When will it be liberated? Iraqi money held captive in US bank prisons, 19 FEB

   When will it be liberated? Iraqi money held captive in US bank prisons

Information / Baghdad...In the spring of 2003, Iraq witnessed a US occupation and was placed under US trusteeship, and Iraq's money from the sale of oil, which constitutes more than 90 percent of Iraq's hard currency imports, was placed at the US Federal Reserve to protect it from compensation claims made by some countries affected by the policies of the former regime that ruled Iraq before 2003.

In order for the Iraqi Government to benefit from these funds, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance submits a request to the United States with an explanation of the disbursements of those funds, so that the United States Federal Bank may study and scrutinize the request and recommend the Disbursement of the amount of funds requested. The funds are then transferred to the Central Bank of Iraq, which in turn transfers them to the Government of Iraq, either in US dollars or Iraqi dinars as needed.

The United States has stated on previous occasions that the reasons for imposing sanctions are mainly money laundering and currency smuggling, without giving exact details of those charges.

Experts said that "Iraq imports nearly 90 percent of its needs of goods and services from outside Iraq, and the reason is due to the deterioration of industry, the diminishing role of the private industrial sector and the decline of agriculture to a large extent due to the lack of rain and the low water level in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers."

"This necessarily leads to a significant hemorrhage in Iraq's foreign exchange reserves. Moreover, due to the extensive relations and the close distance between Iraq and its eastern neighbor Iran, Iraq's trade with Iran accounts for the lion's share of Iraq's imports of goods and services, which provokes the anger of the United States, which imposes severe sanctions on Iran and prohibits the supply of US dollars to Iran."

This scene needs Iraq to be liberated from the American influence over its funds, in order to continue building the country.

Ali Hussein, a member of the Fatah Alliance, warned on Monday of US control over oil financial revenues in the Federal Bank, accusing Washington of exploiting this control to exert pressure on Iraq.

Hussein told Al-Maalouma that "America is exploiting this control by imposing its will in many files, including armament, as well as its pressure on the economic paper."

He called on the government to "break free from this pressure and have a say in reformulating the relationship with the Americans."

He pointed out that "the Iraqi and international financial system is captive to the US administration, which necessitates resorting to other ways to ensure the liberation of money from its authority, and understanding through other windows away from the pressure it exerts against Baghdad."

In the same context, the head of the coordinating body of the popular movement for the Belt and Road, Hussein Al-Karawi, stressed that Iraq has great economic assets that need proper management that leads it towards achieving success, investment and getting rid of the American will.

He told Al-Maalouma that "there is an urgent need for Iraq to go towards the countries of the East to develop economic and trade relations in various fields and get rid of the US hegemony imposed on Baghdad."

He called for "dealing in rubles or Chinese yuan, and not limiting the economy to the US dollar."

Last year, Iraq demanded that the United States free its money from its treasure.

A previous statement by the State Department said that Minister Fuad Hussein discussed with his US counterpart Antony Blinken a number of issues, including sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on Iraqi banks.

According to a statement by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US Treasury did not provide the reasons behind the imposition of such sanctions, and whether Washington's imposition of these sanctions came due to the lack of discipline of these banks in implementing the banking instructions and rules set by the Central Bank of Iraq or the US Federal Reserve, or for other reasons.

According to the statement, the Iraqi Foreign Minister officially called on the US Secretary of State to reconsider the US Treasury's decision on the subject, especially since the US Treasury Department is in constant contact with the Central Bank of Iraq and that these banks play an important and major role in financing the ration card expenses that benefit families of low-income people, as they provide them with a food basket consisting of basic foodstuffs such as flour, rice, sugar, tea, some legumes, washing powders, and others.