Why Is Iraqs Debt Odious?
Simply stated, the odious debt doctrine maintains that societies should not be required to pay back a debt if the borrowed funds were not used to the benefit of the population or were used contrary to the interests of the nation. In other words, a nation is expected to pay back those loans that were used for benign purposes and repudiate those that were used for objectionable ones. But to declare a debt odious certain conditions must be met: 1) The debt must have been incurred without the consent of the people; 2) The debt can not have benefited the people of the debtor country; and 3) The lenders must have been aware of the preceding conditions. In the case of Iraq all three conditions are met. The loans were contracted without input from the population since the country was ruled by a dictatorship. They were used to prolong a war that the people had no say in declaring or executing. Indeed, it can be argued since those loans enabled the regime to prolong the war with Iran a great dea
