Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

decision and issued a presidential decree signed bythe president.Presidential Diwan Financial Accounts DepartmentAny decision in any area that needed Saddam’s signature,approval, comment or review had to be routedthrough one of the Diwan’s departments. Fiscal decisionswere routed to the Presidential Diwan’s FinancialAccounts Department.• This department was responsible for reviewinggovernment budget decisions, ministry requestsfor budget increases, new financial allocations, andany other financial matters except those for the IIS,SSO, and DGMI.• Any ministry or organization’s financial requestoutside of the annually allocated budget was to besent to the president for review and or approvalthrough this directorate.• The department also managed domestic bankingaccounts reserved for the payment of employeesalaries and Diwan expenditures.Role of the National Security CouncilThose organizations whose budgets were notreviewed by the Presidential Diwan’s FinancialAccounts Department were presented to the NSC.Vice President and RCC Vice-Chairman Izzat Ibrahimal-Duri chaired the NSC with the head of the PresidentialSecretariat, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti—the Secretary of the NSC. Because both al-Duri andal-Tikriti headed NSC meetings, it is unclear whoprecisely exercised the most power. However, thePresidential secretary was influential. The NSC met afew times each year, as necessary, to discuss budget,security, and intelligence issues (for additional informationon the NSC, see the Security Services Annex).Other members of the NSC included the following:• Interior Minister.• Foreign Minister.• Qusay Saddam Husayn al-Tikriti, head of the RG.• General Director of the IIS.• General Director of the SSO.Regime Financeand ProcurementBudget ExecutionAccording to the minister of finance, funds weredisbursed monthly to the various ministries’ accountsin the CBI or Rafidian Bank. These monthly disbursementswere approved by the MoF, and in the case ofrecurring expenses, such as salaries, the disbursementwas made yearly. Monthly allocations were a portionof the annual budget for each ministry. Governmentfunds were held by the MoF in accounts at the CBIand Rafidian Bank. Disbursements to other ministrieswere usually made from funds at the Rafidian andother state-owned banks (See Figures 4 and 5).• The MoF, however, did not have authority toapprove disbursals involving the Presidential Secretariat,the Presidential Diwan, the IIS, the Directorateof General Security (DGS), and certain secretMoD and MIC expenses.• General Director of the DGMI.• DGS.According to late 1994 documents from the Secretariatof the NSC and addressed to the MoI, directorsof the IIS, SSO, DGS, the Military Security Directorate,and the DGMI, met with the NSC to discuss theirbudgets plans. Meetings were held at the office of thevice-chairman of the RCC.Documents from late 1994 indicate that the budgetprocess for intelligence and security organizations,such as the IIS, the DGMI, and probably other organizations,involved roughly seven steps:• The requesting organization sent a note to the NSCSecretariat requesting funds.• The NSC Secretariat sent a note to the NSC AuditingDivision requesting its opinion on the fundsrequested.203