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November
15, 2002 8:30 a.m. By Michael Freund |
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ar
may be on the horizon, but that didn't deter some of America's ostensible
allies from looking to make a quick profit in Baghdad last week.
By all accounts, the 35th annual Baghdad international trade fair was a smashing success. More than 1,200 companies from 49 nations, including France, Germany, Spain, and Denmark, converged on the Iraqi capital, rubbing elbows with Saddam Hussein's regime in the hopes of taking home some lucrative contracts worth millions.
It's good to know America's European partners are taking such a principled stand.
Attendance was up by 33 percent over last year's fair, proving once again how easy it is for a dictator to make friends simply by opening up his checkbook and doling out his people's hard-earned wealth.
Not one to miss out on a propaganda bonanza, Saddam was quick to gloat about the success of his little trade show, which was played up daily in the Iraqi press.
Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mahdi Salih seized on the large turnout as proof that the world stands behind Baghdad. He proudly told reporters, "The international community is increasingly supporting the Iraqi people. This is demonstrated at the Baghdad international fair by the increased number of countries attending compared to last year." Sadly, he may just be on to something.
Needless to say, one of the largest delegations in attendance came from France (who would have guessed?). Paris, which is Saddam's largest trading partner, was well represented by 81 French firms.
The obvious moral dilemmas that arise from doing business with the likes of a Saddam did not seem to put off participants, let alone prick their consciences. Take, for example, France's E-Sat satellite telephone company, whose trade-fair representative told the Associated Press, "We are not here for politics but for pure business."
That Iraq's leaders might one day make use of satellite phones to order attacks on American soldiers or their allies apparently has not crossed the minds of France's E-Sat entrepreneurs. Business it may be, but it is anything but "pure."
The Saudis, too, showed up, marking the first time a trade delegation from the desert kingdom had been to Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.
Eager to please his new friends, Iraqi Vice President Izzat Ibrahim issued special instructions to provide preferential treatment to Saudi firms bidding for Iraqi contracts. That seems to have done the job, because the 80-member Saudi group succeeded in signing $380 million worth of deals in the five days they spent there.
A similar welcome awaited the Germans, who were also given priority by Saddam to enter the Iraqi market. According to the government-run Al-Iraq newspaper, this came as a result of "the firm positive stand of Germany in rejecting the launching of a military attack against Iraq by the US." Gerhard Schroeder's anti-American posturing, it seems, is already paying off quite handsomely.
One German exhibitionist showing off his wares explained that Iraq was in need of even the most basic of items. "This is a virgin market that is in demand of everything," he said, oblivious to the irony of describing a country that has been raped by its totalitarian leadership for decades as being remotely "virgin" in any respect.
The fact that the U.N. trade embargo makes it unlikely that many of the deals discussed at the fair will go through any time soon did not seem to dampen the Iraqis' enthusiasm. They spoke with great anticipation regarding next year's fair, to which they aim to attract an even larger attendance.
Here's hoping that the Iraqis get their wish — and that the next Baghdad International Fair takes place under the watchful eyes of a platoon of U.S. Marines.
— Michael Freund served as deputy director of communications & policy planning in the Israeli prime minister's office from 1996 to 1999. He is currently an editorial writer and syndicated columnist for the Jerusalem Post.