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

Greek companies announce their intention to invest in Kurdstan

During the meeting which was attended by Mr. Shireen Abdi, Head of the Legal Network for women, security and economic conditions in Kurdstan Region were discussed. Vice President of Kurdstan government invited Greek companies to exploit the investment law and the stable security conditions in the Region to invest their capital in Kurdstan and participate in reconstructing it.

On the other hand, the Greek delegation announced the opening of a commercial office of Greek companies in the Region soon to facilitate the work of those companies.(Source)AlSabah

Iraqi Dinars | Iraqi News and Iraqi Money

An understanding memorandum to operate Imam Ali Airport

The official spokesman of Najaf governorate announced the signing of understanding memoranda between Najaf governorate and the American Airlines Company Boeing.

Ahmed Abdul Hussein Deibel said, "during the visit of the delegation of the American Boeing Company to Najaf International Airport last Thursday, and meeting with the governor of Najaf, Ashraf Asaad, and chairman of the committee implementing the Airport of Imam Ali, Abdul Hussein Abtan, there were discussions about ways of providing technical and informational by Boeing Company, in addition to exchanging experiences and holding training courses for the working cadres in this area and the possibility of making a partnership contract to operate the airport, when is achieved, and provide it with airplanes."

He added, "The Company promised to make frequent visits and sign understanding memoranda between the two sides."

The delegation of Boeing Company visited the site of Imam Ali Airport and briefed on the work carried out at the airport of internal roads, the helicopters airstrip, aircraft parking plaza and the rest of the work executed.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=4629

Iraqi Foreign Minister Meets Angelina Julie

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari met the U.N. Good Willing Ambassador Angelina Julie in the U.N. headquarter.

They discussed in the meeting the humanitarian issues of Iraqi people, especially Iraqi’s displacement issue inside and outside the country.

The Ambassador expressed her support to the Iraqi people and her efforts to show their crisis, especially after her visit to al-Waleed Refugees Camp in Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister thanked Ambassador Julie on her great efforts to help the Iraqi refugees and reduce their sufferings, and work with the U.N. Good Will Organization and the neighbor countries to return them to Iraq.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Foreign Minister Meets Angelina Julie

First US Marines Unit Leave Iraq

First US marines Unit leaves Iraq, the decision is in the framework of Bush administration plan to reduce US-forces in the locations marked with tension.

Military spokesman, Captain Bamilla Marshal said that a force of 2200 marines centered in al-Anbar, returned to US.

A Brigade of 4000 soldiers expected to withdraw from Iraq in the middle of September and is going to be followed by 4 Brigades and 2 battalions of marines.

PUKmedia :: English - First US Marines Unit Leave Iraq

Full Text of U.S. Congress Plan to Divide Iraq

American Congress issued a plan to divide Iraq into three entities with a federal government in Baghdad, and is considered as an amendment with nothing binding in it.

Below is the full text of the plan suggested by Senator Joseph R. Biden:


Iraq: A Way Forward

President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. His strategy is to prevent defeat and to hand the problem off to his successor. As a result, more and more Americans understandably want a rapid withdrawal, even at the risk of trading a dictator for chaos and a civil war that could become a regional war. Both are bad alternatives.

There is a third way that can achieve the two objectives most Americans share: to bring our troops home without leaving chaos behind. The idea is to maintain a unified Iraq by federalizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions. The central government would be responsible for common interests, like border security and the distribution of oil revenues. The plan would bind the Sunnis – who have no oil -- by guaranteeing them a proportionate share of oil revenues. It would convene an international conference to secure support for the power sharing arrangement and produce a regional nonaggression pact, overseen by a Contact Group of major powers. It would call on the U.S.U.S. troops from Iraq by the summer of 2008, with a residual force to keep Iraqis and their neighbors honest. It would increase economic aid but tie it to the protection of minority rights and the creation of a jobs program and seek funding from the oil-rich Gulf Arab states. The new, central reality in military to withdraw most Iraq is deep and growing sectarian violence between the Shiites and Sunnis. In last December's elections,90 percent of the votes went to sectarian lists. Ethnic militias increasingly are the law in Iraq. They have infiltrated the official security forces. Massive unemployment is feeding the sectarian militia. Sectarian cleansing has forced at least 250,000 Iraqis to flee their homes in recent months. At the same time, Al-Qaeda is now so firmly entrenched in Western Iraq that it has morphed into an indigenous jihadist threat.

As a result, Iraq risks becoming what it was not before the war: a haven for radical fundamentalists.

There is no purely military solution to the sectarian civil war. The only way to break the vicious cycle of violence – and to create the conditions for our armed forces to responsibly withdraw -- is to give Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds incentives to pursue their interests peacefully. That requires an equitable and viable power sharing arrangement. That’s where my plan comes in. This plan is not partition – in fact, it may be the only way to prevent violent partition and preserve a unified Iraq. This plan is consistent with Iraq's constitution, which provides for Iraq's 18 provinces to join together in regions, with their own security forces, and control over most day-to-day issues. This plan is the only idea on the table for dealing with the militia, which are likely to retreat to their respective regions. This plan is consistent with a strong central government, with clearly defined responsibilities. Indeed, it provides an agenda for that government, whose mere existence will not end sectarian violence.

The example of Bosnia is illustrative. Ten years ago, Bosnia was being torn apart by ethnic cleansing. The United States stepped in decisively with the Dayton Accords to keep the country whole by, paradoxically, dividing it into ethnic federations. We even allowed Muslims, Croats and Serbs to retain separate armies.

With the help of U.S. troops and others, Bosnians have lived a decade in peace. Now, they are strengthening their central government, and disbanding their separate armies.

The course we're on leads to a terrible civil war and possibly a regional war. This plan is designed to head that off. I believe it is the best way to bring our troops home, protect our fundamental security interests, and preserve Iraq as a unified country.

The question I have for those who reject this plan is simple: what is your alternative?

Joe Biden

A Five Point Plan for Iraq

1. Establish One Iraq, with Three Regions
• Federalize Iraq in accordance with its constitution by establishing three largely autonomous regions – Shiite, Sunni and Kurd -- with a strong but limited central government in Baghdad.
• Put the central government in charge of truly common interests: border defense, foreign policy, oil production and revenues.
• Form regional governments -- Kurd, Sunni and Shiite -- responsible for administering their own regions.

2. Share Oil Revenues
• Gain agreement for the federal solution from the Sunni Arabs by guaranteeing them 20 percent of all present and future oil revenues -- an amount roughly proportional to their size -- Which would make their region economically viable.
• Empower the central government to set national oil policy and distribute the revenues, which would attract needed foreign investment and reinforce each community's interest in keeping Iraq intact and protecting the oil infrastructure.

3. Convene International Conference, Enforce Regional Non-Aggression Pact
• Convene with the U.N. a regional security conference where Iraq's neighbors, including Iran, pledge to support Iraq's power sharing agreement and respect Iraq's borders.
• Engage Iraq's neighbors directly to overcome their suspicions and focus their efforts on stabilizing Iraq, not undermining it.
• Create a standing Contact Group, to include the major powers, that would engage Iraq's neighbors and enforce their commitments.

4. Responsibly Drawdown US Troops
• Direct U.S. military commanders to develop a plan to withdraw and re-deploy almost all U.S. forces from Iraq by the summer of 2008.
• Maintain in or near Iraq a small residual force -- perhaps 20,000 troops -- to strike any concentration of terrorists, help keep Iraq's neighbors honest and train its security forces.

5. Increase Reconstruction Assistance and Create a Jobs Program
• Provide more reconstruction assistance, conditioned on the protection of minority and women's rights and the establishment of a jobs program to give Iraqi youth an alternative to the militia and criminal gangs.
• Insist that other countries take the lead in funding reconstruction by making good on old commitments and providing new ones -- especially the oil-rich Arab Gulf countries.


Plan for Iraq: What It Is – and What It Is Not
Some commentators have either misunderstood the Plan, or mischaracterized it. Here is what the plan is – and what it is not:
1. The Plan is not partition. In fact, it may be the only way to prevent a violent partition – which has already started -- and preserve a unified Iraq. We call for a strong central government, with clearly defined responsibilities for truly common interests like foreign policy and the distribution of oil revenues. Indeed, the Plan provides an agenda for that government, whose mere existence will not end sectarian violence.
2. The Plan is not a foreign imposition. To the contrary, it is consistent with Iraq’s constitution, which already provides for Iraq’s 18 provinces to join together in regions, with their own security forces, and control over most day-to-day issues. On October 11, Iraq’s parliament approved legislation to implement the constitution’s articles on federalism. Prior to the British colonial period and Saddam’s military dictatorship, what is now Iraq functioned as three largely autonomous regions.

But federalism alone is not enough. To ensure Sunni support, it is imperative that Iraqis also agree to an oil revenue sharing formula that guarantees the Sunni region economic viability. The United States should strongly promote such an agreement. The final decisions will be up to Iraqis, but if we do not help them arrange the necessary compromises, nothing will get done. At key junctures in the past, we have used our influence to shape political outcomes in Iraq, notably by convincing the Shiites and Kurds to accept a provision allowing for the constitution to be amended following its adoption, which was necessary to secure Sunni participation in the referendum. Using our influence is not the same as imposing our will. With 140,000 Americans at risk, we have a right and an obligation to make known our views.

3. The Plan is not an invitation to sectarian cleansing. Tragically, that invitation has been sent, received and acted upon. Since the Samarra mosque bombing in February, one quarter of a million Iraqis have fled their homes for fear of sectarian violence, at a rate now approaching 10,000 people a week. That does not include hundreds of thousands of Iraqis – many from the professional class – who have left Iraq since the war. Only a political settlement, as proposed in the Plan, has a chance to stop this downward spiral.

4. The Plan is the only idea on the table for dealing with the sectarian militia. It offers a realistic albeit interim solution. Realistic, because none of the major groups will give up their militia voluntarily in the absence of trust and confidence and neither we or the Iraqi government has the means to force them to do so. Once federalism is implemented, the militias are likely to retreat to their respective regions to protect their own and vie for power, instead of killing the members of other groups. But it is only an interim solution, because no nation can sustain itself peacefully with private armies. Over time, if a political settlement endures, the militia would be incorporated into regional and national forces, as is happening in Bosnia.

5. The Plan is an answer to the problem of mixed cities. Large cities with mixed populations present a challenge under any plan now being considered. The essence of the Plan is that mixed populations can only live together peacefully if their leadership is truly satisfied with the overall arrangement. If so, that leadership will help keep the peace in the cities. At the same time, we would make Baghdad a federal city, and buttress the protection of minorities there and in the other mixed cities with an international peacekeeping force. Right now, the prospect for raising such a force is small. But following a political settlement, an international conference and the establishment of a Contact Group, others are more likely to participate, including countries like Saudi Arabia which have offered peacekeepers in the past.

6. The Plan is in the self-interest of Iran. Iran likes it exactly as it is in Iraq – with the United StatesIraq is not in Tehran’s interest: it could easily spill over Iraq’s borders and turn into a regional war with neighbors intervening on opposing sides and exacerbating the Sunni-Shiite divide at a time Shiite Iran is trying to exert leadership in the Islamic world. Iran also would receive large refugee flows as bogged down and bleeding. But the prospect of a civil war in Iraqis flee the fighting. Iran, like all of Iraq’s neighbors, has an interest in Iraq remaining unified and not splitting into independent states. Iran does not want to see an independent Kurdistan emerge and serve as an example for its own restive 5 million Kurds. That’s why Iran – and all of Iraq’s neighbors -- can and should be engaged to support a political settlement in Iraq.

7. The Plan is in the self-interest of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. The Sunnis increasingly understand they will not regain power in Iraq. Faced with the choice of being a permanent minority player in a central government dominated by Shiites or having the freedom to control their day-to-day lives in a Sunni region, they are likely to choose the latter provided they are guaranteed a fair share of oil revenues to make their region viable. The Shiites know they can dominate Iraq politically, but not defeat a Sunni insurgency, which can bleed Iraq for years. The Kurds may dream of independence, but fear the reaction of Turkey and Iran – their interest is to achieve as much autonomy as possible while keeping Iraq together. Why would Shiites and Kurds give up some oil revenues to the Sunnis? Because that is the price of peace and the only way to attract the massive foreign investment needed to maximize Iraqi oil production. The result will be to give Shiites and Kurds a smaller piece of a much larger oil pie and give all three groups an incentive to protect the oil infrastructure.

PUKmedia :: English - Full Text of U.S. Congress Plan to Divide Iraq

Private Sector to invest in Shopping Centers

Trade Minister stressed that the Cabinet agreed to give the opportunity to companies and the private sector to invest (7-8) central markets in Baghdad and other provinces, and announced the formation of a committee to study granting citizens cash as a compensation for the ration items that they did not receive.

Minister of Trade, Dr. Abdul Al-Falah Al-Sudani, said that The Secretariat of the Cabinet has agreed to lease seven or eight central markets in Baghdad and other provinces, to pay the late salaries of the employees of those central markets and to activate the role of the private sector and investment companies in the management of such important facilities. Al-Sudani announced that the Ministry of Trade is studying the possibility of granting cash for citizens instead of the ration items that they did not receive like rice, milk and other items. He pointed out that the ministry is working hard to provide all the items of the ration card, but the high world prices and the controls adopted in Iraq are impeding contracting and supplying warehouses with food commodities. He said that the ministry hopes that 15 modern governmental mills will be established by the end of next year as well as making way for the private sector to establish mills to provide flour to citizens under the ration items.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=4630

Iraqi Forces Liberates Abdul-Kareem al-Nasir Village

A source in Kanaan district, Diyala province, said on Saturday that a joint Iraqi military and police forces freed Abdul-Kareem al-Nasir Village from al-Qaeda terrorist groups.

Sheikh Sabah Shukir, official spokesman of Diyala rescue council said “joint Iraqi military and police forces killed 17 terrorists, 2 of whom hold foreign nationality and several other were injured.”

“The tribes in the area were cooperative with us to fight terrorists,” he added.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Forces Liberates Abdul-Kareem al-Nasir Village

Pursuing the PKK Militants is Excluded in the Security Agreement Between Iraq and Turkey

Turkey and Iraq inked Friday a security agreement for combating terrorism excluding the most item which is hot military pursuing of the PKK Militants in Iraqi Kurdistan region .

Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay on the Turkish side signed the agreement with his Iraqi counterpart Jawad Al-Bolani.

The negotiations which lasted three days in Ankara concerning the detail of the agreement, but the two countries failed to agree on a draft provision that would have reportedly allowed Turkey -- with prior Iraqi authorization -- to conduct "hot pursuit", or small-scale military operations across the border to hunt down militants of the PKK.

Both ministers held a joint news conference in which Atalay stressed that Turkey respects the sovereignty of Iraq and its integrity, however he stressed that fighting terrorism cannot be done separately and unilaterally, but, saying their is a crucial need for serious cooperation for eradicating terrorism.

He also said: “We are waiting Iraq to enlarge its serious moves for combating terrorism jointly with Turkey."

Regarding the core of the agreement, Atalay said that it stipulates that Iraq doesn’t permit any terrorist activities to be launched from its territories against any other country; also it doesn’t allow the terrorists to establish political parties.

Concerning the hot military pursuing of the PKK Militants in Iraqi Kurdistan region, Turkish Interior Minister said: “We didn’t sign this item, but discussions will go on about “hot pursue” and we hope it will be dealt with soon.”

He indicated that the formation of a coordination committee for following up the agreement every six –months has been agreed upon, in addition to establishing two coornation offices in both sides’ borders for following up the PKK activities.

Media channels yesterday announced that the reason behind delayment of signing the agreement was some differences, particularly relating authorizing the Turkish military to pursue PKK militants inside the Iraqi territories after getting permission from the Iraqi federal government.

PUKmedia :: English - Pursuing the PKK Militants is Excluded in the Security Agreement Between Iraq and Turkey

U.S. confirms Baghdad air strike

The U.S. military confirmed on Saturday it carried out an air strike in the Doura district of southern Baghdad on Friday, saying it had targeted men firing mortars into a neighboring area.

"Coalition forces surveillance elements observed a group of men setting up and firing mortars in the Doura neighborhood of southern Baghdad. After they fired the mortars, the men hid the mortar tube nearby," a U.S. military statement said.

"Responding to this hostile action, coalition forces called for air support and engaged the men."

Reuters television footage from Yarmouk Ho****al in Baghdad showed three men and two boys who had been wounded in the attack. Doctors had amputated the left leg of one of the boys.

A senior health official in central Baghdad told Reuters on Friday that seven men were killed in the attack and six injured.

The U.S. military said it estimated two or three people were killed or wounded but could not give a precise figure as the bodies were removed before troops arrived at the scene.

"We regret when civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism. Terrorists continue to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence," the U.S. statement said.


U.S. confirms Baghdad air strike - Yahoo! News UK

Many Iraqi Arabs paid to leave Kirkuk
Around 2,000 Arabs agree to leave current homes after receiving compensation of $15,000 each.

Thousands of Iraqi Arabs have accepted financial compensation to leave the northern city of Kirkuk, which leaders of the autonomous Kurdish region are seeking to control, a minister said Thursday.

Around 2,000 Arabs living there had agreed to leave their homes and return to their original provinces under an initiative launched by the committee in charge of overseeing relations in Kirkuk, Environment Minister Nermeen Othman said.

"The supreme committee... finished approving 2,000 applications submitted by Arab residents in Kirkuk who want to receive compensation of 15,000 dollars (10,600 euros) to return to their original residence places," she said.

Technical problems related to changing ID registers had prevented the payment of cheques so far, but the applicants had been approved and would be paid in the next few days, she said.

According to Othman, herself a Kurd, a budget of 200 million dollars has been allocated by the Iraq government to pay the compensation packages of those willing to leave the city.

Many of the Arabs have been subjected to violence by Kurds in order to force them to leave the oil-rich city.

Tensions between Kirkuk's Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen communities have risen ahead of a constitutionally mandated popular referendum on the oil-rich city's future, which is supposed to be held this year.

One million Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens live in Kirkuk although the exact split between the communities is not officially known.

Kirkuk's Kurds would like to see it join the Kurdish Regional Government.

The new Iraqi constitution adopted after the US-led invasion in March 2003 stipulates that Kirkuk's status must be sorted out before the end of 2007 by a referendum.

No date has been fixed for the referendum, which the Kurds have been strongly encouraging as they are confident of winning a majority, but which Baghdad says cannot be held until after a proper census.

Kirkuk's Sunni Arabs and its centuries-old Turkmen community want to postpone the vote until the dust of war clears.


Middle East Online