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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lou Weed who wrote (94623)	4/18/2003 3:56:48 PM
From: NickSE	Respond to of 281500

Here are some current links... Facts on Who Benefits From Keeping Saddam Hussein In Power Updated, April 1, 2003 heritage.org - France controls over 22.5 percent of Iraq’s imports.[1] French total trade with Iraq under the oil-for-food program is the third largest, totaling $3.1 billion since 1996, according to the United Nations.[2] - In 2001 France became Iraq’s largest European trading partner. Roughly 60 French companies did an estimated $1.5 billion in trade with Baghdad in 2001 under the U.N. oil-for-food program.[3] - France’s largest oil company, Total Fina Elf, has negotiated extensive oil contracts to develop the Majnoon and Nahr Umar oil fields in southern Iraq. Both the Majnoon and Nahr Umar fields are estimated to contain as much as 25 percent of the country’s oil reserves. The two fields purportedly contain an estimated 26 billion barrels of oil.[4] In 2002, the non-war price per barrel of oil was $25. Based on that average these two fields have the potential to provide a gross return near $650 billion. - France’s Alcatel company, a major telecom firm, is negotiating a $76 million contract to rehabilitate Iraq’s telephone system.[5] - In 2001 French carmaker Renault SA sold $75 million worth of farming equipment to Iraq.[6] - More objections have been lodged against French export contracts with Iraq than any other exporting country under the oil-for-food program, according to a report published by the London Times. In addition French companies have signed contracts with Iraq worth more than $150 million that are suspected of being linked to its military operations.[7] Some of the goods offered by French companies to Iraq, detailed by UN documents, include refrigerated trucks that can be used as storage facilities and mobile laboratories for biological weapons. Iraq owes France an estimated $6 billion in foreign debt accrued from arms sales in the 1970s and ‘80s.[8] - From 1981 to 2001, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), France was responsible for over 13 percent of Iraq’s arms imports.[9] ~~~~~~ Inc's Cosy Deals with Iraq at Risk as War Looms globalpolicy.org For 30 years, French business has enjoyed a close relationship with Iraq. Baghdad has a French phone system, French cars are on the streets, and France's oil giant TotalFinaElf SA (TOT) has been working hard to get access to Iraq's massive oil reserves. But with a U.S.-led coalition threatening to march into Baghdad to topple President Saddam Hussein, France Inc. is worried that the relationship may be shattered - and that the big contracts to rebuild Iraq may instead go to U.S. rivals...