American Contractor

The Iraqi Premier is the temporary Trade Ministry for now. Also the Council of Representatives would like the PM Malki to rescind the resignation of the Trade Ministry.

The no confidence vote was scheduled for Wednesday 27th May and it was delayed until Thursday 28th May. Why it was postponed is still a mystery. Maybe PM Maliki is having second thoughts about accepting the resignation of the Trade Ministry before the Iraqi Council of Representatives had there no confidence vote, I am not sure. Well, anyway the reason for the no confidence vote by the Iraqi Council of Representatives, this week so that the former Ministry of Trade al-Sudani can not run in any future elections or seek any position in the Iraqi government. Plus there is speculation that maybe al-Sudani will be investigated and maybe have criminal charges against him in the future. Which would send a signal to all the allegedly corrupt officials wherever they find them in the Iraqi government that any corruption and you will be prosecuted.

PM Maliki is looking at the corruption inside the government and is going to launch a nationwide campaign to get a grip on the corruption that is plaguing the Iraqi government.

American Contractor has been receiving emails mentioning that the U.S. Dollar will no longer be available in Iraq after June 1st. As I've have said in a previous newsletter dated 05232009 and if by chance you did not receive it let me know. I've said in the previous newsletter “The notion of the US Dollar no longer available inside Iraq is just plain false.”
Where do people come up with these ideas? Don't tell me I already know.

At the height of the Iraq war there were at one time 165,000 U.S. Troops not counting the various coalition forces and the contractors working in Iraq and all spending US Dollars and collecting those US Dollars over the past six years. Plus you had the US government sending over US dollars to help with the building of an Iraqi government and Iraqi banks to include the Central Bank of Iraq all in US Dollars. A large amount of those dollars are still in Iraq either in a Iraqi bank or buried under their mattress. Just recently now you have the US Army finance sending out a flyer stating in part “ Effective June 1, 2009 the finance office on Tallil will no longer disburse U.S. Dollars.” In the same flyer from the US Army Finance the flyer says “U.S. Currency will be reduced to an operational minimum at all finance offices.” Where do you get the U.S. Dollar will no longer be available in Iraq?

So you see that the US Army will still be using the US Dollar just not as they have been doing the last six years. They are trying to force a reliance on the local Iraqi banks after six years which is a good thing. Maybe they should have thought of this a long time ago then this late in the game, I guess better late than never.

There was another posting from the US Army Finance in regards to corporate checks and if you want these type of checks cashed for US Dollars you have to justify it. Rarely do any contractors use the Army Finance to cash a corporate check they just go to a regular Iraqi bank or a western bank and conduct the transaction.

The Post Exchange/PX will always use US Dollars and not ever will they use Iraqi Dinar because it is against the Army Regulations to use any other currency but US Dollar in all there transactions.

In the last six years there has been billions and billions of US Dollars transferred to Iraq. The US Dollars don't just disappear a large majority of it is still inside Iraq. So the US Dollar will still be used just maybe not so much by the US Army. What about the oil sales that have been sold in US Dollars since 2004? The Iraqi government conducts all there contracts in US Dollars to pay contractors because there suppliers want to be paid in US Dollars. So again the US Dollar is not going any where in Iraq.

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