Agricultural DRM in Iraq

[theknife]

aparently, among the various "reforms" we have imposed on the Iraqis, is a whole new chapter of patent law:

For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially
unregulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seed and the free
innovation with and exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been the basis of agricultural practice. This has been made illegal under the new law.

The seeds farmers are now allowed to plant --- "protected" crop varieties
brought into Iraq by transnational corporations in the name of agricultural
reconstruction --- will be the property of the corporations. While
historically the Iraqi constitution prohibited private ownership of biological resources, the new U.S.-imposed patent law introduces a system of monopoly rights over seeds.

didn't we go into Iraq to grant them independence and help them gain sovereignty? apparently not...

Iraq has the potential to feed itself. But instead of developing this
capacity, the U.S. has shaped the future of Iraq's food and farming to serve
the interests of US corporations.

you might wonder how this found it's way into the Coalition Provisional Authority's set of orders...could it have anything to do with the fact that the global seed cartel of Dow, Monsanto, Bayer, and Syngenta are major Bush campaign donors?

http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6