Paul Bremer Begins Issuing 'CPA 100 Orders' to Restructure Iraq's Economy Under Military Occupation

L. Paul Bremer III, appointed head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) on May 6, 2003, begins issuing binding orders with the force of law to radically transform Iraq’s economy from centralized planning to free-market capitalism. From May 6, 2003 until June 28, 2004, Bremer issues 100 Orders that fundamentally restructure Iraqi society, with preambles stating they are designed to ’transition Iraq from a centrally planned economy to a market economy’ overnight by U.S. fiat. The orders include: Order 37 reducing corporate taxes from 40% to 15%; Order 39 mandating privatization, 100% foreign ownership, unrestricted profit repatriation, and 40-year licenses; and additional orders liberalizing trade, proclaiming central bank independence, establishing currency and securities markets, and setting policies for intellectual property, public contracts, and debt. The CPA suspends all tariffs, import taxes, customs duties, and licensing fees, creating a one-way trade deluge that devastates Iraq’s manufacturing sector. De-Baathification orders fire up to 10% of the Iraqi labor force, causing unemployment to surge from 16.8% to 28.1% by end of 2003. These policies—implemented while Iraq is traumatized by invasion, occupation, and mounting insurgency—represent ‘arguably the most radical market shock therapy tried anywhere’ according to economist Joseph Stiglitz. British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warns Prime Minister Tony Blair in a leaked memo that ’the imposition of major structural economic reforms would not be authorized by international law,’ as the Hague Regulations of 1907, Geneva Conventions, and U.S. Army’s Law of Land Warfare all prohibit occupying powers from fundamentally transforming occupied territories’ legal and economic systems. On his final day, Bremer transfers authority for implementing all 100 Orders to U.S.-appointed Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, cementing the transformation. The orders inflame sectarian violence and impede reconstruction while opening Iraq for total corporate exploitation, demonstrating how military occupation provides cover for the most extreme neoliberal restructuring—shock doctrine in its purest and most literal form.