Boeing Cuts Deal to Sell Jets to Iraq

Middle East Online. Posted April 1, 2008.

Fat contract for 737 and 787 'Dreamliner' planes.

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BAGHDAD - Iraq said on Monday it has signed a contract worth 5.5 billion dollars with Boeing to buy 40 new aircraft, with an option to purchase 15 more.

Baghdad had also signed a 400-million-dollar contract with Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier to purchase 10 passenger planes, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

He said delivery of the aircraft would start this year, with final delivery expected by the end of 2019.

The Boeing contract was for the 737 and 787 "Dreamliner" planes, the statement said, without giving a breakdown of the numbers of each.

Dabbagh said the deals "will strengthen the Iraqi civil aviation capacity and enable it to respond to the increasing demand for air transportation to and from Iraq."

Iraqi Airways, one of the oldest airlines in the Middle East, currently owns just two aircraft and leases others.

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 sparked UN economic sanctions which grounded the airline.

The national carrier resumed international flights in September 2004 with a Baghdad-Amman service. It now operates also to Cairo, Damascus, Beirut and Dubai.

See more stories tagged with: iraq, economic invasion, boeing

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It would be really interesting [Report this comment] Posted by: FedUp on Apr 1, 2008 9:54 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] to follow the Boeing/lobbyist/politician paper trail to discover who pushed this baby along. "Dabbagh said the deals "will strengthen the Iraqi civil aviation capacity and enable it to respond to the increasing demand for air transportation to and from Iraq." Are Iraqis who are fleeing the bloodbath created by the Bush Crime Family going to be able to buy discounted fares? Let me see if I understand the sequence: The American oil companies will bill the Iraqis to extract Iraqi oil, aka the national patrimony, and the Iraqi state-run airline will use whatever money that they haven't had to pay the American oil companies to pay the American airplane manufacturer for airplanes, parts and servicing. Of course we can safely state that no politicos are involved in any of this, huh? Is it any wonder that neither the republicans nor the democrats have done the truly patriotic thing and said: *"Stop the madness - NOW!!!"* [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: It would be really interesting Posted by: yellow How much grotesque corruption can the U.S. press ignore? [Report this comment] Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Apr 2, 2008 8:17 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] One hell of a lot, apparently, as long as their shareholders are the ones raking in the loot. Absolute crony corruption from the highest levels of government on down. Almost, but not quite, unbelievable. $5 billion for airliners? When Iraqis barely have electricity, clean water, food, fuel, and health care services? Criminal! Some U.S. puppet in Maliki's government signed off on that one. That's just the tiny tip of a huge undiscussed iceberg - Iraqi oil revenue is apparently being squirreled into foreign banks, and there is little reporting on it. Try Dig Deep For Answers on Iraqi Oil Money: "Michigan's U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, raised that very good question this month in a letter cosigned by Sen. John Warner of Virginia. The bipartisan duo wants an accounting -- and American taxpayers are entitled to one. While estimates vary, Congress has received reports that the new Iraqi government has put about $30 billion in oil revenue into American banks, and projects revenue of $56 billion this year. "What kind of an absurdity is it," Levin asked at a recent hearing, "that we are paying for the reconstruction of Iraq with American taxpayers' dollars if Iraqi oil sales, to a significant degree, are going into foreign banks and not being used for their own reconstruction?" [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» RE: It would be really interesting Posted by: yellow