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

Iraq's capital is Adventurer b 'for Amassadrh not nationalization'

Source: Qabas Kuwaiti-02/09/2007

Thematic days of discussions and presentations in an attempt to reassure investors away from security fears.
Could not the business and investment in Iraq which was held in the city of Dubai last week, and by Hizballah from the Iraqis or the Americans that 'next home investment', to give adequate answers and convincing as confining its agenda and projects on the southern and central provinces, although most officials and participants Taqwa 'Qabas' them focused on that the last week is the first of a series of tripartite completed holding two other concerned departments to promote the west and north.
The start of the meetings' Qabas' with Dr. Ji. TR filters CEO of the company filters one of the companies sponsoring the conference, which provides advisory services to the Iraqi government in the area of human resources, who said that the conference focus and tried to attract attention to the properties (sectors) government and the definition in order to provide the appropriate atmosphere for their return to work. He stressed that oil is not the focus of attention at the present time, with the geopolitical and economic importance, stressing that there is huge interest in the strengthening and revitalization of the industrial sector.
He added filters that Congress sought to put the viewpoint of the Iraqi government in stimulating the partnership between the public and private sectors, whether from inside or outside Iraq, with the search for ways to encourage Iraqi industry to deploy and exit from the geographic borders of Iraq.
On his part, Bob Lemon official in the Special Operations task force of stability in the work of the multinational forces that the conference, as well as the task force in which it operates, is to focus on highlighting investment opportunities available in Iraq and praised the level of foreign participation, pointing out participations from Germany Japan, Australia, Spain and China as well as American companies.
Therefore, China is non-existent political or economic sensitivities recently emerged between the Americans and Chinese in many of the Bekaa. Bob Lemon says that the conference aimed at attracting investments from everywhere without any restrictions on any country. But he explained, in response to the question 'Qabas' that the Russians did not register their wish to participate.
He stressed that the focus on the promotion of medium-sized companies, considering it a 'wheel driving development in Iraq'.
Participate in the dialogue, between 'Qabas' and Limon, secretary of the Congress Terry Annan strength functions stability, to stress that the door is open to all investments wherever they came from. He denied the existence of any competition or to Sarahudin interests, pointing out that the goal of Task Force advancing Iraqi economy, and acknowledged that the security situation 'affect' but continued to say that security is improving.
He told Annan, a former Australian brigade, the oil is not the pillars of this conference and not in a solid originally, and the focus is to convince investors access to the wheel of the Iraqi economy.
Opening prospects
After two days of discussions and presentations, said Minister of Industry and Minerals Fawzi Hariri told 'Qabas' Conference that opened its prospects definition what is available in Iraq and promising opportunities, and explained that he sensed during the conference significant interests in participating in the rehabilitation sector petrochemical industries, pointing out that the draft rehabilitation Iraqi petrochemical company may require investments exceeding $ 2 billion, adding that the Ministry of Industry and Minerals will open its partnership with the global investments, and noted that the volume of investments offered by the ministry during the conference superiority of 5.1 billion dollars.
And investment priorities in Iraq, Hariri made in the agricultural sector, saying that his country possesses enormous natural wealth to enable them to achieve self-sufficiency, while Iraq currently imports 70% of agricultural products, the resolution of the industrial sector II. He stressed that the lure investments in these sectors will provide job opportunities for tens of thousands of labor.
To promote equality
The head of the Investment Authority, the Iraqi Thamer Ghadban told 'Qabas' Law No. 13 which was issued this year contains regulatory mechanisms and legal guarantees for investments throughout Iraq, including customs exemptions and tax incentives. He stressed that the law confirms that 'no confiscation or Tamima of the project', giving the investor the right to enter the capital and removed with profits without restriction, and said that the law encouraged foreign investors to obtain tax exemptions for 15 years in the event of Iraqi investor participation in this investment .
After the number of areas of investment in the sectors of energy, industry and agriculture said Ghadban, former oil minister, that 'the area welcomed' for investment in sectors such as tourism, especially religious tourism, and infrastructure needs of the hotels and airports.
He stressed that the Dubai launch its campaign investments quickly and widely in the areas in the south and center, and said: 'Jenaha so Ntaref areas of investment and we know we have' particularly in the seven provinces on this promotional forum.
He encouraged the Iraqi minister Arab companies to come to his country, saying that the law 'marched among all investors without any distinction, everyone is equal and everyone is welcome to them'. He expressed his belief that Arab investors may be more able than others to tender and accelerated investment in Iraq, and drew attention from businessmen and Amaratein Kuwaitis and Jordanians and Lebanese. He expected investments of hundreds of billions of dollars will enter his country in the next few years.
And security fears which might undermine or disrupt, such optimism Ghadban said that there are many areas in Iraq, which enjoys a security, and stressed that the government is working to develop security and investment 'hand in hand' through the consolidation of security and release the wheel of investment and development.
Law oil: a unification
In context, the deputy said Qais Amri Conference 'education' for Arab and foreign investors, and expressed his belief that investors are interested produced the political process in Iraq of sophisticated investment code and privileges afforded by investors in the sectors of industry, real estate development, and the view that the law provides the necessary safeguards for the movement of capital money. He expressed his belief that the Dubai create some sort of relations between many Iraqi businessmen and economic partnerships with their counterparts in the Gulf region and foreign countries interested in investing.
He added that achieving the goals will have positive results and repercussions on the security situation in Iraq, relations with Iraq pumped investments by transnational corporations and their officers.
Law and the Oil and Gas before the Iraqi parliament deputy Amri stressed on the need to achieve consensus on House 'because it has economic and political task for the country', as it will map the federal cabinet in Iraq, the role of the provinces in the oil and gas, which will be judged oil policy in Iraq after decades of 'outdated ideas and work backward to invest oil' according to the change in Iraq, and copes with technological development in the world.
Ruled out the possibility that the oil-Amri 'fuel' dismantling Iraq, and stressed that it would fuel preserve Iraq's unity and the safety of its people and secure, and said that passing the law and its success in attracting investments to this vital sector will be reflected on the security situation because it 'will create economic environment conducive to absorb unemployment situation ... The partnerships will create political and security between Iraq and the countries that will receive their investment in the fields'.
The conference, which started Tuesday and concluded Thursday witnessed by the strong presence of Iraqi officials and representatives of international companies to discuss investment opportunities in which he said Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdelmahdi that Iraq 'hungry' is a promising capital opportunities abound, and stressed in a dialogue with 'Qabas' that the investors who risk to enter the Iraqi market before others' unaware of 'will be the biggest beneficiaries.
The conference witnessed, which was held under the slogan: 'Iraq homeland investment next', the presence of about 300 representatives from Arab and international companies, in addition to dozens of Iraqi officials among ministers and deputies. It focused largely on opportunities' clear and viable way forward in the process of implementation 'and help investors to identify the nature of investment in Iraq.
Although the conference was aimed primarily businessmen and EMIRIAN Gulf, but attendance was lackluster, did not appear Aldhadish only rarely, although the company 'Ajilete' was among the sponsors of the conference, however, discuss' Qabas' personalities from Kuwaiti was painstaking process without results.

Take advantage and benefit from-corruption

Speaking 'Qabas' with the businessman from the Iraqi experience Aldamrjee investment in his country after decades of exile, seemed encouraged and encouraged all taxpayers Iraqis to return and work within the system the Iraqi economy.
He said Aldamrjee, which currently focuses its work on the distribution sector, the start of work started from Kurdistan, where there are no disturbances, and then expanded its work to other provinces. He continued to say: 'We have benefited and it is not corruption'. Having said that the security situation limits the expansion of investments in other areas, explained Aldamrjee l 'Qabas' that the strategy the company plans to enter into the area of real estate development with the security situation has improved.

No Israelis

Asked 'Qabas' minister Thamer Ghadban on' open doors' for investment, Does this mean no reluctance to enter Israeli investors? Individual precipitously that what is said about the Israeli investments in Iraq 'perpetuate' goal is not only confusion, and stated the positions of Iraq and the Iraqis of Arab issues and the central issue of Palestine and 'graves martyrs Iraqis' there.
Regarding the presence of Israeli requests for investment under lesson Ghadban averred that the Ministry of Investment had not received any request for investment from the Israelis.

A tribute to the role of Kuwait

He commended the Minister of Industry and Minerals Fawzi Hariri during the conversation with 'Qabas' supportive role Kuwait to Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, and praised the Kuwaiti investment experience and competencies of Kuwait. He disclosed that he intends in the coming days to visit Kuwait to meet with businessmen and investors' abilities to benefit from the investment and expertise '.
And the volume of Kuwaiti investments, which entered Iraq during the past four years, Hariri said that no specific figures have, and noted that mostly concentrated in northern Iraq and a $ 1 billion, pointing to the existence of investments scattered in some provinces close to the Kuwaiti border, such as Basra.
Kuwaitis and property in Iraq, the Iraqi minister stressed that any property, whether for Kuwaitis or other 'content' and stressed that the state constitution and legally binding right to each of the right.

The port of Basra is open for 'Special'

Asked 'Qabas' Minister Fawzi Hariri on the project for developing the port of Basra explained that the project won wide attention by the Congress, which has allocated a special interactive session and said that this project enjoys great interest, and the government earmarked for development as between 15 and 20 billion dollars. In response to a port on the private sector, Hariri said that this should not be excluded and that investment is expected to put to the completion of certain technical aspects.
The minister avoided to go into further details on the project, especially when asked 'Qabas' on the overtures between the Iraqi government and the government of the Principality represented in Dubai company Dubai Ports World, saying that the port jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport, which may have a more details.

The need for Cement will exceed the need for bread

Businessman Abdullah Al Iraq takes serious steps' to the level and scale investment opportunity ', believing that there is anywhere in return, which achieve greater economic investment in Iraq.
He added that Iraq needs the raw materials for the massive reconstruction by the State and the work of major donor countries, and encouraged businessmen in the neighboring States to 'take the opportunity seriously and mark' in Iraq.
He believed that Iraq during the next decade will need more than cement needs bread. He called Iraqi businessmen living abroad to contribute to the situation of Iraq until they hand players in the field of investment in their country. He stressed that the 'appropriate opportunity to go back ... And open to everyone 'especially in light of legislation supporting laws and guarantor of investment.

Iraq envoy Crocker says US ready for a new round of talks with Iran

Baghdad - The US is ready to resume three-way talks with Iran over Iraqi security, Washington's ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker has told state-owned al-Iraqiya television.

Crocker, who had earlier joined a round of talks with Iranians and Iraqis in Baghdad, told the local news source in an interview aired overnight Sunday that so far the discussions were futile. Crocker said that the American-Iranian demands were not met.

On May 28, Crocker and Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, had met for four hours over tea at the residence of Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki, who mediated at the meeting in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.

The US, which refused to engage in bilateral talks with the Iranians, had charged that Iran was backing some of the insurgent and outside groups targeting coalition soldiers.

Crocker named Iran's so-called Quds Force as a major player in the conflict, alleging that the group - a legitimate special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards - was supplying both Sunni insurgent groups as well as radical Shiite groups with arms.

Qumi, reportedly a member of the Quds force himself, had 'very little comment,' according to the US envoy, regarding the set charges.
In their talks, the Iranians focused on setting a calendar for US withdrawal from Iraq - an issue that was considered a 'benchmark' for any cooperation from their side.

But de****e of waning progress, the US diplomat Sunday encouraged the possibility of further talks because, he said, efforts by the Iranian government to improve security in Iraq were needed.

Crocker reiterated the US claim that Iran was responsible for egging on both sectarian-based violence and aggression directed towards multinational forces in the Iraqi territories. But he added that the support for radical militias should be curbed.

He insisted that the US administration was keen on pursuing political solutions instead of military solutions regarding the two allies, and Iraq neighbours Iran and Syria.

The US and Iran have been at loggerheads since the fall of the US- backed shah and the US embassy hostage crisis in 1979, but had informal contacts during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, some of which became public during the Iran-Contra scandal.

Iraq envoy Crocker says US ready for a new round of talks with Iran - Middle East

Another British general criticizes US Iraq strategy (Roundup)

London - Another British general Sunday openly and severely attacked US strategy in Iraq, calling it 'fatally flawed' and lacking in detail on post-combat initiatives.

Major-General Tim Cross, most senior British officer involved in post-war planning, told the Sunday Mirror: 'We were all very concerned about the lack of detail that had gone into the post-war plan.'

His criticism came after the former head of the British military, General Sir Mike Jackson, was quoted by the Daily Telegraph Saturday as branding the US approach 'intellectually bankrupt.'

In the latest comments, Cross - like Jackson also retired - said he had raised serious concerns with then US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld - but Rumsfeld 'dismissed' or 'ignored' the warnings.

'Right from the very beginning we were all very concerned about the lack of detail that had gone into the post-war plan and there is no doubt that Rumsfeld was at the heart of that process,' he said.

'The US had already convinced themselves that following the invasion Iraq would emerge reasonably quickly as a stable democracy,' Cross was quoted as saying.

'There is no doubt that with hindsight the US post-war plan was fatally flawed and many of us sensed that at the time.'

In his critical remarks of Saturday, Jackson in particular has also blamed Rumsfeld and his neoconservative allies for the chaos in Iraq.

But the former US envoy to the United Nations, John Bolton, rejected Jackson's criticism. His comments were 'way off the mark,' Bolton was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The Sunday Times meanwhile reported that Britain was preparing to pull out its 5,500 troops from Iraq soon, handing full control over the southern province of Basra to the Iraqi army.

It quoted London government sources as saying Prime Minister Gordon Brown was aiming at being able to tell parliament on its October 8 resumption that control had been passed on.

The paper added that US commanders in iraq had already accepted that British forces - who have been gradually handing back the province to Iraqi control, were on their way out of Iraq.

Another British general criticizes US Iraq strategy (Roundup) - Middle East_

The Washington Post: $ 50 billion for the rehabilitation of the oil and electricity sectors in Iraq

Source: Rafidain - 02/09/2007

Published Washington Post, Sunday, a report highlights the energy situation in Iraq, noting that Iraq is still far from achieving the objectives in the sectors of oil, electricity, and that these sectors need to be nearly 50 billion dollars to cover demand in the country, as stated Analysts and officials.

The newspaper says that since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration focused more expenditure on oil and electricity, the amount of 44.5 billion dollars, appropriated for the reconstruction plan. Now, with the approaching end of the reconstruction phase, led by the United States, Iraq will need to spend an additional $ 27 billion for the electric system, and to 20 to 30 billion dollars for oil infrastructure, according to estimates Accounting Office says the government collected from the Americans and Iraqi officials.

Even with the provision of funding, according to the newspaper Accounting Office notes that the work will take until the year 2015 to enable Iraq to produce six million barrels of oil per day, and provide sufficient quantities of electricity to meet demand.

The newspaper said that military generals from the military engineering unit says that it is possible to provide sufficient quantities of electricity quickly by the year 2010 or 2013.

He said Stuart Bowen, the Inspector General of the American reconstruction of Iraq, charged with uncovering waste, fraud and corruption tens of millions of dollars, that the "American money was devoted to the operation of these industries and qualify," adding that "we are working in the sectors of Khirbat systems and dilapidated, it is still a long road ahead to get to what we want. "

The newspaper indicated that the former high-level officials in the Pentagon had been working in the rebuilding of the oil and electricity sectors talked about more openly saying, provided to remain anonymous said that "people say that the money to build the country, but was merely an initial boost," explaining that "it was not money not enough never to address what is in these sectors. It was just help. "

Attached newspaper said that these problems were not specified, it would be difficult to build a strong economy and the development of living standards, which lead to the loss of people's confidence in government.

Following the newspaper as saying that the oil and electricity industries are the most important in Iraq, both heavily dependent on the other. Iraq imports worth about two billion dollars of oil products per year. Oil exports constitute 90% of the proceeds of the Iraqi government, but the stunning paralyzed oil production without the availability of sufficient electrical power to operate the refinery and pipeline transportation. Electricity, in turn, can not be generated without fuel, which occupies the majority of power plants in Iraq.

The newspaper says that American officials say they have found good infrastructure in the country worse off than they expected, especially after severe damage in the Gulf War, 1990-1991, and a decade of economic sanctions. Fabar oil was cleaned. The electricity-generating plants from old devices that do not have the spare parts. The paper recalls that one of auditors of Americans said that he had spent the entire day with 22 Iraqi electrical engineer, explained to him how proud they re-operation of generators using one piece of Pepsi machine.

Attached newspaper that the Americans placed four billion dollars more than in the 2600 draft for the reform of power plants, transmission lines and distribution networks. It also placed $ 1.75 billion in the development of Iraqi oil infrastructure.

There is a big problem ", where armed groups regularly launch attacks on electrical installations and oil."

Analysts say that Iraq needs to invest money in infrastructure builders of the oil pumping and treatment, and the modernization and maintenance of equipment, training of workers in the fields of electricity generation and oil refineries. "

The paper quoted Brigadier General Michael Walsh, the general command of the military engineering battalion, brigade Gulf region, as saying via a telephone call from Baghdad, "our work here was to create the infrastructure, and everything that we Throughout the past four years was enough for a starting point. Now the Iraqi government to continue our work. "

Iraq's Sunnis deny dialogue with US administration (Extra)

Baghdad - Iraq's top Sunni organization, the Association of Muslim Scholars, denied Sunday having had a dialogue with the US administration.

But de****e a denial, spokesman Sheikh Muhammad Bashar al-Faydi told Voices of Iraq news agency the association did not rule out dialogue, 'provided Washington would show genuine intentions about leaving Iraq through a serious and clear timetable.'

He added: 'We are in favour of the departure of US forces from Iraq, but first of all the current security agencies, which proved a failure and perpetrated heinous crimes against the Iraqi people, have to be dismantled.'

The Sunni group is known for encouraging both armed and passive resistance against multinational forces.

Al-Faydi insisted the Sunnis were 'frustrated' by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declared intention to send forces to Iraq to 'fill the security vacuum' which the US troops would leave.

'We don't want to get rid of occupation just to have another,' the Sunni sheikh said. 'In both cases the Iraqi people would be stripped of their will.'

Meanwhile, and in another statement by the Association of Muslim Scholars, three Iraqis were reported killed in a US raid in northern Baghdad.

According to the association's website, the attack happened overnight where US air forces bombed a number of civilian buildings in a village called al-Khadraa in Tarimiyah, north of Baghdad.

Search for survivors and bodies of victims amid the rubble continued, according to the online statement.

Iraq's Sunnis deny dialogue with US administration (Extra) - Middle East_

Iraq: towards managing ports and airports from the private sector

Source: Qabas Kuwaiti-02/09/2007

The Ministry of Transport is currently studying the Iraqi proposal provides management ports and airports by the private sector.
An official source at the Ministry of Transportation-in a statement - that the ministry is studying the proposal submitted by the Council of Ministers in this regard according to specific controls by Two Iraqi ports and airports, adding that the ministry suggested that the port is managed only by the private sector in principle, to include debt repayment terms of management, rehabilitation and maintenance.
The source confirmed that the ministry was also studying the possibility of extending its control over border points through rehabilitating and providing protection necessary, explaining the lack of coordination between the concerned ministries on the management of border points and control, especially among ministries of the interior, finance and trade.

Iraq energy needs total about $50 billion

BAGHDAD, Sept. 2 Analysts and officials say Iraq's oil and electricity sectors are about $50 billion short of being able to meet demands.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said estimates collected from Iraqi and U.S. officials indicate Iraq will need to spend an additional $27 billion to finalize its electrical system and $20 billion to $30 billion to complete building its oil infrastructure, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

The GAO said some forecasts predict Iraq will not be able to produce 6 million barrels of oil a day and meet the country's electricity demands until 2015.

During the past four years, the United States has spent $6 billion on Iraq's oil and electricity sectors.

"The U.S. money was intended to get those industries started on recovery," said Stuart Bowen Jr., the U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. "We were working with a dilapidated, run-down system. It still has a long, long way to go."

"People said the money was to rebuild the country, but it was just a down payment," said a former top-level Pentagon official who was involved with Iraq's oil and electricity sectors. "The money was never enough to handle all that was there. It was merely a Band-Aid."

Iraq energy needs total about $50 billion : World

Battle lines drawn for Bush, Congress on Iraq

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush and his Democratic foes in Congress this week fire the opening shots in a long-brewing clash likely to seal the fate of US war strategy in Iraq.

Lawmakers return from their summer break for a week of hearings and political theater to set the stage for Bush's critical progress report on the war, due by September 15.

Then, in the week of September 9, war commander General David Petraeus, and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker will make one of the most significant appearances in Congress for years, to deliver their verdicts on the war.

At stake is the fate of Bush's last-ditch strategy to 'surge' 28,500 extra troops into Iraq, after a highly unpopular four year-war which has killed more than 3,700 US troops and tens of thousands of civilians.

The president wants to push the surge into early next year, but Democrats are set to try again to force him to bring home most combat forces by May.

Bush argues there are unmistakable signs the strategy has dampened violence in Iraq, after Sunni tribes changed sides to battle Al-Qaeda in Anbar province.

"Our troops are seeing this progress that is being made on the ground," Bush said on Tuesday.

"Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they’re gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq?"

An intense Republican media offensive is underway, with television advertising, and comments by top officials and commentators, seizing on assessments of military progress by academics who visited Iraq US generals.

The president's former chief speechwriter Michael Gerson last week declared in a Washington Post column of a "season of hope in Iraq."

"A few months ago, it was the received wisdom that Iraq was in the midst of a rapidly escalating civil war. That claim is no longer plausible," Gerson wrote.

But Democrats, including 2008 presidential hopefuls, argue that though violence might be down, any lull is only temporary, and warn US troops are locked in the middle of a civil war.

Though they control Congress, Democrats have however repeatedly failed to force Bush to accept timetables to get US troops home by early next year.

Now, senior Democrats are trying to damn Bush's policy with the president's own words, recalling that the rationale of the surge was to promote political reform.

"Clearly, the purpose of the surge was to give the government time, breathing room give it time to energize, interact and come together," said New York Democratic congressman Michael Arcuri.

"That has not happened -- they have squandered the time we gave them."

A senior Democratic aide said this week's hearings would form a "constant drumbeat" of pressure ahead of the Petraeus and Crocker appearances.
This Tuesday and Wednesday, three hearings in the House of Representatives and the Senate will examine a report by the Government Accountability Office, (GAO) which reportedly says the Iraqi government has fallen woefully short of benchmarks for progress set by Congress.
Democrats will use the GAO report to accuse the White House of painting a falsely sunny picture of events there.

Later in the week, former top US commander in Europe General James Jones will report to lawmakers on the status of the Iraqi armed forces.
De****e a battered image, and a clutch of political woes, Bush and top aides have made a robust case for the surge, and appear to believe the threat of mass Republican desertions has receded.

Since Democrats only have a slender majority in the US Senate, and the chamber's rules require a 60-vote margin for key legislation, they need to win over wavering Republicans to force Bush's hand.

So far, only a handful of Republican senators have broken with Bush.
But senior Democratic Senator Joseph Biden believes constant political heat, with congressional elections looming in 2008, may soon pay off.

"I think that you're going to see a very, very deft dance going on between now and the beginning of November before we have a chance to get to the point where we have something approaching a 60-vote majority in the United States Senate."

Battle lines drawn for Bush, Congress on Iraq - Yahoo! News UK

Iran says to probe reports of shelling in Iraq

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday it would investigate reports of shelling in Kurdish areas in northern Iraq which Iraqi officials have blamed on Tehran.

Iraqi officials last month accused Iran of shelling Kurdish villages in Iraq's northeast. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday the shelling threatened ties with Iran and said Baghdad had summoned Iran's envoy over the incidents.

"We have to investigate more about the truth of these reports," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in the first official Iranian comment on the shelling.

"What we are witnessing in our border area with Iraq is the activities of some terrorist groups who are using the presence of occupiers in this region to perpetrate acts of sabotage," he added during a weekly news conference.

Cross-border clashes occasionally occur as Iran and Turkey battle Kurdish separatist rebels operating from bases in Iraq's mountainous north-eastern region of Kurdistan.

Baghdad says hundreds of people were evacuated from villages due to the shelling. Kurdish PJAK guerrillas, who seek autonomy for Kurdish areas in Iran, are believed to shelter in the area.

"They (terrorist groups) cross the borders illegally. They have transferred a lot of weapons from Iraq into Iran and have caused some clashes," Hosseini said.

Ties between Iran and Iraq, both mainly Shi'ite Muslim, have improved since 2003 when U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim who waged an eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s.

U.S. officials say Iran is fomenting violence inside Iraq. Nevertheless, U.S. and Iranian officials have held talks on Iraq in Baghdad since May, the most high profile meetings since ties were cut after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

De****e the talks, both sides continue to exchange barbed comments. U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday Iran's atomic plans, which Washington sees as a drive to make bombs, put the region "under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust".

Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and says Washington is making accusations so it can prolong an occupation of Iraq which Tehran wants ended.

Asked if Iran would continue speaking to the United States amid such tensions, Hosseini said: "The Iraqi officials have stressed on numerous occasions that these talks (should) continue and have expressed satisfaction about the results of these talks ... It is important for us to continue these talks."

Iran says to probe reports of shelling in Iraq - Yahoo! News UK

Sadr warns Baghdad to probe Karbala bloodbath quickly

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Sunday warned the Baghdad government of retaliation if it delays a probe into a gun battle in Karbala last week in which 52 people died.

Shortly afterwards, the government announced an inquiry into last Tuesday's clashes, while Karbala police revealed they had arrested 269 people for their alleged involvement in the fighting which turned a major Shiite pilgrimage into a bloodbath in the shrine city south of Baghdad.
Sadr's warning came just days after he ordered a freeze on the activities of his Mahdi Army militia after it was widely accused of fomenting the bloodletting.

"After the procrastination we have seen over the past two days, we warn the Iraqi government and authorities in Karbala if they don't conduct a fair, neutral and fast investigation, the Sadr office will be left with no choice but to take unspecified measures," Sadr's spokesman in the city of Najaf, Sheikh Saleh al-Obeidi, told reporters in Karbala.

The battle near the shrine of Imam Abbas shook Iraq's Shiite community and forced Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who initially blamed Sunni insurgents, to order the investigation.

He ordered that a committee be set up to investigate the "tragic incident in Karbala," a statement from his office said.

"The committee should carry out its mission professionally and without any bias towards any sect," the statement quoted the premier as saying. "The investigation should end as fast as possible."

Karbala police chief Brigadier General Raed Shaker said 269 people had been detained in the past two days and the round-up of those involved in the fighting was continuing.

"We are still conducting search operations in the city and its outskirts," he said.

Sadr's spokesman said those arrested were members of the Sadr movement.

"The security forces have arrested a large number of Sadrists... more than 200 in the past three days and also killed around 150 randomly during raids," Obeidi said.

"We have this information from official records in ho****als. There is injustice against the Sadrists at a time when we want to promote unity."
The figure of 150 dead was not confirmed by any independent source.

Meanwhile, Iraqi medical and security officials said a car bomb killed four people in the northwestern Shiite Kadhimiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad.
Eight others were wounded in the blast at the main Adnan intersection of the area, they said.

Ten members of an Iraqi doomsday cult were sentenced to death on Sunday and 394 jailed for their roles in a January rebellion against Iraqi and US troops that left hundreds dead, police said.

"The criminal court passed judgment on 458 accused," Najaf police chief Brigadier General Abdel Karim Mustapha told AFP.

"It sentenced 10 leaders of the Soldiers of Heaven to death and decided to release 54 of them," he said. "The rest were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 15 years to life."

In January the militant sect, dubbing itself the Jund al-Samaa or "Soldiers of Heaven," clashed with US and Iraqi forces outside the holy city of Najaf three days ahead of the Shiite Ashura festival.

The fighting left 263 sect followers dead, including their messianic leader Dhia Abdul Zahra Kadhim al-Krimawi, also known as Abu Kamar, who believed he was descended from the Prophet Mohammed.

The well-organised Shiite cult had plans to kill senior clerics and seize control of shrines in the city of Najaf at that time, Najaf officials had said after the January fight.

The US military on Sunday said its troops killed eight suspected militants, arrested four and freed nine Iraqis awaiting trial at a kangaroo court run by Al-Qaeda just north of Baghdad.

The nine were freed when American forces raided a building in the town of Tarmiyah that was allegedly being used by Al-Qaeda to hold "illegal terrorist court proceedings," the US military statement said.

White House on Sunday said the strategy of US President George W. Bush to send more troops to Baghdad since February was paying dividends.
White House counselor Ed Gillespie told Fox News that during August the surge "has had the intended effect of helping to secure the population, and that is now translating into the goal of allowing for progress to be made on the political front in Iraq as well."

US lawmakers will hear by September 15 a critical progress report on the Iraq war prepared by two top American officials in Baghdad, General David Petraeus, head of US forces in Iraq, and Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker.

Sadr warns Baghdad to probe Karbala bloodbath quickly - Yahoo! News UK