Capitalism 6

Getting inefficient state enterprises into private hands is essential for Iraq’s economic recovery.

Naomi Klein (2010: 480, German edition)

Paul Bremer (b. 1941) is a US diplomat and was appointed civil administrator of Iraq in 2003.

Naomi Klein describes how Bremer sat as a civilian administrator in Saddam Hussein's palace, receiving trade and investment laws by email and imposing them on the Iraqi people (Klein 2010: 479, German edition). Bremer postponed the elections scheduled for 2003, admitting later elections and a democracy supervised by Washington. In 2007, the Iraqi cabinet passed a law which nullified its own power: amongst other things, it no longer had any right of co-determination during negotiations over oil contracts (ibid.: 527). Southern European countries faced similar situations during the euro crisis: Greek parliamentarians had little say over the sale of public goods, and the heads of the privatisation fund were also immune to prosecution (Die Zeit, 16 June, 2017: Spain threatens to veto aid to Greece).

*David Harvey (2003): The New Imperialism. Oxford: University Press. *Naomi Klein (2007): The Shock Doctrine. The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Toronto: Knopf Canada.

2003