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

Baghdad Airport Would be Most Important Trade Center

US military forces is currently work hardly to let international Baghdad airport be one of the most important trade centers in the world and as investment gate in the state.

A report prepared by the US military said that, they currently supervise on a big rebuilding movement in the airport including big projects as building of a tower for the trade offices and number of hotels and conferences centers.

The report added that, the work aim to let international Baghdad airport to be one of the most important trade centers in the world and the area.
On the other hand, the report mentioned that, the airport would be the mainly gate for the state to receives the international invest mentors from the worldly companies.

Baghdad Airport Would be Most Important Trade Center | Iraq Updates

Iraq vice-president meets Al Sistani over unity initiative

Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani met the country's Sunni vice-president yesterday for the first time to discuss a new initiative aimed at uniting feuding politicians.

Deep sectarian rifts in Iraq have stymied decision making and hampered progress on key laws that Washington wants passed to help reconciliation between warring majority Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has lost about a dozen Sunni and Shiite Arab ministers from his cabinet and has been left relying on a coalition of Kurdish parties in parliament.

Vice-President Tareq Al Hashemi, who heads the Sunni Islamic Party, met the reclusive Al Sistani in Najaf in southern Iraq where he lives.

Al Sistani rarely leaves his home and makes few public statements. But Al Sistani sponsored Al Maliki's Shiite alliance and is hugely influential among Iraq's Shiites.

Al Hashemi stressed he had not asked Al Sistani to put pressure on any Shiite group to return to cabinet, saying the purpose of the meeting had been to discuss the new initiative, known as the Iraqi National Compact.
"The meeting was profound and many issues related to the political process were discussed," Al Hashemi told reporters after his meeting with the influential Shiite cleric.


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Federation proposal under discussion

Dr Haidar Abdul Mahdi, Iraqi Vice-President, said that the US suggestion to divide Iraq may be adopted in the form of a federation within the frame of Iraq, with two or even five federal states.

Abdul Mahdi said: "We have new ideas that we are discussing to choose the best federal system, such as the UAE model, which is emirates within one country." This is how Iraq was used during the Ottoman period, he added.

- Staff Report

Iraq vice-president meets Al Sistani over unity initiative | Iraq Updates

Maliki: We look at future with optimism

PM Noori Maliki declares at his making of Iraq's speech before General Assembly of UN in New York the Govt.'s achievements at war on terrorism, strengthening national reconciliation and improving Iraqi economy.

PM took part in world assembly of support Iraq in US, while he discuss with some countries' leaders situations in Iraq and called international community to support the Govt.'s efforts.

Maliki said at his visit to Foreign Relations Institution that the Govt. looks to the future with optimism and Iraq wouldn’t forget the countries which helped its people in transformation towards democracy and building its future.

Maliki: We look at future with optimism | Iraq Updates

First Iraqi oil cargo reaches Jordan

The first cargo of Iraqi oil arrived Friday at the Jordanian-Iraqi boarder, making it the first since 2003 to be delivered to Amman following the topplinf of the defunct Iraqi regime.

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Media Spokesman Maher Al-Shawabekeh told KUNA that eight trucks loaded with Iraqi fuel started to unload their cargo.

Moreover, Al-Shawabkeh added the quantity would gradually rise from 10,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd.

The fuel came from Kirkuk in the North of Iraq transported by Iraqi tanks to the Jordanian-Iraqi borders, He said, adding that Jordan and Iraq had signed an agreement under which Iraq has to provide Jordan with fuel.

The two countries signed an agreement during a visit by Jordan's Prime Minister Maarouf Al-Bakhit to Baghdad last year according to which Iraq would provide Jordan with oil at preferential prices but the deteriorating security in the country hindered the implementation of the deal.

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil had earlier said it would resume oil exports from the Kirkuk field, initially 10,000 bpd at a preferential price of USD 18 a barrel.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...55&Language=en

Supporters of U.S. Congress resolution will betray nation, faith – Sunni clerics

Baghdad, Sept 28, (VOI) – The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) condemned a U.S. Senate resolution calling for diving Iraqi into three entities, considering whoever backs the resolution to be "traitors of the nation and faith."

"It would be a serious precedent that might be applied to all countries of the region," according to an AMS statement on Friday received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The Senate's adoption of a resolution outwardly suggesting the establishment of federal entities under the pretext of stopping violence in the country is not shocking because it was one of the objectives behind the invasion of Iraq," read the AMS statement.

The Sunni clerics pointed out that the resolution, "meets the needs of a wing that is well known inside the incumbent U.S. administration and the Zionist lobby it is backing," accusing U.S. Senator Joseph Biden and his group who forwarded the draft as "loyal to this (Zionist) lobby."

The Senate, at a late hour on Wednesday, approved, with 75 votes for and 23 against, a "non-biding" draft resolution envisaging the division of Iraq into three Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni entities, with a federal government in Baghdad undertaking border security and oil proceed management.

Initators of the draft said it was "the only solution" to halt violence sweeping the country.

The AMS statement condemned the resolution and appealed to the world community to "denounce the resolution that flagrantly interferes in an issue of concern to the Iraqi people." It also demanded the UN and Muslim and Arab countries to have a "clear, direct" position as far as this resolution is concerned.

Aswat Aliraq

Hoshiyar Zebari Denies a Cross-Border Operation by Turkish Army

The Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, denied to any convention between Iraq and Turkey on a cross- border operation by Turkish army to fight against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In an interview with Hurra TV Channel, he talked about the irrationality of any convention for intrusion of Iraqi border.

“There is not any convention between Iraq and Turkey on a cross- border operation, we have discussed such memorandum but we have not reached any conclusion .we do not let any country to intrude the sovereignty of Iraq by any purpose. Ousted Saddame Hussein had a convention letting Turkish army to the border about to 20 to 30 Kilometers inside Iraq territory. It is impossible for us to sign such an agreement,” he added.

Concerning dividing Iraq as suggested by US Congress he said: “All Iraqi leaders agree on unity and peace as sovereignty for Iraq. We insist on remaining US force in Iraq until Iraqi military capacity grows to take their role. Shaping three or more regions as said is not the division which is totally rejected by Iraqi leadership.”

PUKmedia :: English - Hoshiyar Zebari Denies a Cross-Border Operation by Turkish Army

White House Rejects the Congress Decision

The White House rejected yesterday a plan to divide Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish entities with a federal government in Baghdad, which has been issued by the Congress.

Tony Fratto, the White House spokesman said “I actually don’t think it’s as significant a vote as some have made it out to be.”

And he added that “It is only an amendment with nothing binding about it.”

The plan proposed to separate Iraq into three entities with a federal government in Baghdad in charge of the border security and the oil revenues.

”Everyone has views of what might be the best way to proceed in Iraq, but clearly those decisions have to be made by the people of Iraq and they cannot be imposed by foreign countries, and certainly not us”, Fratto said.

PUKmedia :: English - White House Rejects the Congress Decision

President Talabni will Make a Speech in Clinton’s Initiative Conference

Clinton’s initiative international conference started its works in New York with participation of a large number of world leaders.

Mr. Bill Clinton, the organizer of the conference, invited President Talabani formally, and his Excellency will make a speech during the conference.

The conference will largely discuss issues concerning the climate change on the earth, poverty, health, and education in the World.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabni will Make a Speech in Clinton’s Initiative Conference

Al-Hashimi Meets a Number of Tribe Sheikhs

Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi stressed on the necessity of Iraqi tribes to recover its sociopolitical role, because it represents the corner stone to achieve a true national reconciliation in Iraq.

In a fast breaking banquet for the Sheiks of al-Ramadi and al-Diwaniyah cities yesterday, the deputy called PM Nouri al-Maliki to make a recommendation for the Presidency Council to issue a general amnesty for the juvenile detainees, and he said that the reconciliation starts from the amnesty.

Vice-President presented a brief for the Iraqi National Agreement Project to the sheikhs, and he called them to carry it to their tribes for enriching it with there suggestions, which helps to develop the project and help Iraq.

PUKmedia :: English - Al-Hashimi Meets a Number of Tribe Sheikhs

Iraqi PM opposes division plan

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki here Friday emphatically objected to a US plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines.

The prime minister was speaking to the Iraqi TV upon return to Baghdad from UN General Assembly meetings in New York, billing the US division plan as a "catastrophe" to Iraq and the entire region.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US Senate voted for a Bosnia-style plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife.

Al-Maliki called on the US Senate to stop poking its nose into Iraq's internal affairs as national unity, sovereignty and security are basic matters that concern the Iraqi people only, rather than anybody else.

He also asked the Iraqi parliament to convene an emergency sitting for response to the US draft resolution.

Echoing the prime minister's views, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hushyar Zebari said all Iraqi leaders were agreed on the preservation of Iraq's unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The Iraqi constitution also envisions a democratic and united Iraq, he said, condemning the US plan to subdivide Iraq into three Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite states.

Advocates say the plan, championed by Democratic senator and presidential hopeful Joseph Biden, offers a route to a political solution in Iraq that could allow US troops to eventually go home without leaving chaos behind.

A loose autonomous federation of Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni entities might look good on paper, but critics charge it ignores Iraq's ethnic stew, such as cities where ethnic groups live side-by-side and inter-marry, and are not divided by lines on a map. There have been a number of recent progress reports on Iraq. The top US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker this week delivered their key findings to Congress.

President Bush has recently announced a limited withdrawal of US troops because of the "measure of success" in Iraq, and the White House has published its final progress report on Iraq.

Kuna site|Story page|Iraqi PM opposes division plan ...9/28/2007