Paul Bremer Order 39 Privatizes Iraq Economy for Foreign Corporations

Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator Paul Bremer signed Order 39 ‘Foreign Investment,’ imposing unprecedented economic colonization on Iraq by privatizing 200 state-owned enterprises and permitting 100% foreign ownership in all sectors except oil extraction. The order eliminated all tariffs, import taxes, and licensing fees while slashing corporate tax rates from 40% to 15% and allowing 100% profit repatriation ‘without delay.’ This created what the Financial Times called ‘one of the most liberalized economies in the developing world,’ allowing foreign corporations to ‘own every business, do all of the work, and send all of their money home.’ The transformation violated the 1907 Hague Regulations Article 43 and 1949 Geneva Conventions requiring occupying powers to respect existing laws. Oxford Professor Adam Roberts warned it ‘raises the biggest single question about coalition policy as it relates to the laws of war,’ while British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned Tony Blair the reforms violated international law. The Iraqi Governing Council was excluded from consultation and ‘severely embarrassed’ by the imposition. Unemployment rose from 16.8% to 28.1% by end of 2003 as domestic manufacturing was devastated by tariff elimination, creating permanent structural dependence on foreign capital and expertise through occupation law.