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

Kurdish official: Iran reopens 5 crossings on border with Kurdish-run northern Iraq

Iran opened on Monday five border crossing points with Kurdish-run northern Iraq, closed last month by Tehran to protest the U.S. detention of an Iranian here, an Iraqi Kurdish official said.

Elsewhere, a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid in the Baghdad slum and Shiite stronghold of Sadr City ended in the deaths of two men, officials said.
Jamal Abdullah, spokesman for the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, expressed relief that the crossings reopened at 9 a.m. Monday and added that the decision to reopen them followed a visit by a Kurdish delegation to Iran three days ago.

Iran closed the border with the Kurdish northern Iraq on Sept. 24 following the arrest of Mahmoud Farhadi, who was taken into custody four days earlier by U.S. troops in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah

The U.S. military said the arrested Iranian was a member of the Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards alleged to smuggle weapons to Shiite extremists in Iraq.

The Iraqi government has asked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to release the man, saying he was in the country on official business.

Last week, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, complained that Iran was punishing the Kurdish region for something the Kurdish authorities were not responsible for - the Iranian's arrest. The Kurdish region relies heavily on commerce with Iran and economic ties between the two are strong.

But U.S. officials have complained the porous boundary is a transit route for foreign fighters and weapons into Iraq.

''Reopening borders will have its good results of economical interests for both countries,'' Abdullah said, adding it was up to Tehran and Baghdad to ''prevent gunmen from having access to either side of border.''

Hundreds of cargo trucks had lined up on the Iraqi side of the border Sunday, when Iran's official news agency IRNA had said the crossing would reopen.

Farhadi's arrest has raised U.S.-Iran tensions, already taxed over Tehran's controversial nuclear program and the January arrest by U.S. troops of five other Iranians in Irbil, northern Iraq, for alleged links to the Quds force.

Farhadi and the five Iranians remain in U.S. custody.

Meanwhile, a joint Iraqi-U.S. troops raid early on the Baghdad stronghold of the country's largest Shiite militia killed two men and wounded four, while four others were arrested, an Iraqi police official said.

The operation in Sadr City, the capital's sprawling Shiite slum in northeastern Baghdad and base of the Mahdi Army militia, took place before dawn with support of U.S. helicopters, the Iraqi official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to release the information.

The U.S. military confirmed an early Monday raid on Sadr City, but said no shots were fired and no arrests were made by American troops.

AP Television News footage from the scene in Sadr City showed the funeral procession for two men witnesses said were killed in the raid, a bloodstained roof area of a house in the area, spent bullet casings littering overturned furniture, broken glass and a shrapnel-peppered door of a house.

Sadr City is controlled by the Shiite militia loyal to the radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who in August announced a ''freeze'' of his militia activities for up to six months to allow for its restructuring.

However, it is unclear how much control he maintains over his fighters as groups have splintered from the main movement and attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces by rogue Shiite elements, which the U.S. military says are funded by Iran, have increased.

Santa Barbara News-Press

Brown sets out vision for Iraq

Gordon Brown is due to set out a "comprehensive" vision of his Iraq policy - less than a week after sparking controversy by announcing a troop withdrawal.

The Prime Minister will make a long-awaited statement to MPs as the Commons returns from its summer break, but faces a storm of protests from critics.

Reports suggested he could use the parliamentary set piece to detail plans to bring more soldiers home and grant asylum to a fixed number of Iraqi interpreters.

Channel 4 - News - Brown sets out vision for Iraq

Behind the Scenes in Iraq

The repercussions of the situation of the US Blackwater company, which specializes in providing security in Iraq, are still occupying the headlines of the international media. This company, in addition to Halliburton, is considered the best example of outsourcing in the American war in Iraq. Never, in the history of the military, has the level of subcontracting to carry out legitimate and illegitimate missions, reached its current stage as in Iraq by governmental (and non-governmental) authorities.

The stories that were allowed to be published, (there are horrific stories that some established publications such as The New York Times, and The New Yorker magazine and others have refused to publish), highlight the vast number of abuses and violations committed in Iraq. The issue is not limited to violations of agreements and contracts, rather, it involves cases of theft and embezzlement (the amount of lost sums of money in Iraq “after” the arrival of occupation forces is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars), whilst not forgetting the crimes of intimidation and murder that are sometimes registered as “friendly fire” or as human error for which apologies are made.

The figure that is frequently mentioned is the number of members of the American military forces in Iraq which is estimated at 130,000 soldiers; however, the more important figure is the number of contracted “individuals”. There are two declared statistics; one which was issued by the popular Los Angeles Times newspaper, which stated that the number could reach 65,000, whilst the British newspaper, Independent, explains that the figure may be up to 110,000. In both cases, both figures are a cause of great concern. It is odd that there are many other parties that seek to take advantage of this state by provoking the troubled security situation, considering the enormous benefits that contracting companies gain and the amounts and fees that they charge.

Continuous requests for the withdrawal of American forces do not affect the companies located there, and these are no less dangerous than the occupier and its foolish policies. There are many honest people in the United States who sponsor unprecedented campaigns to identify major violations within the field of contracting in Iraq and the impact that this has on the American budget and the American taxpayer. A number of alarming surprises have emerged that all point in the direction of the neo-conservatives and the earthquake from which American foreign policy has suffered since its forceful entry into Iraq.

The Iraqi scene is bleak, but what is going on behind the scenes is no less dangerous; it must be dealt with the same level of importance.

Behind the Scenes in Iraq | Iraq Updates

Applying unified retirement law this month

Parliament dated this month to begin applying the new unified retirement law, while it made some important legislation about support Iraqi refugees, martyrs' parents and political prisoners.

MP Abbas Bayati said that the Parliament determined to approve all important legislations that serve public interest within its fall round.

Meanwhile, spokesman of Govt. Ali Dabagh said that Cabinet has allocated $15M to Syria, $8M to Jordan and $2M to Lebanon to support Iraqi refugees there.

Applying unified retirement law this month | Iraq Updates

Maliki : Weapon should remain in state's hand

PM Noori Maliki said that security improvement wouldn’t make by weapon only, but should associate with political act and economic improvement.

PM added at his meeting with joint staff chief of US military Adm. Molen that changes that happened in Iraq after fighting with Qaeda boosted relation between people and Govt. after what citizens saw of crimes from the Qaeda and militias.

He called to control recruitment in armed forces to prevent creating new militias.

Maliki : Weapon should remain in state's hand | Iraq Updates

Human Interest Article

Internet helps besieged Iraqis stay in touch with outside world

With a girlfriend in Damascus, a mother and two brothers in Abu Dhabi, cousins in Amman and an uncle in Finland, Internet chats are the only way Baghdad merchant Hussein Karim can keep up with his widely dispersed family. "I couldn't do without instant messaging," Karim told AFP at his small mobile-phone kiosk - adorned with a misspelt sign in English that reads "Enter for Mobaile" - in Baghdad's inner Karrada neighborhood.

"I chat with my girlfriend and family every day. I am addicted to it," said Karim.

Telephone calls are expensive and unreliable, said the 22-year-old graduate in German language, who makes around $400 a month selling mobile phones to an ever-diminishing customer base.

The UN refugee agency estimates that 4 million Iraqis have fled their homes since the US invasion of 2003. Two million have moved to other parts of Iraq and the rest abroad, mainly to Syria and Jordan. Thousands more are leaving their homes every day.

According to the latest estimates - from two years ago - there are 36,000 Internet users in Iraq. These don't take into account the thousands who visit cyber-cafes across the country every day to chat with friends, do research, cyber-flirt or find marriage partners.

"Iraqis everywhere are keeping in touch with each other through the Internet," said Laith Lutfi, owner of the Baghdad Center for Internet in the capital's Karrada Meriam suburb.

"Most of our customers come here to chat or to Skype," said the 23-year-old computer engineering student, referring to a program that allows users to make telephone calls from their computer to other users free of charge.

With the nightly curfew now coming into effect at midnight instead of 11 p.m., he is able to keep his small operation with its nine computer terminals open later than ever, Lutfi said. That is good news for those with relatives living in distant time zones, such as Australia, the United States and Canada.

"After 10 p.m. I get many people who come here to chat or Skype with their relations in the United States," said Lutfi, who charges 2,000 dinars (about $1.60) an hour for Internet access.

High school teacher Rajaa Abdul Rahman, in her early 30s and newly graduated with a doctorate in Arabic, keeps in touch with her parents and sister in Ramadi, capital of Iraq's western Anbar Province, through instant messaging.

"The telephones don't work and so the only way to maintain contact is through the Internet," she said from behind one of the little wooden cubicles Lutfi has built to separate his workstations.

"I speak to my family once a week, sometimes more. We use chat," added Rahman, perspiring lightly de****e the ceiling fans in the sweltering cafe.

Next to her a slightly built man named Ahmed, an agriculturalist, was researching information on pesticides while chatting with a relative in Bahrain.

His neighbor, a burly man named Salam who has a government job, was also doing research but said he was forcing himself to focus on the task at hand instead of chatting.

"I have so many relatives abroad that I could chat all day and in fact I used to," he said. "Now I limit it to just two or three times a week. Chatting is a big benefit but also a curse."

Lutfi says that he too gets to chat in between dealing with customers and scanning documents and passport pages for Iraqis seeking to join the exodus abroad.

"I just go on line and see whoever is there - there is usually someone," he said with a grin.

Mobile phone merchant Karim insits he won't be leaving violent Baghdad, even though the demand for his phones is decreasing by the week and the struggle to survive is growing more and more demanding.

"The wealthier people are the ones who are leaving," he said. "A year ago I used to sell three or four phones a day, now I sell only that many in a week."

Because of his fluency in German he did apply last year for a German visa but was rejected. Now he says he feels a moral obligation to stay on - he is the sole member of his family left in Baghdad and believes it would be wrong to leave.

He has also proposed to his girlfriend but her parents refused the match - mainly, he says, because of his determination to stay in war-wracked Iraq. His mother, meanwhile, is nagging him to come to Abu Dhabi.
"Every time I speak with her she cries and begs me to join her and my brothers," he said. "It is difficult. Sometimes I prefer not to chat."

Internet helps besieged Iraqis stay in touch with outside world | Iraq Updates

Five Star Luxury for Northern Iraq

Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels said on Tuesday it would develop a $55 million five-star property in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdish region, which has largely been spared the violence affecting the rest of the country.

Rotana, which has 25 hotels across the Middle East, will compete for a growing ho****ality business with the Erbil International Hotel; the city's only other five-star property, where a standard twin room costs around $300 a night.

"This is part of our strategic aim to have a property located in every key city in the Middle East," Selim el-Zyr, president of Rotana, said in a statement.

The semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government is trying to encourage investors to develop Erbil's hotel infrastructure and turn the city into an entry point to Iraq for foreign businesses.

The ministry of tourism last month said three or four times the current numbers of hotels were needed.

The city's international airport handled about 170,000 passengers in 2006 and the regional government is building a new airport to handle 1.5 million, according to the London-based Kurdistan Development Corporation.

Austrian Airlines became the first European carrier to resume scheduled flights to Iraq last year when it began twice-weekly services to Erbil from Vienna.

Rotana's 205 room Erbil property, scheduled to open in 2009, is owned by Lebanese holding company Malia although potential investors are ‘still welcome’ according to president Jacques Sarraf.

PUKmedia :: English - Five Star Luxury for Northern Iraq

Basra police chief 'ready to deal with armed militias'

The Iraqi government, along with political forces, are following with concern the situation in Basra province, with the withdrawal of the British military continuing in the forthcoming months until a full withdrawal is implemented.

General Abdul Jalil Khalaf, Basra police chief, told Gulf News: "The task is very difficult and conditions are extremely dangerous because each party believes that it represents the law, and each element thinks of himself as a state hero. The city includes tens or even hundreds of militias and I am ready for the task."

Statistics at the University of Basra indicates that there are about 250,000 individuals involved in the armed militias and around 144 militia groups.

Oil smuggling

There are the militias of the Dawa party headed by Nouri Al Maliki, the Badr Brigades headed by Hadi Al Ameri affiliated to Abdul Aziz Al Hakim , the Mahdi Army of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, the Hezbollah movement militia led by Hassan Sari, Hezbollah affiliated to Abdul Kareem Al Muhamadawi, the Fadhila party militias belong to Mohammad Al Yacoubi and other small resistance militias in the south as Imam Ali rebels, Hassan and Hussain rebels and Al Ridha followers.

The oil-rich city consists of 40 to 55 private militia who spe******e in oil smuggling to Iran and stealing copper wires from electric grids.

Abdul Hadi, an Iraqi army officer in Basra, told Gulf News: "The most dangerous militia is the police and security forces' militias because they have weapons and work in the name of the law. These are groups that consist of between 40 to 90 members who agree to implement kidnapping and blackmail operations or condone gang activities for major financial commissions."

Basra, especially Faw and Majnoon Islands, includes the richest oil fields in the region as well as bunches of palm orchards which yield the best types of dates in the world.

Fadhil Al Jamaly, an economic researcher, told Gulf News: "The issue of oil is the essence of conflict between armed militias, whether these are affiliated to political parties or smuggling gangs. I believe fighting will break out between the outlaw armed groups because of the weakness of state security forces and also the penetration of these militias in these forces, besides seizing land and dates palms is no less important than oil for the armed groups."

Recently, the dispute settlement body in Basra reported that armed militias affiliated to political parties, gangs and powerful individuals seized thousands of houses and real estate.

Basra police chief 'ready to deal with armed militias' | Iraq Updates

Turkmen Front Supports the Decision Number 6 of High Committee of Implementation of Article 140

Turkmen Front Supports the decision Number 6 of high committee of implementation of article 140 which is related to the land confiscated by the former Iraqi regime and restoring it to their owners.

Ali Mahdi, Kirkuk Governorate Council Member from Turkmen Front bloc said: “Restoring Turkmen land in Hamzali and Tisaen districts confiscated by Iraqi regime to their owners is the first decision in its kind by high committee of implementation of article 140.

“We support creating security in Kirkuk. The city is belonging to Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrians; any normalization in the city should be bound to law. We are not against article 140,” he added.

PUKmedia :: English - Turkmen Front Supports the Decision Number 6 of High Committee of Implementation of Article 140

Iraqi President Backs US Senate Proposal to Decentralize Iraq

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says he supports a U.S. Senate resolution that calls for the decentralization of Iraq into autonomous regions for Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.

The non-binding Senate resolution adopted last month is opposed by the Bush administration and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

But, Mr. Talabani said in an interview with CNN Sunday that the Senate proposal deserves consideration and does not undermine Iraq's unity.
The resolution urges the creation of a federal government in Baghdad that would protect Iraq's borders and share oil revenues among the regions.

Mr. Talabani, who is a Kurd, says there is "no possibility" of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region becoming independent. He says such a state would face hostility from neighbors with Kurdish minorities.
The Iraqi president also says he believes the United States can withdraw at least 100,000 troops from Iraq by the end of next year.

Mr. Talabani did not explain why he thinks the U.S. military can carry out a faster pullout than U.S. commanders have discussed in public.

Mr. Talabani also says the U.S. military should keep three bases in northern, central and southern Iraq to train Iraqi forces and prevent neighboring countries from interfering.

VOA News - Iraqi President Backs US Senate Proposal to Decentralize Iraq