During the long years of Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq, economic data were treated as top national secrets, and the revelation of such data to unauthorized persons could bring the death penalty. Therefore, it was only after the fall of the regime that the extent of Iraq’s enormous foreign debt, estimated at the time in excess of $100 billion, was to become public record. Much of this debt was government-to-government, and hence the domain of the Paris Club. At the urgings of the United States and Iraq, the Paris Club recommended the cancellation of the Iraqi debt. Most countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia, have adopted the...