November 6, 2003 8:20 AM
In a backchannel meeting between a Lebanese-American businessman and Richard Perle, reminiscent of a similar negotiation during Kennedy's cuban missile crisis (yeah, I saw Thirteen Days), Saddam tried desperately to make a deal.
Imad Hage recounts his meeting with the chief of field operations of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, Hassan al-Obeidi:
He said, if this is about oil, we will talk about U.S. oil concessions. If it is about the peace process, then we can talk. If this is about weapons of mass destruction, let the Americans send over their people. There are no weapons of mass destruction. Americans could send 2,000 F.B.I. agents to look wherever they wanted.
A desperate Obeidi even said Iraq would hold elections in two years.
Explosive New Revelation: Saddam Tried to Make a Deal (11.06.2003)
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Paul in OC: NEW
Perle must have been sweating like crazy. He had worked for years on this merger, and he was this close to watching his commissions go down the tubes. Saddam sure is a sneaky bastard -- and bad for business!
Fortunately, Perle was smart enough to see through this transparent scheme.
There are rumors that the CPA is going to hold a vote on whether or not to shorten the name of the joint company from "USA Iraq" to "USA". A lot of people feel that the name of the former company "Iraq" weakens the brand.
It seems likely that this merger will not pan out as advertised and USA shareholders will end up taking it in the shorts. Some suggested from the beginning that there was no synergy between USA and Iraq, but proponents kept insisting that USA could bring Iraq democracy, and Iraq could provide the USA with oil.
Iraq was never a good takeover prospect. It had a long track record of mismanagement and corruption. The price certainly wasn't cheap, and shareholders were misled about the total acquisition costs. In fact, USA Iraq management recently informed shareholders that it will have to take an $87 billion charge due entirely to the situation in Iraq. Iraq doesn't have the infrastructure it was supposed to have. It can't seem to make use of the democracy which USA is trying to provide.
One wonders how thorough USA management was in performing its due diligence. Shareholders are rapidly losing confidence, and USA Iraq stock is dropping on world markets. If things continue in this way, management may have no choice but to find a suitable partner for Iraq and dump it for pennies on the dollar. Word has it that Iran is expressing some interest, but USA Iraq management claims that Iraq is a valuable part of the business, that the company is just experiencing a few growing pains.
Thu Nov 6 2003 11:39 AM
noone: NEW
whats up
Thu Mar 11 2004 7:11 AM
noone: NEW
whats up
Thu Mar 11 2004 7:11 AM
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