Making Tony Soprano Proud
by Steve Soto
When reports surfaced over the last several days that the Bush Administration was ramming a long-term security agreement down the al-Maliki government's throat before their parliament or our Congress could intervene, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker denied it and said everything would be transparent.
What he didn't mention is that the Bush Administration is blackmailing the Iraqi government into signing the agreement by denying them access to their oil revenues held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and is also preventing the Iraqis from converting those funds out of dollars and into Euros.
The US is holding hostage some $50bn (£25bn) of Iraq's money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely, according to information leaked to The Independent.
US negotiators are using the existence of $20bn in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the US, to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal, details of which were reported for the first time in this newspaper yesterday.
Iraq's foreign reserves are currently protected by a presidential order giving them immunity from judicial attachment but the US side in the talks has suggested that if the UN mandate, under which the money is held, lapses and is not replaced by the new agreement, then Iraq's funds would lose this immunity. The cost to Iraq of this happening would be the immediate loss of $20bn. The US is able to threaten Iraq with the loss of 40 per cent of its foreign exchange reserves because Iraq's independence is still limited by the legacy of UN sanctions and restrictions imposed on Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in the 1990s. This means that Iraq is still considered a threat to international security and stability under Chapter Seven of the UN charter. The US negotiators say the price of Iraq escaping Chapter Seven is to sign up to a new "strategic alliance" with the United States.
Call it blackmail, call it extortion, call it what you want, but it isn't what "allies" do to each other.
The threat by the American side underlines the personal commitment of President George Bush to pushing the new pact through by 31 July. Although it is in reality a treaty between Iraq and the US, Mr Bush is describing it as an alliance so he does not have to submit it for approval to the US Senate.
Iraqi critics of the agreement say that it means Iraq will be a client state in which the US will keep more than 50 military bases. American forces will be able to carry out arrests of Iraqi citizens and conduct military campaigns without consultation with the Iraqi government. American soldiers and contractors will enjoy legal immunity.
I'm still waiting for Joe Biden to convene a hearing on this, since the president is committing the US Treasury to financially supporting this "alliance", and that definitely falls within the purview of Congress.