Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

US to focus on restoring Iraq security amid Iran threat says Rice

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that America would focus on protecting the territorial integrity of Iraq, after warnings by Tehran it would fill the vacuum left behind with a planned US troop withdrawal.

Rice said in an interview with NBC television that, as Baghdad took over more responsibilties with the withdrawal of US troops, Washington would ensure that Iraq was stable in a "troublesome" neighborhood.

Asked what US priority would be in the next six months in Iraq, she said it wanted to "solidify the gains that we have made, to extend those gains, [and] to begin to turn over responsibilities for a changed-and-better security circumstance to Iraqi forces, who are being trained."

As the United States begins to reduce its forces, it would turn to other responsibilities, which, "like a stable Iraq, are very key to our interests, including securing the territorial integrity of Iraq," Rice said.
Iraq, she pointed out, "has very troublesome neighbors.

"And I would note that [Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad said if the United States leaves Iraq, Iran is prepared to fill the vacuum," said the chief US diplomat. "That is what is at stake here."

Rice added that, together with the allies in the war on terror, the United States would "resist both terrorism and Iranian aggression" in Iraq.

Her remarks came as the Iraqi government said the number of US soldiers in the country was expected to fall to 100,000 by end of 2008, from the current 168,000.

US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and American ambassador Ryan Crocker said during Congressional testimony in Washington, this week, that violence levels had dropped significantly because of an American troop "surge" in Iraq.

Petraeus said that because of the improved security situation, 30,000 troops could be withdrawn by July, next year.

Rice prodded the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki to push ahead with efforts to bring about political stability and legal reforms in his country.

Maliki is currently battling a bitter, sectarian insurgency with Shiite and Sunni leaders divided on almost every issue seen as essential by Washington to unite the war-ravaged country.

"Now, the issue is clearly the Iraqi government needs to make more gains at the national level in reconciliation in the past which was lost," she said.

Rice noted that, while the Maliki government had not passed several laws as anticipated, it was beginning to get resources out to the provinces through better budget execution, bring about security improvements, and regain territory held by Al Qaeda.

"Those are changes and that's progress that just simply can't be ignored, and can't be talked away," she said.

US to focus on restoring Iraq security amid Iran threat says Rice - Region - Middle East Times

Oil and Corruption in Iraq Part III
Kurdistan's Gushing Crude Spawns Conflict

Very long article regarding Kurdistan and Iraqi Gov re - Oil and deals. Encompasses the gamut of what is going on at the moment.

Good read.

Kurdistan's Gushing Crude Spawns Conflict

Interview : Governor of Kirkuk Province

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (UPI) -- Iraq`s future rests on the future of Kirkuk. The province holds at least 13 percent of Iraq`s oil reserves, but like the rest of the country, its infrastructure needs massive investment.

Article 140 of the 2005 constitution calls for a referendum in which voters in Kirkuk and others of the disputed territories in the north will decide whether to join Iraqi Kurdistan. The vote itself is controversial, and many experts attribute an increase in violence in Kirkuk to the debate over its future.

United Press International sat down with the Kirkuk Gov. Abdul Rahman Mustafa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the sidelines of the Iraq Development Program`s Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Electricity Summit. He spoke of the need for investment and the needs of his citizens and all Iraqis, especially facing violence and lack of fuels and electricity.


UPI: What was your goal of the conference, what did you hope to get out of the conference?

Mustafa: After issuance of the investment law and the coming approval of the oil and gas law, this conference is held to invite companies and people interested in the oil and gas business, to give them an idea about these laws and about the investment in Iraq and to introduce the business opportunities to the intended or prospective investors. Also, to show the current status of oil and gas in Iraq and to point out the requirements of the country in these fields.


Q: What about for Kirkuk specifically?

A: Kirkuk is a governorate well-known for oil. It has destroyed infrastructure. The oil facilities and upstream facilities in Kirkuk are old and there is aged equipment. It is supposed to have integrated equipment of refineries and gas equipment, gas facilities, and petrochemicals, all should be integrated systems. But all these things are unavailable now. I presented the requirements for such facilities and our demand for power plants in this conference and in previous conferences. I pointed out the investment opportunities in Kirkuk.


Q: Let`s talk about specifically the fuels problem. What is the extent of the fuel shortage for Kirkuk residents and what would you like to see to address that?

A: Our problem in fuel shortages, we are facing a very big crisis. It`s in the all of Iraq, not just our province. This came from we don`t have any refineries, because there is an old refinery and small refinery but it is not enough for us and is not suitable for our needs for this issue. There is a big refinery in Baiji. We send them the crude oil by the pipelines and they send to us the products oil from the refinery to Kirkuk. These pipes are attacked by terrorists and caused it to stop. We haven`t another source for the products. For that we are facing this problem.

In addition to that there is increasing numbers of vehicles, cars, in Kirkuk, after the liberation of Iraq. They need the fuels. We need the kerosene, we need the gas oil, we need to cover our needs or our peoples needs for these issues.


Q: When do you think this will be resolved?

A: There is a decision from the minister of oil in Baghdad and he promised us; he invited 15 experienced companies to build refineries in Kirkuk and in Karbala and he promised us in the near future they would come to Kirkuk to put the foundations to build this project.


Q: How much electricity are your residents and your businesses and citizens receiving each day?

A: There is nothing the same every day. On average, maybe between 10 and 12 hours a day. But there are days that decrease to six or seven hours. Sometime less than that.


Q: For Iraq, you`re one of the highest.

A: As I told you, it is not always. At such times it is not very hot or very cold. But in the summer or in the winter when it is very cold and very hot, maybe four hours or five hours.


Q: Do you want to get a power plant?

A: There is a plan, yes.


Q: How important is the security issue and what would you suggest needs to be focused on in terms of security?

A: The security is a very important issue. Without security no one will be able to work and to invest in Kirkuk or anywhere else. Our security situation is not very bad. Reality is we have some problems and we`re suffering from some problems where sometimes, but this doesn`t mean our situation in security is bad. Maybe 80 percent of Kirkuk`s area is safe. Maybe 20 percent is not secure.


Q: There is an expectation that violence will increase as the referendum grows closer, the referendum for Kirkuk and the disputed territories. What are you doing to prepare for that?

A: I don`t think there is any relationship between the referendum, between the implementation of Article 140 and terrorist actions. Terrorists implement their criminal actions in all of Iraq and all the world. In Baghdad there is no article 140, in Basra there is no article 140, but there are terrorist actions.


Q: Do you support the referendum being held?

A: Yes.


Q: How are you going to vote? Do you want to join the KRG?

A: Myself, I represent all Kirkuk people. I follow the majority. Whatever they decide, I follow them.


Q: Sure, but you as a member of a democracy, you get to vote …

A: I haven`t any comment about this issue, (smiling, chuckling).


Q: A very serious issue is the fact that there have been a lot of attacks, kidnapping and attacks on prominent members of the government. A number of governors have been murdered recently. Are you worried about that? What are your thoughts as a governor as well?

A: I am a responsible person and in assuming government responsibility, I will not be afraid. I was subjected to many assassination attacks but I was not afraid. Since I`ve accepted to assume responsibility, I should be able to cope with such responsibility and I`m never afraid and I`ll never be afraid. This is a motive for me to work harder and harder to make things more secure and stable.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/m...irkuk_province

Saudi seeks to build Iraq border fence

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has invited firms to compete for a contract to build a security fence on its border with Iraq at a cost of up to 4 billion riyals ($1.07 billion), officials at five invited companies said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, wants to build a double-lined, razor wire fence along the 900-kilometre frontier with its northern neighbour, complete with thermal imaging and radar equipment, the officials said.

The companies include Saudi Arabia's Binladin Group, along with Saudi Oger, El Seif Engineering & Construction, Al-Khodary Sons Co and Al Arrab Contracting Co, the officials, who did not want to be identified, said. They have until Oct. 28 to bid.

International defence companies, including Europe's EADS, Boeing Co and Britain's BAE Systems, have also been invited, London-based Middle East Economic Digest reported in July, without saying how it got the information.

A spokesman at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Interior confirmed the invitation, without giving further details.

Gulfnews: Saudi seeks to build Iraq border fence

Petraeus told the truth but Crocker did not

I am really impressed by the briefing Lt. Gen. David Petraeus gave to the U.S. Congress this week. The reason for my admiration and appreciation of his report is the accurate description he gave of the current conditions in Iraq.

Petraeus was frank, direct and to the point when he stressed three major repercussions for a swift U.S. pullout. He said:

1.If we withdraw Iraq’s government, police and army will collapse.
2.If we withdraw Iran will occupy Iraq.
3.If we withdraw the al-Qaeda with will fill the vacuum.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker was not straightforward in his briefing. His testimony bordered on lying. His role was comparable to that of a false witness.

Petraeus was honest unlike the notorious former defense minister, Donald Rumsfeld and U.S. commander, Gen. Abuzaid, who overlooked the dangers an invading army might face in a new country.

While I underscore my appreciation of Petraeus’s report, I realize that there are many inside and outside Iraq who would harshly criticize such an attitude. But I could care less because we needed someone to tell the truth about what will happen if the U.S. suddenly decided to pull out.

Now I know these remarks might not appeal to the national Iraqi resistance, some neighboring countries, some militia groups and perhaps the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Petraeus’s words summarize the whole of Iraq’s story. They say what exactly what is bound to happen in case U.S. troops are not there.

But Petraeus and his backers in the White House or the Congress must realize in the first place that the catastrophic consequences of a U.S. withdrawal were not there before the U.S. invasion.

Prior to the invasion, there was no Qaeda in Iraq; it was not possible for Iran to invade Iraq; and nobody imagined Iraq’s government, army and police would collapse.

But Ambassador Crocker was simply playing a double role as he wanted to fool both Iraqis and Americans. He was talking as if he was in a public relations party.

Crocker made mention of non-existent successes in diplomacy, ignoring facts on the ground and how neighboring states such as Turkey and Iran were even bombing border villages and towns.

Crocker was something like a false witness on the current situation in the country. He wanted to make the congressmen believe that there is no oppression of freedoms in Iraq and that the current suppression of individual and civil and human liberties is even worse than the time of former leader Saddam Hussein.

He even implicitly denied that sectarian killings were still going in the streets of Baghdad in an organized manner, backed by the Interior Ministry and government-sponsored militias.

All these are not at the legacies of the former regime, Mr. Crocker.

The choice of Crocker as an ambassador in Baghdad was yet another blunder by the U.S. administration as the country passes through really hard times. The U.S. should know that blunders like these might be lethal.

Crocker has revealed his cards at the right moment for the Iraqis and at the worst moment for the Americans.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-09-12\kurd.htm

Lebanon: Doing Business in Iraq

This month, Lebanese group Malia Holding announced plans to build a five star hotel in Erbil, in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Due to open in October 2009, the more than $55m hotel will be managed by Rotana Hotels, which is based in the United Arab Emirates. Malia Group President Jacques Sarraf said additional investors would be welcome to join the project.

https://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZ...D00D0B74A0D7C/

Saudis to open embassy in Iraq

JIDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA -- Saudi Arabia is opening an embassy in Baghdad for the first time since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The Saudi foreign minister says he expects an embassy "will open soon." The announcement follows a visit to Iraq by a Saudi delegation.

The United States has been pushing the kingdom to open an embassy in Baghdad as a sign of support for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Saudi Arabia - a Sunni nation - has accused Iraq's Shiite-dominated government of bias against its Sunni Arab minority.

An umbrella insurgent group of Iraqi Sunnis has warned the Saudis not to open a Saudi embassy.

Arab countries have backed off attempts to open embassies in Baghdad ever since Egypt's top diplomat in the Iraq capital was kidnapped and killed by insurgents in 2005.

KXLY.com

2 Soldiers Who Wrote About Life in Iraq Are Killed

“Engaging in the banalties of life has become a death-defying act,” the seven soldiers wrote of the war they had seen in Iraq.

They were referring to the ordeals of Iraqi citizens, trying to go about their lives with death and suffering all around them. They did not know it at the time, but they might almost have been referring to themselves.

Two of the soldiers who wrote of their pessimism about the war, in an Op-Ed article that appeared in The New York Times on Aug. 19, were killed in Baghdad on Monday. They were not killed in combat, nor on a daring mission. They died when the five-ton cargo truck they were riding in overturned.

The victims, Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, and Sgt. Omar Mora, 28, were among the authors of “The War as We Saw It,” in which they expressed doubts about reports of progress.

“As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day,” the soldiers wrote.

“My son was a soldier in his heart from the age of 5,” Sergeant Gray’s mother, Karen Gray, said by telephone today from Ismay, Mont., where Yance grew up. “He loved what he was doing.”

“But he wasn’t any mindless robot,” said the sergeant’s father, Richard Gray. Sergeant Gray leaves a wife, Jessica, and a daughter, Ava, born in April. He is also survived by a brother and sister.

Sergeant Mora’s mother, Olga Capetillo of Texas City, Tex., told The Daily News in Galveston that her son had grown increasingly gloomy about Iraq. “I told him God is going to take care of him and take him home,” she said.

A native of Ecuador, Sergeant Mora had recently become an American citizen. “He was proud of this country, and he wanted to go over and help,” his stepfather, Robert Capetillo, told The Houston Chronicle. Sergeant Mora leaves a wife, Christa, and a daughter, Jordan, who is 5. Survivors also include a brother and sister.

While the seven soldiers were composing their article, one of them, Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Murphy, was shot in the head. He was flown to a military ho****al in the United States and is expected to survive. The other authors were Buddhika Jayamaha, an Army spe******t, and Sgts. Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck and Edward Sandmeier.

“We need not talk about our morale,” they wrote in closing. “As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/wa...=1&oref=slogin

Iraq may give S. Korea special Oil terms

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Iraq may offer South Korea enhanced terms for developing an oil field because of Korea's work in reconstruction.

The Korea Information Service reports the possible favorable terms for the Halfaya field near Amara, Iraq, were discussed during a meeting in Dubai between Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani and Kim Young-joo, South Korea's minister of commerce, industry and energy.

Shahristani was in Dubai attending an Iraq oil conference.

Halfaya has an estimated 3.8 billion barrels of oil reserves, and Iraq wants it to produce 200,000 barrels per day.

Shahristani said South Korea may draw down the bidding qualifications for the field because of the support South Korea has given to Iraq oil and reconstruction development efforts.

The Korea National Oil Corp. had signed a contract in 1997 for the field. There were a handful of contracts signed by Saddam Hussein. Shahristani has said that those the government recognizes as still valid will be renegotiated under terms set by a proposed federal oil law.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

KRG: Shahristani 'totally unacceptable'

IRBIL, Iraq, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Iraq’s Kurdistan government has issued a statement warning the federal oil minister on comments he made criticizing Kurdish moves in the oil sector.

Hussain al-Shahristani said last week a new production-sharing contract the Kurdistan Regional Government signed with Dallas-based firm Hunt Oil was illegal and the federal government had the sole right to sign such deals.

The KRG statement called Shahristani’s remarks “totally unacceptable.”

The KRG points to the 2005 constitution and interprets it to allow the region to act if needed. The Kurds have passed their own oil law as Baghdad struggles to reach an agreement on a federal law that would govern the country’s vast oil reserves.

Without the law, Iraq relies on a two decades-old oil policy, and the KRG says its own oil law supersedes that.

The statement called for Shahristani to resign unless he works harder to resolve what the KRG terms “unconstitutional obstacles that he has created against the agreed draft oil law.” The Kurds say a version of the law it agreed to in February should be sent to Parliament.

The statement also accused Shahristani of using the term “illegal” as a way to tamp down the concerns of the oil unions and has told other countries not to sell fuel to the KRG.

United Press International - International Security - Energy - Briefing