Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 15/04/08 - 26/08/08

Iraq Al Sadr Bloc denies relations with Iran

Al Sadr Bloc lawmaker Liqaa Al Yassin denied any agreement between Al Sadr Bloc and Iran. In a statement to Al Hayat Newspaper, Al Yassin refused calls to keep US Forces in Iraq stressing on Al Sadr Bloc’s call to pullout US troops as soon as possible.

As for the agreement between Al Sadr Front and the government in Sadr City, Al Yassin noted that Cleric Sayyed Moqtada Al Sadr played the role of a peace advocator in latest events. She reminded of several initiatives including the initiative of Dr Ibrahim Al Jaafari to solve the crisis. However, the initiative never came to light due to rows between Al Jaafari and Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki. As for the relation between Al Sadr Bloc and Al Maliki, Al Yassin quoted Sayyed Al Sadr as saying that politics have no shape and is subject to changes saying that the relation with Nuri Al Maliki will be decided upon circumstances.

Iraq Al Sadr Bloc denies relations with Iran | Iraq News | Alsumaria Iraqi ********* TV Network

McCain says he could end U.S. combat in Iraq by 2013

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain predicted Thursday that most U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of his first term, leaving behind a fragile but functioning democracy.

"The Iraq war has been won" by January 2013, McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said in a speech outlining what he hoped to accomplish in his first four years.

A smaller core of U.S. troops in noncombat roles would remain in Iraq, McCain said in Columbus, Ohio.

The vision for a U.S. presence in Iraq that McCain sketched does not differ appreciably from that promised for months by his Democratic opponents. Unlike Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, McCain still has not set a timetable to begin troop reductions. He told reporters after the speech that would depend on when progress toward victory was made.

McCain has been under attack for weeks by Democrats and liberal-interest groups for previous remarks that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 100 years or more. McCain made clear that he envisioned that presence in a nonhostile environment, much as U.S. troops remain in South Korea more than 50 years after the Korean war ended. His opponents clearly hope that his word choice will hurt McCain with a war-weary electorate. McCain offered no road map to victory.

"He laid out what his dream was . . . without offering one single solitary concrete way explaining how he'd do the things he stated," said Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

McCain also predicted that the threat from the Taliban in Afghanistan would be "greatly reduced but not eliminated" and that Osama bin Laden would be killed or captured.

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1000 rebel arrests in Iraqi town


Big News Network.com Saturday 17th May, 2008

More than a thousand arrests have been made in an Iraqi city, after an offensive by the army.

The army has been in and around the northern city of Mosul for a week, cleaning up the stronghold of many Sunni rebel groups.

Commander Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq says many Sunni rebels, belonging to al-Qaeda factions, have fled to the city in recent months, which until now had been left alone by Iraqi and American troops.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been closely involved in the operation and has offered an amnesty to those fighters who hand in their weapons.

1000 rebel arrests in Iraqi town

Remarks by President Bush and Vice President Abd al-Mahdi of Iraq after Meeting
10:10 EDT Sunday, May 18, 2008

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (Business Wire) -- Hyatt Regency Sharm el Sheikh Resort

Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt

1:43 P.M. (Local)

PRESIDENT BUSH: I just had a discussion with the Vice President, the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, of the sovereign nation of Iraq. And I told them that I'm impressed by the progress that's taking place, the security progress. We talked about Basra and the success of the Iraqi government in Basra in dealing with Shia extremists.

We talked about the economic progress that is being made. We also talked about the fact that more work needs to be done; that this is -- you know, there are still problems. But the good news is, is that these three leaders recognize the problems, and they have got solutions to deal with the problems.

And finally we talked about the need for the people in the Middle East to understand the importance of a successful Iraq. And these three men are courageous men; they're smart, capable people who are -- who represent the Iraqi people with a lot of dignity.

And I welcome you here, Mr. Vice President. Thank you for coming.

VICE PRESIDENT ABD AL-MAHDI: Thank you, Mr. President. We had a very good meeting with President Bush, who always supported Iraq. And we assessed the progress that we did on all levels -- security, politics, even economical progress. It's a regular relationship and the international community (inaudible) progress has been marked all of the -- on those levels.

We also assessed the future, what we should do in the future -- economical relationship and other issues of economic kind and also the region issue.

So we are working together, really, Iraq and the United States. And we were always optimistic even in the worst days, and we now, today, we realize how -- the importance of our work, of the cooperation between the United States and Iraq, and see it continue; continue that.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, all.

END 1:45 P.M. (Local)

White House Press Office
1-202-456-2580

reportonbusiness.com: globeinvestor.com - Remarks by President Bush and Vice President Abd al-Mahdi of Iraq after Meeting

Poland shifting its Iraq focus from war to business alliance


By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, May 18, 2008



Lisa Burgess / S&S
Poland’s Ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, said that with stability established in Diwaniyah, the Iraqi province that Poland’s military forces are overseeing, economic partnerships are his country’s new priority.


ARLINGTON, Va. — After spending nearly six years as a member of the coalition providing security to Iraq, Poland is preparing to draw down the last of its troops from Iraq later this year, but America’s European ally has no intention of closing the book on Iraq for good, according to Poland’s ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk.

Instead, Pietrzyk said, with stability established in the Iraq province Poland’s military forces are overseeing, economic partnerships are his country’s new priority.

Poland contributed 2,700 soldiers to the Iraq coalition in 2003 and Pietrzyk, who was commander of Poland’s Land Forces at the time, came with them as their leader.

Poland, and Pietrzyk, was then assigned command of 12,000 international troops in the Multi-National Division-Central South region, including Diwaniyah province.

Since then, most of the international coalition members have left, and the Polish contingent has also gradually drawn down. After 10 six-month rotations, it now numbers about 900 troops, with the last Polish troops scheduled to leave in October, Pietrzyk said.

That’s because the military mission in the area is mostly complete, Pietrzyk said.

“Diwaniyah is free of the JAM,” or Shia rebels belonging to the Mahdi Army, he said, and “Al-Qaida were pushed up to the north.”

Meanwhile, the all-Sunni Diwaniyah province is now largely the responsibility of Iraq’s 8th Army, “which is ready to take control” of security there, Pietrzyk said. “The posture of their soldiers is completely different from what it was three years ago.”

Political control of the province is scheduled to be turned over to the local governor on July 15, Pietrzyk said.

Pietrzyk isn’t waiting for all this to happen, however.

In his role as ambassador to Iraq — which the general has held since 2004 — Pietrzyk already has a group of Polish investors prepared to forge a contract with Diwaniyah’s governor in June.

After that deal is off the ground, he is hoping to quickly bring in more than 80 additional Polish business members who he has been busy wooing in Poland.

“They are interested in developing economic cooperation between Poland and the province,” he said.

Pietrzyk wants to introduce the Polish investors to the province while the Polish troops are still in Iraq, because “they will help our businessmen feel comfortable and secure, so [the efforts] can be rooted,” he said.

Pietrzyk’s eagerness to get the deals moving has a very basic motivation, he said: The province “has a very high rate of unemployment, about 70 percent,” Pietrzyk said, and bringing in business to help get them working will be critical to maintaining the security his country’s troops have fought so hard to develop.

Pietrzyk has another motivation: honor.

Although Poland’s military has gained invaluable direct combat experience from Iraq, the mission has not come without a price, Pietrzyk said.

Twenty-three Polish military members have died in Iraq.

“So, to keep the memory” of those Poles who gave their lives in the coalition, he said, “it’s necessary to keep our presence there.”

Poland shifting its Iraq focus from war to business alliance | Stars and Stripes

UBS Now Sees Oil Marching to $156 Yearly Average by 2012
By Ed Welsch

New York, 16 May 2008 (Dow Jones)

Crude oil prices are set to steadily rise over the next four years and will take the earnings of major oil companies along for the ride, UBS told investors Thursday.

The firm now sees crude oil prices averaging $115 a barrel this year and reaching an average of $156 a barrel in 2012. This will benefit major oil companies including Chevron Corp. (CVX), which it upgraded to buy, as well as oil service and drilling companies, several at which UBS started coverage Thursday also with buy ratings.

The move marks a major switch in UBS' view of crude oil prices, which it had expected to pull back in the face of reduced demand due to concerns about a recession in the U.S. Goldman Sachs also raised its expectations for the oil market last week - both firms revised their views upward as benchmark crude futures in New York rose by around a third in just the past three months.

Goldman last week put forward two scenarios for the oil market - either a "super spike" to as high as $200 a barrel over the next two years before dropping precipitously to a "normalized" price of $75 a barrel in 2011, or a more gradual ramp-up in average prices to $120 a barrel by 2010, and lasting for a few years before falling again.

UBS' view seems to cut the difference between Goldman's scenarios - the firm sees crude marching steadily higher to an average of $156 a barrel by 2012, with its normalized price reaching $96 a barrel in 2013, or $82 a barrel in today's dollars. The normalized price represents an estimated minimum producers need to charge in order to generate enough returns to stay in business.

UBS analyst William Featherston said that it's not speculators who are pushing prices higher, but the long-term fundamentals of demand growing faster than supply. Recently, prices have been pushed higher for a variety of reasons, he said, including critical supply setbacks in non-OPEC countries as well as interruptions in Nigeria, a cut-off of exports from southern Iraq and higher than expected demand outside the U.S.

In addition to Chevron, UBS believes other oil majors are set to benefit from these trends, and it recommended investors buying (in order of preference): Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), Apache Corp. (APA), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).

The firm also started coverage with buy ratings at oil service, drilling and equipment firms Transocean Inc. (RIG), Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO), Noble Corp. (NE), Ensco International Inc. (ESV), Atwood Oceanics Inc. (ATW) and Rowan Cos. (RDC).

The firm also increased the allocation of energy companies in the portfolio strategy it recommends to investors to account for its more bullish view of oil prices.

Benchmark crude prices closed Wednesday at $124.22 a barrel and traded up about 1% premarket Thursday.

UBS Now Sees Oil Marching to $156 Yearly Average by 2012 | Iraq Updates

President Jalal Talabani to Visit US


PUKmedia 13:26 2008-05-18

Mr. Jalal Talabani, the President of the Republic of Iraq is going to visit the United States of America in the next few days, according to the website of the Kurdish “Chawder “newspaper which is issued by the Democratic Organizations Office in the PUK.

The source did not refer to President Talabani’s agenda during his visit yet he stated that his Excellency will hold important meetings with the US Senior Officials.

http://pukmedia.com/english/Daily%20...5-18/news9.htm

Foreign Minister participates in the vistas of economic integration in the Arab region on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum

5-18-08

Foreign Minister participates in the vistas of economic integration in the Arab region on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum

Participated Mr. Hoshyar Zebari, foreign minister Sunday morning 18/5/2008, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh in a fast-breaking work devoted to discuss the prospects for economic integration in the Arab region. Mr. Robert Zoellick attended by President of the World Bank and a number of Arab ministers and heads of Arab economic institutions. Participants discussed issues of development and joint ventures in the region and ways of enhancing economic cooperation in the integration and believes in economic integration.

A Mr. Hoshyar Zebari noted the importance of fighting poverty as an important gateway to development programmes and the importance of joint planning of major economic projects in the region and the necessity of taking into account the political and economic variables in the Arab region in light of trends in the global economy.

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...-US:unofficial

Investors Iraqis preparing the first action plan for investment in the country through the use of the Internet

5-18-08

Investors Iraqis preparing the first action plan for investment in the country through the use of the Internet

Radio Sawa

Investors is the first Iraqis to develop a joint plan of action for them to invest in the country following the liberation of the national economy after the fall of the former regime and work to introduce the latest means of investment, such as the World Wide Web site.

Having met that goal for more than 140 Iraqis in the first investor conference qualitative them in Sulaymaniyah on Saturday organized by the Foundation "Anevstgrop" U.S. investment in the world.

It is scheduled to discuss investors Iraqis over the three-day investment mechanism, working methods and how to win foreign investment for setting up projects of different types and how the contribution of community members in investment and the formation of companies for investment, according to participants at the seminar in an exclusive statement to "Radio Sawa."

And Congress will also manage the work in Iraq and begin to study the possibility of investments and broad objective of solving the unemployment crisis and the operation of manpower that would be part of the process of construction and investment in all areas.

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...-US:unofficial

Kurdish Leadership and UN Discuss De Mistura’s Suggestions in Baghdad

While it is expected that Stefan De Mistura, UN Chief Ban Ki Moon’s new envoy to Iraq to present the UN’s suggestions to dealing with article 140 to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Political Leadership in the coming days, the Presidency of Kurdistan Region expressed its surprise at delaying of Mr. De Mistura’s suggestions.

“Currently negotiations are ongoing between the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Political Leadership and the UN in Baghdad on the suggested plan. The plan will be raised to the Iraqi Council of Representatives and then to the Iraqi Presidency to be formally endorsed. I expect that De Mistura’s project will be presented late this month,” Secretary General of Kurdistan Toilers Party, Kadir Aziz, told PUKmedia.

“We have no idea about delaying of the project, however we are surprised at the delaying of Mr. De Mistura’s suggestions,” the Head of the Kurdistan Region Presidency Office, Foad Hussein told PUKmedia.

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