Thread: Iraqi/Dinar news until March 1st, 2007

Oil grab in Iraq
A leaked copy of the proposed hydrocarbon law appeared on the Internet last week at the same time that it was introduced to the Iraqi Council of Ministers. The law is expected to go to the Iraqi Council of Representatives within weeks.
Saturday, February 24, 2007By Antonia Juhasz and Raed Jarrar

While debate rages in the United States about the military in Iraq, an equally important decision is being made inside of Iraq--the future of Iraq’s oil. A new Iraqi law proposes to open the country’s currently nationalized oil system to foreign corporate control. But emblematic of the flawed promotion of “democracy” by the Bush administration, this new law is news to most Iraqi politicians.
A leaked copy of the proposed hydrocarbon law appeared on the Internet last week at the same time that it was introduced to the Iraqi Council of Ministers. The law is expected to go to the Iraqi Council of Representatives within weeks. Yet the Internet version was the first look that most members of Iraq’s parliament had of the new law.

Many Iraqi oil experts, like Fouad Al-Ameer who was responsible for the leak, think that this law is not an urgent item on the country's agenda. Other observers and analysis share Al-Ameer's views and believe the Bush administration, foreign oil companies, and the International Monetary Fund are rushing the Iraqi government to pass the law.

Not every aspect of the law is harmful to Iraq. However, the current language favors the interests of foreign oil corporations over the economic security and development of Iraq. The law’s key negative components harm Iraq’s national sovereignty, financial security, territorial integrity, and democracy.

National Sovereignty and Financial Security
The new oil law gives foreign corporations access to almost every sector of Iraq’s oil and natural gas industry. This includes service contracts on existing fields that are already being developed and that are managed and operated by the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC). For fields that have already been discovered, but not yet developed, the proposed law stipulates that INOC will have to be a partner on these contracts. But for as-yet-undiscovered fields, neither INOC nor private Iraqi companies receive preference in new exploration and development. Foreign companies have full access to these contracts.

The exploration and production contracts give firms exclusive control of fields for up to 35 years including contracts that guarantee profits for 25-years. A foreign company, if hired, is not required to partner with an Iraqi company or reinvest any of its money in the Iraqi economy. It’s not obligated to hire Iraqi workers train Iraqi workers, or transfer technology.

The current law remains silent on the type of contracts that the Iraqi government can use. The law establishes a new Iraqi Federal Oil and Gas Council with ultimate decision-making authority over the types of contracts that will be employed. This Council will include, among others, “executive managers of from important related petroleum companies.” Thus, it is possible that foreign oil company executives could sit on the Council. It would be unprecedented for a sovereign country to have, for instance, an executive of ExxonMobil on the board of its key oil and gas decision-making body.

The law also does not appear to restrict foreign corporate executives from making decisions on their own contracts. Nor does there appear to be a “quorum” requirement. Thus, if only five members of the Federal Oil and Gas Council met--one from ExxonMobil, Shell, ChevronTexaco, and two Iraqis--the foreign company representatives would apparently be permitted to approve contacts for themselves.

Under the proposed law, the Council has the ultimate power and authority to approve and re-write any contract using whichever model it prefers if a "2/3 majority of the members in attendance" agree. Early drafts of the bill, and the proposed model by the U.S. advocate very unfair, and unconventional for Iraq, models such as Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) which would set long term contracts with unfair conditions that may lead to the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars of the Iraqi oil money as profits to foreign companies.

The Council will also decide the fate of the existing exploration and production contracts already signed with the French, Chinese, and Russians, among others.

The law does not clarify who ultimately controls production levels. The contractee--the INOC, foreign, or domestic firms--appears to have the right to determine levels of production. However, a clause reads, “In the event that, for national policy considerations, there is a need to introduce limitations on the national level of Petroleum Production, such limitations shall be applied in a fair and equitable manner and on a pro-rata basis for each Contract Area on the basis of approved Field Development Plans.” The clause does not indicate who makes this decision, what a “fair and equitable manner” means, or how it is enforced. If foreign companies, rather than the Iraqi government, ultimately have control over production levels, then Iraq’s relationship to OPEC and other similar organizations would be deeply threatened.

Democracy and Territorial Integrity
Many Iraqi oil experts are already referring to the draft law as the "Split Iraq Fund," arguing that it facilitates plans for splitting Iraq into three ethnic/religious regions. The experts believe the law undermines the central government and shifts important decision-making and responsibilities to the regional entities. This shift could serve as the foundation for establishing three new independent states, which is the goal of a number of separatist leaders.

The law opens the possibility of the regions taking control of Iraq’s oil, but it also maintains the possibility of the central government retaining control. In fact, the law was written in a vague manner to help ensure passage, a ploy reminiscent of the passage of the Iraqi constitution. There is a significant conflict between the Bush administration and others in Iraq who would like ultimate authority for Iraq’s oil to rest with the central government and those who would like to see the nation split in three. Both groups are powerful in Iraq. Both groups have been mollified, for now, to ensure the law's passage.

But two very different outcomes are possible. If the central government remains the ultimate decision-making authority in Iraq, then the Iraq Federal Oil and Gas Council will exercise power over the regions. And if the regions emerge as the strongest power in Iraq, then the Council could simply become a silent rubber stamp, enforcing the will of the regions. The same lack of clarity exists in Iraq's constitution.

The daily lives of most people in Iraq are overwhelmed with meeting basic needs. They are unaware of the details and full nature of the oil law shortly to be considered in parliament. Their parliamentarians, in turn, have not been included in the debate over the law and were unable to even read the draft until it was leaked on the Internet. Those Iraqis able to make their voices heard on the oil law want more time. They urge postponing a decision until Iraqis have their own sovereign state without a foreign occupation.

Passing this oil law while the political future of Iraq is unclear can only further the existing schisms in the Iraqi government. Forcing its passage will achieve nothing more than an increase in the levels of violence, anger, and instability in Iraq and a prolongation of the U.S. occupation.

Providing a place of sanctuary and solace for the faithful on the frontline


Services are just a small part of the help provided by chaplains in a war zone

Peter Beaumont in Camp Warhorse, Baquba
Wednesday February 21, 2007
The Guardian




It is said there are no atheists in foxholes. In conflict, soldiers face deep personal questions: about anger and isolation; about separation from family and home; about faith and the meaning of life and death.
Charlie Fenton has learned much about those questions in his time as chief military chaplain at a US army base on the outskirts of the city of Baquba in Iraq. "One of my congregation asked me whether God created evil,' he says. "It was a bad time when we were pulling a lot of Iraqi bodies out of the canals."

Fenton, a former military lawyer and former chaplain at Arlington Military Cemetery who was educated at Cambridge, came to Iraq with firm ideas of how to preach to a Cavalry unit from the 1st Division that had fought in some of the toughest areas of Iraq since 2003. Instead he has found that Iraq itself and his military congregation have insisted on imposing their own, sometimes painful, agenda.

"Nothing is normal here," he says. "You try to get used to church in a war zone where people bring weapons into God's sanctuary. Once we had to leave to help with a mass casualty coming into our main aid station. Today we have no musicians because they are all out on a mission."

The congregation stows its weapons beneath the pews against a soundtrack supplied by helicopters, unmanned drones and low-flying jets.

While talking to Fenton, the blast from an outgoing round - fired in response to an attack half an hour earlier on the base's main gate - rattles his temporary home, a metal container with two windows and a door.

Like the office in his small chapel, which is protected by tall blast walls painted with murals, Fenton's room is decorated with surfing equipment. It is, he explains, designed to create an alternative world to the dusty and dangerous one just outside his door.

Integral

Fenton is a Presbyterian on a base where the team of chaplains ministers to Pentecostalists and Roman Catholics, Baptists and Jews, Orthodox and Muslim. Some live on the base, while others fly in once a week or once a fortnight to perform their ministry. One of the team is a Messianic Jew from Puerto Rico.

With soldiers coming from a nation where regular religious observance is much more common than in Europe, the role of the chaplain is integral to the US military.

Soldiers receive DVDs of church services from home, attend prayer meetings and bible class. So popular is the gospel service on Fenton's base that it takes place in its large theatre.

But it is not the formal act of worship that preoccupies the chaplains, but the personal role they fulfil.

Most evenings Fenton is at home or in his office for soldiers seeking solace or advice until late into the night.

"When I first got here, I was getting very little sleep. People used to wake me at all hours of the night," he says. "So I extended my 'office hours' until 2am. It is what I call the 'Nicodemus effect' [after the figure in the Bible who came to visit Jesus after dark]. There are people who want to see me but don't want their colleagues to know about it."

It is not only issues of faith that the chaplains minister to. Fenton watches for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, referring soldiers for counselling.

There are other issues too. "We get the stereotypical war problems. The break-up of relationships. Dear John letters. Wives cheating. Some of these guys marry very young. And for some of the guys in this unit, they have been here on two or three tours. For almost all of their marriages they have been gone." He pauses. "Such brokenness in our soldiers' lives.

"What I'm also seeing is an increase in the soldiers' anger and frustration - over the time they have been here, over the deaths of their friends, over rules of engagement."

No one, including Fenton by his own admission, is immune from the effects of the conflict. "There was a period when I had been hit very hard by death. I had been doing hero flights [the repatriation of the remains of soldiers killed in action] and I was feeling weak. But I keep a journal and I used what I wrote in my journal for my sermon that weekend - on what strength is."

Despite the damage he has seen, Fenton still believes in the "optimism" of the 19-year-olds who make up a large part of his congregation - despite being worried for them as a generation. "I still think it is one of the best qualities of Americans - and I know we get criticised for it - that we are optimistic that we can make a change. I still believe the average soldier here would rather be playing with the kids in the schools, and wants to see this place turned around, than fighting, despite some of the darkness of their humour. And whether you believe that this is a just war, we are here."

Confidence

"How do our soldiers react when one of their friends gets killed? Will they go out and commit a war crime? I frame that as how we react when confronted by evil. I have a lot of confidence. People might talk about doing stuff but on the whole I believe they are good, although that is not saying that some as individuals might not stray.

"And will individuals pay the price? Yes they will."

What worries him most is the cumulative effect of so much death and fear in the long run - not only on the soldiers but on their families.

"When I was at Arlington I buried a lot of Vietnam veterans who had died too early. They had not looked after themselves and had smoked and drunk too much, sometimes taken drugs.

"My prayer, as a religious guy, is that these young men here do not get colder. But I think a lot of the guys are becoming colder. My question is - does it stay like that, or will it change?"

Iraqi Kurdish troops heading to Baghdad
(AFP)

24 February 2007



ARBIL, Iraq - A Kurdish brigade of the Iraqi army set off on Saturday for Baghdad to take part in a massive joint US and Iraqi military operation to pacify the city, its commander said.


‘Our participation in this security plan is proof of the fact that we belong to the Iraqi Army,’ said Brigadier General Nathir Asim Koran, commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Army Division.

‘We had decided to send 1,700 men but the number grew to 1,800,’ the general told reporters in the Kurdish capital Arbil. ‘This demonstrates how keen soldiers in the province are to be part of the plan.’

The Kurdish region of northern Iraq is autonomous, and many there still dream of independence from the Arab south, but in public at least regional officials insist they support national unity.

Nevertheless, some observers have warned that too big a Kurdish contingent in Baghdad could spark tensions in the capital, especially as many Kurds can’t speak Arabic.

The general emphasised however that his troops had been well-prepared for their mission. ‘All our soldiers have completed training courses to be ready to restore peace in Baghdad,’ he said.

Iraqi PM commends security plan

MIL-IRAQ-MALIKI-LAW
Iraqi PM commends security plan

(with photos) BAGHDAD, Feb 24 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said here Saturday a security law aiming to impose law and chase lawbreakers had brought favorable results.

He made the remarks during his visit to an Iraqi military base in Baghdad, adding that he had asked the Iraqi commander in charge of the security plan to give politicians no opportunity to poke their noses into the security aspect of the law imposition blueprint.

"All lawbreakers have no safe hideout. Everyone should be aware that there will be neither state nor stability unless the law prevails. It is the government alone which is responsible for protecting people and the nation," the Iraqi prime minister said.

He went on to say "The State will bring all lawbreakers to accountability regardless of his orientations. There will be no lenience in dealing with lawbreakers. We will take all measures unhesitantly far from political interferences." The Iraqi premier hailed the recent favorable results, including the dismantling of several terrorist cells and foiling of several terrorist attempts targeting people, as well as the return of displaced families to their houses.

On some politicians trying to poke their noses into the security plan, Al-Maliki said he had asked the security plan commander to resist any political bid to interfere in the security blueprint. (end) aha.

mt
KUNA 241930

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Japan to provide USD 104 million emergency grant aid to Iraq

ECO-JAPAN-IRAQ-AID
Japan to provide USD 104 million emergency grant aid to Iraq

TOKYO, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- Japan decided to provide USD 104.5 million in emergency grant aid to Iraq as part of efforts to help in the war-torn country's reconstruction efforts, the Foreign Ministry anncounced Friday.

Of the amount, USD 73.6 million will be earmarked through five international organizations, including the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to improve basic services such as health programs and food supply, as well as refugee facilities in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. The remainder will be used to strengthen security along the Iraqi border and to train retired Iraqi soldiers, according to the ministry. The new aid comes in response to the growing number of refugees amid continued sectarian conflict in Iraq. Japan, a key donor to Iraq, has pledged to provide Iraq a total of five billion dollars in aid for its reconstruction for a four-year period from 2004 to 2007, including USD 1.5 billion in grants. (end) mk.

ajs
KUNA 231743

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
Sat Feb 24, 4:52 AM ET



BAGHDAD, Iraq - Toting menacing looking toy guns, young boys swarm around an abandoned car, chanting battle cries of a Shiite militia and pointing their play weapons at the "terrorist" in the driver's seat. Outnumbered, the boy playing a would-be suicide bomber surrenders.

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On Baghdad's dusty streets, Iraqi children are playing make-believe war games inspired by the Shiite-Sunni conflict, a development that shows the depth of the city's rapid and violent break-up along sectarian lines.

Some adults try to discourage such games, fearing they only contribute to sectarian hatred. Others believe there is little they can do to stop it — given the horror that children in Baghdad experience nearly every day.

"Playing such games is normal," said Rabab Qassim, a school teacher and mother of three from Hurriyah, where Shiite militiamen drove out hundreds of Sunni families last year. "It has become part of the kids' lives. It is not a figment of their imagination. It is in front of them everywhere and they live it every day."

Iraq's children have not escaped the ravages of nearly four years of war and sectarian strife, which escalated during the past year. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of them have been killed or wounded in the violence.

Images of parents weeping over the dead or mangled bodies of their children define the brutality of the conflict.

"You coward! I will kill you," shouted 6-year-old Haidar Faraj, who played a Shiite militiaman from the Shiite Mahdi Army militia on a recent afternoon in Hurriyah. His younger brother Abbas was the Sunni "terrorist."

Abu Ali, 40, who sells toys in Baghdad's Shorja market, said most of the children who visit his store are looking for the "biggest and most harmful toy guns."

"About 95 percent of the toys I sell are guns," said Abu Ali, who refused to give his full name for security reasons.

So many toy guns — some of which look real at first glance — are circulating in the city that Trade Minister Abed Falah al-Sudani is considering banning them.

Kids who can't afford toy weapons simply use their imagination. Take a wooden stick, tie on an empty water bottle with a black sock and presto — a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Boys dart behind parked cars or sprawl on the ground and pretend to fire them.

The names of the games vary depending on the neighborhood.

In Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of the Mahdi Army, the "bad guys" are "Wahabbis," or Sunni religious extremists. Sometimes the game becomes "Sadr City vs Azamiyah," referring to a nearby Sunni neighborhood.

In New Baghdad, a mixed area where Shiites are most numerous, kids play "police and terrorists."

Some of the children even dress up in black shirts that resemble Mahdi Army attire. Those playing the cops put on black ski masks, often used by Baghdad police to hide their identity.

"These kids are not only mimicking what they see on TV, but also some of the real violence they see," said Sabah Mohammed Ali, a Shiite policeman whose two sons — Mohammed, 11, and Mustapha, 8 — are avid players of such games.

"I try to discourage them from playing and I talk to them about Shiites and Sunnis living in peace, but they keep going back to the same game," said Ali, 44, who comes from Sadr City.

Some Iraqis worry that the war games are contributing to an increase in aggressive behavior among children, many of whom are losing interest in their schoolwork. It's hard to tell whether war games — or the general state of life in Baghdad — are to blame.

"They challenge teachers and even threaten them," said biology teacher Abu Ali. "They are so frustrated and do not care about their work because they think they may end up displaced or killed, so why should they bother to study."

___

Sat Feb 24, 3:49 AM ET



BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US military said Saturday that the son of a powerful Iraqi Shiite leader was temporarily detained on the Iranian border after he and his guards behaved suspiciously.

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Ammar al-Hakim, the son of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim who heads the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), was arrested on Friday at the Mehran border crossing and held for several hours.

Both the elder and younger Hakim are senior Shiite clerics and their party, which has close ties to Iran, is a pillar of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government.

Ammar al-Hakim told AFP that he had been blindfolded and held for 11 hours after US forces who intercepted his convoy as it returned from Iran discovered that his passport had expired.

"Iraqi border security troops, supported by coalition forces, detained Amar al-Hakim, son of SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim at a border checkpoint with Iran on Friday," confirmed US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver.

"His convoy was initially stopped because the vehicles met specific criteria for further investigation in an area where smuggling activity has taken place in the past," he explained.

"At the time, members of the convoy did not cooperate with coalition forces and displayed suspicious activities which subsequently led to Mr Hakim's detention," he added.

"Further investigation led to Mr Hakim's release to Iraqi authorities and the return of his possessions. Mr Hakim was treated with dignity and respect throughout the incident," he said.

"Unfortunate incidents such as this occasionally occur as Iraq endeavours to secure its borders."

Iraqi and US forces are tightening security on Iraq's border with Iran. The United States accuses Iran of smuggling weapons into Iraq to arm the illegal Shiite militias fighting the US military.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi security forces have killed around 400 suspected militants since the start of a major crackdown to stem violence in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday.

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Maliki visited the command center for the operation which was launched 10 days ago and urged security forces taking part in it not to be influenced by sectarian loyalties.

He told reporters 426 suspected militants had been detained in the crackdown "and around that number have been killed."

Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist criticized for not doing enough to combat Shi'ite militias, has vowed to deal even-handedly with both Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims responsible for violence that had been killing hundreds every week.

A statement from his office said the prime minister reminded security forces to "respect the citizen" during searches.

"We will punish all those who ease up on searches involving people from their sect or ethnicity," the statement said.

Washington has identified the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as the greatest threat to security in Iraq. Sunni Arabs blame it for running death squads, a charge Sadr denies.

"The prime minister pointed out the positive results that were produced in the last few days after a number of terrorist cells were broken up and many of their operations failed, as well as the return of hundreds of displaced families to their areas," the statement said.

Interesting news today...

Kurdish leader says he now accepts new oil law, a major benchmark for progress in Iraq

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SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: Kurdish authorities have agreed to back a draft law to manage and share Iraq's vast oil wealth, removing the last major obstacle to approving the measure and meeting a key U.S. benchmark in Iraq, a top Kurdish official said Saturday.

Massoud Barzani, president of the self-governing Kurdish administration in the north, made the announcement at a joint press conference with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and President Jalal Talabani.

Barzani said he and Talabani had discussed the latest draft law by telephone with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and "the results were good."
"We reached a final agreement," Barzani said. "We accept the draft."

There was no comment on the announcement from Khalilzad or Talabani, and Barzani did not elaborate. It was unclear whether new concessions had to be made to win his approval.

Al-Maliki's government had promised to enact a new oil law by the end of 2006 but missed the deadline due to objections from the Kurds, who wanted a greater role in awarding contracts and administering the revenues.

The Cabinet discussed the draft Thursday but failed to reach an agreement. Once the Cabinet signs off, the measure goes to parliament for final approval once the legsilators return from a recess early next month.

President George W. Bush's administration, facing growing pressure to end the Iraq conflict, has been urging the Iraqis to finish the new oil law. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed for early enactment during her one-day visit to Iraq last week.

A new law is needed, most outside experts believe, to encourage international companies to pour billions into Iraq to repair pipelines, upgrade wells, develop new fields and begin to exploit the country's vast petroleum reserves, estimated at about 115 billion barrels.

According to Iraqis familiar with the deliberations, the draft law would offer international oil companies several methods to invest, including production-sharing agreements. Those would give U.S. and other international companies a substantial share of the oil revenues to recover their initial investments and then allow them big tax breaks.

That angers some Iraqis, who believe foreigners will get too much control of the nation's wealth.

But the biggest battle is over who gets the most say in awarding contracts and managing the revenues. The Kurds, who have run their own mini-state in the north since 1991, want regional administrations to have a bigger role.

Most of the country's proven oil reserves lie in the Kurdish north or the Shiite south, which also wants to establish a self-ruled region. That has led the Sunnis to demand more power for the central government, to assure them a share of the wealth.

To win Kurdish approval, the current draft gives a major role to the regional administrations in awarding contracts but allows a committee under the prime minister to review them.

To satisfy the Sunnis, oil revenues would be distributed to the 18 provinces based on their populations — not on whether they have oil. It's unclear whether Sunni Arabs would accept a population-based formula since they have consistently challenged figures showing them as a minority.

While the Kurds want more control of revenue generated from their fields, others think the new proposals give the regions too much control.
If implemented, "The balance of power in the management of Iraq's oil and gas resources would have shifted alarmingly from the center to the regions," former oil official Tariq Shafiq, who helped draft the first version, told an oil seminar in Amman, Jordan, this month.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...aq-Oil-Law.php

Even more interesting....

No Dinar Leaving Iraq

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What do you make of this? Just recv'd this from my husband who is working in Iraq.

Embassy of the United States of America

Baghdad, Iraq



WARDEN MESSAGE

February 23, 2007

The Embassy requests that wardens pass the following message in its
entirety to members of the American community:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq has released
updated regulations for non-Iraqi nationals exiting Iraq with foreign
or
Iraqi currency.

Since December 25, 2005, Iraqi law has prohibited non-Iraqi adults
from
transporting more than U.S. $10,000 in cash out of Iraq. Iraqi law
also
prohibits carrying out more than 100 grams of gold. As of February
21,
2007, Iraqi law now prohibits non-Iraqi adults from transporting any
Iraqi currency out of the country.

Iraqi customs personnel are taking action to enforce this law and may
pose related questions to travelers during immigration and customs
exit
procedures. (Civil customs personnel also will verify passport
annotations related to any items such as foreign currency, gold
jewelry,
or merchandise that were declared by passengers upon entry into Iraq
on
Form-8.)