Saddam's home province safe, open for business; governor says

Associated Press ^ | 11-29-03 | By JIM GOMEZ

[Oldeconomybuyer]

TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov 29, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- In a tightly guarded ceremony, the governor of Saddam Hussein's home province declared Saturday that the region was open for business, and thanked foreign businessmen who attended a gathering wearing flak jackets and helmets.

The visitors were invited to Salahuddin province by U.S. military and Iraqi officials under tight security to attend the opening of a newly refurbished building that will serve as a business center for potential investors.

Although the region is located in the so-called Sunni Triangle that has seen some of the fiercest resistance to the U.S.-led occupation, local government officials said they were bullish that the province would experience an upsurge in the construction, transport and associated industries.

"I hope you'll take the idea of Salahuddin being unsafe out of your minds," said Gov. Hussein Jassim al-Jbouri, adding the region is "safe more than 100 percent."

"You can walk around freely and look with your own eyes," he said, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a lunch of roast chicken, kebab meat and vegetable and rice.

The new business center, which was repaired and furnished with US$180,000 in U.S. financial assistance, is located near a police station fortified with sandbags and concrete barriers to prevent suicide bombers from crashing through. Nearby, a building once used by Saddam's army lay in ruins, its walls blasted off by U.S. air strikes.

Col. James Hickey, a U.S. brigade commander, said an aggressive military campaign has dramatically brought down the number of attacks by insurgents in the region but acknowledged there were still some risks.

"(Businessmen) should know that there are risks associated with doing business here and they should probably accept it. If they accept those risks they may find great opportunities," Hickey said.

Despite the obvious dangers, some of the visitors appeared to be bullish.

"Now is a good time because there is not too many people entering the market," said Andreas Mohair, general manager of a Kuwait-based transport and warehousing company.

Asked if he was concerned with the security situation, Mohair pointed out that his company was already operating cargo distribution services in hotspots such as the northern city of Mosul.

Al-Jbouri acknowledged that foreign companies' interest in his province was weak, citing the absence of foreign business promoters and what he described as exaggerated fears about the dangers in his area.

"I don't understand why," al-Jbouri said, adding that "even in the United States there is some firing of guns."

[lilylangtree]

Yet a report on Yahoo indicates that US-trained Iraqi police appear to coordinate attacks on coalition forces and Iraqi civilians. Iraq won't be secure until Saddam is D. E A. D.