Iraqi workers get first wages since war

Australian Broadcasting Company ^ | May 25 2003

[knighthawk]

The US civil administration paid out the first government wages to Iraqis since the US-led war, giving wages to thousands of Baghdad electricity workers.

It hopes the payments - set eventually to reach about 1.4 million civil servants and ranging from $80 to $400 a month - will send a signal that normal life is returning to the country after weeks of chaos and deteriorating security conditions.

"Its a start, a good start and the rest will get paid through the rest of the week," said Jay Garner, the outgoing director of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA).

The almost 40,000 electricity employees are a top priority as they struggle to restore power to the capital.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Grand Old Partisan]

What took so long?

[R. Scott]

I hope the Iraqis will pay their electric bills. I don’t want to pay theirs for too long – I have a hard enough time paying my own.

[McGavin999]

About time. This will help to get the economy going.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Given all that Saddam cash found in Iraq, I think Saddam's ghost is now paying the bills in Iraq.

[alloysteel]

And given that the US dollar is now the currency in use in Iraq, that $600 million or so recovered will go a long way to covering the payroll for some time to come. By then, the oil money should be rolling in, now that sanctions are lifted.

This war is going to turn out to pay for itself. Saddam was SUCH a drag on the economy of Iraq....

[R. Scott]

There has been a lot of money ($1B?) found so far.
Not bad for a country where the people were dying from starvation and disease because of the sanctions.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Good point, but I never did see any evidence that Iraqis were starving.

[R. Scott]

What?
You don’t believe the news reports? Would they lie?
What about the thousands of suffering children?
</sarcasm>