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

Al-Maliki seeks Brown's support against US Senate resolution (Extra)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called on his British counterpart Gordon Brown to support the Iraqi stand against the US Senate's 'non-binding' resolution for the division of Iraq along ethnic lines.

'We call on your support against any division that doesn't serve Iraq and the region,' al-Maliki said.

Last Wednesday, the US Senate approved, with 75 votes for and 23 against, a draft resolution envisaging the division of Iraq into Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni entities, with a federal government in Baghdad undertaking border security and the management of oil profits.

The resolution was rejected by many Iraqi Sunni and Shiite leaders and politicians, while Kurds welcomed it.

'The decision is in harmony with the foundations of the Iraqi constitution,' a statement from the Kurdish regional government said. Kurds have always sought to be independent of the Iraqi state.

Brown made a surprise visit to Baghdad Tuesday. Soon after his arrival in Baghdad early Tuesday, Brown held talks with al-Maliki and other senior politicians.

Brown announced that 1,000 British troops will be home for Christmas and confirmed that security control for Basra province will be handed over to the Iraqis within the next two months.

Brown's pledge to withdraw 1,000 of the 5,500 British troops by the end of this year came amid media reports that by next spring, 2,000 British soldiers would have returned home.

On his part, al-Maliki said the Iraqi forces were ready to take over very soon the responsibility for Basra, 550 kilometres south of Baghdad.

These achievements, the Iraqi leader added, could be enriched with more efforts towards economic (progress) through investments and reconstruction that would benefit Basra residents.

Al-Maliki said he hoped Iraqi-British ties would be turned into long-term economic cooperation and collaboration in other fields.

Meanwhile, Iraq's former Oil Minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Oloum, said it was 'too early to discuss a major British troop withdrawal from Basra.'

Iraqi forces were not yet ready to take over the reponsibility for security in the southern provinces, he added.

Al-Maliki seeks Brown's support against US Senate resolution (Extra) - Middle East_

Alexander Praises Tanner's Iraq Bill

Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-TN) issued the following statement Tuesday after H.R. 3087 – legislation by U.S. Representative John Tanner (D-TN-08) – passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 377-46.

“I congratulate John Tanner and his colleagues in the House of Representatives for doing today what the Senate has not yet been able to do – pass a truly bipartisan proposal to set us on a new course in Iraq. We owe it to our troops to come together on a strategy going forward, and Tanner's amendment requiring a plan from the Secretary of Defense is an important step toward that goal. It’s inexcusable that the Senate should keep lecturing Baghdad about being in a political stalemate when we're stuck in a political stalemate of our own.”

Tanner’s bill requires the President – in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military leaders – to develop and transmit to Congress a comprehensive strategy for the redeployment of United States Armed Forces in Iraq.

Sen. Alexander is the lead Republican cosponsor of legislation in the Senate to implement the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which is cosponsored by nine Democrats and seven other Republicans.

10/2/2007 - Alexander Praises Tanner's Iraq Bill - Breaking News - Chattanoogan.com

Basic services key to Iraq's future: U.S. general

Iraq's government must do a better job of distributing electricity, fuel and food if recent security improvements are to be sustained, the top U.S. commander for day-to-day operations in Iraq said on Tuesday.

Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno said providing essential services was crucial to persuade Iraqis that their government can take care of them and that they did not need sectarian groups and militias for support or protection.

"We now need to start to improve the basic services. If we can do that, I think we will see a tipping point." Odierno told a news conference in Washington.

"We must bring the economic and political processes in now or we could squander this opportunity that we've developed," he said.

"Ultimately the government of Iraq must overcome the Sunni-Shia divide. Only the government of Iraq can truly reconcile."

The U.S. military has said that violence in Iraq has declined this year, partly as a result of the deployment of some 30,000 extra U.S. troops ordered by President George W. Bush in January de****e the war's unpopularity in America.

Civilian deaths from violence across Iraq fell 50 percent from the previous month to 884 deaths in September, Iraqi government data showed on Monday.

"To have further reduction, in my opinion, it's now about basic services," said Odierno, commander of the U.S.-led Multinational Corps in Iraq.

Electricity, fuel and food were not being well distributed, sometimes due to inefficiency and sometimes for sectarian reasons. Sunni Muslims have repeatedly accused Iraq's Shi'ite-led government of depriving them of resources.

"In some cases there are some sectarian agendas," Odierno acknowledged. But he noted that the Iraqi government "has been fairly quick to react once we figure this out, that it is going on."

He said violence against civilians was still too high and warned against pulling out U.S. troops too soon. "Our commitment cannot be open-ended but we must also be careful not to rush and to risk failure."

Bush has approved a plan to reduce the number of troops in Iraq by between 20,000 and 30,000 by next August. Odierno said the drawdown would take place as Iraqi security forces became more capable.

"It is imperative that we continue to transition security responsibilities to the Iraqis but it's equally important that we do so in a cautious and thoughtful manner," he said.

Basic services key to Iraq's future: U.S. general - Yahoo! News

There's always one....

Key: Iraq War is over

National leader John Key today declared the Iraq War is over.
His comment sparked surprise from some opponents, who argue the conflict in Iraq remains in a grave state.

Mr Key, commenting on his party's new foreign, defence and trade policy, said on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report: "Frankly, the war in Iraq is over.

"The war was over in a very short period of time, and you've now got a situation where the main coalition forces are looking to withdraw their efforts out of Iraq."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in Baghdad overnight that more than 1000 of its troops would be removed from Iraq this year and US president George Bush has also indicated that its troop numbers in Iraq will begin to fall.

But some argue the country is in a state of civil war, with daily killings by insurgent groups. According to the Iraqi government, 884 civilians were killed by violence in September, though this was under half the number killed in August.

Green Party MP Keith Locke said today: "I must confess I was surprised to hear Mr Key tell Morning Report this morning why Iraq had been omitted yesterday from National's foreign policy document.

"Until Mr Key put me wise, I had assumed the US and its coalition allies were bogged down fighting an intractable insurgency in Iraq that had seen a surge in US troop numbers earlier this year.

"The deaths of 805 US troops and at least 13,600 Iraqi civilians this year alone were obviously due to some other cause, and Congress must have been deluded to recently endorse an extra $150 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan."

He added: "I look forward to hearing Mr Key resolve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis next week, and move on to resolve global poverty by Christmas."

- NZ HERALD STAFF

Key: Iraq War is over - 03 Oct 2007 - War news - NZ Herald

Gulf likely to miss currency deadline: UAE

DUBAI • Gulf Arab oil producers are likely to miss the 2010 deadline for a single currency by more than five years, the central bank governor of the United Arab Emirates said in remarks published yesterday.

The comments to Dubai-based .Commerce magazine offered the bleakest assessment yet by a central bank chief of the delays to monetary union, which have triggered market speculation that some Gulf countries would revalue their currencies.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia Kuwait and three neighbours had agreed to keep their currencies pegged to the dollar until monetary union in 2010.

With the deadline in doubt, markets have been betting that more countries in the region could revalue their currencies, or abandon the pegs altogether as Kuwait did in May, blaming the dollar's slide on global markets for rising inflation at home.

Unlike in Kuwait, inflation in the UAE is driven by domestic factors such as rents, Sultan Nasser Al Suweidi said in an interview published in the October issue of .Commerce.

He ruled out a revaluation in "the near future", even though the timetable for monetary union could slip, according to the magazine, which interviewed Suweidi on September 17.

"It will take time. I don't like to predict when things are not in our hands as central bank governors," Suweidi said, citing unified property and tax laws and rules on company ownership as issues that needed to be dealt with first.

"Once this is achieved it will make sense to have a common currency," he said.

"...it is something we cannot see (taking) place even in 2015."
The timetable for monetary union has been in doubt since Oman said last year it would skip the 2010 deadline over concerns that spending targets could constrain economic growth.

Gulf central bankers have said they were committed to the project, although the deadline would be difficult to meet.

Kuwait cited delays to monetary union as one reason for its decision on May 20 to break ranks with its neighbours and peg its dinar to a basket of currencies. Kuwait's central bank said at the time the dollar's slide against other currencies was making imports more expensive and fuelling inflation.

By contrast Suweidi has repeatedly said rents were the major driver of inflation in the UAE which hit a 19-year high of 9.3 per cent in 2006.
"Inflation is here because of shortages of housing units and office space, and with that everything is affected," he said, calling for more careful planning of development projects that are drawing expatriates to the UAE, the world's sixth largest oil exporter.

Around 30 per cent of the UAE's imports come from the Europe, Suweidi said, estimating that "imported inflation" was running at around 2.5 per cent.
"In the near future I don't think it will serve our economy to revalue," Suweidi told the magazine.

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English Daily

Arabs quitting Iraq's Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Abu Mohammed, a 60-year-old Iraqi Arab, moved to the oil-producing city of Kirkuk 28 years ago because of incentives that included a home offered by Saddam Hussein's Arab nationalist government.

But times have changed in Kirkuk, a mixing pot of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmen and Armenians 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad which is potentially Iraq's next flashpoint.

Abu Mohammed has decided to accept a compensation offer of 20 million Iraqi dinars (about $16,000) to voluntarily move his family of 10 back to Samawa in southern Iraq, part of a "normalization" plan enshrined in Iraq's constitution.

"I saw that it was best for me and my family to return to our original province because, whether we like it or not, Arab migrants will leave sooner or later," he told Reuters on Tuesday.

The "normalization" plan is an attempt to return Kirkuk to its earlier demographic make-up before Saddam Hussein's "Arabisation" plan in the 1970s and 1980s when Kurds and Turkmens were expelled.

It is a key element in preparations for a referendum -- due by the end of the year -- on the status of the multi-ethnic city, which Iraq's Kurds want to become a part of their autonomous region.

Some Iraqi Arabs and Turkmen who do not want to leave fear they may be forced out if the vote goes ahead and they want the poll postponed or shelved. Analysts fear a bloodbath if it takes place against the wishes of the other, non-Kurdish sects.

Estimates of the number of migrant Arabs in Kirkuk vary greatly. Kirkuk's acting mayor Ihsan Guli says there are 70,000 Arab families, or roughly 230,000 people, out of a population of about three quarters of a million.

Iraq's Environment Minister Nermeen Othman, a Kurd, put the number much higher, at close to 135,000 families. He has said 9,450 Arab families have started procedures to move.

FED UP WITH PREJUDICE

Mohammed Khalil al-Jubouri, an Arab member of the committee in charge of ensuring compensation to those who relocate, said many of the families who have claimed the resettlement money had already moved out of the city.

"The number of families who have registered for compensation are currently about 1,000 families, the majority of which come from southern Iraq," Jubouri said.

"Most of these families had already left Kirkuk anyway ... some of these families had come back to register after they heard of the compensation," he said.

Um Zayneb, a 50-year-old mother of seven, said she was fed up with the prejudice against Arab settlers like herself.

"I am not allowed to work in Kirkuk anymore, that's why I want to go back to Amara," she said, referring to a poor southern Shi'ite city, as she stood outside the provincial council office to complete her paperwork.

"I've been here for more than 25 years, but however long that is, we will always feel like strangers."

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

By Mohammad Kamal KUWAIT, Oct 3 (KUNA) -- Economic experts said professional fund managers were rare in Kuwait's leading companies.
They told KUNA that professional fund managers should have the ability to oversee the future and expect incomes and loses.
Chairman of Al-Zumuruda Holding Mahmoud Haider said the number of professional fund managers in Kuwait was very small, which lead some investment companies to hold training sessions in the field.
Some companies even increased the salaries of managers to attract professionals, he added.
Although there are a few Kuwaiti fund managers, there are several foreigners who are running multi-million dinar funds and training Kuwaiti youth to enter the field, he said.
Haider stressed the awareness of Kuwaiti youth should be increased on the importance of this profession, he emphasized.
Meanwhile, economic analyst Bader Al-Sheikh said honesty was the most important characteristic that fund managers had to have, adding that they should also have experience, good relations with investment blocs, and knowledge on the state's policies, and avoid caring about self interest.
However, millions of dinars are managed by small managers who lack experience, he noted.
On his part, head of dealers society Mohammad Al-Tarrah said a fund manager had to seize a good investment opportunity to achieve the best income rate.

Syria reimposes visa requirement for Iraqis
Restriction re-applied in bid to stem tide of Iraq refugees fleeing war to Syria.

Syria has reimposed a visa requirement for Iraqis in a bid to stem the tide of refugees fleeing war in the Arab neighbouring state, a Syrian official said on Tuesday.

"Visas for Iraqis are being required since yesterday (Monday)," the official said.

Damascus initially announced the visa requirement would be enforced from September 10, but temporarily dropped the restriction as a goodwill gesture to allow Iraqi families to meet during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

At the time, Syria, which is already hosting more than 1.5 million Iraqis, said that the restriction would be re-applied at the end of Ramadan, around October 12.

The official speaking Tuesday gave no reason why the visa requirement -- valid for a single visit of up to three months for visitors with economic, university and scientific qualifications -- was renewed earlier than expected.

About 30,000 Iraqis fleeing violence back home settle each month in neighbouring Syria, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which estimates the total number of refugees and displaced at more than four million.

Syria reimposes visa requirement for Iraqis | Iraq Updates

Polish ambassador in Baghdad injured in explosion

Polish ambassador to Iraq was injured when an explosive charge went off near his motorcade on Wednesday morning in central Baghdad, a police source said.

"A roadside bomb, planted on the main road in al-Karada neighborhood in central Baghdad, was detonated while the Polish ambassador's motorcade was passing by, injuring him as well as a number of embassy's staff," the source, who refused to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"Security forces arrived to the scene and immediately sealed off the area," he also said.

"A rescue team rushed the wounded to a private ho****al for treatment," the source added.

Poland is a U.S. ally in Iraq and 1000 Polish soldiers are operating within the Multinational forces in Iraq.

Twenty-four Polish servicemen and civilians have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Polish ambassador in Baghdad injured in explosion | Iraq Updates

Americans oppose full funding for Iraq war
Washington Post-ABC News poll says majority of Americans want war budget sharply reduced.

A majority of Americans do not want to give President George W. Bush the 190-billion-dollar he has requested for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll out Tuesday.

While 27 percent said they would give a green light to the funding, a hefty 43 percent of those surveyed said they wanted the budget for those conflicts reduced sharply; and another 23 percent said they wanted the funding lowered somewhat. Three percent said no funding should be approved and three percent had no opinion, the poll found.

The survey also shed light on US voters' discontent with Bush and Congress.

"Bush's approval rating stands at 33 percent, equal to his career low in Post-ABC polls.

"And just 29 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, its lowest approval rating in this poll since November 1995, when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. It also represents a 14-point drop since Democrats took control in January," the Post added.

The US Senate Monday passed a mammoth 648 billion dollar defense policy bill, shorn of attempts by disappointed anti-war Democrats to dictate Bush's Iraq strategy.

The bill included around 128 billion dollars for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.

The legislation passed by 92 votes to three after Democrats lost several attempts to dictate US troop levels in Iraq.

While the Department of Defense Authorization bill for fiscal year 2008 sets the size of programs, funds can only be disbursed after the passage of a Senate defense spending bill due to be taken up by the chamber this week.

The most significant Iraq related portion of the bill was an amendment backed by Democratic Senator Joseph Biden which passed last week, calling for a federalization of Iraq, with large amounts of power ceded to the provinces.

But the amendment was non-binding and will not force Bush to change strategy in the unpopular war.

Democrats failed by only four votes to include an amendment which would require troops who served in Iraq or Afghanistan to be granted as much time at home as they spent on combat deployments.

The bill would have effectively limited the number of troops available for deployment, and cut the size of the 160,000 strong US force in Iraq more quickly than the gradual reductions which Bush has promised.

Americans oppose full funding for Iraq war | Iraq Updates