Thread: Iraq/Dinar News until 5/23/07 Midnight CST

Originally Posted by Bill

Hey guys and gals what to make of this rescheduling of the oil conference?
Any thoughts would be welcome.

http://www.rolclub.com/rumors-predic...arliament.html But you can Have and Get More. lol

Iraq makes plans for quick US pullout
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-05-22 09:06

BAGHDAD - Iraq's military is drawing up plans to cope with any quick US military pullout, the defense minister said Monday, as a senior American official warned that the Bush administration may reconsider its support if Iraqi leaders don't make major reforms by fall.

The US official did not say what actions could be taken by the White House, but his comments reflected the administration's need to show results in Iraq -- as an answer to pressure by the Democrats in Congress seeking to set timetables on the US military presence.

Several mortar shells hit the US-controlled Green Zone, one striking the Iraqi parliament building but causing no casualties -- the latest in near daily barrages on the nerve center of the US mission and Iraqi government that underline the country's tenuous security.

At least 58 Iraqis were killed by attacks or found dead across Iraq, including seven people ambushed on a bus northeast of Baghdad, police said. The dead included 24 men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found across Baghdad, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

British troops clashed with Shiite Muslim gunmen in the southern city of Basra. Britain's military said one British soldier and a civilian driver were killed when a supply convoy was attacked in the center of the city, Iraq's second biggest.

Elsewhere, US troops raided safe houses south of Baghdad but failed to find three soldiers missing since a May 12 ambush that left four other Americans and an Iraqi dead.

"We've (identified) some safe houses and we targeted a couple of those today and they were able to slip away from us. But we're going to come at things from a different angle," a US spokesman, Maj. Webster Wright, said without elaborating.

US officers said the search by thousands of US and Iraqi soldiers may be forcing the kidnappers to move the three Americans frequently, preventing insurgents from posting pictures of their captives on the Internet.

"We choose to be cautiously optimistic," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told CNN. "We're pursuing all leads with a passion, but right now we believe our soldiers are still alive. Each day that passes when we don't see proof of life, it causes us concern."

With violence raging, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government to demonstrate progress on key reforms or risk losing American support for the unpopular war.

On Monday, Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi told reporters Iraq's military was drawing up plans in case US-led forces left the country quickly.

"The army plans on the basis of a worst case scenario so as not to allow any security vacuum," al-Obeidi said. "There are meetings with political leaders on how we can deal with a sudden pullout."

It was unclear whether al-Obeidi's comment referred to routine contingency planning or reflected a feeling among Iraqi leaders that the days of US support may be numbered even though President Bush blocked an effort by Congress to set a withdrawal timetable.

A White House spokesman, Tony Fratto, said President Bush expressed confidence in al-Maliki during a telephone call Monday to the Iraqi leader.

He said the two talked about political progress in Iraq, and al-Maliki gave Bush updates on two key US demands -- legislation to share Iraq's oil wealth among its regions and ethnic groups and a reform of the constitution.

But two senior Iraqi officials told The Associated Press that Bush warned al-Maliki that Washington expected to see "tangible results quickly" on the oil bill and other legislation as the price for continued support.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't supposed to release the information.

In London, a senior US official echoed that warning, saying the Bush administration wanted signs of progress by fall or it would be forced to reconsider its policy in Iraq.

The official, who briefed reporters on condition his name not be published, said the top American diplomat and military commander in Iraq would submit a report on Iraqi progress in September.

"If one looks at when critical progress is to be made, one would be best advised to look at this fall as a key point," the official said.

Senior Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman confirmed that US pressure was mounting, especially on the oil bill, which was endorsed by the Iraqi Cabinet three months ago but has yet to come to the floor of parliament.

"The Americans are pressuring us to accept the oil law. Their pressure is very strong. They want to show Congress that they have done something so they want the law to be adopted this month. This interference is negative and will have consequences," Othman told AP.

Kurdish legislators oppose the formula for distributing oil revenues among the Iraqi communities, arguing for a greater say in how the money is disbursed.

Major Shiite and Kurdish parties oppose several proposed changes in the constitution, as well as Sunni Arab demands for a loosening of rules banning former Saddam Hussein supporters from government jobs.

Prospects for far-reaching agreements among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds were thrown into doubt over the weekend when the leader of the largest Shiite party, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was diagnosed with lung cancer at a hospital in Houston.

Al-Hakim, who left the US for treatment in Iran, delivered a televised address Monday in which he said he was suffering from a "limited tumor" but expected to return to the country soon.

US officials had been counting on al-Hakim to help push through reforms, and a lengthy absence could make it difficult to deliver Shiite support.

In other violence, the Iraqi newspaper Azzaman reported Monday that one of its reporters, Ali Khalil, 22, was kidnapped while leaving a relative's house in the increasingly volatile Baiyaa neighborhood of Baghdad and found dead several hours later. He is survived by his wife and week-old baby, the newspaper said.

The attack came three days after two Iraqi journalists working for ABC News were ambushed and killed on their way home from work. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 104 journalists -- not including Khalil -- had been killed in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. About 80 percent of those were Iraqis, it said.

A roadside bomb exploded near a group of Iraqi soldiers patrolling the Sunni-dominated Adil neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing three and injuring two others.

In Muqdadiya, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, two gunmen killed two police officers as they walked by the police station.

Insurgents also fired mortar rounds into a bank in Baqouba while customers were lined up to collect their pensions, killing two people, police said.

Iraq makes plans for quick US pullout

Sure hope that the info here is a little more truth than Prediction. or a rumor. Inscrutable is usually pretty much on the spot.

Iraq holds oil law talks
by Reuters on Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Iraqi officials are holding talks in Baghdad over a draft oil law, to overcome last-minute disagreements between the central government and the Kurdish region, officials said on Monday.

Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and officials have been struggling since last year to finalise the draft law, which is vital for Iraq to attract investment from foreign firms to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.

The cabinet approved the draft in February but it still needs to be passed by parliament.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement


The legislation is crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's oil reserves would be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups.

Last month, Kurds from Iraq's oil-rich north threatened to block the law in parliament and clashed with the central government over some of its annexes, raising the prospect of more delays that dogged the lengthy drafting of the legislation.

Iraqi officials told Reuters that talks to iron out the disputes between Kurdish, Sunni Arab and Shi'ite officials began in the capital on Sunday after preliminary discussions in Kurdistan.

"We have started the talks. We hope we will overcome the problems," one official at the meeting said.

It was not clear how long the meetings will continue but Iraqi officials have said they hoped parliament will pass the draft by end of May.

The threat to fight the bill in Iraq's national parliament came days after the Oil Ministry in Baghdad warned regions against signing contracts until the landmark law was passed.

The Kurds have objections over some annexes in the draft which would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state oil company.

Iraq's Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies, including a service contract last month with United Arab Emirate's Dana Gas.

A coalition of Kurdish political parties in Iraq's national parliament holds 53 seats in the 275-member legislature.

"Everybody is aware that we need to pass this law, it is for our interest," a senior oil industry official told Reuters.

"They all agree on the law itself but there are some details which need to be reviewed. I hope it will not take long this time," the offical said.





Iraq holds oil law talks - Energy - ArabianBusiness.com

100 billion Iraqi Dinar earmarked for first stage in implementation of Article 140



Kurdistan TV





The Head of Kirkuk's office of the High Commission for Implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, Abubakir Sidiq, has criticised a number of groups who are planning to delay the Kirkuk referendum.



Sidiq claimed that a number of extremist groups want to normalise the city but postpone the referendum. Other groups are totally opposed to Article 140 yet unable to propose an alternative method of the restoring the citizens of Kirkuk their rights.



In response to Zalmay Khalilzad's recent proposal of taking the issue of Kirkuk to the United Nations, Sidiq pointed out that Khalilzad's comments were made within the framework of the Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq.



According to Sidiq, over the last week, one hundred separate sub-committees of the High Commission for Implementation of Article 140 have been involved in distributing compensation. The compensation is awarded both to families who were originally resettled to Kirkuk and can now return to their hometowns, and also to families who were evicted from the city and are now being encouraged to return.



Sidiq stated that the technical problems in implementing Article 140 have now been resolved, adding that 100 billion Iraqi Dinar have been allocated to the first stage of the implementation process. He said that further funds included in the 2008 budget by Iraq’s Council of Ministers have yet to be approved.

100 billion Iraqi Dinar earmarked for first stage in implementation of Article 140

NOTE THIS IS JUST ONE MAN'S OPINION

The curse of oil
BY DR MUSTAFA ALANI

22 May 2007



CIVIL wars such as those in Sudan, Nigeria, and other parts of the world often have a strong economic dimension. The fighting and spilling of blood are not always motivated by nationalist feelings or aspirations, or by the desire to protect human, ethnic, religious, or cultural rights of certain minorities.


History has proven that civil war leaders and warlords are among the worst violators of human rights, and many of them are no better than criminals or dictators working for self promotion, personal wealth and glory. Thus the fight is not always for what is visible above the ground, or what is publicly claimed as justification for the civil war, but in certain cases for what is hidden from view. If we exclude the genuine and rightful struggles for the right of self-determination, in most other cases of civil wars it is rare that people will fight and die for worthless land; the economic dimension was, and remains, a major underlying factor in internal and external conflicts.

During the last four years, news about the escalating violence in Iraq has dominated media headlines across the world. Media reports have been full of the news of violence in the by now well-known hotspots like Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi, and Diyala. However, there is very little news about the violence endured by Iraqi people living in other regions and cities of the country.

The daily violent struggle in the two oil-rich cities of Kirkuk and Basra has a special meaning for Iraqi people and is of significance for the state. Kirkuk and Basra have no geographical link between them, they are separated by hundreds of miles; one is a main city in the north of Iraq, the other is the main city in the south. Nevertheless, there is a common link between the two cities as they are both considered ‘jewels in the crown’ in the country’s oil production sector. Indeed, for the last three years, the two cities have experienced a virtual civil war. With the country sliding gradually towards chaos and possible disintegration, the crucial question is: who is going to control the country’s oil wealth? Although Iraq, until now, is able to function as a ‘state’, albeit with a weak central government, the battle for the control of the country’s oil wealth is already in progress, if not in an advanced stage.

In Kirkuk, the two Kurdish parties, with the support of the armed militia Peshmarga and the participation of many Kurdish security services and party cadres, are working very hard to secure the city and the entire Kirkuk province, and establish control over the oil resources of the province. The Kurdish leadership has realised that the present situation in Iraq offers them a historic and probably unrepeatable window of opportunity to impose Kurdish control over the oil-rich city and secure economic viability for a future Kurdish political entity, eventually leading to the declaration of the first Kurdish independent state. The strategy to bring Kirkuk under Kurdish control is based on taking full advantage of the chaotic situation prevailing in Iraq.

The Kurds today appear as the strongest and most organised political group on the Iraqi political scene. They understand that neither the Iraqi government nor the US will be able to compel them. To secure control over Kirkuk, the two Kurdish parties adopted a multi-stage strategy. First, they pushed their militias to impose control over the city and take over most of the key positions in the provincial administration. At the same time, they initiated a campaign of ‘ethnic cleansing’ to force the non-Kurdish population of the city (Arabs and Turkmans) to move out. They were able to impose Article 140 in the new Iraqi Constitution which calls for the "normalisation" of the situation in the province. Coupled with other practical measures already implemented on the ground by the Kurdish leadership, they may well be on their way to secure the "Kurdisation" of Kirkuk and its oil wealth.

In Basra, the situation is slightly different. The bloody fight for the control of the city and its enormous oil wealth has been going on for the last four years, and remains unsettled. There is an ongoing Shia-Shia conflict between a number of rival Shia militias, and organised criminal groups dominate the city’s political and security scene. Basra has been effectively out of the central government’s control since the invasion of the country, and it is unlikely that government’s authority can be restored in the near future. The Baghdad government is paralysed, and unable or unwilling to stop the sectarian "cleansing" in Basra, or the ongoing fight for control of the province and its resources. The rival Shia political groups, small and big — many depending on support coming from across the international borders — are working hard to secure some formula that could guarantee a partial or complete separation of Basra from the rest of the state. A de facto separation is now in existence, which means that Basra and its oil wealth are at the mercy of ambitious and ruthless local warlords who have no consideration for or attachment to the country or its national interests.

In view of the current developments in both major oil cities, it seems that the vicious hyaenas have started their feast, even before the death of the prey.

Dr Mustafa Alani is the Director of the Security and Terrorism Program at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai

Khaleej Times Online - The curse of oil

Some might outto take Garthstar's Advice and realise that the Summit is the Party. The HCL will not wait until September.

Originally Posted by buddyboy

Iraq holds oil law talks
by Reuters on Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Iraqi officials are holding talks in Baghdad over a draft oil law, to overcome last-minute disagreements between the central government and the Kurdish region, officials said on Monday.

Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and officials have been struggling since last year to finalise the draft law, which is vital for Iraq to attract investment from foreign firms to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.

The cabinet approved the draft in February but it still needs to be passed by parliament.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement


The legislation is crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's oil reserves would be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups.

Last month, Kurds from Iraq's oil-rich north threatened to block the law in parliament and clashed with the central government over some of its annexes, raising the prospect of more delays that dogged the lengthy drafting of the legislation.

Iraqi officials told Reuters that talks to iron out the disputes between Kurdish, Sunni Arab and Shi'ite officials began in the capital on Sunday after preliminary discussions in Kurdistan.

"We have started the talks. We hope we will overcome the problems," one official at the meeting said.

It was not clear how long the meetings will continue but Iraqi officials have said they hoped parliament will pass the draft by end of May.

The threat to fight the bill in Iraq's national parliament came days after the Oil Ministry in Baghdad warned regions against signing contracts until the landmark law was passed.

The Kurds have objections over some annexes in the draft which would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state oil company.

Iraq's Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies, including a service contract last month with United Arab Emirate's Dana Gas.

A coalition of Kurdish political parties in Iraq's national parliament holds 53 seats in the 275-member legislature.

"Everybody is aware that we need to pass this law, it is for our interest," a senior oil industry official told Reuters.

"They all agree on the law itself but there are some details which need to be reviewed. I hope it will not take long this time," the offical said.





Iraq holds oil law talks - Energy - ArabianBusiness.com

Iraqi Vice preparing a draft law to allocate part of oil revenues for the care of widows and orphans
22.05.07

Radio Sawa - نواب عراقيون يعدّون مشروع قانون يخصص جزء من عائدات الن�ط لرعاية الأرامل والأيتام

Tangible economic progress : low inflation and strength in the currency and the decline in unemployment, the growth of Iraqi Reserve
22.05.07

The economic news to the presence of economic activity point to a trend towards economic growth perfume Iraq for several years, after the Iraq witnessed the phenomenon of the Iraqi currency stability despite the security situation tremors violent nature was threatening the stability of any foreign currency. but not seen, but we found growing in the Iraqi currency stabilized until today when the temporary barrier of 1280 and the impending rise of a few Similarly, the movement has encountered Finance Minister counterpart towards devaluation Iraqi jamming normal movement aimed to portray reduce currency Masaouka rise to inflation, However, current economic indicators suggest the opposite Inflation, which had reached 70% disembark started out so much today, according to figures from the Iraqi Central Bank to nearly 40%barrier and this proportion is viewed with satisfaction, especially as large financial allocations earmarked for the sector investment for this year amounting to 10 billion jet had started in the financial market, which hoped that descend below the inflation rate because these specialties will affect seriously the employment market and the value purchasing despite the difficulties posed by the terrorist attacks on the economic climate,

The figures reflected the recent publication CBE steady progress in the growth of the financial reserve Iraqi reserves have jumped from 12 billion dollars last year to 21 billion dollars and we are in the fifth month of this year than sprinkled with it many hopes for the economic future more promising, despite the paralysis that afflicts many industrial sectors and productivity.

But observers attribute this to several factors including improved tax on the sector, including assertive policy towards customs benefits, as well as the oil sector has improved in several areas, although the latter is still without ambition total for Iraq but could draw many hopes on that rosy.

Pratha News Agency (father)

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Maliki approve the allocation of five billion dinars to the families displaced
22.05.07

Got approval of the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to allocate the full amount of five billion Iraqi dinars for distribution to displaced families have been forcibly returned to home areas. A statement by the Secretariat of the media that "the amount Almmccor been allocated the sum allocated for the compensation of victims of terrorism and 400 billion dinars to Baghdad governorate."

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