Thread: Iraq/Dinar News until 6/17/07 8:30 PM CST

I just thought that 3 trillion is a typo. Compare the following two news articles from today. Both seem to quote the same study by the same oil researcher, with same numbers of wells, etc... except the reserves from the
newly drilled 115 sites is quoted as

3,111 billion in mena and

111.3 billion in IDP report.

I think the numbers were jumbled up. Judge for yourself. 3 trillion would be such a shocking news that it would be the front cover news... I was hoping that the rumors of 500 billion to 1 trillion would come true...


From mena:

MENAFN - Middle East North Africa . Financial Network News: Recent oil discoveries made in Iraq

(MENAFN) An oil researcher in Iraq said that Iraq has approximately 530 geological complexes of potential oil reserves and that up to one hundred and fifteen sites have recently been drilled for that have reserves of around 3,111 billion barrels of oil, Iraq Directory reported.

He went on to say that in addition to this 415 locations which are yet to be explored are thought to have an estimate of around 215 billion barrels.

It is noteworthy that the central oil rich provinces in Iraq are mainly in Kirkuk and Basrah and Basrah possesses Iraq's largest oil reserves.






And from IDP

Iraq Development Program - Basrah contains huge oil wealth





Oil researcher, Ahmad Al-Husseini, said that geological studies "in Iraq showed that there are about 530 geological complexes of good prospects for oil; about 115 sites have been drilled so far with reserves estimated at about 111.3 billion barrels of oil, which leaves 415 locations requiring exploration."



He pointed out, "reserves in the 415 sites unexplored for various reasons are estimated at over 215 billion barrels." He believed that regions and provinces rich in oil "will include in future nearly two thirds of Iraq."

Al-Husseini pointed out, in a symposium organized by the University of Babylon on the oil and gas law and attended by oil and economy experts, that oil reserves in Iraq "are parallel to those discovered in Saudi Arabia which is today the top producer of oil in the world."

He said that current producing fields are "concentrated in the provinces of Basrah and Kirkuk, versus little production from a few other fields located in the provinces of Maysan, Baghdad, Salahaddin, Diyala and Mosul." He said, "the present discovered and undeveloped fields are deployed in all Iraqi provinces but four: Qadisiyah, Babil, Anbar and Dohuk".

The expert noted that Basrah "holds the largest oil wealth in Iraq. According to the statistical data, it has 15 oil fields, including 10 producing ones and even they are still waiting for development and production, while the rocks in these fields contain over 65 billion barrels of oil which comprise about 59% of the total Iraqi oil reserve. Also, the oil reserves in the provinces of Basrah, Thi-Qar and Maysan represent 79.4 billion barrels, or 71% of the total reserve in the country,"

He pointed out that these figures mean that "the largest part of oil reserve is concentrated in the south and somewhat in Kirkuk where it is estimated at 13.45 billion barrels, which is about 12% of the total proven reserve of Iraqi oil, while the Kurdistan region contains 3.16 billion barrels, or 3% of the total."

New York Times : Kurds prevented the oil, and Shiites have delayed a plan to merge America Baathists in the government, and the year block amendments to the Constitution

Washington accuses Iraqi leaders fail to complete all the laws that requested issuance

Political affairs-13/06/2007

Baghdad-Washington-file Press
The failure of Iraqi political leaders - according to The New York Times-in reaching agreements on all laws requested by the Americans (marking progress) De****e strong pressure exerted by Congress, the White House and senior military commanders.
The newspaper says the Americans are now asking : any serious or substantive laws as may be agreed by the Iraqis in the remaining three months from the date of submission of reports on (state of evolution) to the White House and Congress that will be due next September? .
According to (how religious) New York correspondent in Baghdad that the Kurds were prevented voting in the Parliament on the Iraqi oil. The Shiite clerics have delayed the Americans plan to integrate former Baathists in the government. With demands that year include the Constitution Review greater authority for the office of president next.
Even if certified and one or two proposed laws (Act of oil highly probable), the doubts are rising, according to officials - Americans - whether current signs of progress can stop the cycle of violence that grind Iraqi communities.
The presence of a handful of political leaders in power-emphasize New York Times-the fulfillment of promises, especially political reconciliation has become less likely. The problem is that the Shiites and the Kurds (who were repressed for a long time) feel that victory in the grip of their hands.
The newspaper said : The former U.S. progress indicators such as the elections had failed to achieve peace, after four years of promises not completed, and bloodbaths, and the spread of chaos. There is no profile to change or to calm the situation in Iraq. She stressed that the same factors for years controlled Iraqi situation; The intransigence of fragmentation in the link between political leaders and Duarham election. In conflict zones Shiite south, the Sunni areas in western Iraq and Kurds in the north, the central government of Iraq-related compete in the totals within each category maneuvers to control the money and jobs in the local climate.
In many cases - New York Times says - especially in the mosques, Iran and other foreign governments institutional support for those groups than by the central government in Baghdad.
According to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last Monday to the commander of the American military, "there Akletin in this region it are to conspiracy and mistrust."
The newspaper reports that the political restrictions in the country, raises more difficult questions in American project in Iraq. The primary task of increasing American forces had created a climate of political reconciliation. If they failed political groups in succumb to the full settlement and failed to reconciliation, or showed little influence, what comes after that goal to increase troops? .
The answer to this question, the newspaper commented : More Western politicians and officials in Iraq and Washington refuse to publicly discuss a plan (B) any post-failure. But political leaders and some Iraqis who work with them acknowledge that their days filled with almost concern and frustration. Most of them have turned to local alliances adventure with the rebels or former rebels who say they will fight the rule. Even amid these expectations, the hope to achieve something almost disappearing.
He says (Ashraf Qazi) United Nations Special Representative in Iraq : "to be here, you can not be optimistic that things happen." He says : While the overall national reconciliation based on a series of new laws that are likely to be issued this year, the degree to achieve this is giving signs of what will happen.
He said : There are no guarantees. In fact, the signs of progress achieved all that we are talking about be more ambitious. The New York Times correspondent that the challenges facing national reconciliation containing personal problems and sectarian and "authoritarian".
Says The New York Times : Two of the laws regarding - stalled constitutional review and root out Baath-highlight distrust and disputes trivial, but the deep, which undermine the political process. She stressed that the present constitution is the product of the efforts of ambitious American interests suggests large inter-Iraqi conflict. And it has been validated through a general referendum held in October-October 2005 as the national elections of the Parliament, and also the subject of satisfaction and Washington. He also failed to address many vital issues.
And will follow (File Press) in a later report more details on the nature of differences on the constitution and proposals for the new law on the reintegration of Baathists in power.
Source : file-Presse writer : file Press

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Thursday as a gain of more than $1 a barrel in oil prices boosted shares of energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), offsetting disappointment over profit reports from Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
Exxon's stock led the major advancers in both the Dow and the S&P 500 as U.S. crude for July delivery (CLN7: Quote, Profile, Research) rose $1.44, or 2.2 percent, to $67.70 a barrel on fresh supply concerns.
Investors also drew support from a government report that showed the core reading in the May U.S. Producer Price Index, minus food and energy costs, was in line with expectations.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 72.92 points, or 0.54 percent, at 13,555.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 7.65 points, or 0.50 percent, at 1,523.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 16.10 points, or 0.62 percent, at 2,598.41.
Even though the data also showed an unexpectedly strong reading in headline PPI, analysts said it served to underscore expectations of continued growth in the economy de****e worries about the housing market.
Exxon shares rose 1.7 percent to $84.78 on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors also snapped up shares of transportation companies and big manufacturers, among the biggest beneficiaries of a growing economy.
On the Nasdaq, Apple Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) contributed the most its gain. Apple's stock rose 1 percent to $118.69 on optimism about the company's upcoming iPhone, which will be sold by AT&T (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
On the downside, Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) fell in sync with rival Bear Stearns. Goldman shares dropped 3.1 percent to $226.36 as the margin of the company's quarterly earnings outperformance disappointed investors. Bear Stearns shares fell 1.8 percent to $146.86.



http://www.reuters.com/article/hotSt...24232320070614

Originally Posted by Howard Nomoney

I just thought that 3 trillion is a typo. Compare the following two news articles from today. Both seem to quote the same study by the same oil researcher, with same numbers of wells, etc... except the reserves from the
newly drilled 115 sites is quoted as

3,111 billion in mena and

111.3 billion in IDP report.

I think the numbers were jumbled up. Judge for yourself. 3 trillion would be such a shocking news that it would be the front cover news... I was hoping that the rumors of 500 million to 1 trillion would come true...


From mena:

MENAFN - Middle East North Africa . Financial Network News: Recent oil discoveries made in Iraq

(MENAFN) An oil researcher in Iraq said that Iraq has approximately 530 geological complexes of potential oil reserves and that up to one hundred and fifteen sites have recently been drilled for that have reserves of around 3,111 billion barrels of oil, Iraq Directory reported.

He went on to say that in addition to this 415 locations which are yet to be explored are thought to have an estimate of around 215 billion barrels.

It is noteworthy that the central oil rich provinces in Iraq are mainly in Kirkuk and Basrah and Basrah possesses Iraq's largest oil reserves.






And from IDP

Iraq Development Program - Basrah contains huge oil wealth





Oil researcher, Ahmad Al-Husseini, said that geological studies "in Iraq showed that there are about 530 geological complexes of good prospects for oil; about 115 sites have been drilled so far with reserves estimated at about 111.3 billion barrels of oil, which leaves 415 locations requiring exploration."



He pointed out, "reserves in the 415 sites unexplored for various reasons are estimated at over 215 billion barrels." He believed that regions and provinces rich in oil "will include in future nearly two thirds of Iraq."

Al-Husseini pointed out, in a symposium organized by the University of Babylon on the oil and gas law and attended by oil and economy experts, that oil reserves in Iraq "are parallel to those discovered in Saudi Arabia which is today the top producer of oil in the world."

He said that current producing fields are "concentrated in the provinces of Basrah and Kirkuk, versus little production from a few other fields located in the provinces of Maysan, Baghdad, Salahaddin, Diyala and Mosul." He said, "the present discovered and undeveloped fields are deployed in all Iraqi provinces but four: Qadisiyah, Babil, Anbar and Dohuk".

The expert noted that Basrah "holds the largest oil wealth in Iraq. According to the statistical data, it has 15 oil fields, including 10 producing ones and even they are still waiting for development and production, while the rocks in these fields contain over 65 billion barrels of oil which comprise about 59% of the total Iraqi oil reserve. Also, the oil reserves in the provinces of Basrah, Thi-Qar and Maysan represent 79.4 billion barrels, or 71% of the total reserve in the country,"

He pointed out that these figures mean that "the largest part of oil reserve is concentrated in the south and somewhat in Kirkuk where it is estimated at 13.45 billion barrels, which is about 12% of the total proven reserve of Iraqi oil, while the Kurdistan region contains 3.16 billion barrels, or 3% of the total."

but youve seen the articles mention at least 1 TRILLION and that was back in '90 right? so how could it be only a little over a hundred billion 17 years later?

Originally Posted by wellwishes
Last month sometime, there was an article posted in this forum about British Intelligence conducting tests, which indicated Iraq had over 1 trillion barrels of oil reserves....This intel came from the 1990's. I feel they have known this all along.

Originally Posted by Seaview

Funnily enough - I wondered the same thing when I read it. I read in 'The Sunday Times' - British Newspaper that they have 1.32 trillion in reserve - I thought it was a misprint!

lets redo the calculation, $60 bbl X 3,111,000,000,000 bbl = $186,660,000,000,000.00
i believe that is read as ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY SIX TRILLION, SIX HUNDRED SIXTY BILLION DOLLARS worth of black gold, without mentioning the trillions worth of natural gas. and they laughed at us for investing in dinar.

A series of panel discussions took place on issues of economic reform

Business and Economy-12/06/2007

Baghdad-file Press

Scheduled to be held by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals series of symposia symposium on enrichment and deepen the studies of many hubs associated with the economic reform, where research papers will be presented by experts from the ministry in cooperation with foreign qualifications and experience.

And a source in the ministry explained that these seminars will be held starting from the end of June in a bid to open communication channels with continuous interested and competent economic policies in various locations, whether in the ministries and universities in addition to the institutions of civil society.

And it was decided in principle held five seminars on various topics and themes, including privatization, and their methods and their characteristics and flaws, while the second focuses on the partnership between the public and private sectors and the third dealing with the legal and accounting firms contribute, while it will be fourth on the impact analysis of the investment decision-making tie. The fifth symposium will be the theme of internal auditing and its role in corporate governance.

Source : file-Presse writer : file Press

If Iraq has anywhere near 1 trillion, let alone 3 trillion, it's game over! We are in the money!...

BUT, I will just remain calm until this all plays out... SGS, I hope you are right.

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Iraqi ambassador: Stability within reach


Click-2-Listen
By T. Scott Batchelor
The Daily Reflector

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Iraq's ambassador to Australia didn't sugarcoat the situation in his country, but he was adamant that stability and democracy are not out of reach.

"I'm not going to give you a rosy picture — far from it," Ghanim Al-Shibli said recently while visiting his adopted hometown of Greenville. "We're still in the midst of a battle that began in 2003."


T. Scott Batchelor/The Daily Reflector
(ENLARGE)
Ghanim Al-Shibli, Iraqi ambassador to Australia, recently visited his adopted hometown of Greenville.

That battle "is a vicious one," owing to geopolitics and the convergence in Iraq of competing groups, he said.

"And also the terrorists," Al-Shibli said. "Al-Qaida have come to make Iraq their center stage of battle."

But the 66-year-old believes a stable, free and prosperous Iraq is attainable.

"We have to carry on," he said. That's because the people of the country now have a legacy of freedom, he said.

"I would say that the liberation of Iraq was the most precious thing the Iraqis will ever remember," Al-Shibli said. "We thank our American friends, government and people for sending their boys to harm's way to help in the liberation of the people of Iraq and set the stage for a new democratic and free country."

Al-Shibli was an Iraqi diplomat who helped establish diplomatic relationships between the United States and his country in the early 1980s.

When Saddam Hussein's Baath Party called him home in the mid-1980s, Al-Shibli and his wife decided to remain in the United States so their children could continue their education.

Fearing reprisals from the Iraqi government, the United States placed the family in protective custody and moved them to Greenville in 1988.

All the family's assets were seized by the Iraqi government, so his wife worked in the school system while he worked and pursued a graduate degree at East Carolina University.

After earning his degree, Al-Shibli became an information spe******t at Eastern Carolina Vocational Center, which offers employment and training to people with disabilities.

He was recruited by the U.S. government in 2003 prior to the start of the Iraq war to help rebuild the country's diplomatic corps.

"The Iraqis are now, as they have been, perseverant," he said. When the parliament was bombed, "the next day the parliament was in session — and they (had) lost some members," Al-Shibli said.

"Iraq is moving on, whether people like it or not."

The country is "more in need of its friends and (military) forces ... than any time before," the ambassador said.

Withdrawing U.S. and allied troops now "would be disastrous, definitely," Al-Shibli said. Iraqi troops and the new government "have taken a lot of provinces into their own hands ... but we need to have further equipment and more training."

The country he has been dispatched to as ambassador, Australia, " is a very strong supporter," said Al-Shibli. "They have troops there in Iraq. (Prime Minister) John Howard is determined to stay the course."

He presented his diplomatic credentials in November 2004 and "began my career with a new continent. I'd never been there before."

Among other initiatives, Al-Shibli is helping to bring more Iraqi scholarship students to study in Australia, and to improve the two countries' trade relationship, he said.

There are about 80,000 Iraqis in Australia, he said.

"Most are ones that had to run away from the mass graves that Saddam did in Kurdistan, in the south," he said.

Al-Shibli's daughter graduated in December from an Australian university; his son lives and works in Raleigh, and his other daughter works in Greenville.

Al-Shibli swung through Greenville last week to visit his adopted hometown and catch up with friends on his way to his son's wedding, he said.

Postings in foreign embassies usually last four years, he said.

"It was a wonderful choice," Al-Shibli said of his current job. "I love Australia."

What the future holds for him after his stint in Canberra is uncertain, but it almost assuredly will involve helping Iraq build on what he sees as progress.

"The dinar (Iraq currency) is strong, wages are better, the oil income is getting better," he said. "We've tried to address every political group in Iraq," except Al-Qaida, Al-Shibli said.

"Iraq in the future is going to be a tremendous place, for work, for companies, for resources, for tourism — you name it," he said.

"I see it five years from now in an economic and social revolution. Iraq is going to set a vivid example of true federalism ... ."

In the meantime, he urges those supporting Iraq not to give up.

"Please don't cut and run, and stay the course," Al-Shibli said. "'Hang in there,' as they say in the South."

Iraqi Foreign Min:Plan New Meeting With US, Iran On Security


Friday, Jun 15, 2007

UNITED NATIONS (AP)--Iraq is planning a second meeting with U.S. and Iranian officials on improving security in the war-torn nation to follow up last month's historic U.S.-Iranian talks that broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze, Iraq's foreign minister said.

Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press that he thinks the meeting will take place in weeks rather than months - hopefully with more senior officials than the ambassadors who met in Baghdad on May 28 to give the new talks "more clout."

"Having the meeting take place for the first time in 27 years in Iraq and on one subject- that's Iraqi security - I think was a major breakthrough," Zebari said. "It will be followed by some further meeting."

Iraq is already discussing the time and venue with the Americans and Iranians and will soon invite both sides to attend, he said.

When does he think the meeting will take place? "I think weeks," Zebari said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki indirectly signaled Iran's interest in continuing the talks after discussions Sunday in Tehran with Iraqi deputy prime minister, Barham Salih. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was more cautious, saying in an AP interview last Friday that "we haven't determined when and if it makes sense."

Rice said in the interview Iran's recent detention of at least four Americans is unwarranted but will not stop Washington from trying to engage Iran on other matters, including its disputed nuclear program and alleged support of insurgents in Iraq.

Mottaki said Iran was also willing to continue talks de****e the U.S. detention of five Iranian officials in Iraq in January. The U.S. military has said the Iranians are suspected of links to a network supplying arms to insurgents - an accusation that Iran has denied, insisting they were diplomats.

Iraq has appealed for the release of the Iranians and Zebari said "we are hopeful they would be released, especially during June." That's when their status will be reviewed by the U.S. military because they have been detained for six months, he said.

Zebari said releasing the Iranians will help "in confidence building" and preparing the ground for further U.S.-Iranian discussions.

"We are hopeful that the Americans have got our message," he said.

In a new wrinkle, Zebari said, three Iranian diplomats were picked up Wednesday by an Iraqi patrol north of Baghdad, released after Foreign Ministry intervention, and then picked up by a U.S. patrol.

Zebari said the Foreign Ministry was trying to get them released and "the Americans promised us that they would be released."

The May 28 U.S.-Iran talks in the offices of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were the first formal and scheduled meeting between Iranian and U.S. government officials since the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy.

Zebari said Iraq succeeded in breaking the ice between the U.S. and Iran at a lower level conference held in Baghdad in March. Then, at a ministerial conference on Iraq in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik in early May, Rice and Mottaki exchanged pleasantries and senior diplomats of the three countries met.

The Iraqi foreign minister called the May 28 meeting between Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and al-Maliki "positive." The U.S. and the Iranians defined their positions and their expectation from the other side but there was no agenda, he said.

"But I think if this were to develop further, we need to have far more substantive discussions on the real issues that affect the three of us," Zebari said.

Iran considers the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq as a threat to its security and has demanded they leave. Washington, meanwhile, accuses Iran of arming and financing Shiite militias fighting U.S. and Iraqi troops in Iraq - charges Iran denies.

"Iran is a player whether we like it or not. The United States is a player. The Iraqi government is the owner of this, so we have a vested interest in trying to establish some dialogue - direct contact - because we believe this will help to ease the regional tension there," he said.

"We won't be neutral in this meeting," Zebari stressed. "This is our country. This is our future and ... we will have our say in these discussions."

"We don't want any intervention, interference by Iran or any other neighbors in our affairs or to dictate our political future. With the United States, also, the message is really we don't want our country to be a battleground - to settle scores with other countries. So here our message should be heard loud and clear," Zebari said.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 14, 2007 21:45 ET (01:45 GMT)

By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 15, 12:05 AM ET



BAGHDAD - A citywide clampdown emptied Baghdad's streets of all vehicles Thursday in attempts to hold off what authorities dread: a storm of Shiite attacks in revenge for the bombing of one of their main shrines. The tactic appeared to keep a lid on widespread violence, but extremists fired shells into the city's protected Green Zone during a visit by the State Department's No. 2 official.

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The barrage of rockets and mortars included one that hit on a street close to the Iraq parliament less than a half hour before Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte passed nearby.

The attack again showed militants' resilience — including their ability to strike the heavily protected zone — de****e a U.S.-led security crackdown across the city that began exactly four months ago. But officials paid much closer attention to any signs that Shiites could unleash another wave of retaliation against Sunnis for the Wednesday blasts at the Askariya mosque compound in Samarra.

The first attack on the site in February 2006 sent the country into a tailspin of sectarian violence that destroyed Washington's hopes of a steady withdrawal from Iraq. On Wednesday, bombers toppled the two minarets that stood over the ruins of the mosques famous Golden Dome about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, echoed Washington's claim that the latest attack was the work of al-Qaida.

"I just don't think there's any doubt that it was al-Qaida that first struck the Askariya in February 2006, and the method this time was very similar to that — (explosive) charges very carefully placed to devastating effect," Crocker told a group of reporters.

Negroponte called the Samarra attack a "deliberate attempt by al-Qaida to sow dissent and inflame sectarian strife among the people of Iraq."

The U.S. military issued a statement Thursday saying Iraqi forces had arrested the commander and 12 policemen responsible for security at the shrine, which holds the tombs of two revered 9th century Shiite imams. It was not immediately clear whether the police arrested are suspects in the attack or held for questioning.

Curfews and increased troop levels appeared to hold down retaliatory attacks. The vehicle ban was expected to last through Saturday.

But it did not fully prevent Shiite anger from turning violent.

Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings, police said.

Police in the southern city of Basra said Thursday that four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on at least four mosques on Wednesday.

The Green Zone was repeatedly locked down as U.S. radar picked up incoming rocket fire into the area, which contains the U.S. and British embassies and many key Iraqi government buildings. Workers darted between U.S. occupied buildings in the sprawling region wearing flak jackets and helmets.

A senior military official said it was believed some non-Americans had been killed or wounded. The official, who would not allow use of his name because the official report was not released, said there were no U.S. casualties.

Officially, the U.S. military said its radar detected five rockets aimed at the Green Zone. But a U.S. soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said at least a dozen rockets or mortars slammed into the zone.

An Associated Press reporter, traveling in a military convoy behind Negroponte, saw the impact zone where one of the rockets slammed to earth at the edge of the roadway. It had fallen about 25 minutes before Negroponte drove past.

Workers in and out of uniform wore rubber gloves as they picked through the debris from the rocket, which fell near a checkpoint about 200 yards from the Iraqi parliament.

Militants have repeated fire mortars and rockets into the Green Zone in recent months, including a barrage May 19 when British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a farewell visit.

Senior U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the information, said it appeared that militant rocket and mortar teams were getting information on high-level visits and schedules from inside sources.

Insurgents linked to al-Qaida, meanwhile, released a videotape showing the execution-style deaths of 14 Iraqi soldiers and policemen after the expiration of a 72-hour deadline for the Iraqi government to meet their demands.

In a statement that preceded the video footage, the Islamic State of Iraq said its religious court "ruled that God's verdict should be implemented against the renegades" after its demands were not met. In an earlier video, the group demanded the release of all female prisoners in Iraqi prisons.

The killings took place in what looked like a rural area, with a grass field and several tall eucalyptus trees. A small wooden shack stood in the background.

The authenticity of the one and a half minute video could not be verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants and carried the logo of the Islamic State of Iraq's media production wing, al-Furqan.

____

Associated Press Writers Steven R. Hurst and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report from Baghdad.

US 'prepares for a coup by arming Iraqi factions'


Friday, Jun 15, 2007

Baghdad: The attack that destroyed the two minarets of Al Askari Imams' shrine in Samarra, strengthened fears of Sunni-Shiite sectarian civil war.

The development is in sync with the rearmament run of different factions by Iran and the United States in Iraq, say Iraqi politicians.

Abu Hamza Al Kinani, a former figure in Moqtada Al Sadr's Mahdi Army, told Gulf News: "Iran's Revolutionary Guard used to provide weapons to the Mahdi Army and train its fighters how to trap cars and make roadside explosives."

He added: "The Mahdi Army benefited from former Iraqi army elements who joined it after the overthrow of Saddam Hussain's regime."

Charges

The Shiite bloc's charges against US troops escalated by accusing them of providing weapons to Iraqi Sunni groups. Some Iraqi politicians believe that the US stance aims to counter Iran's continuous arms supply to Shiite militias.

American-Iranian rivalry has instigated anxieties among Iraqis of a possible Sunni-Shiite civil war waged on behalf of the two powers in the country.

Iraq's political and security situation is witnessing uncertain times with the play of conflicting information keeping in mind the United States' September deadline for assessing Iraq's situation.

Awad Abdul Majeed, a political researcher at the Iraqi Strategic Studies Centre, told Gulf News: "The American armament policy depends on supplying the Iraqi Army with weapons, especially the military divisions under the wide and direct supervision of the US army.

"At the same time they are cautious about arming the Interior Ministry forces due to the infiltration of Shiite militias into the office."

"As for Americans equipping Sunni groups with weapons, these are merely Shiite accusations. Yet if things reached this extent, it only indicates that Americans are preparing for a coup to rearrange the Iraqi situation, besides launching a security campaign to eliminate Shiite militias and the Iranian influence in Iraq," Abdul Majeed added.

Iraqi officials announced that there will be a second round of American-Iranian talks in Baghdad, but reality seems different since the start of the first round of talks last May.

The US Army launched more than 40 air raids on the Shiite neighbourhood of Al Sadr to track the Mahdi Army elements. Eight Shiite cells with strong ties with the Iran's Revolutionary Guards were also busted recently.

The Americans accused them of smuggling weapons into Iraq, mostly for the Shiite militias in Al Sadr and Mahmoudiya districts.

Anti-Iranian lobby

Political observers in Karbala, Najaf, Nasseriya and Basra claimed that the American and the British armies are speeding up arming Shiite former Baathist and secular groups which are known for their hostility to Iran and its influence in southern Iraq.


© Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.


Article originally published by Gulf News 15-Jun-07