Dream time in Iraq as politicians hand out dinars

IT is a politician’s dream: Handing out cold, hard cash to people on the street as they plead for help. Iraq’s prime minister has been doing just that in recent weeks, doling out Iraqi dinars as an aide keeps a tally.

The handouts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and a handful of other top officials are authorised, as long as each goes no higher than about $8,000 (€5,000), and the same people don’t get them twice. Aides say they are meant merely to ease the pain a bit, and are motivated by a belief that better conditions will lead to more security.

The cash handouts are just one small — if eye-catching — part of a huge investment push this summer by Iraq’s government. The aim is to rebuild basic services and jump-start Iraq’s damaged economy by quickly distributing as much of the country’s glut of oil revenue as possible. US officials and a fed-up American public are urging exactly that — for Iraq to spend its own money, not America’s, to rebuild the country now that violence has eased.