropriated to for Iraq’s armament and other projects,” he said. On the expected situation if the deal was not signed, he replied that the previous UN resolutions bringing Iraq under Chapter VII of the UN Charter might be retained. “Iraq then would still be closer to an occupied nation until it should be able to do well on its own without any UN help,” he added. Articles pertaining to the economic aspect of the agreement envisage helping Iraq get out of Chapter VII and restore its legal standing before UNSC resolution 661/1991 to become fully independently capable of taking its political and economic decisions. The articles also include U.S. promises to seek a final decision on compensation claims Iraq is groaning under, including those imposed by the UNSC. Economic researcher Abdeljabbar al-Halafi agrees with Kenna that Iraq would have to face fresh economic burdens if it failed to sign the deal, adding UNSC resolution 1790 on the UN responsibility for Iraq’s wealth has preserved the country’s financial capabilities from other countries’ compensation claims. “There would be new burdens on the Iraqi budget and the Central Bank of Iraq because the CBI would be economically open for countries with compensation claims due of Iraq,” said Halafi. Kuwait alone claims the sum of $1.5 billion for Kuwait Airways and even turned down Iraq’s offer to pay $500 million, he said. Iraq’s debts due for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are up to $20 billion. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has written off all its due debts of $3 billion. However, another economist, Hilal al-Taa’an, believes that Iraq would not face any troubles if it did not sign the agreement. “The Iraqi funds are preserved by virtue of a UNSC resolution. This international body has five permanent members and 15 non-permanent others that have decided to protect these funds; the United States is not the only member,” he said. Taa’an told IraqiNews.com that he thinks the deal contains many negative economic aspects like the absence of an article stating that the Iraq Development Fund is owned by Iraq, urging an amendment to UNSC resoluti