The US has hand-picked a puppet government with which it will negotiate to keep the permanent military bases it is building in Iraq. For all the nice words, it is a puppet, and the US will control the country.

And iff one has a permanent military presence able, in the name of "security", to roam the country taking whatever actions it would like at will, and

if one controls the money, guess what? That's ownership.

20 April 2003 report in The New York Times asserted that "the U.S. is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region." The report, citing anonymous sources, referred to one base at Baghdad's international airport, another near Al-Nasiriyah in the south [presumably meaning Tallil AB], the third at the H-1 airstrip in the western desert, and the fourth at Bashur AB in the north.

The US controls the income from oil, and will use those funds to control the country.

Although the United States plans to hand over power on schedule, the Americans intend to maintain large military forces in this country and wield considerable influence over Iraqi affairs.

The Americans also want to retain authority over the Development Fund for Iraq, established by the Security Council last year to fund reconstruction. The fund receives revenue from the sale of Iraqi oil.