ICANN re-possessed the domain name in 2002 after the Texas-based company which was running it, InfoCom was involved in allegations of funnelling cash to the Islamic extremist group, Hamas.

InfoCom, which peddled computers and web services in the Middle East, was convicted in April along with its chief executive and his two brothers.

Apparently ICANN gave the name to Iraq's telecommunications regulator, the National Communications and Media Commission, last week, but only announced it on an inside ICANN web page that no-one spotted.

The sheepish ICANN spinners decided to make a better announcement over the weekend. It has taken ICANN a long time to give the Iraqis back their domain name. The US government and the fledgling Iraqis have been asking ICANN to give it back since the successful US invasion.

The government there needs the name to standardise all its government departments.

ICANN however said that Iraq was too unstable to have its own address and it should ask a bit later. The Palestinians faired a little better; its government got one in 1999.

The whole effort does show how much power the US government has to influence ICANN, even though it is technically under its control. µ

See Also
Iraq Internet in limbo