Reply #13: James Baker III

[Octafish]

He stays busy, the velvet hammer does. Didya know he also works for the Iraqis?

Debt deal is a boon for Iraq

Other creditors likely to follow Paris Club plan

By William Neikirk
Tribune senior correspondent
Published December 17, 2004

WASHINGTON -- An informal group of industrial nations called the Paris Club may have almost as much to say about Iraq's eventual recovery from war as all the armed forces now arrayed throughout the country.

A month ago this little-known, 48-year-old organization of financial representatives from 19 countries approved a plan for forgiving 80 percent of Iraq's $38.9 billion debt owed to its member countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Japan and Russia.

Now everyone else who lent money to Iraq may have to go along. Iraq's other creditors, including its neighbors in the Middle East, some European countries not in the Paris Club and private commercial creditors, are feeling the squeeze to accept the 80 percent debt-forgiveness formula on the more than $80 billion Iraq owes them.

Acceptance would confirm the extraordinary leverage of an organization that operates behind closed doors, poring over the debt details of countries that cannot afford to make payments. Since 1956, it has approved 385 debt-relief plans.

SNIP...

Approval of the debt-relief plan by the Paris Club was a foreign policy victory for President Bush and attested to the political and financial skills of his emissary, James Baker, a former secretary of state and secretary of the treasury.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412170216dec17,1,6120071.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true