The Post-Saddam Boom

OpinionJournal - Featured Article:

"The Paris Club (consisting of sovereign creditors from Russia, the U.S., Western Europe and Japan) has already agreed to an 80% write-down of nearly $40 billion of debt. Another $50 billion was lent by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council comprised of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Bahrain. The two largest creditors, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have signaled that they will enter debt restructuring negotiations in the near future, the UAE and Qatar announced they plan to forgive the bulk of $7 billion owed their countries. In all likelihood, $80 billion to $90 billion of Iraq's total debt will eventually be forgiven. This good news is already being reflected in these markets."

I believe that the debt forgiveness will help Iraq become a power in the Middle East again. This time, however Iraq will be a democratic, capitalist power. Hopefully the trend spreads...