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

Originally Posted by po-cajun

Just heard on the CBS news that Sec. of Defense Gates has made a surprise visit to Iraq. He will be talking with Malaki on how the U.S. is dissappointed on the progress. He is adding more heat under their butts to get things done!!!!

Looks like this whole dinar thing is off the back burner and on the front and on high heat. Sure hope Tuesday is good. Sec. of Defense Gates might have to call Secretary of State Condi Rice over if they don't play nice this time.
LIT

The security operation in Iraq "will now begin"

(Voice of Iraq) - 16-06-2007

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The American army said that military reinforcements sent to Iraq under the "now.

The United States issued 28.500 soldiers, mostly in Baghdad, in an attempt to improve security, to stop the sectarian violence.

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Jarver the BBC said that efforts to combat armed operations can now begin full strength.

Robert Gates said the American Defense Secretary, who arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit, that the government should make an effort in the framework of achieving reconciliation between rival factions.

Responding to a question concerning the letter intended to inform the Iraqi prime minister said Gates : "Our forces will allow them time to achieve reconciliation, and we are frankly disappointed by the lack of progress so far."

It is scheduled to submit a report in the American army month of September next, on the progress achieved after sending reinforcements to Iraq, in response to pressures from Congress, which is led by the Democrats to end the war.

At the same time, the American army said that military aircraft fighter F-16 has crashed in Iraq Friday.

He added that the plane was piloted one "flying in a mission to support the air" without specifying the reasons for the crash or crashing and the fate of the pilot.

The American army confirmed that four American soldiers were killed in Iraq on Thursday. Three of them were killed when their car collided with an explosive device in Kirkuk in the north of the country.

"Some progress"
It is expected that the commander of American forces in Iraq, General David Petrios, and the American ambassador is Ryan Crocker, to report to Congress on how successful the strengthening of troops in Iraq in September.

Expected to be subjected to pressure to provide evidence that the reinforcements obtained the approval of President George W. Bush, results, when members of Congress will discuss the draft budget for the coming spending on American forces in Iraq.

Colonel Carver of the BBC said that the new strategy can now begin to produce results as planned.

However, he said that before the last battalion that arrived this week to Iraq from 30 to 60 days to begin functioning at full strength.

The Colonel added that other battalions had moved and taken up positions in the field and started establishing a relationship with the Iraqi army and police and the civilian population.

Public criticism
Will the American military reinforcements to achieve security in Baghdad, and "belt" around it, particularly in the north, west and south.

As the scope of Baghdad, Colonel says that the deployment of all forces means that what should be paid gunmen outside the region, they would be unable to find a "safe area" in another place.

The army hopes that his efforts to build confidence among the local population so they become more willing to provide information on suspected gunmen who live among them.

At the same time, senior Democratic majority leader in the American Senate, Harry Reid on an unprecedented step, when he criticized publicly for the Chief of Staff of the Military Staff General Peter Pace, who will be leaving his post.

AE-OL

AE - OL

BBC Arabic

Translated version of http://www.sotaliraq.com/

BC-ME-GEN--Iraq-Al-Maliki in Trouble

2007-06-15 21:12:00 -
BAGHDAD (AP) - For Iraq's embattled prime minister, the Askariya shrine bombing could not have come at a worse time and could end up bringing down Nouri al-Maliki's unpopular government.
Al-Maliki, a dour, no-nonsense Islamist, had sufficient troubles before suspected al-Qaida-linked Sunni militants brought down the Shiite shrine's two minarets Wednesday in the second
such attack on the site in nearly 16 months.

Now, this government is in a race against time,» said Ali al-Adeeb, a top Shiite lawmaker close to the prime minister. «The government is going through a critical phase and there are real fears that things can spiral out of control,» he said, noting heightened political tensions after the bombing in Samarra, 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
The United States has put al-Maliki on notice to move quickly on a package of laws it views as essential for reconciliation and the success of its military operation to calm Baghdad and surrounding regions.
U.S. officials here must issue progress reports to Congress next month and again in September, and al-Maliki finally may have run up against an implied, if not stated, deadline.
But with parliament likely to take a summer break in August, al-Maliki has only six weeks left to push through the legislation, not an easy task given the slow pace of work in the 275-seat house and unresolved differences over the draft laws.
Al-Maliki's domestic backers, the Shiites and Kurds, are growing unhappier by the day about the decision-making monopoly the prime minister and close aides have accrued to themselves.
They may not act against him now, but they may be emboldened soon given his vulnerability and the unusually harsh criticism of the government over the bombing by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose every word is waited on by Iraq's Shiites.
Already, Sunni Arab partners in the government are openly trying to form a new bloc in parliament to vote al-Maliki out, sounding out potential participants from among Shiite and Kurdish groups while getting subtle and quiet backing from powerful Sunni Arab states.
Muqtada al-Sadr, a key Shiite leader whose support for al-Maliki has recently waned, took the lead in assailing the government over the bombing, ordering his 30-lawmaker bloc to boycott the parliament to protest its failure to protect the shrine.
Al-Sistani compounded al-Maliki's woes by angrily admonishing the government, again, for not doing enough to prevent the brazen attack.
«This harsh criticism will weaken the government,» said political analyst Kazim al-Muqdadi. «It's sending it to the intensive care room.
«There are problems and there is a crisis,» said senior lawmaker Reda Jawad Taqi of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, the country's largest Shiite party. But, he noted that al-Maliki's Shiite and Kurdish allies may be reluctant weaken the government by publicly chastising the government over the bombing and handing a political victory to the perpetrators.
«But there is a genuine concern over the survival of this government,» he said.
A clearly defensive and perturbed al-Maliki has been doing some damage control, announcing in a tense televised address that local policemen in charge of the shrine protection have been detained for questioning. Seeking to deflect negligence charges, he said he had planned for a large army security force to deploy June 16 at the holy site.
«I am warning those fishing in troubled waters against maligning the national unity government and its legitimacy,» al-Maliki warned critics hours after the bombing, which has the potential to touch off a new explosion of sectarian violence that could plunge the country deeper into chaos and weaker his government.
But have things gone too far for al-Maliki's tough talk to bring results
The problems facing his year-old government are seemingly endless.
The cause of most, if not all, can be traced to the raging violence, the deep mistrust between the nation's main ethnic and religious groups as well as widespread mismanagement.
Deepening his predicament, a major security push in Baghdad now in its fifth month has so far yielded modest results. The Pentagon has said that while violence fell in Baghdad and Anbar province to the west in the February-May period, it rose elsewhere, particularly in the greater Baghdad area, Diyala province to the northeast and in the northern Ninevah province.
The Bush administration, meanwhile, continues to pressure al-Maliki to move faster with the legislation it says are needed to build reconciliation and reduce the violence.

They include a law to divvy up Iraq's oil wealth, another to allow local elections to be held, a third one to reinstate in government junior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party and constitutional amendments demanded by Sunni Arabs.
«The oil sharing law is probably the closest to fruition,» said Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, one of several senior U.S. officials who visited Baghdad in recent months.
«And we certainly think it is important that they get this legislation done as quickly as possible,» he told reporters in Baghdad Thursday.
It could be a case of easier said than done.
Iraq's parliament is notorious for its poor attendance, failing to pass legislation on several occasions because it has no quorum. With 30 Sadrist lawmakers now boycotting the house, that problem could become more frequent.
Moreover, this week's ouster of the house speaker by lawmakers has the potential to grow into a political crisis. The Lawmakers voted to demand that the speaker, Sunni Arab Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, resign and gave his bloc a week to nominate another Sunni for the job.
Al-Mashhadani is refusing to resign and insists that if he were to go, his replacement must come from his small party, one of three that make up the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni Arab bloc in the 275-seat parliament with 44 seats.
But lawmakers from the Front say they are likely to nominate someone from one of the other two parties, a move that could paralyze the replacement process.
AP reporters Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

BC-ME-GEN--Iraq-Al-Maliki in Trouble

Fighting for Iraq: A regional powerplay - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com... i found this on the msn home page.its the history (sort of) of iraq and why this fighting is happening !!

The United Nations agency urged better control of Iraqi oil

Source : Reuters-15/06/2007

Her agency of the United Nations that a review of Iraqi oil revenues reached the conclusion that a follow oil production and sales lacked the proper control tools, which led to mismanagement of funds.

She said a draft report prepared by Ernst & Yong for the International Council for consultation and follow-up on the oil export sales and revenues for 2006 that earlier fears about the lack of means of monitoring and financial management of Iraqi oil are not addressed.

The report, which was posted on the site on the Internet that the auditors also pointed out significant differences can not be explained with respect to the extraction, production and export sales because there is no comprehensive system for the control of oil revenues.

He added that the installation of a system for measuring production application of the earlier proposal of the Council would lead to significant improvement in public oversight.

He continued that while the current situation in Iraq is difficult, a factor worrying lack of sufficient progress in addressing the weaknesses cited by the reports from previous audits.

The report said the audit raised fears of a new precedent for the management of agency contracts in Iraq.

The UN Security Council form the Council in 2003 to control the natural resources of Iraq during the American government in Baghdad. It allowed the Iraqi government to continue its work to reassure the international community with regard to the management of the huge oil reserves.

Iraq oil hobbled by ineptitude, corruption

UPI - [15/06/2007]

Getting Iraq's economy, and its oil industry, back on track is critical to that country's stability and day-to-day life.
A new report by the Pentagon suggests there's a long way to go.

The oil industry is not just hobbled by sabotage on pipelines and a crumbling infrastructure. The government is failing to make the capital investments it needs to get the oil fields and refineries healthy after more than a decade of neglect.

"Recently available data indicate that the Iraqi government executed 67 percent of its total budget in 2006. Although it effectively paid salaries, wages and pensions, the government executed only 22 percent of its capital investment budget and only 3 percent of its oil investment budget," states the Pentagon's latest quarterly report to Congress, "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq."

The United States has spent $1.6 billion on oil sector reconstruction over the last four years but it is not enough to "offset the (government of Iraq's) failure to execute several billion dollars of its own funds in oil sector capital investments. In 2006 for example, the ministry of oil executed only $90 million of its $3.5 billion capital budget."

The report asserts that because the oil ministry does not have "market pressures to stay in business" it lacks an incentive to invest its full capital budget.

"Lack of legislation governing the hydrocarbon sector, non-industry standard procurement policies, lack of skilled technocrats at (the oil ministry) and corruption also continue (to contribute) to under-investment," the report states.

Crime and sabotage, however, play a major role in the oil sector continued stagnation. The northern oil fields are especially unproductive

"Although prewar oil production in northern Iraq accounted for about one quarter of Iraq's total capacity, northern oil exports totaled only $1 billion in 2006 -- compared with $30 billion in the south, due to sabotage against northern pipelines," states the report.

As much as 70 percent of the fuel refined at the Bayji plant in northern Iraq, amounting to $2 billion a year, has been stolen for sale on the black market.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3947

Audit concerns over Iraq oil sales

TV NZ - [15/06/2007]

An audit of Iraq's oil revenues has found that a system to track extraction, production and sale of the oil lacks proper controls that has led to the mismanagement of funds, according to a United Nations watchdog agency.

A draft audit report prepared by Ernst & Young for the International Advisory and Monitoring Board, or IAMB, covering oil exports sales and revenues for 2006, says previously expressed concerns over the lack of monitoring and financial management of Iraqi oil have not been addressed.

"The audits also noted large unreconciled differences regarding oil extraction, production and reported export sales because there is no overall comprehensive system of controls over oil revenues," the IAMB says on its website.

"A system of metering, as recommended earlier by the IAMB, would go a long way in improving overall control," it adds.

Oil is the country's main source of hard currency needed to rebuild after years of war.

The energy sector is struggling to recover from years of mismanagement and UN sanctions that were lifted after the US-led 2003 invasion.

"While the current situation in Iraq is challenging, it is worrisome that insufficient progress has been made in addressing the weaknesses revealed in earlier audit reports," the IAMB says.

It also says the audit raised lingering concerns about the management of contracts of US agencies in Iraq.

The IAMB was created by the UN Security Council in 2003 to watch over the stewardship of Iraq's natural resources while Baghdad was under US administration.

The Iraqi government has allowed it to continue its work to reassure the international community it is managing its vast oil reserves wisely and for the benefit of Iraqis.

The IAMB includes representatives from the United Nations, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Under a system established for Iraq in 2003, the proceeds of all Iraqi oil sales pass through the Development Fund for Iraq.

The IAMB says other audit reports, including those of the US Government Accountability Office and US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction had also pointed to the lack of control over Iraq's oil.

"It is imperative that progress be made to continue the path toward sound financial governance to mitigate the current vulnerabilities to mismanagement and diversion of funds," it says.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3945

Ukraine keen to take part in Iraq restoration

IDP - [15/06/2007]

Ukraine is expecting great results from participation in rebuilding the technical and economic infrastructure of Middle East states and Iraq in particular, First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mykola Azarov said today during a meeting with heads of Ukraine's trade missions abroad.

Ukraine is especially interested in entering the market of machine technologies, arms, aerospace and energy technologies, metallurgy, chemical industry and agriculture in Iraq.

Further development of trade with Middle East countries should strengthen Ukraine's economic security, Azarov said. Ukraine should take advantage of relations with these countries to look for alternative sources of fuel supplies, Azarov said.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3948

Local oil companies behind the crisis derivatives and administrative corruption and mismanagement caused the disruption of many oil wells

15 / 06 / 2007

Local oil companies behind the crisis derivatives and administrative corruption and mismanagement caused the disruption of many oil wells
Oil expert stated that the policy of the Oil Ministry giving broad powers to local oil companies to import oil derivatives caused oil crisis in the majority of Iraqi cities.
A petroleum expert of the Observatory of the Iraqi crisis that occurred as a result of gasoline clear failure of the company (SOMO) to import petroleum authority for petroleum products inside Iraq, talk media sources Sumo company closed most of its offices in Amman and Dubai in the past few months in addition to non-payment of dues with the oil companies, which were exported gasoline and other derivatives to Iraq.
ويشار ان العديد من اعضاء مجلس النواب طلبوا استدعاء مدير شركة ( سومو) والايضاح منه عن الخلل التي سببته الشركة في ازمة المشتقات النفطية.
Translation: It should be noted that many members of the House of Representatives asked to call Director of the company (SOMO), clarification of the imbalances that caused the crisis in oil derivatives.

And sources in the South Oil Company Company (sons Akkad) by the local holding oil contracts with international companies to carry out the reconstruction of oil wells south, according to those sources that those contracts, it raised serious doubts of administrative corruption, talk sources that the oil company (sons Akkad) is a corporation of foodstuffs originally been set in a time of the defunct regime, and hence result extensive relations with some political entities in the south have been granted broad powers to sign contracts with international companies for the repair of oil wells in southern Iraq.
According to informed sources in the South Oil Company (sons Akkad) caused the disruption of many oil wells due to lack of competence and not possess good experiences in reconstructing the southern oil wells.
The danger of this speaks information from the South that many of the local oil companies and by the lack of oversight turned into a financial center and Mafia political support those who contribute to the destabilization and stability in the south.
This report issued by the agency of the United Nations noted that the audit of Iraqi oil revenues reached the conclusion that a follow oil production and sales lacked the proper control tools, which led to mismanagement of funds.
She said a draft report prepared by Ernst & Yong for the International Council for consultation and follow-up on the oil export sales and revenues for 2006 that earlier fears about the lack of means of monitoring and financial management of Iraqi oil are not addressed.
The report, which was posted on the site on the Internet that the auditors also pointed out significant differences can not be explained with respect to the extraction, production and export sales because there is no comprehensive system for the control of oil revenues.
It is noteworthy that the Iraqi government threatened to expose local actors, which is behind the attempt to damage to oil installations and ports, and detect suspicious relationship with some regional states. He warned brief statement, issued by the Prime Minister's Office by those lawbreakers from the law, absurd state institutions and the oil including, in particular, "threatening, at the same time, exposing those who stand behind it.
Iraqi Observatory

marsadiraq.com

Iraqi Presidential looking embodiment collective leadership and the implementation of the political program

16 / 06 / 2007

Baghdad-- (KUNA) -- The Iraqi Presidential Council necessity to activate the public affairs of the state and its institutions, such as the Supreme and revitalization of the presidency and the presidency of the Council of Ministers and Parliament as befits the seriousness of this critical phase of the country in order to solve problems and outstanding issues.
The headquarters of the Iraqi Republic, in a statement today that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies Tariq Hashemi and Adel Abdelmahdi stressed the necessity of supporting the government of Nuri al-Maliki and support for the implementation of the political agreement between the political blocs.
According to the statement were discussed Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies on the need to reflect the collective leadership and management of the country by involving all the components of the Iraqi people.
It denounced the Iraqi Presidential targeting military goat Imams in Samarra and called the Iraqi people not to be dragged behind the criminal designs of the base to foment sectarian sedition in Iraq.
He called Talabani and his two deputies Iraqi citizens especially "Shiites" to exercise self-restraint and maintain calm and prevent all reactions against "innocent year."
The President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies Aldaouhali to work as tips religious leader Ali Al-Sistani and reference honored and those who are calling for unity, and the floor and standing shoulder to shoulder "against Al Qaeda and gangs Sadamien Elmejrmien, through close ranks and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and harmony among all the components of the Iraqi people

Translated version of http://marsadiraq.com/