Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. before Febuary 2nd 2006

Published: 31/01/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

US 'using opposition group to track Iranian influence networks in Iraq'
By Basil Adas, Correspondent



Baghdad: Camp Ashraf which is occupied by the Iraq-based Iranian opposition group the Mujahedine Khalq Organisation (MKO) is sited more than 260km north of Baghdad.

This group resettled in Iraq in 1987 during the rule of Saddam Hussain. After Saddam was ousted in 2003, the US army gave protection to this camp which remains today.

The Iraqi coalition government headed by Shiite Ebrahim Al Jaafari and Nouri Al Maliki decided to expel MKO members from Iraq and close Camp Ashraf. However, none of these decisions have been implemented.

In this camp and in other Iraqi cities, there are between 4,000 and 5,000 MKO members and their families, with identities issued by the United Nations and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to facilitate their mobility inside Iraq.

Jalal Al Din Al Sagheer, a prominent figure in the Shiite coalition, has accused MKO members of supporting terrorist groups affiliated to the former regime.

Prohibits

He told Gulf News: "There is an Iraqi constitution which prohibits using the Iraqi territory to launch a series of cross-border attacks against neighbouring countries and we are committed to this position."

Leaders of Camp Ashraf move with heavy US forces' protection inside Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. During visits of Iraqi officials to Tehran and their Iranian counterparts to Baghdad, the MKO group file was at the top of bilateral talks. It was said that Iran wants a settlement with Iraqis to end the MKO file in return for full security cooperation that guarantees stopping the infiltration of terrorist elements into Iraq from the Iranian borders.

Lubaid Abbawi, the undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Gulf News: "The MKO file must move fully to the responsibility of the Iraqi government and must not be a political agenda used by different politicians or parties."

In the light of American-Iranian conflict in Iraq and in the region it is unlikely that the American forces will submit Camp Ashraf to Al Maliki.

According to some leaks from Baghdad, Americans have begun to form special groups comprising MKO members to assist them to track Iranian intelligence networks in Iraqi cities, as well as to provide the US intelligence with a huge amount of information from inside Iran, especially with the escalation of the Iranian nuclear file. These measures came just after the launch of the new US strategy set by President George W Bush, which included reducing the Iranian influence in Iraq.

A MKO report published recently in Germany referred by name to more than 31,000 Iraqi agents working for the Iranian intelligence. This indicates that the next phase will witness greater convergence between the MKO and the American forces in Iraq.

Hadi Al Ameri, leader of the Badr Organisation of the Shiite Supreme Council, has accused the MKO of training terrorist elements and working to destabilise Iraq. Al Ameri affirmed the coming period will witness the exile of this Iranian opposition group from Iraqi territories.

The Al Maliki government works to exclude Iraq from any Iranian-American influence conflict and to ensure Iraq does not turn into an arena for settling accounts between the two countries.

The MKO group in Iraq has established political relations with prominent Shiite religious leaders who oppose the political process, the Mahmoud Al Hasani group in Karbala and the Jawad Al Khalisi group in Kadhimiya city, Baghdad.

Published: 31/01/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

America ponders ways to curb Turkish Kurd rebels
Agencies



Ankara: The United States is considering 'many actions" to curb Turkish Kurd rebels based in northern Iraq and believes it can count on the help of the region's Iraqi Kurdish leaders, a US envoy said here yesterday.

Joseph W. Ralston, special coordinator of efforts against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), made the comment after talks with Turkish officials amid growing anger here over Washington's failure to fulfil pledges to move against the group, listed as a terrorist group by both countries.

"We have many actions in front of us that we have been working on to counter the PKK," Ralston said after lengthy talks with Turkish counterpart Edip Baser and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

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During last 8 months 800 Arab families settled in Kirkuk,official

1/30/2007 KurdishMedia.com
London (KurdishMedia.com) 30 January 2007: During the last eight months to January 2007, 800 Arab families settled in Kirkuk, reported Kurdish weekly Awene on Tuesday.

While the Kurdistanis insist on implementing Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution by the end of the current year, the Kirkuk officials announced that from 1st May 2005 to January 2007, further 800 Arab families from southern and middle parts of Iraq settled in Kirkuk. This new style of Arabisation makes de-Arabisation extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Rizgar Ali, a member of the Kirkuk Council, stated that some of these Arab families used fake documents to settle in Kirkuk and stated that these families would vote against uniting Kirkuk with Kurdistan Region when, or if, a referendum of the fate of Kirkuk is held.

London’s Kirkuk conference and some recommendations


Wednesday, January 31, 2007

KSSO

The 21st January, 2007 saw the organisation of a conference on Kirkuk, held by the Kurdish Cultural Centre (KCC) with the assistance of Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation and few other Kurdish community organisations and some individuals. This event took place at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and brought together a large number of Kurds, mainly from London, but also ministers and officials from South Kurdistan some them as panel speakers.

The issue of Kirkuk is an important one for many Kurds regardless of what part of Kurdistan they come from; Kirkuk and its ownership was the main reason behind the breakdown of talks between the Kurdish political parties and former Iraqi regime in the past and has also become a point of concern for some neighbouring countries such as Turkey. Many feel that the prospect of a future Kirkuk in Kurdish hands would be a final push to create an independent Kurdistan beyond the Iraqi borders of the current regional government. Indeed, for many years now foreign powers have also had a close eye on the rule of Kirkuk and its resources. These were the issues at hand for the conference, and the reason that KSSO decided to offer its backing and participation.

As an academically focussed organisation, Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation (KSSO) is dedicated to promoting open and critical exploration into all aspects of Kurdish history, culture and politics. In addition to our independent work, we seek to create dialogue with other organisations and parties concerned with these themes. It was with these aims that KSSO agreed to sponsor the Kirkuk conference. However, in light of the ways in which the conference and its delegates proceeded, we would now like to raise some further issues about collaboration, transparency and accountability, as well as offer our recommendations.

As Turkey recently held a conference of its own in Ankara, which raised questions over the future of Kirkuk and its referendum later this year, the conference Kirkuk which was held in London was a good starting point to widen the debate around the issue of Kirkuk. This conference was intended for an exclusively Kurdish audience, being purely conducted in Kurdish. Representatives of the Kurdish Regional Government, based in Arbil, were flown from South Kurdistan for the event, while a number of well-known Kurdish diaspora figures were also present. In theory, the holding of such conference is very important, as it demonstrates the collaboration between citizens and government, and their willingness to come together to debate an issue. While we recognise the timely importance of the issue of Kirkuk to the Kurdish people, this is an issue with relevance to many others as well. We feel it is extremely important - not only to widen the debate, but also to reach out in diplomatic terms – that a summary of the proceedings be made available in English.

However, there is also a need for more academically focused attention to be paid to such future opportunities. It is absolutely vital that future conferences and seminars should be held in English or other major European languages in order to bring a maximal outcome and publicity to these issues. And while the important role of the international media should not be forgotten, an equally transparent and wider invitation to the general public and to non-Kurdish diplomats and academics also needs to be taken into account.

The most beneficial aspect of most conferences is when there is time for participation of attendees in terms of question and answer. The London Kirkuk conference tried to provide the audience with this important tool of dialogue, although short. Some interesting questions were put to the panel made up of visiting dignitaries, some of which accused the regional government of not doing enough for resettling the refugees from Kirkuk, who still live in tents in public places in Kirkuk. These people are waiting for return to their homes and lands after having been deported by Saddam’s toppled regime, which occurred almost four years ago. As some of the questions went unanswered, some individuals became understandably angered and afterwards in the venue lobby, grew impatient, particularly with the Minister of Higher Education, as he showed an unwillingness to stop and respond to some who were keen to find out about the state of Kirkuk’s Kurdish university students. Equally, representatives of our organisation wished to present him with a dossier of KSSO’s work along with some requests from students originally from Kirkuk, but even those who originate from his own constituency were not granted an audience, nor given the time for discussion. Unsurprisingly however, though somewhat ironically, several of the ministers were keen and available to appear before the Kurdish media and the TV cameras covering the event. Although the minister in question was eventually forced to go on stage and shed light on some of the questions put to him which he had refused to answer, such behaviour and lack of engagement with constituents should not be allowed to go further within Kurdish politics.

At KSSO we wish to promote open and critical dialogue which will benefit scholarship as well as the long-term rights of the Kurdish people. We hope that in future we can help to provide events will seek this aim in a more inclusive way, and that political leaders can participate by working to justify the power that they have been afforded.

KSSO management Committee

Iraq Calls For Air-Force Recruits


(RFE/RL)
January 30, 2007 -- Iraq has launched a search for a select group of motivated, apolitical volunteers to help rebuild its air force.


The Defense Ministry this week sent out a call for air-force recruits with strong scientific backgrounds ready to volunteer for 15 years as pilots.

A statement said applicants "should be of Iraqi parents or an Iraqi father and an Arab mother."

The statement also said they must "not belong to a political party and should be loyal only to Iraq."

(AFP)

Turkey rejects talking to Kurds in north



Ibrahim Buazi



Azzaman, January 30, 2007



Turkey has turned down please by the central government to deal directly with regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq in matters related to fuel imports.



Turkey has suspended shipping fuel to Iraq which is currently suffering from acute fuel shortages.



Most of Turkish fuel export deals were administered by the regional Kurdish government but Ankara does not recognize the semi-independent authority the Kurds has step up in the north.



The Turks are particularly angry over a letter from SOMO, Iraq’s oil export arm, which asks the concerned authorities to coordinate with the Kurdish government.



Turkish Minister of State for Trade Affairs, Korshad Tuzman, said his country only recognized the central government in Baghdad.



The decision not to deal with the Kurds, according to Tuzman, was taken in order not to add ‘legitimacy’ to their regional government in the area.



Turkey’s ties with Iraqi Kurds have worsened recently following Kurdish attempts to annex the oil-rich city of Kirkuk where many Turkmen live.



Ankara has made it clear that it will not allow the Kurds to annex the city which it wants to be directly administered by Baghdad.



In the years since the U.S. invasion, Iraq has turned into a net importer of fuel despite its massive oil wealth. Fuel imports from Turkey are essential namely to the Kurds.



Fuel shortages have worsened in the country since Ankara’s decision to halt exports.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007
by Fazil Najeeb | Tags: iraq, united states, petroleum, kurdistan




Since the fall of the Saddam, foreign investors have flocked to Kurdistan
and Iraq’s northern provinces thanks to the north’s relative safety - but business development even in these relatively safe parts of the country is fraught with problems.

Like other parts of the country, foreign and Iraqi investors alike are plagued by power outages. State energy plants only provide electricity for a few hours per day - even in Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil - and shortages force business to buy expensive fuel-powered generators.

But the problems don’t end there because fuel is itself in short supply and rising demand means that it has become prohibitively expensive.

Some investors warn they will lose profits and be forced to leave Kurdistan if power cuts persist and fuel prices continue to rise.

Zewar Alknach, head of a Kurdish branch of a Turkish construction company known as Renas, said generator fuel for their three offices and a construction site comes to more than 5000 US dollars a month. The government, he complained, should grant subsidies for such costs.

Yassein Sheikh Qadir, owner of another construction company based in Erbil, warns that if the energy crisis continues there may be little point in doing business in the area.

"Building costs have already increased 20 per cent due to high fuel prices,” he said. “If they…increase further, we will reach a stage where construction is not profitable anymore."

Qadir said profit from a current project was already less than he expected, though he was not prepared to say what this amounted to.

In Erbil, the government currently provides electricity for a maximum three hours per day. Some days, it goes down to two and on others there’s none at all.

Escalating energy prices have affected the local economy in myriad ways - one of the main causes of concern is that it drives inflation, which in turn impacts on the cost of living, even the price for basic goods like flour is affected.

Aso Yassein, owner of Sebar, a company that imports flour from Turkey to Kurdistan, said up until the end of 2005, it used to cost four dollars per tonne for the trip from Zakho at the Turkish-Iraqi border to Erbil. "Now it costs us 12 dollars," he said.

The fuel crisis here dates back to 1991, when the autonomous Kurdish region was established and Iraq’s central government stopped supplying energy. Prior to this, Kurdistan enjoyed a relatively stable power supply, thanks to a small population and limited demand.

Following the fall of Saddam regime in 2003, the region has witnessed an economic boom. Demand for power has increased and has become a serious threat to local economic growth.

Officials say one of the main reasons for the fuel shortage is instability in Iraqi areas that supply Kurdish region with fuel. Kawa Abdulla, head of Sulaimaniyah City Council, said that tankers are constantly attacked and oil pipelines blown up by insurgents.

To solve this problem, said Abdulla, the Iraqi government imports fuel from Turkey and the Kurdish government does so from Iran. But he warned that there were no guarantees that supplies would continue or that they will be sufficient.

"There could be shortages at any time,” said Abdulla, "because there’s no major solution to the problem, like the constuction of refineries.”

For Alknach, the Kurdistan business sector would improve if it enjoyed the same investment laws that exist in Turkey, where, he said, the government compensates companies when fuel prices rise; an important reassurance for investors.

"So far there is no such a law in Kurdistan and this worries us," said Alknach.

Nooradin Hamid, general manager of Erbil Fuel Distribution, maintained that the regional government doesn’t plan to reimburse companies for higher energy costs.

"When they [the companies] sign a contract, they have to take into consideration that fuel prices might rise,” he said.

Until the beginning of 2006, the regional government did allocate fuel to private companies in order to foster investment.

"But now, as we ourselves suffer from a fuel crisis, we don't help them,” said Hamid.

Alknach says he’s close to giving up on the region.

"When a litre of diesel costs one dollar, all of our projects will lose,” he said. “And we will be obliged to leave Kurdistan."

BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 Iraq and Turkey are in a trade dispute over oil products and meat imports as tension between the neighboring countries continues.

The BBC reports oil products shipments from two southern Turkish cities into Iraq have been suspended over a dispute with the central Iraqi government over resigning contracts.


And, without any apparent reason, Iraq has banned red and white meat products imports from Turkey.

Turkey has begun amassing troops on its southern border shared with Iraq. It has threatened military action if the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north secedes from Iraq. It also has made threats if Kurdistan is given too much control within a federal Iraq as well as if the oil city of Kirkuk, currently outside of the Kurdistan region, is incorporated.

Turkish officials began raising concerns Monday after Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization said companies wishing to renew fuel import contracts should contact the regional government instead of the central government.

SOMO's attitude is unacceptable, said Turkey State Minister Kursat Tuzmen. If someone is trying to test Turkey's patience, they will pay a heavy price for this.Around 11 billion barrels of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of proven reserves are in Kirkuk. The Kurdistan region also contains a major share of Iraq's reserves, though production and exports have been hurt by ongoing attacks on a pipeline into Turkey.

Iraq suffers from a lack of oil products and imports most of its fuels for transportation, heat and cooking.

But the BBC reports contracts for oil products from Mersin and Iskenderun, Turkey, expired Friday at midnight.

Only the tankers taking oil for the U.S. troops can pass through Habur border crossing, and the tankers loaded with oil products for Iraq are not allowed, said Aziz Akgul, chairman of the Mersin Fuel Oil Dealers ' Association. It is a diplomatic problem. I hope problems will be resolved soon.

Copyright 2007 by UPI

IRAQI
CONSTITUTION

Article 140:
First: The executive authority shall undertake the necessary steps to complete the
implementation of the requirements of all subparagraphs of Article 58 of the
Transitional Administrative Law.
Second: The responsibility placed upon the executive branch of the Iraqi
Transitional Government stipulated in Article 58 of the Transitional
Administrative Law shall extend and continue to the executive authority elected
in accordance with this Constitution, provided that it accomplishes completely
(normalization and census and concludes with a referendum in Kirkuk and other
disputed territories to determine the will of their citizens), by a date not to exceed
the 31st of December 2007.


Article 58:
First: The President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the
Council of Representatives, or fifty members of the Council of Representatives
may call the Council to an extraordinary session. The session shall be restricted
to the topics that necessitated the call for the session.
Second: The legislative session of the Council of Representatives may be
extended for no more than 30 days to complete the tasks that require the
extension, based on a request from the President of the Republic, the Prime
Minister, the Speaker of the Council, or fifty members of the Council of
Representatives.

I watched this 1 hour documentary last night on SBS Television.

Cutting Edge: Iraq's Missing Billions - TV Reviews - TV & Radio - Entertainment

January 29, 2007
A documentary that examines the misdirection of billions of dollars of Iraqi reconstruction money entrusted to the American Coalition.
When the US-led coalition seized Iraq, it took control of billions of dollars to be held in trust for the country’s people. The money, comprising among other things proceeds from the United Nations oil-for-food program and assets of former Baathists, was earmarked to kick-start the reconstruction effort. This development fund was turned into hard cash and stored by the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. From there literally tons and tons of crisp $100 notes (USD) were transported to Andrews Airforce Base near Washington than flown to Iraq. There it was stored NOT in banks but in one of Saddam's palaces. Contractors, and there were plenty of them, were paid paid in cash.

But about 14 months later, the Coalition Provisional Authority had burned through about $US20 billion ($A32.8 billion) and failed to account for where it went. As a result, Iraq’s essential services languished in a worse state than ever before.

This documentary tries to follow the financial trail and encounters staggering instances of incompetence, negligence, waste and corruption.
In other words, it was AWB-style business as usual in Iraq. The country became a mecca for buck-hungry contractors and profiteers. Companies such as Custer Battles allegedly billed the authority for work not done, charged a 100 per cent mark-up on expenses, and found abandoned vehicles to hire for a steep price.

The authority not only failed to investigate the claims, but continued to give the corporation work. (A lawyer for former authority officialsturned whistleblowers explains the seemingly inexplicable as part of the Coalition’s eagerness to project success on the ground.)

In the lead-up to the Coalition’s handover of power, and finances, to the new Iraqi Government, the spending spree gathered force. The most astonishing claim here is of an authority official ordered to spend $US7 million in seven days. There’s a sound framework for this doco, not least a US watchdog report on inadequate auditing by the authority and criminal proceedings currently under way.

And yet, certain scenes feel scripted for political effect. Iraqi doctor Ali Fadhil guides us through a hospital that was supposed to have benefited from a $US4 million refit. Babies die for lack of equipment and medicines, and sewage leaks into operating theatres. (Flashy, big-ticket items apparently took precedence over much-needed basics.) All shocking, of course, but Fadhil, having been sidelined by the US in its so-called de-Baathification of Iraq’s bureaucracy, grinds his axe with an enthusiasm that sows mistrust.

And the ‘‘we feel betrayed, they call this democracy’’ declarations of the aggrieved patients sound rather rehersed.
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