Thread: Iraq/Dinar Until June 9th 1PM CST

Finding a laboratory for manufacturing explosives
(Voice of Iraq) - 04-06-2007
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Found force of the 4th rapid intervention on the plant for the manufacture of bombs in Baghdad, the spokesman said security plan Baghdad that the operation was conducted with citizens Bataaon, indicating that the lab was found within 600 bomb exploded under construction and machinery for trapping cars. Another superseded by explosives experts at the Interior Ministry anti-tank missiles and large quantities of explosive devices were found in one Almkhabie.

Kurdistan Parliament constitutes four committees in the light of talks
(Voice of Iraq) - 04-06-2007
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Kurdistan Parliament constitutes four committees in the light of talks Barzani in Baghdad

Arbil-Iraq votes

From Abdulhamid Zebari

The National Council of Iraqi Kurdistan - Parliament-Monday, to form four committees to follow up the topics Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution and the law of oil, gas and water issue and the powers of the government of Iraq's Kurdistan region in the light of the visit by the Prime Minister of Territory Najirfan Barzani recently to Baghdad.

The prime minister in the government of Iraq's Kurdistan region attended a special session of the Parliament of Kurdistan on Monday to review the outcome of his visit to Baghdad, which lasted ten days and concluded last week.
Barzani, suggested forming four committees, including a committee of oil and gas and the Commission on Article 140 of the Constitution concerning the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk and the Commission on water and other exclusive powers to the territorial government.
He Najirfan Barzani during its review of the results of his visit to Baghdad that talks with the Iraqi government and reached a good level for the oil, and said "we have completed the oil, but need other accessories, and the territorial government, we suggest that all these laws to the House of Representatives and one file including the distribution of imports."
And among our P "until now accounts Iraqi oil goes to the International Monetary Fund, at the end of this year will turn to the Central Bank of Iraq, and we want to turn their Kurdistan directly to the expense of Kurdistan, and the Iraqi government will not hinder the conversion."
The Chairman of the territorial government to the constitutional amendments, and said "amendments to the constitution will only respect Kurdish rights, such as Article 140 and the issue of oil, gas and exclusive powers to the territorial government."
He added : "I think that the constitutional amendments include only material on the fateful Kurdish people in a time when we imagine that the amendments include women's rights and human rights."
He stressed "the need to examine these issues Kurdistan Parliament and approval during a maximum period of one month, during the period of any extension of the constitutional amendments."
A delegation from the Kurdistan region visited Baghdad last month headed Najirfan Barzani for talks with the central government in Baghdad on the oil, gas and theme Peshmargas.
Mahmoud Othman, a member of Parliament from the Iraqi Kurdistan Alliance last Thursday said that "there was some kind of agreement on the issue of troops s according to the text of the Constitution of these forces in terms of its financing, management and formed a subcommittee to coordinate between the two governments."
The Law on Oil and Gas said Osman "did not end the negotiations conducted by Barzani with government figures, as well as the American and British sides," but said "negotiations were advanced to a large extent and there is another round of the territorial government in Baghdad to complement these negotiations." But he did not specify the time.
The oil and gas law and one of the most contentious issues currently on the Iraqi arena, and there are differences between the political blocs around the law ... By the first wealth in the country, the Sunni Parties had reservations on its present form ... With Kurds objections centered on the relationship between the territorial government and the government center in Baghdad.
As if made law oil and gas, it gives investors Iraqis and foreigners the right to establish facilities and oil refineries and investing for a period of up to (50 years), to be reverted after that to the Iraqi government.
H m

Iraqi Energy Summit Confirmed to Take Place in Dubai on 2-4 September 2007
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04 June 2007 (Iraq Development Program)
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The Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemical & Electricity Summit, the premier event for Iraq’s energy sector, has been confirmed to take place in Dubai on 2-4 September 2007. The summit will welcome senior level representation from Iraq’s Ministries of Oil, Industry & Minerals and Electricity – including ministers, deputy ministers and director generals – as well as their counterparts from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Following consultation with Iraqi and KRG officials, as well as the US Embassy Baghdad, the timing of the summit coincides with the expected passing of Iraq’s new hydrocarbon law, in order to best serve the interests of the attending energy companies and ensure the clearest focus for the summit.

Iraq’s key decision makers will be participating at the landmark summit, the first of its kind to bring ministers and other officials to establish relationships and enter into contractual negotiations with international energy operators.

The opportunity for companies to develop strong relations with senior officials is one not be missed, Iraq already having the world’s third largest proven oil reserves. The recent declaration of the new investment law for Iraq’s extractive industries also demonstrates the timely nature of the summit.

All attending Iraqi Ministries will be outlining the requirements for their relevant sectors in front of the senior corporate audience, before holding private consultations with some of the pre-eminent operators within the global energy sector. These best-in-breed operators and companies will be represented at board level in order to build the relationships that will be crucial to the future of the Iraqi energy sector.

Furthermore, the summit will ensure the involvement of leading Iraqi businesses and families. A central pillar of the Iraq Development Program is to promote greater employment in Iraq through partnerships and to allow for international operators to meet with local Iraqi operators to explore partnering opportunities.

Joan

Charity unites troops in Iraq with kinBy GARRY MITCHELL

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04 June 2007 (Associated Press)
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From his post in Iraq, Marine Sgt. Chad Matthews watched by video as his wife, Cynthia, gave birth in a Mobile hospital, a heartwarming connection that hasn't been possible in past wars.

Freedom Calls Foundation, a New Jersey-based charity born in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, makes the video hookups available for milestone events to thousands of military families.

Ideally, Freedom Calls founder and Executive Director John B. Harlow II said coverage would be expanded so that every soldier coming in from a day's duty could talk to his or her family back home.

But expenses are draining the charity's $400,000 annual budget as demand for its services grows. It relies entirely on charitable donations from individuals and businesses, and about three out four requests are turned down.

"What we really need is cash to run the network. We're in danger of being shut down, leaving thousands of military families in the lurch," said Harlow, an attorney and high-tech venture capitalist. "There is no government funding for this. We'd like to see some."

Harlow said some calls organized by the charity are for small things — a 4-year-old girl wanted to show her father in Iraq that she had learned how to tie her shoe laces.

And there are sad calls. A soldier's sister was dying and she wanted to tell him goodbye.

Satellite Internet connections have replaced the telegrams and long-distance phone lines of past wars to share homefront news with fighting forces overseas.

"I felt like he was in the room with me," said Cynthia Matthews, who watched her husband's image on a computer screen as he encouraged her during the March 24 birth of their son, Braxton. "He couldn't physically touch me, but he was there."

Harlow said he began organizing the charity in 2003 after hearing about a soldier with a $7,000 phone bill for calls back home. He felt soldiers were being "commercially exploited."

Freedom Calls provided its first connections in 2004. Harlow said there are now four call centers in Iraq, including 50 computers and 20 telephones at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and video-conferencing operations in two locations in Anbar Province.

"The military gives us the building, electricity, furniture and staffing," Harlow said Thursday.

In the U.S., he said, equipment is set up by hospitals, schools, universities, law firms and others "who have opened their doors."

"From a cost perspective, our operations are running about $1,000 a day," Harlow explained. Satellite time is a major part of the cost. Soldiers and their families pay nothing to use the network.

"We're doing about a million minutes a month in phone calls and about 2,000 video conferences a month," Harlow said.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr. Greg Hicks said the work of Freedom Calls has "boosted the morale" of those serving in the military and their family members.

"While we cannot say how easy or difficult the arrangements are, we do hear terrific feedback from those who have had the opportunity to utilize the service provided," he said.

Military officials have asked for an expansion of the video locations, said Harlow, whose foundation is based in Morristown, N.J. Future plans call for Freedom Calls centers at eight more Army camps in Iraq, two Army camps in Afghanistan and eight more Marine camps this year.

Harlow, who has not been to Iraq but has received a handshake from President Bush and military commendations for his work, said the charity's annual budget doesn't allow it to help everyone who requests a warfront connection back home.

There are other video-conferencing options available, but they are usually less flexible.

The military offers video hookups from the front back to home bases, but there are time restrictions and it's difficult for soldiers if their families live elsewhere. The service also can't handle events that take place off base, such as weddings, births and graduations, Harlow said.

USO spokesman John Hanson said his organization doesn't offer video conferencing like Freedom Calls.

Instead, it distributes 300-to-500-minute phone cards to soldiers and plans to open a center in Iraq that will allow soldiers to e-mail messages home for free.

The Red Cross, in an emergency, has a service that keeps military personnel in touch with home following the death or serious illness of a family member or other key events, such as the birth of a child.

Harlow said Freedom Calls also offers services at Okinawa in Japan and to wounded military at Landstuhl hospital in Germany so they can conference with their families in the states.

"And, we hope to be offering services from Walter Reed (Army hospital in D.C.) in the near future," he said, adding it's been a slow process. "We're dealing with the bureaucracy."

Before each video conference, volunteers with Freedom Calls work to get families together for the virtual meeting while commanders and the Red Cross in Iraq locate the soldiers involved.

On March 30, Army Col. Jim Close was located in Iraq and allowed to see his 2-day-old son, Ryan, in an hour-long link to a Peterborough, N.H. hospital. Close hadn't seen his family in eight months; his 10-year-old daughter, Megan, played an Elton John tune on her saxophone for her dad and his 4-year-old son, Connor, showed off his toy light saber and some karate moves.

"The connection is just unbelievable, and it's more than you can really explain," said his wife, Kerry Close.

In Mobile, Dawn Hicks, manager of telemedicine programs at the University of South Alabama hospital, set up the video conferencing equipment for Freedom Calls that was used by the Matthews couple.

On the opposite end of the state, Robert L. Middleton, a NASA retiree and senior research engineer at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, took the video and put it online.

Harlow commended several corporations for their contributions, particularly Lenovo Inc. for computers, Logitech International SA for webcams and FedEx Corp. for delivery of equipment to Iraq Freedom Calls Centers.

The technology was in place when Cynthia Matthews arrived at University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital at 1 a.m. on March 24. The video equipment was set up at 3 a.m., dad appeared on screen about 4 a.m. and remained on until about an hour after the baby's 9:19 a.m. arrival.

The couple routinely stays in contact by e-mail and voice mail. But to witness the birth? "He's just thankful for Freedom Calls," she said.

Joan

Voting on six new ministers in Tuesday's session – legislatorBy Hadi al-Hadi

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Baghdad, 04 June 2007 (Voices of Iraq)
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Voting on the names of the six new Iraqi ministers to replace the withdrawing ones of the Sadrist current, or ministers loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, will take place during Tuesday's session, a Sadrist legislator said on Saturday.

"The Sadrist members of parliament, however, will not vote on the names proposed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during the Iraqi parliament's sessions last week on the grounds that they are not independent," Akram Fawzi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Last week as spokesman for the Sadrist bloc in the Iraqi parliament, Nassar al-Rubaie, said Sadrists would not vote on the six candidates because they are not "technocratic enough."

The six ministerial positions became vacant after Sadr withdrew his six ministers from the Maliki government in April 2007 in protest against its failure to come up with a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and to provide necessary services for Iraqis.

"Our objection did not rest on the fact that we are members of the Sadrist bloc but rather as members of the Iraqi parliament. The ministers of the Sadrist bloc were better than the new candidates from both practical and independent perspectives," Rubaie said during a parliament session last week.

He said some of the new candidates have been outside Iraq for more than 25 years.

The Sadrist members of parliament are part of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), the largest bloc with 30 seats out of the total 275.

Joan

U.S., Iraqi troops control fewer than a third of Baghdad neighborhoods
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BAGHDAD, 04 June 2007 (New York Times)
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Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

The assessment, completed in late May, found that American and Iraqi forces are able "to protect the population" and "maintain physical influence over" only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods.

In the remaining 311 neighborhoods, troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face "resistance," according to the one-page assessment, which summarized reports from brigade and battalion commanders in Baghdad.

The assessment offers the first comprehensive look at the progress of the effort to stabilize Baghdad with the heavy influx of additional troops. The last remaining American contributions to the troop increase are just now arriving.

Violence has diminished in many areas but is especially chronic in mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods in western Baghdad, several senior officers said. Overall, improvements have not yet been widespread or lasting across Baghdad, they acknowledged.

The operation "is at a difficult point right now, to be sure," said Maj. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the deputy commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, which has responsibility for Baghdad, in an interview.

He said that, while military planners had expected to make greater gains by now, that has not been possible in large part because Iraqi police and army units, which were expected to handle basic security tasks, like manning checkpoints and conducting patrols, have not been provided all the forces promised and in some cases, have performed poorly.

That is forcing American commanders to conduct operations to remove insurgents from some areas multiple times. The heavily Shiite security forces have also repeatedly failed to intervene in some areas when fighters who fled or laid low when the American troops arrived resumed sectarian killings.

When planners designed the Baghdad security plan late last year, they had assumed most Baghdad neighborhoods would be under control around July, according to a senior American military officer, so the emphasis could shift into restoring services and rebuilding the neighborhoods as the summer progressed.

"Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the senior American ground commander in Iraq, said in a brief interview that he never believed that a midsummer timetable for establishing security in Baghdad was realistic. "This was always going to be conditions-driven," he said, noting that he always had expected it would take until fall to establish security across much of the city.

But in order to meet that timetable, he added that the Iraqi Security Forces would have to make strides in coming months at maintaining security.

Joan

Main security developments in Iraq on Sunday June 3 till 11:00 pm (Baghdad Local Time):

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04 June 2007 (Voices of Iraq)
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Deloiya - U.S. forces killed two gunmen in an aerial raid in eastern Deloiya, 80 km north of Baghdad, while a U.S. soldier was wounded by a sniper's bullet in the Sunni town, a police source said on Sunday.

Samarra - At least nine policemen were wounded in a series of attacks on Iraqi police commandos centers in Samarra on Sunday, a police source said.

Mosul - Two policemen were wounded on Sunday when an explosive charge went off their patrol vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, while a tribal chief was killed in another incident in the city, a police source said.

Baghdad - The U.S. army said on Sunday seven service members were killed throughout Iraq during the last 48 hours.

Deloiya - Three children were seriously injured on Sunday in an attack on a U.S. vehicle patrol in Deloiya town, 80 km north of Baghdad, while two civilians were kidnapped yesterday evening near Tikrit, 175 km north of Baghdad, a police source said.

Diala - At least six people were killed and 25 more wounded on Sunday as a car bomb exploded in a popular market north of Baghdad, a police source said.

Wassit – Ten suspected gunmen were arrested and arms and ammunition were seized in a raid by a joint U.S.-Iraqi force in the district of al-Numaniya, 160 km southeast of Baghdad, on Sunday, a security source said.

Sulaimaniya - Unknown gunmen on Sunday blew up an old building east of Sulaimaniya, Kurdistan region, a police chief said.

Basra – An Iranian Coast Guard force arrested two Iraqi fishermen in southern Basra in Iraqi territorial waters, an official security source in Basra said on Sunday.

Baghdad – Eleven gunmen and 19 suspected militants were arrested in several areas in Baghdad within the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan launched by the Iraqi government in mid-February 2007, the Baghdad security operations command said on Sunday.

Kirkuk - Two Iraqi policemen and a civilian were wounded on Sunday in an attack on a police patrol vehicle near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police source said.

Diala - At least five people were killed and 10 more wounded on Sunday when unknown gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniform attacked four buses carrying civilians from Khalis district to Baaquba, Diala province, a security source said.

Joan

Iraqi army kills Al-Qaeda leader in Baghdad



I hope this is true, it main mean they are starting to get fed up with the junk and starting to fight back...

The establishment of a fund to support farmers users of modern irrigation systems
- 03/06/2007Business and Economy-03/06/2007




برسBaghdad-file Press





.The Ministry of Agriculture study for the establishment of a fund aimed at supporting farmers users of modern irrigation systems with a capital of 200 billion dinars, which it is hoped to ratify the Law on the Establishment of the Fund by the ministry in the House of Representatives. و من .And the reasons for the creation of this fund is enjoyed by the draft regulations and modern irrigation in the agricultural field, both systems spray irrigation or drip. and this importance stems from the outlook for lower revenue water in the basins of the Tigris and Euphrates and the general trends to legalize quantities of water that has become a Bahah at the current stage, and is also not even more in the future.

و.And another rose by the Ministry of Agriculture capital loan fund farmers, and farmers from 25 billion to 50 billion dinars, while trying to send out a future capital to 200 billion dinars.

و .And it should be noted that the lending farmers since the inception of loans in amounts exceeding 20 billion dinars benefited 17 thousand farms, and Ajtmelt 25 different agricultural activity in all governorates


إنشاء صندوق لدعم المزارعين من مستخدمي أنظمة الري الØ*ديثة

Sulaymaniyah / Justice : The secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan for trade affairs on the importance of establishing international exhibition Sulaymaniyah, which is a demonstration of great global economic success we are all saying :

.We have been coordinating with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Chambers of Commerce Kurdish Sulaymaniyah, Irbil and Dohuk and Kirkuk through their representatives, adding : since we are working to attract the international and local companies, and their influential Arab wheel in the service industry and development in the various trends and economic development, communications and reconstruction in Sulaymaniyah In particular pan Kurdistan region in general. He stressed that an exhibition planned international Sulaymaniyah residence for a period of 5 to September 8, 2007 will be the first step followed Other steps aimed at mobilizing the capabilities of the private and public sectors in Sulaymaniyah for job creation and production of all major investment and energies and manpower in manufacturing and production, and added : We have created the necessary prerequisites to success and we contacted several companies and organizations and the Arab world in various areas, trends and there are many of those companies had requested participation in the said days after leaving to Italy and some Arab states to urge companies and factories there to participate in the exhibition at the same he has dispatched Dara Jalil Khayyat Chairman Federation of Chambers of Commerce Kurdistan in Irbil to Turkey for the same purpose, we have received numerous requests and offers from some Arab and European states, Iran, Turkey and some other Asian and Muslim to participate in the exhibition. He added : We are in constant contact, directly with those companies, factories and institutions and offer them all the facilities for their participation and we are optimistic of the success of this exhibition will be at the level of international exhibitions that are held in all parts of the world. It is worth mentioning that this exhibition will be held in the free zone in on the ground Taslujah international exhibitions in Sulaymaniyah for the period from 5 to September 8, 2007 will be a great opportunity to promote investments in all areas of economic and industrial development that would boost the progress to the front, improve and develop industrial sectors in the Kurdistan region in general and Sulaymaniyah in particular, and would participate in the exhibition, more than 400 international company will have a major impact on the effective economic policy making new and greater experience.
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