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

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-05-2007 sent this issue to a friend of President Talabani from London : Terrorism in Iraq standing behind Al Qaeda and Sadameon London / justice : systems Iraqi ambassador in London, Dr. Salah Shaykhali a reception for the rule of President Jalal Talabani, on the occasion of an official visit met by the head of the British government, Tony Blair and held talks on the latest political and security developments in Iraq. Talabani, the President spoke about the achievements of the Iraqi government in the Sharm el-Sheikh foremost of toppling 30 billion of Iraqi debt, and that talks with Syrian and Iranian officials to help stop the violence in Iraq, Talabani added that the convergence good happened between the American Administration and the Syrian and Iranian delegation at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit and President Jalal Talabani said that the positive developments in the security side of the most important defeat for the base in the areas of Anbar, thanks to the awakening clans, Talabani and added that terrorism in Iraq standing behind a basic rule, but this does not Sadameon negotiations and reconciliation with them. He concluded his speech that Talabani Dick Cheney's visit to Iraq, emerging from the recent White House support for the political process in the rescue and rid the Iraqi people of the war of terrorism waged by Al Qaeda in various cities of Iraq. The President Talabani, met with Vice President Dick Cheney, who assured him that the Iraqi government continue its efforts to strengthen democratic experiment, and preserve the gains engendered by the political process in the country. With the Vice President Dick Cheney. it will seek to mobilize the support of Arab countries including Iraq to get sensitive stage through which the Iraqi people and the elected government. this gave President Jalal Talabani lecture to the students and professors of the University of Cambridge in which he spoke about developments in Iraq

Cheney to seek Saudi help on Iraq, Iran


US vice president's diplomatic mission aims to win allies' help in curbing influence of rising Iran.


By Olivier Knox - ABU DHABI

US Vice President Dick Cheney headed for Saudi Arabia on Saturday to seek its aid in Iraq, two months after close ally King Abdullah slammed the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of that war-torn land.


Over the weekend, Cheney was also to visit Egypt and Jordan to wrap up a week-long Middle East visit aimed at encouraging Washington's friends to help pull Iraq's Sunnis into the country's fragile political process.


The vice president's diplomatic mission also aims to win the US allies' help in curbing the influence of a rising Iran, amid talk that the Islamic republic and Saudi Arabia are in the early skirmishes of a proxy war in Iraq.


Some US officials and analysts worry that sectarian violence there may be fed by support for Iraq's Sunnis from predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia and backing for the Shiites from majority Shiite Iran.


"I don't think it's a proxy war at this stage. That's not the way I perceive it," Cheney told Fox News television in an interview on Thursday. "I don't think that's the case yet."


Cheney's talks in Abu Dhabi came on the eve of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's arrival in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, in the first visit since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution by an Iranian head of state to the close US Gulf ally.


The US vice president also hoped to use his considerable influence in Saudi Arabia -- forged during the 1991 Gulf War and his oil industry dealings -- to smooth over relations badly strained by sectarian violence in Iraq.


In late March, tensions boiled over when King Abdullah opened an annual Arab summit in Riyadh with a speech denouncing the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of Iraq and warning that "ugly sectarianism threatens civil war."


The king also refused to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, with a Riyadh-based Arab diplomat saying it was because the monarch believed Maliki had deepened the sectarian divide in his country.


But a top Cheney aide, briefing reporters, said Riyadh's other actions -- including significant Iraqi debt forgiveness -- spoke just as loud as that diplomatic snub.


"I think on the whole, Saudi leadership is a very good thing, given the strength and enduring nature of our relationship with the Saudis and the amount of work and cooperation we've done over the years," the aide said.


The White House sees Saudi Arabia as a cornerstone ally in its campaign to isolate Iran and curtail Tehran's nuclear programme, which Washington says is a cover for efforts to build an atomic arsenal. Iran denies the charge.


Before leaving Abu Dhabi, Cheney met on Saturday with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum and the deputy commander of the UAE armed forces, Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahayan, who is also crown prince of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.


On Friday, Cheney warned from the hangar deck of a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf that the United States would "stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region."


He delivered the warning aboard the nuclear-powered USS John C. Stennis as it cruised about 240 kilometres (150 miles) off Iran.

Iraq missing up to $15 million of oil daily report says
AFP

May 12, 2007


WASHINGTON -- Between $5-million and $15-million worth of oil a day is unaccounted for in Iraq and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Citing a draft US government report it gained access to, the newspaper said the amounts relate to between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iraq's declared oil production over the past four years.

The report does not give a final conclusion on what happened to the missing fraction of the roughly 2 million bpd pumped by Iraq, the paper said.

But the findings are sure to reinforce longstanding suspicions that smugglers, insurgents, and corrupt officials control significant parts of the country's oil industry, The Times said.

The report also covered alternative explanations for the billions of dollars worth of discrepancies, including the possibility that Iraq has been consistently overstating its oil production.

Iraq and the US State Department have been under relentless pressure to show tangible progress in Iraq by raising production levels, which have languished well below the US goal of 3 million bpd, according to the report.

The draft report, expected to be released within the next week, was prepared by the United States Government Accountability Office with the help of government energy analysts, and was provided to The Times by a separate government office that received a review copy.

Iraq’s oil law is unworkable’; Kurd officials to meet govt


LONDON (RTRS): Iraq’s draft oil law has gaping holes that must be filled before multinationals will invest their capital or technology, one of its authors said on Friday. Tariq Shafiq, together with two other oil experts, spent months last year drawing up the rules Baghdad hopes will lure major oil companies that have waited for years to tap the world’s third-biggest oil reserves. The law, which parliament could pass by the end of this month, has been threatened by Kurds in the north who say they are not getting their fair share.

“Technically, the law leaves much to be desired,” said Shafiq, a founder of the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) in 1964. He left Iraq a few years later and returned in 2003 after the US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein.
“Why would a respectable major oil company go to Iraq? If they get a contract, what would they use it for? They can’t operate under the current circumstances and this is neither in the interest of the companies nor the country.”
The biggest problem is the federal versus the regional government of Kurdistan and, even after months of wrangling, the legislation before parliament can offer no protection to a company that has only secured a regional deal.
“There are many procedural things that can go wrong — and that will cost time, effort and money,” said Shafiq, who directs oil consultancy Petrolog & Associates.
Rebuild
Backed by Washington, the law is vital to securing the billions of dollars needed to boost Iraq’s oil output — now stuck at 2 million barrels a day — and rebuild its economy.
But some of Iraq’s law-makers still resent the British, US and French companies that controlled their oil industry for half a century through the Iraq Petroleum Co (IPC).
From the time it struck oil at the huge Kirkuk field in 1927 until nationalism forced it out in 1972, IPC — made up of BP , Exxon, Mobil, Shell, CFP (Total) and Partex — was in charge.
Shafiq said Baghdad should not let foreign companies regain the upper hand.
“We learned our lessons from the concession era before nationalisation in the 1970s. We lost a lot of money and market share,” he said.
The draft law calls for a newly-created INOC to control the country’s coveted, already-producing oilfields and creates a federal oil and gas council, which will be the ultimate policy-setter.
Sanctions
Shafiq said the oil and gas council, which would draw representation from across the regions, would lack the required managerial competence to run an industry battered by years of chronic mismanagement, wars and sanctions.
“The decision-making process has got to be corrected,” he said. “You can’t ensure capable management and decision-making from them.”
As for INOC, Kurdish officials say annexes in the draft are unconstitutional because they wrest oilfields from the regions and place them under a state firm.
Politics aside, Shafiq said some of the oil legislation was ambiguous. Its terminology and style of agreements lack clarity.
“We must be clear and honest about what type of contract we want,” he said.
Major oil companies — keen to get drilling, especially in southern oilfields such as Bin Umar, Majnoon and West Qurna — could have their own reservations about the terms.
Shafiq said these already-producing fields earmarked for INOC should be awarded by the national company on terms similar to those on offer in neighbouring Iran.
Contracts
“These are known, producing fields. The risk is gone. I strongly believe they should be service contracts,” he said.
Oil companies regard this type of short-lived deal as too restrictive. They prefer production-sharing agreements that span 20 to 30 years and give them more control.
What Iraq desperately needs from the international oil companies is their technical expertise.
“That’s the strongest card they have,” Shafiq said. “Middle East producers today need technology, not capital.”
When passed in February by Iraq’s cabinet, Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hailed the draft oil law as a pillar of Iraqi unity.
But Shafiq was doubtful.
“It’s very difficult to predict whether the oil law will pass or not. If I were to make a guess — perhaps it will after an uproar,” he said.
Senior Iraqi Kurdish officials will travel to Baghdad next week hoping to end an impasse with the central government over a draft oil law to share revenues from the world’s third-largest oil reserves.
Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, under pressure to push through key legislation Washington says is vital to healing sectarian divisions among Iraq’s sects and ethnic groups, told an international economic conference on Iraq last week that the bill had been submitted to parliament for approval.
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, also speaking ahead of the meeting in Egypt in which industrialised powers pressed reforms in Iraq in exchange for aid, told reporters in Saudi Arabia last week that Kurds were “very happy” with the draft law and that all the groups had agreed to pass it by the end of May.

Iraq MPs gather votes to force US exitPublished: Saturday, 12 May, 2007, 08:47 AM Doha Time


Iraqis demonstrate yesterday following allegations that US soldiers breached the no-go zone around the Imam Musa al-Kadim mosque in the Shia Baghdad district of Kadhimiya
BAGHDAD: Iraqi MPs are gathering votes to force their government to set a deadline for US forces to withdraw from the country and think they have a majority, a leading Shia politician said yesterday.
Baha al-Aaraji, a supporter of radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, said that 144 members of the 275-seat national assembly had signed a draft law that would set a departure timetable for US troops.
However, other legislators said the bill would probably be watered down before becoming a non-binding petition, and that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would martial enough support to renew the US mandate next month.
“The signatures have been submitted to the speaker of parliament and, after that, a committee chaired by me was formed,” Aaraji said.
Aaraji’s committee has asked Iraq’s defence, interior and national security ministries to suggest a date by which their forces will be ready to take charge of security operations currently overseen by US forces.
“We’ve received two answers and now the committee is holding a series of meetings. We could finish within the next few days, and then the law will be discussed and voted on,” Aaraji said.
“Many people support it. I signed it myself,” said Kurdish MP Mahmud Othman, while insisting that most members regard the vote as a non-binding petition rather than a law that would require a withdrawal.
Othman said Sadr’s supporters were focusing too hard on the withdrawal side of the bill while others, despite supporting the draft, mainly sought a role for the Baghdad parliament in making the eventual decision.
“They want to build Iraqi forces to take over when the Americans withdraw while they are withdrawing American forces. The two processes go hand in hand,” he said, while confirming his support for a timetable.
“A majority of parliamentarians want this objective timetable agreed upon between Iraqis and Americans,” he said.
The moves in Iraq’s parliament mirror those in Washington, where a Democrat-controlled Congress has attempted to force President George W Bush to set a date to begin bringing home the 142,000 US troops in Iraq.
But so far both Bush and Maliki have argued that withdrawal must depend on the security conditions, and that setting an arbitrary deadline would be dangerous.
Bush has already vetoed one US bill tying military funding to a timetable and Maliki could refuse to endorse any law passed by his parliament.
Opinion polls show that a majority of both American and Iraqi voters favour a US troop pullout, although there must be some caution over the accuracy of surveys conducted amid the chaos in Iraq.
The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has promised to report back to Washington in September on whether his strategy of flooding 28,000 more troops into the Baghdad region is quelling the violence.
Petraeus’s September date, although not intended as such by the military, has now become an informal cut-off point in Washington after which even Bush’s Republican allies might find it hard to justify perpetuating a mission seen as failing. - Agencies

IRAQI PARLIAMENT TO SUE AL-JAZEERA
The Iraqi Parliament on May 9 voted overwhelmingly to take legal action against the Al-Jazeera satellite television network for allegedly insulting the nation's Shi'ite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, state-run Al-Iraqiyah television reported the same day. Several deputies suggested taking Al-Jazeera to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for what they said was its role in inflaming sectarian tensions in Iraq. On May 4, hundreds of people protested in the Shi'ite holy city of Al-Najaf, condemning a program on Al-Jazeera that questioned al-Sistani's religious authority. On May 6, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosyar Zebari called on the government of Qatar to intervene and stop what he called the "channel's campaign against the government and people of Iraq" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 7, 2007). Al-Jazeera has been banned from Iraq and its offices there have been closed for nearly two years, but it continues to run afoul of Iraqi officials. SS

Mowafaq Al-Rubaie : leave Parliament week oil law applied in September

Source : Sabah

12 / 05 / 07

A national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i, that the House decided to shorten his summer vacation from two months to more than a week ago, stressing that the month of September will see the application of the oil and gas will begin with the law abolishing the Baath new Amended end of this year. The newspaper quoted the New York Times as saying on the Al-Rubaie : that government officials held serious talks with the armed groups, including Revolution Brigades and Ansar al-Sunnah century.

The newspaper said that the spring held a series of secret talks with legislators Americans were started with the Democrats, Senator John Murtha and closed to visit him with Senator Carl Levin call for the withdrawal of American forces in an effort to clarify that the American withdrawal would be catastrophic. The newspaper added that Al-Rubaie said : "I know that began running out of patience and understand this very well, and know that we must play the political game, but we come to the last mile of the march towards success, and if they have abandoned us, I think we lose everything." He continued spring : "The visit to the United States, the idea of the Iraqi government is not the idea of the American administration because we want to make people understand it from our perspective and what challenges we face difficulties and we are not sitting Mistrkhin without doing anything." The newspaper reported that Iraqi efforts towards political reconciliation is a critical factor in evaluating strategic outlook American to establish stability in Iraq, so the spring keen to clarify that the Iraqis do not politicians refuse this task. He said the Iraqi Parliament will shorten his summer vacation routine of two months to more than a week ago. The idea of long leave of Parliament had raised some legislators Americans who say that the Iraqis should not expect to risk American forces if the Iraqis failed politicians to show their sense of forestry position. Al-Rubaie said that the distribution of oil revenues would be put into practice next September. It also will set a date for the provincial elections to be held in 2008.

He added that work was under way for the reforms in the Constitution and the policy of uprooting the Baath, which stripped most of the former Baath Party members from jobs where the work will review this policy with the end of this year. The newspaper added that Al-Rubaie said that Iraqi government officials were engaged in serious talks with the armed groups, including Century Revolution Brigades and Ansar al-Sunnah, in order to break the (opposition), and its stark incitement to al-Qaeda. But officials in the Bush administration during his visit, Al-Rubaie told that the Iraqi government owes political progress in order to keep the White House on the important support him on the inside American.

The newspaper concluded by saying that Senator Murtha stressed the need for Iraqis to formulate a plan would enable American forces to leave as soon as possible, With spring stressed in his meeting with Senator Evin that Iraq has engaged in a historic process of overcoming the inheritance term of authoritarian rule and that any American withdrawal would lead the country to (chaos).

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Talabani:Foreign troops still needed in Iraq

Saturday, May 12, 2007 07:05 GMT

Visiting Iraqi Vice President Jalal Talabani to the UK acknowledged before students of Cambridge University that Iraq will need Coalition Forces for another year or two before Iraqi Forces are ready to take command of their country’s security. “I think within one year or two years we will be able to recruit our forces and prepare our army for this and prepare our army forces and say goodbye to our friends. We hope that Congress will review this decision and have the American army to stay until Iraqi army will be ready to replace them and protect the security of Iraq,” he said.






About the candidacy of British Finances Minister Gordon Brown to take over Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office, Iraqi President hoped Brown to continue Blair’s work and support Iraqis.
Following his meeting with Blair, Talabani showed gratitude to the British people and to Blair who contributed to the liberation of Iraqis from “dictatorship”, saying terrorism is not only restricted to Iraq but it is also spreading to the Arab countries and the world. Talabani described Blair as a “great leader” and one of the “heroes of the liberation of Iraq”. For his part, Blair stressed the necessity of continuing to support Iraq, saying progress in the country does not depend only on British, Iraqis and Americans but on the international community as well.
The Iraqi President displayed in Britain achievements reached in Sharm El Sheikh Conference, confirming that talks had been held with Syrian and Iranian officials to help quell violence in Iraq.
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© 2007 Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network

Turkish tanks on Iraq border
Published: May. 11, 2007 at 6:09 PM
ISTANBUL, Turkey, May. 11 (UPI) -- Fifty Turkish tanks conducted military drills on the northern Iraq border Friday, local media reported.
Turkey claims northern Iraq is a haven for the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and has asked the United States to launch military campaigns against militants in the mountainous region, the Kuwait news service KUNA reported.

Friday's military drills were reported by the daily Zaman newspaper.

Confrontations between the PKK and Turkish forces typically escalate in the spring when melting snow makes border crossings easier, KUNA reported.

Talabani confirms agreement «Iraqi political» to give a greater role Year

Source : life

12 / 05 / 07

Agency quoted «Reuters» officials in the «Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution», led by Abdul Aziz Hakim yesterday saying that the party will come major changes to the platform, in a step to bolster its connection Repertory Higher Shiite in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to take him «guidance», instead of adopting «good» Supreme Leader of the Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the meantime, President Jalal Talabani, who is visiting London expressed optimism success of the political process «after the Iraqi political Finally year to grant greater role and wider participation in the political process». As announced in Baghdad that the government would convene a reconciliation conference for a strong new national partnership with the Arab League respond to the American and international pressure to modify the political process and ensure the involvement of the armed opposition in the political process.

The amendments introduced by the «Supreme Council» on its might separate it from Iran, which founded the party in the 1980s for opposing former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Officials said that under the new program «get on the party direction and guidance of the Shiite religious establishment, as was the case before, but Sistani». This represents a shift from the current council, which stipulates that the group receive guidance and direction from the rule of the jurisprudent Foundation, headed by Supreme Leader of the Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He said a prominent «Council» that the amendments will increase the Iraqi character of the party.

According to the Council's statement that «yesterday concluded a two-day meeting in Baghdad, was approved« important decisions »on issues of internal and regional and international levels. He added that these decisions will be announced today. And it will change the party name and delete the word «revolution» because it was a reference to «fight Saddam». The official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic «our name will change to the Iraqi Islamic ideal.

وستتغير

The change also other things.

So, Talabani said that foreign troops could withdraw from Iraq within a year or two after that the Iraqi army to assume his duties, and expressed optimism success of the political process after the Iraqi political Finally year grants play a bigger and wider participation in the political process.

Talabani said before the students of the University of Cambridge said that he hopes to keep the coalition forces in the country so that the Iraqi army be able to assume his duties.

».

, Expressed concern over the request of the American Congress set a date for the withdrawal of American forces and called on him to reconsider this matter «and help the American army to stay to train the Iraqi army so that it is prepared to protect Iraq».

The Talabani, who arrived in London the day before yesterday, yesterday morning met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and expressed regret for the disqualification, contending that «great leader», «one of the heroes of liberating Iraq».

The likely successor to Blair and Finance Minister Gordon Brown on Friday b «mistakes» in Iraq, pointing out that the time is ripe for the formation of «a new front» in British policy towards Iraq.

In declaring his candidacy for the presidency of the Kurdish Workers Party to succeed Tony Blair, Brown said in response to a question about whether he is ready to apologize for the war in Iraq «admitted that mistakes were made».This position is contrary to the position of Blair, who has until now refused to acknowledge any mistake.

In Baghdad, the Faleh hospitality representative «Alliance» Shiite Prime Minister in the reconciliation of the «life» he personally met with representatives of some Iraqi armed groups, pointing out that «messages these groups clear and specific demands did not include some of the impossible demands of regional», He explained that «these groups did not talk about the immediate withdrawal of foreign troops despite its withdrawal timetable».

The Information Office of the Ministry of National Dialogue emphasized «that an expanded national reconciliation will be held in late June (June), in cooperation with the Arab League and supervision».

Informed sources said that American and Iraqi contacts took place during the past few days to ensure the participation of representatives of armed groups and former Baathist leaders, but the party «Baath» said in a statement received «life» copy «refused style adjustments and transactions expressed by the Sharm El-Sheikh conference», He pointed out that «the only way to exit the United States from Iraq (...) lies in the abandonment of stubbornness and arrogance (...) The recognition of the rights of the nation (...) and sit at the negotiating table with the Iraqi resistance to arrange for the withdrawal of troops ».

Security, yesterday killed more than 12 people and wounded 22 in a double suicide bombing by a truck and a car booby targeted a police barrier east of Baghdad, and found 27 corpses in various parts of Iraq. The American army announced the killing of four of its soldiers in separate attacks Thursday, also stressed that his forces killed four militants suspected of involvement in the networks trapping cars, including one believed to be related to senior leaders «Qaeda» in Iraq.

The American military commander in northern Iraq that it does not have sufficient manpower to control the Diyala province. General Benjamin Nixon said that the Iraqi government is moving too slowly «to provide the greatest weapon in the face of the rebels, a local actor believes management services to its citizens». Under the command of Nixon and the 3500 American soldiers and 10 thousand Iraqi military, as well as police

.

It is expected that Congress should respond to increase the number of its students, «after it regained some of the sites of the rebels».

Meanwhile, former American ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad that Iraqis are trying to play the role of mediator between the United States and Iran, since they were trying to facilitate a meeting with Iranian officials. He called in an interview with the «life» (see p. 7) the United Nations to play a role to settle the dispute over Kirkuk and Iraq in general.

He said he intended to raise the issue of Kirkuk on the United Nations to play a role «intermediary» between the Iraqis to deal with this issue, which involve more than the crisis of internal, regional, and he began to explore the new role of the permanent members of the Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq. is the same and sometimes acting as a friendly of the new Iraq at the same time a friend of his competitors, providing them with arms and money, training and intelligence information and guidance even sometimes».

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