Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 01/01/08 - 14/04/08

Enterra Solutions in Iraq names new Director

Enterra Solutions, LLC announced today the former Regional Team Leader for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Local Governance Program in Iraq (LGP), Anthony D. Sinnott, has been named the company’s Director of Operations for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

In this position, Mr. Sinnott is responsible for overseeing all company activities and contracts in Iraq, including its Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer Trading Exchanges, multilingual Call Center, and Kurdistan Business Center.

“Enterra Solutions is fortunate to have Tony Sinnott and the unique blend of experience and expertise he adds to our team,” said Stephen DeAngelis, Enterra Solutions President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Tony’s proven leadership in the military and as the head of USAID’s Local Governance Program in northern Iraq will make him instrumental in rolling-out our Development-in-a-Box™ solution in Iraq.” Mr. Sinnott will be based at Enterra Solutions’ office in Erbil.

Mr. Sinnott joins Enterra Solutions with over two decades of experience in the private, public and military sectors.

As senior manager for the USAID Local Governance Program in the five northern provinces of Iraq, he led RTI International’s implementation of a portfolio of projects that enhanced the technical proficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness of representative government in Iraq. Prior to joining USAID/RTI, Mr. Sinnott served five years in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in successive tours of duty as a field grade officer of the United States Marine Corps (USMC).

General Tommy Franks decorated him as the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) Reserve Officer of the Year in 2002.

Mr. Sinnott also has experience in Iraq as the Deputy Chief of Strategic Analyses for the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO). He assisted senior decision makers in administering $26.3 billion in U.S. reconstruction funding by producing alternative courses of action in order to re-establish Iraqi security institutions. He also served in the field as an IRMO Regional Reconstruction Officer in successive assignments to Samarra, Fallujah, Diwaniyah, and Kut, Iraq where he was the primary link for U.S. reconstruction efforts with European contingent Coalition military commanders, and Iraqi provincial officials.

"I am delighted that I can continue my work in the Middle East as part of the dynamic Enterra Solutions team,” Mr. Sinnott stated. “The opportunities are as great as the challenges, and Enterra Solutions has put together a structure for partnerships and alliances that should help surmount those challenges and make the most of the opportunities. I am excited to work with Steve DeAngelis to help demonstrate in Iraq what Enterra Solutions’ Development-in-a-Box™ solution can do for the reconstruction of post-conflict and post-failed states and for the development of emerging national economies. I believe that Enterra Solutions’ development work in Iraq will showcase a new, repeatable model for sustainable economic development, and I am eager to get to work making that a reality.”

Between active duty tours, Mr. Sinnott worked with the Lincoln Group as their Director of Middle East Private Sector Development, primarily based in Sulymaniyah, Iraq.

Mr. Sinnott also has significant experience from earlier stabilization operations. As a Marine Corps Major, he served on the headquarters staff of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe (MARFOREUR), as an action officer developing long-range plans for U.S. military engagement in the Balkan Peninsula. He also served in the headquarters of the NATO Peace Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, during Operations Joint Forge and Allied Force as Director of the Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Information Center and of Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Support.

Mr. Sinnott’s previous private sector experience includes working as a Policy Analyst and Project Officer with the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies; a senior consultant with KPMG Peat Marwick LLP; a consultant with J.F. Corporation, a small venture capital firm; a quality assurance manager with Coca-Cola Enterprises; and a manufacturing and distribution manager for Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company.

Mr. Sinnott holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, a BS from Murray State University, and he is a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Command & Staff College.

Iraq Development Program - Enterra Solutions in Iraq names new Director

Iraq's loan guarantee firm to boost its SME sector

Hundreds of Iraqi investors are rushing to set up their own small and medium-sized enterprises despite an uncertain business climate in the country as they bet on an economic recovery and an improving security situation.

Until now, the main stumbling block discouraging these investors has been the lack of access to cash. However, that problem has been solved since the establishment of the first ever Iraqi-owned loan guarantee facility, the Iraq Company for Bank Guarantees, or ICBG, in 2006. "There were hundreds of applications from private investors to set up their own businesses that are worth millions of dollars" Wade al-Handal, chairman of ICBG, has said.

"We have so far agreed to provide guarantee coverage to 32 loans worth $1.1 million" al-Handal said on the sidelines of a regional small and medium-size, or SME, finance conference held in Amman recently.

ICBG, owned and capitalised by 11 Iraqi private banks, aims to improve lending to commercial small and medium-size enterprises by guaranteeing up to 75% of their loans.

It was set up in November 2006 with the help of the Central Bank of Iraq and Izdihar, an affiliate of the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.

"We are assessing more applications and asking others to provide documentation that prove the money would be spent on setting up private businesses" he said.

"For example, ICBG recently agreed to guarantee a $250,000 loan to expand a brick factory in Hilla, 100km south of Baghdad" al-Handal added.

Al-Handal, who was elected chairman of the company in March 2007, said ICBG's board of directors is now in the process of preparing to launch an initial public offering in the company on the Iraqi stock exchange shortly.

The managing director of the company, Nabil Issa Assad, said ICBG is also intending to increase its current capital of $3.7 million, which was put in by the 11 private banks. More private banks have expressed interest to join the capitalisation of the company, he added.

Assad said that USAID affiliate Izdihar recently granted the company some $5 million to boost its capital and guarantee coverage activities.

"We have received $500,000 as a first payment of the grant and in one month time, the company will receive the second payment of $1 million" he said.

Iraq Development Program - Iraq's loan guarantee firm to boost its SME sector

Versar contracted for nine Iraqi projects

The US Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment announced it has contracted Versar Inc. for nine additional construction projects in Iraq.

Versar's international operations subsidiary, Versar International Assistance Projects, received the $3.5 million foreign military sales task order for engineering, construction management and quality assurance on the nine new projects in Iraq. Officials say VIAP is currently working on more than 100 project sites throughout Iraq and the Middle East.

"This award affirms the importance of Versar's continued efforts in supporting the reconstruction work in Iraq," Ted Prociv, Versar president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"Our team has provided innovative solutions to help manage the large number of projects being performed across the country. We will continue to use these tools to diversify our international work." he added.

"VIAP has over 350 American, third country and local nationals providing construction management, quality assurance, engineering studies, feasibility and site assessments throughout Iraq. VIAP also provides technical training and certification to improve the quality of projects and increase the level of expertise of engineers within Iraq," the release said.

Iraq Development Program - Versar contracted for nine Iraqi projects

Iraq hails OPEC output ceiling decision

Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussain al-Shahristani here Friday spoke highly of a recent OPEC decision to keep oil output ceiling unchanged.

The minister was speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) following the ordinary OPEC conference, terming the cartel decision as sound given the fact that the market main constituents of supply and demand were balanced.

He ascribed the current high oil prices, which hit unprecedented record levels, to a set of factors, mainly geopolitical and psychological considerations, speculations in the global oil market to make up for losses sustained due to the US dollar depreciation.

But, he reiterated the OPEC's commitment to supplying sufficient oil to world markets in a way that could ensure the interests of producers and consumers altogether.

Asked when Iraq could join the cartel quota system, the Iraqi minister of oil said Iraq was still off the quota system owing to its extraordinary circumstances.

Iraq's oil production has now reached 2.5 million barrels per day, two millions of which are exported, he said, pointing to an Iraqi plan to boost oil production by half a million barrels per day to total three million tons by the end of this year.

Earlier on Wednesday, the oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to maintain the cartel output ceiling of 29.

6 million barrels a day despite the recent record price rise to more than USD 103 per barrel.

They justified the decision by the fact that the world oil market was "well-supplied with current commercial oil stocks standing above their five-year average," according to a final communiqu{ issued following the OPEC's 148 ordinary conference. The price rises resulted from factors uncontrolled by the OPEC such as heated speculations by dealers and dilapidated refineries as well as geo-political unrest in oil-rich regions, it said.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...56&Language=en

Peace Action Demands Exxon Mobile Be Held Accountable for Missing Iraq Funds

Exxon Mobile was contracted to consult on the privatization process of Iraqi oil in early 2004. This week the company reported another week of recording breaking profits only months after the release of allegations by Stuart Bowen, the U.S. Inspector-General, that $9 billion of Iraq's oil revenues could not be accounted for.

This is the most recent of numerous reports linking the overall cost of reconstruction operations in Iraq and U.S. corporations' misuse of funding. Other contractors in Iraq, such as Halliburton & Blackwater have been cited in reports by the GAO and Congress for misused funds and gross misconduct. In each case the contracts, which consume more than half the budget for military & reconstruction operations in Iraq, have been honored despite public outcry.

Peace Action, in a coordinated effort with the Student Peace Action Network, will confront corporate military contractors with their culpability in the destruction of Iraq on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008, the day the U.S. occupation in Iraq will enter its 6th year. This act is part of a larger United for Peace and Justice campaign of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience against the "Pillars of War" that sustain the illegal US occupation.

Peace Action activists from across the country will converge on the offices of war profiteers and take direct action to disrupt business as usual using nonviolent civil disobedience, protest, and satire to send a clear message to the corporations that perpetuate and profit from this illegal and immoral war.

If you would like more information on Peace Action's plan please contact Barbra Bearden, Communication Associate at Peace Action's national office. Barbra can help provide interviews with activists, access to our webcam feed, and background on this specific act of civil disobedience while it's happening.

Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund, with 180,000 supporters and over 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons and promote government spending priorities that support human needs.

Peace Action Demands Exxon Mobile Be Held Accountable for Missing Iraq Funds

Analysis: Iraq a target for U.S. spending


Published: March 7, 2008 at 5:12 PM
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By BEN LANDO
UPI Energy Editor
WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee wants U.S. auditors to investigate the Iraqi government's spending on reconstruction as both U.S. and Iraqi funds in the rebuilding effort came under fire on Capitol Hill this week.

"How much has Iraq and the United States, respectively, spent annually during that time period on training, equipping and supporting Iraqi security forces, and on Iraq reconstruction, governance, and economic development?" Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and member John Warner, R-Va., wrote Friday to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. "We believe that it has been overwhelmingly U.S. taxpayer money that has funded Iraq reconstruction over the last five years, despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue over that time period that have ended up in non-Iraqi banks."

The Pentagon's head of U.S. Central Command and the State Department's Iraq coordinator were grilled by members of Congress this week who took the decidedly "blame Iraq" tone -- not wholly unwarranted, some say -- in expressing frustration with progress in the country five years after the invasion.

"It's totally unacceptable to me that we are spending tens of billions of dollars on rebuilding Iraq," Levin said, "while they are putting tens of billions of dollars, in banks around the world, from oil revenues."

Adm. William Fallon assured Levin Iraq is putting up more of its funds than the United States this year for reconstruction. He attributed the problems of allocating and spending the funds to "extraordinary actions" by Iraqi officials to make sure they aren't accused of corruption. "The Iraqi leaders at every level appear to be highly sensitive to the image of corruption, not that there isn't that going on, but to the perception that they might somehow misuse these funds, the national funds."

The reconstruction is to repair damage caused by the 2003 invasion and resulting war, as well as rebuilding Iraq from harm caused by Saddam Hussein. The funds not in Iraq are in the United States.

Iraq's oil sales brought in $41 billion in 2007 and through March 5, 2008, $10.1 billion, according to the State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report, buoyed by increased oil production and rising prices.

Pursuant to a 2003 U.N. Security Council resolution, all of Iraq's revenues are deposited into the Development Fund for Iraq and kept watch by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board.

"DFI is the only source from which the Ministry of Finance can finance the matters of the state," a State Department official told United Press International. "Whether it's operating expenditures or capital expenditures, that's all that they can use to pay for the budget."

Aside from funds deposited in the Central Bank of Iraq to cover the budget, all of Iraq's revenues, seized assets and the leftover from the former Oil-for-Food program are in the DFI, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"They are invested in U.S. treasuries," said Yahia Said, director for Middle East and North Africa for the Revenue Watch Institute. "They are lent back to the U.S. government at a very good interest rate. So the United States is not necessarily losing on that."

The State Department official said about $12 billion -- and more depending on any given day's deposit -- is in "an account into which they put revenues and out of which they draw for expenditures."

Another account contains $27 billion in currency reserves, the Financial Times reported last month, which protects the value of the Iraqi dinar and are "not available for financing matters of the state," the department official said.

"It's difficult to measure how much Iraq needs in terms of hard currency reserves and how much of it is excess cash it could have spent itself," Said said. "Iraq indeed is failing to spend its own money and one could rationally question why should the U.S. spend its own money on Iraq reconstruction? However, the U.S. has not allocated any significant resources for Iraq reconstruction lately and the trend is declining. Of course, even if Iraq could have its own money to spend, the U.S. may argue that it can spend its own resources in a much better targeted, more efficient way, to serve the purposes of the U.S. troops in Iraq and the U.S.'s own purposes as is always the case with foreign aid."

"Their capacity to spend is improving and they are working on it," he added.

A January 2008 report by the GAO said data from the U.S. State and Treasury departments and the Iraqi Ministry of Finance conflicted, and was unable to fully assess Iraq's progress in spending its capital budget. The GAO was asked to look at capital spending capacity after a dismal showing in 2006. Iraq only spent a portion of its $10 billion capital budget in 2007, with final numbers to be released, but has a more than $13 billion budget for this year.

"I can't accept the answer that they're not capable of administering their own revenues," Levin told Fallon.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's senior adviser, David Satterfield, if future U.S.-Iraq agreements would require Iraq "help pay for the massive expense that we've had in saving them from Saddam Hussein." Satterfield's office told UPI the United States isn't looking to be reimbursed by Iraq but expects "Iraq to assume an ever greater share of its own current security and other budgetary needs."

(It was Rohrabacher who in a July 2007 hearing said "a certain amount of oil revenue in the future" should refund the U.S. war effort and U.S. companies should get a leg up in future oil deals.)

Levin, at the hearing this week, suggested Iraq "transfer those resources to us, we'll administer them the way we administer our own funds for their reconstruction. I mean, we're putting a lot more money into reconstruction up till now than they have," which prompted a correction from Fallon: "That's changed. They are putting more in."

U.S.-controlled reconstruction spending, be it American or Iraqi funds -- and it was both -- since the invasion isn't the best example.

"It's a bit harsh to say that the Iraqi people are taking the taxation of Americans," Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani, Iraqi parliamentarian and deputy chief of the energy committee, told UPI. "In the mind of many Iraqi people, the Multi-National Forces hasn't done as good as they could to improve services, infrastructure and security. They tried their best but the people believe they could do better."

The Los Angeles Times' Iraq reconstruction reporter, T. Christian Miller, documented a lack of accountability, an excess of corrupt contracting and project priorities disconnected from Iraq: a large, state-of-the-art power plant, for example, which was broken after requiring Iraqi workers who weren't thoroughly trained, upkeep funding that wasn't supplied, natural gas that wasn't available, and an electricity grid heavily in demand but not yet capable of handling such a load.

"In almost every way the rebuilding has fallen short," he wrote in the 2006 book, "Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq." "Month after month Iraqis have frequently expressed amazement at the lack of progress. How could a country that put a man on the moon not manage to make the toilets flush in a slum in downtown Baghdad?"

"It's a decidedly mixed picture," said the Revenue Watch Institute's Said. "In many cases it has been spent inefficiently and with a lack of accountability. But in some cases it has been very central to maintain Iraqi infrastructure and life support."

Said pointed specifically to the Commander's Emergency Response Program, "money given to military commanders on the ground to carry out quick community reconstruction and cleanup projects, build local alliances," and deliver food and fuel, among other needs. CERP received $2.66 billion in American and Iraqi dollars from August 2004 through January 2008, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction's recent report to Congress.

The U.S. military "is the scaffolding holding all the life support operations in Iraq. … Mostly money's well spent," he said. "It becomes a little murkier when it comes to bigger projects."

"Initially, Congress provided reconstruction funding for big projects, bricks and mortars," the State Department official said, referring to $2.48 billion allocated in April 2003 and $18.4 billion in November 2003. All of this has been allocated and the projects are coming to a close. The official said the department's "funding is targeted to help them spend their own money … to unlock the bigger amounts of money they have but haven't been able to do."

Like an oil pipeline, the State Department official said, you might want to export more crude, but "there's only so much throughput you can put through so quickly."

--

(UPI Correspondent Siobhan Devine contributed to this report.)

Operational Update - Start of Seismic Acquisition Programme in Kurdistan

Not for release, publication or distribution in or into jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited (AIM: GKP) an independent oil & gas exploration company, today announces that its subsidiary Gulf Keystone Petroleum International Limited ("GKPL") in partnership with Kalegran Ltd ("Kalegran"), a subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Public Limited Company ("MOL") and Texas Keystone Inc. ("Texas Keystone"), has commenced seismic acquisition in Kurdistan.

Arrakis Geodynamics Ltd., a U.S.-based upstream services company, has been contracted to acquire 2D seismic in the Shaikan Block of Kurdistan. Arrakis will work closely with Polaris Explorer Ltd. to acquire the data. The seismic programme which began on 02 March 2008 consists of a minimum of 159 km of 2D seismic to be acquired using a combination of vibrator and dynamite sources. This seismic programme is scheduled to last for 60 days and could be extended to a total of 206 km if more data is required.

The Shaikan Block is situated near the city of Dihok, approximately 85 kms North-West of Erbil and covers an area of 283 square kms.

Todd Kozel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“To start seismic acquisition within just four months of being awarded licences by the Kurdistan Regional Government clearly illustrates the fast pace with which we are progressing our work programme.”

Gulf Keystone Petroleum - Operational Update - Start of Seismic Acquisition Programme in Kurdistan

It's Happening.....

Can't you tell? The second tier in a 3 tier acknowlegement of sucess has been accomplished.WE ARE NEXT!........


Maceman

Update.......

U.S., Iraq are negotiating a long-term relationship

The United States and Iraq are opening negotiations in Baghdad on a blueprint for a long-term relationship. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Friday the talks will start today.

Morrell said the U.S. expects a lengthy negotiation, with a goal of completing a deal by December.

“Like in any negotiation, the to-ing and fro-ing that inevitably will go on will go on behind closed doors,” he said.

Morrell said the deal sought by the administration “does not seek permanent bases; will not in any way codify the number of troops that will remain in Iraq; it will not tie the hands of a future commander in chief; it will not require Senate ratification, but we will make every effort to keep Congress apprised of progress in these talks.”

The intent is to simultaneously negotiate two parallel agreements. One, a strategic framework agreement, would spell out the basis for a long-term U.S.-Iraqi relationship.

The other would be what is known as a status of forces agreement, a standard arrangement that spells out the legal basis for the presence of U.S. troops on Iraqi territory.

PUKmedia :: English - U.S., Iraq are negotiating a long-term relationship

Update.......

Iraqi Militia Leader: My Influence is Waning

The grass-roots cleric whose Mehdi Army militia has gained notoriety among coalition troops admitted many followers have split from his movement or do not heed his leadership.

Muqtada al-Sadr made the admission during Friday noon prayers and it was posted on his Web site. In his statement, al-Sadr said: "Many persons who are close to me have split for materialistic reasons or for wanting to be independent, and this was one of the reasons behind my absence.

"Yet I still have many people loyal and faithful to me and I advise them to direct society toward education and teaching."

He said, "The presence of the occupier" and his movement's failure "to liberate Iraq ... as well as the disobedience of many people and their deviation from the right course has pushed me into isolation in protest over this."

Al-Sadr in August suspended the activities of his Mehdi Army militia, and that move is believed to be a key reason for a drop in violence in Baghdad and other places.

The cease-fire, at first declared for six months, was extended recently. Al-Sadr is thought to have been either in Iran or the Iraqi city of Najaf in recent months.

However, many al-Sadr followers and Shiite militants who sympathized with his hard-line anti-U.S. views have ignored the cease-fire.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraqi Militia Leader: My Influence is Waning