Saddam Hussein controls the legal economy of Iraq.
My experience of USA officials... they're past masters of showing someone else as a problem (like you or me), when they in fact are holding the reins, and hide the fact by using paperwork, delays, all sorts of ruses. World class experts.
So, if you cannot export or import without these guys putting in their tuppance, yes..they control the economy lock stock and barrel. Try and run an economy without imports and exports.
If they are causing genuine grief, that cannot be laid at Saddam's door, it will cause lasting damage for the USA in that region. It has been going on for a decade now.
edit some quotes from the link
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Some figures:
The U.S. acted alone in holding $2.72bn in contracts
The U.S. acted jointly with the UK to hold an additional $.54bn
In contrast, the UK acted alone to hold only an additional $.06bn
Holds by other countries (China, the Ukraine, and Ireland) are extremely rare, and total only $.005bn.
U.S. holds targeted almost all sectors of the economy
In addition to the quantity of U.S. holds, and its isolation in appplying them, the report also shows that holds were applied indiscriminately across almost all sectors of the Iraq economy. "Food basket" was the only sector left untouched (though even "food handling" equipment was heavily targeted).
The data in the report raise serious questions:
If the U.S. is applying holds as chartered by the program, then why is it so often acting alone?
If the U.S. is targeting dual use goods, then why are the holds applied so indiscriminately?
Complimentarity: "For want of a nail, a horseshoe ..."
In practical terms, every single hold's disruptive leverage is magnified due to complimentarity: the functional dependencies among related goods. Complimenetarity recalls the old adage, where "For want of a nail ..." a horseshoe, then horse, then knight, then kingdom were lost.
As OIP Executive Director Benon Sevan told Reuters (Aug 15, 2000), "the nature of the goods (on hold) made them essential to the whole operation. 'You can't distribute supplies if you don't have trucks'". As others have elaborated, you can't use syringes without needles, you can't store medicines without refrigeration, and you can't repair an oil well head or tanker port unless all the machinery is at hand.
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