Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/05/09 - 04/09/09

August 25th 2009 - The Washington Post

Behind the Carnage in Baghdad

As security deteriorates in Baghdad, there's a new cause for worry: The head of the U.S.-trained Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) has quit in a long-running quarrel with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- depriving that country of a key leader in the fight against sectarian terrorism.

Gen. Mohammed Shahwani, the head of Iraqi intelligence since 2004, resigned this month because of what he viewed as Maliki's attempts to undermine his service and allow Iranian spies to operate freely. The CIA, which has worked closely with Shahwani since he went into exile in the 1990s and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars training the INIS, was apparently caught by surprise by his departure. The chaotic conditions in Iraq that triggered Shahwani's resignation are illustrated by several recent events -- each of which suggests that without the backstop of U.S. support, Iraqi authorities are now desperately vulnerable to pressure, especially from neighboring Iran.

An early warning was the brazen July 28 robbery of the state-run Rafidain Bank in central Baghdad, apparently by members of an Iraqi security force. Gunmen broke into the bank and stole about 5.6 billion Iraqi dinars, or roughly $5 million. After a battle that left eight dead, the robbers fled to a newspaper run by Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of the country's vice presidents. Abdul Mahdi, once an American favorite, has admitted that one of the robbers was a member of his security detail but denied personal involvement, according to Iraqi news reports. Some of the money has been recovered, but the rest is believed to be in Iran, along with some members of the robbery team.

A second concern for Shahwani has been threats against his service's roughly 6,000 members. Maliki's government has issued arrest warrants against 180 Iraqi intelligence officers for alleged crimes that, according to Shahwani's camp, are really political reprisals for doing their jobs. Since the INIS was formally created in 2004, 290 of its officers have been killed, many targeted by Iranian intelligence operatives.

With Shahwani's resignation, the intelligence service is commanded by Gen. Zuheir Fadel, a former pilot in Saddam Hussein's air force. But some of Fadel's key officers are said to be fleeing for safety in Jordan, Egypt and Syria -- fearing that they will be targets of Iranian hit teams if they remain in Iraq.

The breakdown of order in Iraq was most dramatic in the truck bombings on Aug. 19 that targeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies, and left more than 100 dead and 500 wounded. Here, again, there is evidence that government security forces may have aided the terrorists.

"I don't rule out that there was collaboration by the security forces," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said after the bombings. "We have to face the truth. There has been an obvious deterioration in the security situation in the past two months."

Who's to blame for the carnage? In today's Iraq, that's open to sectarian conspiracy theories. Maliki's Shiite-led government last weekend broadcast the alleged confession of a Sunni Baathist named Wisam Ali Khazim Ibrahim, who said the truck-bombing plot had been hatched in Syria and that he had paid security guards $10,000 to pass through checkpoints. But forensic evidence points to a possible Iranian role, according to an Iraqi intelligence source who is close to Shahwani. He said that signatures of the C-4 explosive residues that have been found at the bomb sites are similar to those of Iranian-made explosives that have been captured in Kut, Nasiriyah, Basra and other Iraqi cities since 2006.

Iran's links with Maliki are so close, said this Iraqi intelligence source, that the prime minister uses an Iranian jet with an Iranian crew for his official travel. The Iranians are said to have sent Maliki an offer to help his Dawa Party win at least 49 seats in January's parliamentary elections if Maliki will make changes in his government that Iran wants.

As security unravels in Iraq, U.S. forces there are mostly bystanders. Even in the areas where al-Qaeda operatives remain potent, such as Mosul, the Americans have little control. Sunni terrorists who are arrested are quickly released by the Iraqis in exchange for bribes of up to $100,000, according to an Iraqi source.

Should the Americans try to restore order? The top Iraqi intelligence source answered sadly that it was probably wiser to "stay out of it and be safe." When pressed about what his country would look like in five years, absent American help, he answered bluntly: "Iraq will be a colony of Iran."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...082402491.html

Central Bank: The version of a Coin soon

An official source at the Central Bank Iraqi that the bank will be issued soon Coin of the markets and better after the reform of the currency management system overhaul.

The source of the reporter that "the process of issuing the currency Mineral Recycled Of monetary policy Good will come back to be issued soon after the elimination of some constraints as well as it should That there will be a social environment Ready to accept economic In the market and there is something else that has to be a Means of payment for the payments system Iraq Who was absent from the market Iraqi more than 17 years, pointing out that the Iraqi banks are currently not equipped to receive non - A counting device, sorting and classification and storage, noting that Iraq has started to take forward for publication But they have to put the pictures in full public From this version. "

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl...EZEh8e0nEu4jQg

Central Bank: There is mutual trust between Monetary Policy and the Public

An Advisor Central Bank The appearance of Mohammed Saleh, said that the Iraqi public for the first time after ages of time have confidence in the policy at the center and there are no mutual trust between monetary policy and the public.

The appearance in the special statement by the reporter that "all Maikrj of the World Central is the truth dependent credibility with the public in the monitoring of policies for that was born of mutual trust with the public and the bank. "

And that "this trust came the difficulty of the fact that the public Formed has an allergy Of government decisions and policies And volatility, but for the first time Iraq is witnessing, and so on Case that led to the stability of the content of the atmosphere of high."

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl...AV_keoq0vPFksA

Originally Posted by Seaview

Serbia signs 100-million-dollar arms deal with Iraq

Serbia has signed a 100-million-dollar arms contract with Iraq, Belgrade newspapers said Friday, describing the contract as the country's largest export deal of the year, dpa reported.

"The contract will employ all six Serbian military industry factories ... and rehauling facilities, some 6,000 people," the Blic newspaper quoted a statement by Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac sas saying.

No details of the contract, which Blic and radio B92 said was signed Thursday, were revealed. Sutanovac visited Baghdad in early August to sign a defence cooperation agreement.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...With%20Iraq%20

Ministry of Defense: not signed any contracts with the weaponization of Serbia in 2009

The Defense Ministry denied that they may have had signed any contracts with Serbia and arm picked up by the media.

The defense said in a statement received by the independent press (Iba) today a copy of some of the media echoed the "parliamentary sources and Iraqi sources broken record, record label, which has become boring and funny of Iraqi public opinion about the presence of financial corruption armament contracts with the Republic of Serbia, which tried to crudely attributed to the statement Serbian Minister of Defense."

She would like to clarify that there is no militarization of any contract signed in 2009 with the Republic of Serbia and there is a specialized technical team to negotiate with the Serbian Ministry of Defense for the conservation and restoration of Iraqi money that has been dashed by the former regime in various countries of the world, including the presence of (19) fighter aircraft type (Mick 21,23 ) sent by the previous regime, to Serbia at the end of the eighties of the last century for the purpose of rehabilitation and maintenance.

She and "through our follow-up funds for each of the Ministry of Defense discussed the matter with the Serbian side about the possibility of repair of these aircraft and returned to service, and everyone knows how much we need to fighter aircraft and the information we received from the Iraqi technical team is located in Serbia had been reached a tentative agreement with the Serbian side for the rehabilitation of aircraft and delivered to Iraq and there are now two of this number for immediate use and the Serbian side expressed its readiness to maintenance and rehabilitation costs and less as time for its recognition of the need for Iraq in such circumstances to such type of aircraft. "

She wondered in her defense that was "to restore (19) aircraft do not know about a single year since 1989, is a financial corruption and decades accusing ministers and a legal adviser," pointing out that the delegation's talks with the Serbian side was composed of officers, technicians and specialists from the class and the rest of the Air Force captain and fighter for the negotiation of repairs and preservation of the property and return of looted Iraq.

The ministry blamed what it called "who are rushing for electoral purposes or for political purposes," to give information to the media is inaccurate and incomplete due to lack of knowledge of particular contexts of contracting and the large armament contracts.

The statement said the minister the power to (100) million dollars out of this amount presented to the cabinet and displays all of the contracts to the Contracts Committee in the Ministry and the Central Committee of the upper arm under the chairmanship of Prime Minister and the militarization of any contract being discussed by the beneficiary in the Cabinet, compared with the rest of the contracts submitted by other countries and be ratified after the approval of the Prime Minister.

The defense of the absence of a weaponized with Serbia this year and had previously been the inclusion in the previous agreement that the Iraqi government is the sole entity authorized to contract and that the Ministry of Defense is the technical armament contracts and there is no person or company is negotiating on the Iraqi side and limit the contract between the the two governments.

The defense has shown its willingness to view the details of the previous decade, only with Serbia, claims to promote the existence of companies or persons and kickbacks to show "any information or official documents proving the existence of financial corruption in the contract of Serbia.

The French news agency AFP said that the TV "B-92" Friday the transfer of the independent Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said Serbia signed an agreement with Iraq on the export of weapons worth $ 100 million. The minister gave no details of the type of Serbian weapons to be issued to Iraq.

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl...WQIP6Ua3YfCb5Q

Government to ratify the recommendation of the Commission on the adoption of the price of $ 60 a barrel in 2010 budget

said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, Saturday, said the Cabinet decided to ratify the recommendation of the ministerial committee adoption price of $ 60 a barrel in the general budget of the Federal Republic of Iraq for the year 2010, as well as all the recommendations of the committee charged with review of the budget strategy.

A statement of Dabbagh received by Voices of Iraq (VOI) that the authentication "faith comes from the Iraqi government to reconsider the importance of strategy in the federal budget in order to activate the role of state-owned enterprises and promote the various sectors of the State Parvdha sources of revenue added to the oil revenues in an effort to activate the Iraqi economy "

"The ministerial committee that was formed under the chairmanship of the Minister of Finance took the consideration of the budget strategy of the Federal Assembly of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2010 came in the form of its report and recommendations agreed upon price of $ 60 a barrel, the export rate of 2,15 million barrels per day during 2010 and the adoption of the budget operational in 2010 and received in 2009. "

And that "if the ministries to reduce its operating expenses, the amount would be reduced to interpret the investment budget of the Ministry itself with requiring ministries to stop new projects with central funding and direction to invest in these projects. He urged the House to expedite the adoption of laws of economic nature. Assigning board of advisers in the Office of the Prime Minister to prepare a working paper summarizing the visions and attitudes of the State in support of the public sector and private sector."

Ali al-Dabbagh said, "while maintaining all possible assignments to the operating budget for the next three years, and every increase in the export of oil resources accrue to the investment budget to reach the equivalent ratio between the operating budget and investment."

He pointed out that "it is within the Committee's recommendations to increase non-oil revenues through activating the role of the General Authority for taxes and the customs and public companies in the revenue collection while urging the rest of the actors to increase revenue collection and interest in sectors of health, education, culture, environment and accelerate the sale of residential property to the state."

He added that he would be "obliged the Ministry of Commerce on the preparation of a plan and a new mechanism to work on the rationalization of the ration card to be directed to the poor and needy really urged the companies of the Ministry of Construction and Housing to carry out the work entrusted to them and confirmation of the Ministry of Defense to make a study of six companies and the reality of it."

He added that he had been "instructed to stop the introduction of overtime with instructions new ones, especially travel and deployment inside Iraq. And by all companies affiliated to the ministries of procuring loans to finance the deficit in the activities of Iraqi banks after the submission of feasibility studies and lack of funding from the state budget as of the year 2010 as calculated the true cost of petroleum products after calculating the true cost price of crude oil supplier to the refineries forty dollars per barrel. "

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Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush to be released early

An Iraqi journalist imprisoned for hurling his shoes at former President George W. Bush will be released next month after his sentence was reduced for good behavior, his lawyer said Saturday. Muntadhar al-Zeidi's act of protest during Bush's last visit to Iraq as president turned the 30-year-old reporter into a folk hero across the Arab world, as his case became a rallying point for critics who resented the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation.

"Al-Zeidi's shoes were a suitable farewell for Bush's deeds in Iraq," Sunni lawmaker Dhafir al-Ani said in welcoming the early release. "Al-Zeidi's act expressed the real will and feelings of the Iraqi people. His anger against Bush was the result of the suffering of his countrymen."

The journalist has been in custody since the Dec. 14 outburst, which occurred as Bush was holding a news conference with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki, who was standing next to Bush at the time, was said to have been deeply offended by the act.

Al-Zeidi was initially sentenced to three years in prison after pleading not guilty to assaulting a foreign leader. The court reduced it to one year because the journalist had no prior criminal history. Defense attorney Karim al-Shujairi said al-Zeidi will now be released on Sept. 14, three months early.

"We have been informed officially about the court decision," al-Shujairi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "His release will be a victory for the free and honorable Iraqi media."

Judicial spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said he had no immediate information about the release because it was a weekend. Followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who were among the leaders of many of the demonstrations demanding al-Zeidi's release, welcomed the decision to free him early.

"We believe that al-Zeidi did not commit any crime but only expressed the will of the Iraqi people in rejecting the U.S. occupation," Sadrist lawmaker Falah Shanshal said. "Al-Zeidi's image will always be a heroic one."

The bizarre act of defiance transformed the obscure reporter from a minor TV station into a national hero to many Iraqis fed up with the U.S. presence. Thousands demonstrated for al-Zeidi's release and hailed his gesture. A sofa-sized sculpture of a shoe was erected in his honor in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, but the Iraqi government later ordered it removed.

Neither leader was injured, but Bush was forced to duck for cover as the journalist shouted in Arabic: "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

The case's investigating judge has said the journalist was struck about the face and eyes, apparently by security agents who wrestled him to the ground and dragged him away. Al-Zeidi's family has said he was also mistreated while in custody, although the government has denied the allegation.

"We thank God that he will be released, although we still fear for his safety since he is still in the prison," his brother Dargham said. "He will be released full of pride and strength from all the love he has received from the Iraqi people and international organizations and figures who advocate freedom."

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...leased%20early

The possibility of the use by Iraq's economic and commercial pressure on Syria

The head of the Department of Foreign Economic Relations, Ministry of Commerce Raad al-Asadi Khairallah on the necessity of the use of Iraq's economic potential and the magnitude of the exchange process as a pressure on some countries to obtain the claims.

Said Khairallah al-Asadi of the morning newspaper about the possibility of the use of the economic and commercial pressure on Syria in order to deliver the resident wanted to have, that foundations are built upon the interests of States, including economic and commercial aspects, so we should use such means as a pressure on any side to get to the security and interest of the country in all sectors.

Asadi considered the prime mover of economic interests of political relations, the result can be used as a weapon to improve the relations between States, pointing out that the world is linked to economic interests contributes significantly to influence the direction of political action.

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl...ofCyhtO0Zp8rCg

Al-Dabbagh: Ratification of the IAEA safeguards promote exit from Chapter VII

Between the government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq authentication protocol and the safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy Agency will strengthen the country's efforts to emerge from Chapter VII and benefit from the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Dabbagh said in a press statement: that Iraq's accession to the protocol aimed at ending the mandate of the Task Force on Iraq of the International Atomic Energy Agency by removing the rationale behind some countries in the Security Council to continue its work and reduce the obligations and restrictions imposed on it and decisions, as well as enable it to take advantage of the use of peaceful nuclear energy and technical support provided by the Agency in this area, as well as strengthen its efforts to emerge from Chapter VII.

He added that he was voted the country's accession to the Protocol after the formation of a committee to study and make recommendations thereon and for transmission to the State Consultative Council to take action required, indicating that the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, expressed his welcome to the signing of Iraq's comprehensive safeguards regime of the IAEA, saying that this will equip Iraq the request of the Security Council to lift the remaining sanctions imposed on it, and that the Agency develop a conclusion about the absence of material or of undeclared nuclear activities in Iraq and be of no importance in the implementation of the provisions of paragraph 3 of Security Council resolution No. 707 of 1991 and of paragraphs 12 and 13 of Security Council resolution 687 The 1991 and acknowledge the commitment of Iraq fully with the safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

The statement said that the Additional Protocol contains several paragraphs including the provision of supplementary information and preview and the designation of Agency inspectors and the protection of confidential information.

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Iraq's biggest Shiite party picks late leader's son to take over

The son of the late leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party was chosen Monday to take the reins of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a party official said.

The choice of Ammar al-Hakim to succeed his father, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was widely expected. But there have been questions whether the relatively inexperienced son can hold the organization together during a politically sensitive time in Iraq.

The late al-Hakim has been a symbol to the Shiite political majority of the victory over Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime, although the party did poorly in many parts of the south in local elections earlier this year.

Party leaders have said they would stand behind the younger al-Hakim, who in practice took charge of the party after his father withdrew after being diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2007. The elder al-Hakim died last week in neighbouring Iran, where he was undergoing treatment.

The main body of the SIIC approved the decision, the party official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information for the council. The approval was also announced on the party's al-Forat T.elevision station.

The party's Shura Council was expected to sign off on it Tuesday.

The passing of the party's torch follows instructions the late al-Hakim made clear in his will, the official also said. The will was read during his burial in the southern holy city of Najaf on Saturday.

Iraq upcoming parliament elections in January are expected to see a stiff competition over the Shiite vote because of a split among Shiite parties.

SIIC's losses earlier this year in the vote in the south were seen as a sign that some Shiites were turning away from religious parties. They also reflected discontent over the party's failure to deliver its promises in local government.

Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, head of the Shiite Dawa party, had been the late al-Hakim's ally in the Shiite coalition that dominated Iraq's government since the first post-Saddam parliament elections in 2005.

But the coalition has split, with al-Maliki's Dawa on one side and a smaller grouping of Shiite parties led by SIIC on the other.

During al-Hakim's funeral, his son made a thinly veiled call to al-Maliki's party to join the alliance, although the prime minister has declined because of differences over the allocation of power and a desire to reach out to more prominent Sunnis and Kurds.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...13090&Itemid=1

Conference to amend Kurdistan Region Investment Law

Head of Inquiry and Information in Kurdistan Region Investment Board Haider Mustafa in a press statement said that a conference is going to be held to review and amend the Investment Law in the Region clarifying that a Lebanese company specialist in making investment laws will effectively participate in the event.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...13079&Itemid=1