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

Greenspan backpedals on remarks about oil and Iraq war

It was only one line in a 531-page book, but US economic guru Alan Greenspan's comment that the Iraq war "is largely about oil" has provoked discussion - and a near retraction by the author himself. In his book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, Greenspan, 81, wrote: "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

For critics of US President George W Bush and the war in Iraq, the comment confirmed a widespread opinion that the US wanted to seize the oil reserves of the world's second largest supplier.

But Greenspan, who retired in 2006 as head of the US central bank, hastened to correct the impression in interviews published Monday by the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, saying the oil issue was his personal motive for backing the ouster of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, because it was necessary to secure the safety of world oil supplies.

"I wasn't arguing for war per se," Greenspan was quoted as saying in the Post. But "to take (Hussein) out, in my judgement, it was something important for the West to do and essential, but I never saw Plan B" - an alternative to war.

Greenspan told the Wall Street Journal that his main worry was that the Iraqi dictator wanted to control the Strait of Hormuz, the main passageway for a large portion of the world's oil supplies.

He said in the interviews that he expressed that view to the Bush administration in the build-up to the war, but he doubts oil played a major role in the final decision. He said when he brought it up, administration rejected the argument as one that would not fly politically.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Sunday said he disagreed with Greenspan's spin on the Iraq war.

"I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf War in 1991 and I just don't believe it's true," he told ABC news.

Gates said he thought the war in Iraq was "really about stability in the Gulf. It's about rogue regimes trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. It's about aggressive dictators."

Greenspan backpedals on remarks about oil and Iraq war : US World

Demand for dollar up, exchange rate stable in daily auction

Baghdad, Sept 17, (VOI)- Demand for the dollar was higher in the Iraqi Central Bank’s auction on Monday, reaching $86.270 million compared with $54.405 million on Sunday.

In its daily statement the bank said it had covered all bids, including $11.970 million in cash and $74.300 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,235 dinars per dollar, unchanged for the third session running.

None of the 16 banks that participated in Monday's session offered to sell dollars.

Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) that the hike in demand for the dollar was due to the increase in governmental remittances, while cash bids suffered a drop.

President Talabani Gives Emphasis to the Agreement between Political Parts

President Jalal Talabani discussed with a number of officials the Iraqi situation, especially political, security and governmental affairs in a fast breaking banquet given by al-Sayid Ammar al-Hakim in the Iraqi Islamic Council building yesterday.

The banquet was attended by the deputy of Parliament head Sheikh Khalid al-Atiya, a number of MPs, ministers, political bloc’s representatives and governmental officials.

In answering the reporters, President Talabani stressed on the necessity of agreement and unity between all political parts, and he called all the walking out parts to reconsider their attitudes and return to the government.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani Gives Emphasis to the Agreement between Political Parts

Zebari, Crocker-Petraeus Report Reduces the Congress Pressure

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said that Crocker-Petraeus report has reduced the pressure of the Congress and American public opinion, because it contained unique information.

In an interview with the Lomonde French newspaper, Zebari said that the last speech of the American President George Bush was very courageous when it stressed on the US commitments to Iraq, also he mentioned for the 1st time the gradual withdrawing which depends on the field situation in Iraq.

He also mentioned that the Iraqi security forces armament is still incomplete to a level that makes them handle the security responsibility of the country, and that they still need many important military ranks like Air Force.

PUKmedia :: English - Zebari, Crocker-Petraeus Report Reduces the Congress Pressure

Parwezkhan Border Gate was Opened

After various and collaborated efforts the Iranian customs agencies decided to open Parwezkhan Border Gate for those goods imported to Kurdistan region through transit trade.

PUKmedia :: English - Parwezkhan Border Gate was Opened

Iraq Shiite alliance urges Sadr to review walkout

The Shiite bloc that leads the Iraqi government urged the political movement of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday to reverse its decision to quit the bloc, saying national unity is at stake.

“We call on our brothers in the Sadr movement to review their decision,” the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) said in statement.

“We underline the need for unity between Iraq’s political forces whether inside or outside the coalition,” it said. Liwa Sumaysim, head of the political committee of the Sadr group, announced on Saturday that the movement was withdrawing its 32 MPs from the UIA, leaving Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s coalition in control of only about half the seats in parliament.

The UIA said it had been “astonished by the withdrawal” as it came “contrary to dialogue and discussions with them inside the alliance.” The Shiite alliance, it added, had formed a committee to negotiate with the Sadr movement to try to persuade it to reverse its decision.

Sumaysim has stressed that Sadr’s movement is not planning to unseat the premier.

“We have absolutely no intention of pushing Prime Minister Maliki out,” Sumaysim told AFP from his headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Empty wards in Baghdad ho****al offer hope

A row of beds lies empty in the emergency ward of Baghdad's Yarmouk Ho****al. The morgue, which once overflowed with corpses, is barely a quarter full.

Doctors at the ho****al, a barometer of bloodshed in the Iraqi capital, say there has been a sharp fall in victims of violence admitted during a seven-month security campaign.

Last month the fall was particularly dramatic, with 70 percent fewer bodies and half the number of wounded brought in compared to July, ho****al director Haqi Ismail said.

"The major incidents, like explosions and car bombs, sometimes reached six or seven a day. Now it's more like one or two a week," he told Reuters.

The relative calm at the Yarmouk ho****al lends weight to U.S. and Iraqi government assertions that a security campaign launched around Baghdad in February has achieved results.

In one emergency ward at the ho****al, in a Sunni Muslim district of west Baghdad which has suffered disproportionately from sectarian conflict, just two patients were being treated. Neither showed signs of serious injury.

At the ho****al morgue, only two of the eight refrigerated rooms contain bodies, many of them dating to violence weeks ago.

Bloodstained floors in the empty sections were the only reminder of days when the morgue was so flooded with victims of bombings and shootings that the bodies overflowed, laid out on the ground outside.

"In the last month there's been a really noticeable reduction," said surgeon Ali Adel. "Now most of the cases that come to us are ... random gunfire and accidents".

"There are still cases (of militant violence) but compared to the last month, very few, thank God".

LAST-DITCH EFFORT

The security plan begun in February, backed by thousands of extra U.S. troops, was seen as a last-ditch attempt to stem four years of conflict which raged since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died in that time.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said last week violence in Baghdad and surrounding areas had fallen by 75 percent and U.S. President George W. Bush said "ordinary life is beginning to return" to the city.

Deputy Health Minister Amer Khozai said the picture from Yarmouk was reflected in figures from the main morgue in central Baghdad, where the number of bodies received had fallen from up to 180 on the worst of days to as low as 12 a day.

"The problem now is some cars exploding here and there ... (but) it's clear from the emergency departments in the ho****als that the situation is calm and stable in Baghdad," he said.

But de****e the improvement in Baghdad, violence still rages in other regions of Iraq, and Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants have promised a renewed campaign to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which started last week.

As a Reuters television team filmed outside the ho****al on Sunday, an explosion less than a kilometre away shook the building, and a familiar black plume of smoke rose into the sky.

Within minutes the first casualties were rushed into the ho****al. In all seven bodies, including three elderly women, were brought in, and doctors prepared for the influx of wounded.

"Realistically speaking, today there are still injuries, there are still wounded people, victims, and explosions," ho****al director Ismail said.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/200709...43a8d4f_1.html

Iraqi gov''t officials start decision-making training course in Dubai

Iraqi government officials from the Basra governorate started a training course in Dubai Monday to enhance decision-making abilities, organizers said.

Dubai College for Government Administration said in a statement the Iraqi delegation included Basra Mayor, a number of teaching staff from Basra University, and officials from water and electricity authority. The training program, the statement went on, was part of preparations of government policies.

"We are pleased to cooperate with the government of the State of Iraq to contribute to backing its efforts to building its capabilities, and supply it with the know-how and lessons to help it implement a sound administration," said Khaled Al-Johari, Executive Director of Training in the College.

The first workshop focused on the administration of the services' sector.
Trainers also talked about the best means to administer water and electricity sectors, public health and sewage systems, said the statement.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...46&Language=en

Rice may appoint official to help speed process of admitting Iraqi refugees

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is considering designating a State Department official to help streamline the process of admitting Iraqi refugees to the United States, department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday.

Rice may appoint someone "who can be a bureaucratic brick-breaker, if you will, somebody who is going to get rid of any bureaucratic logjams or misunderstandings that might occur," McCormack said during a department briefing.

McCormack was asked about a leaked cable from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker to Rice in which Crocker told Rice that it may take the U.S. government up to two years to process and admit nearly 10,000 Iraqi refugees referred by the United Nations for resettlement in the United States.

Only 900 Iraqi refugees have been admitted to the United States as of the end of August, McCormack said.

Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey will continue to deal with U.S. refugee policy, McCormack said, "but it is clear if we want to make sure we get this right, that we are going to need to have somebody whose full-time job and whose preoccupation is to make sure that there is an efficient, effective functioning of the U.S. government operations.

" Rice is not focused on "who did not do what or who needs to do what better" in terms of handling the Iraq refugee issue, McCormack said. "It is about coming up with an effective, efficient process so that we can meet all of our obligations," he said. "That means to refugees; that means protecting the American people." Human rights groups and independent analysts say thousands of Iraqis who have worked alongside Americans are the targets of insurgents and sectarian militias, prompting many to seek residency in the United States or Europe.

Applicants ********* must go through a process where they are designated as potentially refugees by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, and then looked at for resettlement, McCormack said. Those who have worked for the United States and the U.S. Embassy "are a priority for us," he added.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...39&Language=en

The outcome in Iraq would shape the Middle East: Satterfield

A senior US official said on Monday that there will be no premature withdrawal of US interests from Iraq and the Middle East and the outcome in Baghdad would shape the future of the region.

"Iraq is a place where a number of very significant issues coincide, the struggle against the forces of terror, violence and extremism", said US Secretary of State's senior advisor and coordinator in Iraq Ambassador David Satterfield referring to al-Qaeda, Iran and Syria.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Satterfield affirmed that there would not be "any precipitated withdrawal of interests or challenges for any of us, this is a long term struggle, it is a struggle in which we hope progress can be made in Iraq as well as outside", noting that the outcome in Iraq would "affect the enduring interests of the United States".

"What happens in Iraq matter for the region, the United States, and the international community", he said describing it as "a strategic challenge" that would require "a continuing US significant presence" and Washington would need along the way "allies inside and outside of Iraq" since "the stakes are simply too high to admit to anything else".

Satterfield said that Washington engaged in a diplomatic track with Tehran to see a change of Iranian behavior in Iraq, affirming that no such "concrete" change took place yet.

"Iran uses Iraq as a point of projection for other broader interests in the region and beyond", he added referring to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Tehrans relation with Damascus, Palestinian factions and the nuclear program and affirming that Washington will be "focused and careful" in approaching all the regional issues.

The US official said that there is a "pragmatic accommodation" ongoing in Iraq that started in Iraq a year ago between local population and local authorities, mainly in Anbar, Diyala and Salahuddin provinces and acknowledged that these local accommodations are "opportunistic" and motivated by local concerns for security and welfare but this is a process "that can produce national reconciliation over time" as long as sectarian violence is kept to the minimum.

Satterfield said that the United States "did not arm any of the extremist groups" in Iraq noting that they already "have plenty".

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...37&Language=en