Naomi Klein is awesome.
I recently saw her film
The Take, which was excellent (
NYTimes review). And I think a few people here have mentioned her fascinating piece
Baghdad Year Zero about the neoliberal corporate haven we tried to build in Iraq. (Yes, that piece was in Harper's, which is usually dumb and knee-jerk liberal, but the article stands on its own).
As for this article:
First of all, this is a rare instance in which Naomi Klein agrees with the U.S. Government. Bushco have been lobbying hard for a complete forgiveness of Iraq's debt, under the theory of "odious debt" -- that nations should not be responsible for debts incurred by despots.
This is a new position for us. The U.S. has made no effort to cancel debts owed by, for example, Chile or Brasil or Argentina after they threw off military dictatorships. Likewise we held Russia responsible for the Soviet Union's debts. However, most of Iraq's debt is owed to yucky countries like France and Russia, so no wonder the U.S. is in a hurry to stop payment.
So I find myself agreeing with both Klein and Bush, that we should cancel Iraq's debts. They have completely different reasons, of course, but I think they both end up in the right place.
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