Thread: Archive Latest News - Dinar Think Tank - 27/08/08 - 15/01/09

Jamal el-Din: Parliament won’t approve the security pact

In an interview with Radio Sawa, Iraqi MP Ayad Jamal eel-Din said “will the pact pass the Parliament? This is depending on the will of the political blocs. Until now, I don’t think that the pact will have any chance to be passed by the Parliament.”

“There is a wide rejection for this pact and a long path lies ahead for passing it through the Parliament”, he added.

Regarding the article of the American soldiers’ immunity, Jamal el-Din said “the amendment was on an article saying that the Iraqi or American governments have the right to request expanding this pact beyond 2011. This article was completely canceled, which means that a full withdrawal for the American forces will be carried out by 2011 without any expanding. Meanwhile, the American soldiers’ immunity article remains as it was.”

He emphasized that several political parties want to extend the UN’s mandate, which allows the American and international coalition to stay in Iraq, for another year.

Jamal el-Din said that he doesn’t expect that the President-elect Barak Obama will withdraw his country’s forces so quickly from Iraq.

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Papin: investment law contains all the safeguards that are looking for investors

Said Planning Minister Ali Baban, the Iraqi economy is replete with a lot of chances but we did not provide the legal framework did not provide appropriate conditions for the work of foreign investment to domestic investment.

He pointed out that investment needs to be suitable legislative environment and an effective banking system and capital market and safeguard and protect all of this.

The doors have tried to provide some guarantees as far as possible in issuing the investment law, but some of these guarantees are not available and we now have an effective banking system and insurance companies active in a sophisticated financial market.

Stressing that these things are key factors for investors with local and foreign investments.

Baban said that Iraq had issued investment law which contains all the safeguards that are looking for investors, but there are some shortcomings in the economic infrastructure of Iraq, and investors looking for infrastructure banking and insurance infrastructure and capital market and the shortage of supplies at the present time.

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...1VNRbPCIRBNAAA

Shahristani: Iraq plans to activate the oil agreement with China

The Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said his country intends to activate the oil agreement with China is important. A government statement said that al-Shahristani, who met with Chinese Ambassador in Iraq, "Zhang Yi," confirmed that there were plans to reactivate cooperation in the field of oil with China after the expiration of the sanctions imposed by the United On Iraq.

He pointed out that Iraq and China, both the translation of cooperation through the completion of the agreement to develop the Ahdab oil field, stressing Iraq's desire to speed up the development of the field and building electricity power station in Najibiyah field, discovered in 1979 and includes a reserve of about 225 million barrels of oil it seems.

Shahristani also said Iraq's desire to exchange know-how to activate cooperation between the two countries in the petroleum industry and other areas calling on Chinese companies specialized in the petroleum industry to participate in the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the Iraqi economy.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador pointed out that his country is interested in developing mutual relations in the areas of oil and non-oil with Iraq and give all assistance to the Iraqi government, expressing the willingness of Chinese companies to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq.

The oil agreement between Iraq and China on this field site 11 years ago, but frozen because of the embargo imposed on Iraq.

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...kxIAfQsGMldKyA

The reluctance of the bureaucracy and expenditure

Appears that based on the Iraqi economy was not in their face a major problem for tunnel at a time when the country's revenue in the continuing proliferation .. First glance that comes to mind problematic Advancement of economic reality requires financial allocations cover the requirements of promoting this fact and this is the most important thing is .. But to say that Iraq is a problem that he was unable to spend oil money fast enough at a time when the world financial crisis, the cause of the non-surprise those who know the system, including resolving the Iraqi community during the authoritarian rule,

The most exciting this is referred to by newspaper (Seattle Times) a few days ago that the United States is trying to change this situation through training - Iraqi bureaucrats who have no experience - according to a newspaper, which did not deny that these bureaucrats are struggling to get out of the central system. . The trend has become bureaucratic and without doubt part and parcel of personal careers emerging from a totalitarian power Mgamsp culture of authoritarianism, the biggest obstacle in the advancement of the country .. We do not know why a blind eye to this fact is known to one and all are at the heart of disability in the process of construction and progress .. This fact often neglected by authors to run the country at a time when repeated calls to combat corruption of all kinds (including those related to underdevelopment and red tape are qualities that .. Mlazmtan bureaucratic career in the country) required to take more decisive action is not Nchal the country's current crisis ..

The bureaucracy that contribute to and establish all kinds of corruption, while impeding the operation to speed up the completion of the verification procedures for reasons of validation aimed to combat corruption or the like, vary depending on the degree of functional diversity of authoritative metadata and advocates who have inherited the method, the behavior of the previous political system .. They understand that the administrative office (personal privilege) and not (more responsibility), taking advantage of the powers granted to them for personal gains or factional ..

But at the same time participating in the exercise of all types of actions by reasons of disability commitment orders from the top, while, falling into the trap of their peers and installs their career to promote the hard-line anti-corruption reasons ..The continued silence on bureaucratic behavior rooted in the mentality of veteran staff in state institutions pretext of working experience, at a time of increasing the number of unemployed young graduates to work will be more devoted disabilities and more cases of corruption, even if salaries increased to ten times than it is now.

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Iraq sets Jan. 31 date for local elections

Said the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq today, Sunday, the provincial elections will be held on January 31 next across the provinces of Kirkuk and excluding the Kurdistan region.

Qasim al-Aboudi, the head of the electoral administration, told AFP that "the date for the elections will be in January 31, 2009 will be in a single day in Baghdad and other provinces" with the exception of Kirkuk and Kurdish provinces.

"The electoral campaign will begin late this month or early next month and will last for two months."

The bonded said Thursday that "the number of political entities registered by our Office to run for the provincial assemblies is 401 total entity,` entity, within which 36 coalitions and 365 other entity is an independent entity. "

The Law on Election of provincial councils, which was passed after a long to hold elections in all areas before January 31, 2009 except for three Kurdish provinces (Dohuk, Arbil and Sulaymaniyah), Kirkuk (north) claimed by the Kurds.

http://74.125.93.104/translate_c?hl=..._je7nDQbPbdELQ

Mahmoud Othman, reveals the major amendments to the security agreement

MP Mahmoud Othman, the Kurdistan Alliance bloc of the most prominent amendments on the reported readiness of Iraqi Americans to accept.

Said Othman told the independent press (Iba) today, Sunday,: will replace the current name (the security agreement (b) Convention on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, as American side also agreed to set precise dates for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq in early 2011.

He added: "The American side won the approval of the consolidation of copies written in English and clarify some of the paragraphs relating to drafting.

Adding: "The Americans have refused to approve the request to lift the immunity from jurisdiction of their troops serving in Iraq, also rejected the proposal of the Iraqi government informed the military of mail the U.S. Army, he said: "The Americans told the Iraqi government that the negotiations on the Convention ended, and the ball is In the hands of the government and to take appropriate decision."

http://209.85.171.104/translate_c?hl...U6-Hq892zOGPIw

Joint project for Shell will monopolize gas collecting & marketing in south of Iraq

The giant oil Royal Dutch Shell Company, announced about their planned gas project with the Iraqi National Oil Company which will monopolize the collection and marketing of gas as a byproduct of oil production.

Kirsten Smart, the spokeswoman of Shell said in an e-mail that the joint project would be "a company for collection, providing, processing and marketing of natural gas accompanying the sole province of Basra."

The Anglo-Dutch oil company with Baghdad government put the final touches before signing the final agreement. The project will be owned by 51 percent of the South Gas Company which belongs to Iraq and by 49 percent for Shell.

Sometimes the gas is being byproduct of oil extraction in places like Iraq where there are no facilities to collect the associated gas that is often being burned.

Iraq a.s.p.ires to use gas for electricity generation domestically and export any surplus.

The agreement was concluded in September on the project amounting to billions of dollars, it is the first major deal of oil and gas for the country signed with major Western oil companies since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=7332

Customs Officials seize large cash sum at Border Outlet

The Iraqi customs administration said its officials on Sunday seized millions of dollars, euros, and Iraqi dinars at the Taraybeel on the Iraqi-Jordanian borders.

“The sums of $3.228 million, €100,000 and 300 million Iraqi dinars (ID) were seized at the Taraybeel outlet on the joint borders between Iraq and Jordan,” according to an Iraqi Finance Ministry press release received by Aswat al-Iraq.

“This is the first time that the administration has managed to seize such a large amount of cash in 10 years,” read the release, without providing further details about the number of individuals win possession of these sums or their occupations.

Customs officials seize large cash sum at border outlet : Aswat Al Iraq

ID 2 billion Project to rehabilitate power stations in Basra

A local company in Basra on Sunday embarked on a project to rehabilitate power stations in the al-Qarna district at a cost of 2.4 billion Iraqi dinars (one dollar equals 1,118 dinars) as part of the Provincial Development Projects for the year 2008, a reconstruction unit official said.

“The project envisages the rejuvenation of power feeders at a capacity of 33 kilovolt from the al-Hamadawi station to al-Imam al-Sadeq station in al-Qarna, (100 km) north of Basra,” Ziad Ali Fadel told Aswat al-Iraq.

“The project also involves the erection of six 15-meter-high towers each and the installation of underground cables at a cost of 2.4 billion ID,” he said, adding work on this project will take up nearly five months.

ID2b. project to rehabilitate power stations in Basra : Aswat Al Iraq

My Plan for Iraq by Barack Obama

The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.

In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness.

But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.

The good news is that Iraq’s leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009.

Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government. They call any timetable for the removal of American troops “surrender,” even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government.

But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

As I’ve said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces. That would not be a precipitous withdrawal.

In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected. We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later. We would pursue a diplomatic offensive with every nation in the region on behalf of Iraq’s stability, and commit $2 billion to a new international effort to support Iraq’s refugees.

Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq.

As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.

In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. But for far too long, those responsible for the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy have ignored useful debate in favor of making false charges about flip-flops and surrender.

It’s not going to work this time. It’s time to end this war.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...=7486&Itemid=1