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Iraq's defunct military industry

Some Iraqi parties are calling for the reactivation of the Military Industry Commission, a relic of Saddam Hussein's rule, in order to jump-start investment.
A metalworker fixes a tank, known as Duldul, in Basra, southeast of Baghdad March 4, 2015. In a military scrapyard in the southern Iraqi desert, abandoned army equipment sat for years waiting to be melted down to steel bars. Now, thanks to new conflict and a resourceful old mechanic, some of the rusty warhorses have won a reprieve. Picture taken March 4, 2015. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTR4SX7P
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BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Military Industry Commission (MIC) has a tragic story. Iraq developed its local military industry during the Iran-Iraq War, but in 1991, the international coalition — which was established in 1990 by a United Nations decision to force the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and monitor Iraq’s activities in the military industry field — brought down most of the MIC’s important facilities, and the coalition’s inspection teams destroyed what was left of it under the pretext of destroying weapons of mass destruction.

However, after the end of the Gulf War in February 1991, the regime of late President Saddam Hussein restored some of these facilities and the MIC rebuilt the country’s infrastructure in terms of water, electricity, roads, bridges and military industry. The MIC facilities were once again looted and vandalized by Iraqis following the US occupation in 2003. Hundreds of billions of dollars went down the drain.

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