Who owns what…
Posted by Michelle on May 14, 2003 in Michelle
Rob emails me about how they are trying to figure out if anyone can really own commercial real estate in Iraq.
- This is actually a pretty pathetic meeting we are having. In the JAG Corps, there are a lot of active duty JAG. The problem is that there are very few who bother to come here. And the few that are here are in Doha and Arifjan, eating at the Burger King and Pizza Inn, while sleeping in air
conditioned tents.
Up in Iraq, I have seen nothing but other reservist, like myself. So we have all these claims come up, where this person claims to own this building we have taken over and the like.
The real question is whether an individual could have owned private property in the previous regime. The Ba’ath party were socialist. Therefore, if the property were owned by the government and the people were just ‘leasing’ it, then there is no claim.
This is a big question and I felt stupid for asking the guys in the rear. Turns out I should not have. We have waited two weeks and they still cannot answer it.
So we have taken matters into our own hands and got a couple of Iraqi attorneys to talk us today about real property law in Iraq. I guess we will find out the answer today and email the those in the rear.
