ABSTRACT
In organizing political power and in ensuring political control, it is noticeable that Saddam Hussein has been careful to place kinsmen within the power structure. The release of detailed figures giving a breakdown of the economy has never been a marked characteristic of the Iraqi Government and, understandably, war has imposed an additional embargo on such statistics. It is perhaps more important to gain an understanding of the way in which the war has touched two particular areas of the economy, thereby affecting both the resources available to the regime and consequently its attempt to control its domestic and regional environment. These two areas are, first, the income at the disposal of the government which allows it to pursue its objectives in the war as well as inside Iraq. Secondly, there is the socioeconomic balance within the country, through which economic realities are transformed into political facts.
