April 16, 2003-June 28, 2004: CPA Refuses to Contract Work to Iraqi Cement Companies

During this period, the Coalition Provisional Authority purchases concrete blast walls from foreign companies for as much as $1,000 a piece. There are seventeen state-owned cement companies in Iraq that could have produced the walls for around $100 each. None of these businesses are contracted by the CPA to build the walls, or participate in any other projects. Minister of Industry Mohamad Tofiq later says the US refused to work with Iraq’s cement companies because “no one believes in the public sector.” However, Tofiq notes, there were several offers from US companies to purchase the state-owned firms during this period. According to journalist Naomi Klein, the CPA’s refusal to work with the cement companies supports the theory that the CPA was engaged in “a deliberate strategy to neglect the state firms so that they can be sold more cheaply—a practice known as ‘starve then sell.’” [Harper's, 9/24/2004]