In a very controversial move, the Iraqi government is reported to have cut off all payments, including retirement pensions and wages of state employees, in any territory currently held by ISIS. This cuts off all money flowing into roughly a third of the country.
The move is being presented by the government as an effort to cut off ISIS funding, saying that ISIS has been “skimming” some of the money to those employees and using it for their own operations. It is also seen as a money-saving measure for Iraq, whose budget is under pressure because of the war and the falling price of oil.
But some officials are warning that the move is actually empowering ISIS, by making residents who previously had an independent source of income, particularly retirees, suddenly wholly dependent on ISIS for their survival, and is seen by the Sunni population as a further severing of ties with Iraq.
That’s significant in a lot of these areas, particularly places like Mosul that have been under ISIS control for more than a year. The sense is that the Iraqi military is nowhere near attempting to retake these cities, and are simply “giving up” and ceding the area, and its population, to ISIS.
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and today iraq officially ended.
Thank you AGAIN Amerika.
In essence, this means that the US and NATO nation taxpayers are no longer directly funding ISIS via their "taxes" on local wages. That is where much of "Iraqi" govt money comes from.
I suspect that remittances during WWII didn't go to recipients in Axis nations sent by Allied governments, no matter what the reason (e.g. tax refunds, SS payments, etc.).
Yes it is harsh but it is insane to fund your enemy in wartime. And yes, this will make former recipients "more dependent" on ISIS income sources. Good. Let ISIS foot the bill for their starving citizens. Surely US taxpayers, et.al. should not be.
How does that work though? Does a postal truck with freshly printed cash drive up the road past ISIS checkpoints to distributed money in Mosul? Is it done by western union money orders? Do locals get money from local banks with accounts on a computer down in Baghdad? Inquiring minds etc.
From my experience, these societies are mostly cash based. Presumably Iraqi dinars circulate in ISIS held areas.
I think your third choice is most probable. Recipients have some kind of document or paperwork where each month (or week) they go to a bank or money exchange and can sign for and receive their allotment or wages in cash. Those financial institutions then draw from the Iraqi central bank based upon some kind of (probably electronic) report of disbursements. .
I doubt that trucks full of cash cross into ISIS territory, at least not officially. They would be robbed.
Milo Minderbinder makes the deliveries in a USAF C-17.