The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 771: Saddam is humble and submissive? (Seeking monthly votes at the end of the month)

Al returned to Iraq.

Sadam called him over immediately.

"Al, how is it?" Saddam asked impatiently.

With the end of the Gulf War, the pressure on Saddam was greatly reduced and his mental state was much better than before.

Although there were many voices opposing him in Iraq, Saddam's position remained as solid as a rock and no one could shake him.

Only Saddam can clean up the mess that Iraq is in now.

In addition, the military basically still supported Saddam, which made Saddam feel at ease.

However, post-war reconstruction work still troubles the Iraqi government.

Although purchasing a large amount of daily necessities from China ensures that the people do not have to worry about hunger, this is not a long-term solution.

If you live beyond your means, no matter how much money you have, it will soon be gone.

Now Iraq needs to put out the oil field fires and produce oil as soon as possible.

As long as we can produce oil, we can make money, the people will have jobs, and there will be hope for the post-war reconstruction of the entire country.

The direct economic losses caused to Iraq by the Gulf War exceeded 2500 billion U.S. dollars, which is a huge fortune.

Even if Iraq restores its pre-war oil production, it will take at least a dozen years based on current oil prices.

However, as long as oil production can be restored, Iraq will be able to obtain bank loans more easily thanks to its abundant oil reserves.

Under the current circumstances, it is not easy for Iraq to get a loan from a bank, and even if it gets a loan, the interest rate will be very high.

"It has been negotiated. They will not freeze our assets. We can withdraw them at any time without any obstacles. At the same time, they will increase the support for materials. They have also taken over the oil field firefighting business, and their people will come to Iraq soon." Al reported, "They will continue to fulfill the contract for the warships and aircraft we ordered before, and will deliver them to us later."

"As for loans, they are also willing to provide us with loans, but they hope that we will hand over more post-war reconstruction projects to Chinese companies." Al did not hide it and said, "In addition, Panshan Group hopes to obtain our three oil fields as interest payment!"

Saddam nodded with satisfaction. "Although I am very dissatisfied with the arms dealer who always sells arms to multiple parties, I have to say that their reputation is indeed very good."

"As long as they can put out the oil field fire, the money will be well spent. The sooner the fire is put out, the more money will be worth it!" Saddam said, "Recently, the price that the European and American financial groups are asking for to put out the oil field fire is at least twice as high as this!"

During this period, European and American financial groups have already begun to take action.

Although European and American countries are generally hostile to Iraq, the casualties in Europe and the United States this time are not small after all.

But it does not prevent European and American financial groups from eyeing the huge market of Iraq's reconstruction. Iraq is not like other countries. Iraq has rich oil reserves, and oil is wealth!

With huge oil reserves, European and American financial groups are willing to lend money to Iraq.

Then, as long as they could make profits from the post-war reconstruction projects, it would be like transferring money from one hand to the other, and they would make huge profits.

It’s just that Saddam is now very disgusted with Europe and the United States and doesn’t want to deal with them.

"It is worth spending money now. As long as we can resume oil production as soon as possible, we can earn the money back soon!" said Saddam.

Oil is Iraq's biggest barrier.

As long as they can continue to produce oil, it will only take a dozen years for Iraq to rebuild itself and its national strength will surpass its previous level.

"Al, go visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and other countries to borrow money from them. We need a lot of money for post-war reconstruction!" Saddam said to Al.

Egypt, Syria and other countries do not need to visit, these countries are too poor, each of them rely on Saudi Arabia and other countries for support, they do not have money to lend to Iraq. But Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil-producing countries are different, each of them is rich.

"When you go to Saudi Arabia, you can signal to King Fahd that we are willing to obey Saudi Arabia as the big brother of the Arab world, and we in Iraq are willing to send troops to join the Arab coalition!" Saddam ordered.

Logically speaking, it would be best for Saddam to come forward in this matter, as he has sufficient status and position.

But Saddam's pride prevented him from giving up this face.

This was equivalent to personally humbleing himself before King Fahd, which was difficult for Saddam, who had always wanted to be like Nasser or even surpass Nasser, to accept.

But now Iraq's post-war reconstruction does require a lot of money.

The more money we can get, the faster Iraq's post-war reconstruction will be, and the more it will get back on track and restore its national strength.

Saddam has decided to continue working hard for another twenty years. By then, he will use his absolute overwhelming power to sweep away the entire Arab world and unify the Arab world before the Americans have time to gather their troops.

This time made Saddam feel regretful and heartbroken.

If he had not believed the Americans' lies and fallen into their trap, how could he have taken action against Kuwait so quickly?

After all, the Iran-Iraq War had just ended at that time and the Iraqi army had not yet been fully repaired.

If he had waited until the army was repaired and summarized the Iran-Iraq War, perhaps this war would have been different!

"Yes!" Al agreed.

Iraq now really needs a lot of funds for post-war reconstruction, and it is not enough to rely solely on the 350 billion US dollars in China.

Al has deep feelings for Iraq.

By now, he has entered the core circle of Iraq, and naturally hopes that Iraq will get better and better. Only when Iraq is good can he and his family be good.

This trip to China was for both state and personal matters.

After all, the interests involved here are too huge, and his family will definitely get a piece of the pie.

Over the years, relying on his abilities, his family has developed very rapidly and is now one of the largest families in Iraq.

But it is not among the top ten big families.

But it’s different if he joins forces with Rashid. It can be said that they don’t need to be afraid of anyone except Saddam’s family.

In this Gulf War, Rashid's performance was the most outstanding. Coupled with his achievements in the Iran-Iraq War, Rashid was likely to become the number one in the military.

Even Saddam would not attack Rashid at will.

After all, Rashid is now a national hero of Iraq and is very famous throughout the Arab world.

Al is also willing to visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries, because this is a good opportunity for him to expand his network in the Arab world, and his entire family will benefit from it.

Al continued to communicate with Saddam, and did not leave until an hour later.

Sadam suddenly felt a lot more relaxed.

The defeat in the Gulf War was a huge blow to Saddam's prestige, which put him under tremendous pressure.

Coupled with the burden of post-war reconstruction, Saddam was also overwhelmed.

(End of this chapter)