Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Originally Posted by Hope Full

More people mad about only 10,000 dinar

this is the 3rd letter like this that I've read and all from different papers

: Baghdad Time: 02:46pm, 10/14/2006 ~ market is closed | $1 USD = 1470.63 IQD ^


4. Anything you want to discuss other than the Article about Latest News, please do it in here. "Crazy Thread part 3" http://www.rolclub.com/iraqi-dinar-d...-part-3-a.html It is a Sticky Thread Also.

PS. Subject to Change at anytime, by Admin or Mod's.

Originally posted by: frathousemicrowave

It was 25 747's filled with dinar worth 3 billion US.

"The logistical challenge involved with this currency exchange is enormous. Something -- some $3 billion, the equivalent of $3 billion in U.S. cash has been brought in, over 25 747 aircraft"

From post 1677 by CharmedPiper.

So, essentially you are saying it was approximately 4.5 trillion in Dinar (using today's exchange rate or close to 1470 to 1). Hmm, now that sounds more like it...

Mounting social crisis in Kurdish Iraq

10/14/2006 World Socialist Web Site - By Joseph Baker
While the presence of 800 international companies, including Chrysler, Ford and Exxon Mobil, at a recent international trade show in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, reflects growing confidence on the part of the international business community in the Kurdish nationalist regime, increasingly broad sections of the region’s population of 5.5 million are prepared to defy the authority of the government.

Recent media reports from the region indicate a significant increase in anti-government protests. This is the result of many persistent problems such as a lack of basic services, rising inflation, corruption and the violation of democratic rights. Because the two main Kurdish nationalist parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have failed to deliver on their promise that a major increase in seats in the Iraqi parliament would pave the way for the region’s independence and bring prosperity to all, popular disaffection is growing. In the past several months, at least five strikes, seven demonstrations, and one general strike have been reported.

The popular independent local newspaper Hawlati recently reported a strike by school teachers in the towns of Kalar and Chamchamal as well as staff at the University of Sulaimaniyah. The strikers demanded higher wages and improved working conditions.

In late July, the British Guardian reported that 3 workers were killed and another 13 wounded when guards fired on a strike by workers at the Tasloja cement factory. According to other reports, at least 700 workers at the factory, the biggest in the region, went on strike demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of 300 workers laid off by the new management.

The shooting prompted widespread outrage which led the mayor of Sulaimaniyah to hold a press conference announcing the arrest of 40 guards at the factory. The factory had been sold earlier in the year by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to an Egyptian company.

The biggest challenge to the KRG was when thousands of people participated in week-long demonstrations from the 5th to the 13th of August in most towns and cities across the region’s three provinces. Footage of these demonstrations was shown on local TV stations and satellite channels, and pictures were posted on Kurdish Internet sites. The demonstrations came amid the worst crisis to hit the region and Iraq as a whole, while temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius.

Fox News reported in August that the country was facing a fuel shortage and that the price of a gallon of gasoline had reached $4.92, eight times higher than the official price. The demonstrations erupted first in Kalar and Darbandikhan, where people protested the lack of basic services such as electricity and water as well as the soaring price of fuel. Soon residents of other cities joined the protests and demands were extended to include a curb on corruption and an expansion of democratic rights such as free speech and the right to strike.

On August 8, a committee was established to organize these protests at the national level and a general strike was called for the entire region. On August 13th, despite the government’s threat to punish those defying its warning not to strike, hundreds of thousands of people stayed home and shops and offices were closed. Thousands demonstrated in the city center of Sulaimanyia, the second largest city in the region.

Although leaders from both the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), who have in effect been ruling the region since 1992, have conceded the right of the people to demonstrate, the security police (Asayesh), together with a riot police unit established this spring in response to the increase in anti-government protests, have used excessive force to suppress these protests and have even fired upon demonstrators in many towns.

According to a final estimate by Hawlati, in Sulaimaniyah alone one person was killed and more than 280 arrested. Among the detainees were many journalists, such as Doctor Hakim sabir Aziz and Ali Hama-Salih, a correspondent of Hawlati. The London-based Kurdish Media reported on August 15 that security forces were still doing house-to-house searches for the leaders of the demonstrations.

Among those arrested was Baxtyar Hama-Saaed, a lawyer and member of the Sulaimaniyah strike committee. On August 20th, about 110 lawyers went on strike and demanded his immediate release. Hushyar Abdullah, vice-president of the Sulaimaniyah Branch of the lawyer’s Association, told Hawlati “we will continue this strike until our colleague is unconditionally released.”

Fearing that the lawyers’ strike would further ignite the anti-government sentiment already at levels unprecedented for the past 15 years of the Kurdish nationalist regime, the Asayesh released Baxtyar and all other detainees that night. Asayesh later issued a public statement condemning the lawyers’ strike in the Kurdistani Nwe, the PUK’s main newspaper.

Speaking to the World Socialist Web Site about the charges laid against him and about the arrests, Baxtyar said he had been arrested in the late afternoon of August 13 by Asayesh on charges of organizing the demonstration. He added that “along with 65 other demonstrators, later reduced to 32, I was put in prison for about 7 days.”

When asked why the masses are opposing the Kurdish government, he replied that “people in Kurdistan have witnessed an incredible rift between poor and rich in the past two years . . . and small numbers of the rich, who are either members or affiliated with the two Kurdish parties—the PUK and the PDK—with support from the US administration in Iraq have gained substantial control over the wealth generated in the region.” He added that “people have no expectation anymore that their living conditions will improve and have no choice but to demonstrate.”

Despite the recent discovery by a Norwegian company of oil in the region and an increase in the regional government’s share from the central government’s annual budget—from $1 billion a year before the invasion to about $5.6 billion in 2006 (according to figures from the Iraqi Central Bank)—along with the imposition of a 15 percent tax on personal and company incomes, the KRG has done nothing to improve basic services or less social inequities.

Spero News reported in mid-July that “drivers have to wait days to get their petrol shares.” As for electricity supply, the newspaper reported that the “local authorities announced that they would cut power from 16 to 9 hours per day.”

Soran Mohammad, a 27-year-old from Chwarqurnna told the newspaper that “in the heat of summer they cut power, but they [officials] have it for 24 hours.” In July, the United Nations news agency reported a lack of power for schools and hospitals in Erbil.

An article published in mid-September in the Peyamner Daily News, a news agency affiliated with the PDK, said of the protests, “[A]lthough the spark may have come from the fuel crisis, in principle frustrations have been brewing slowly in the region. House prices increased significantly without a real increase in wages in key sectors, with many accusing the government of corruption.”

In March, a report from the World Bank estimated that a total of $37.4 million is needed to ease the current power supply deficit in the two main power stations of the region—Dokan and Derbandikhan—which produce a combined total of 649 megawatts. According to KRG officials, 1000 megawatts is needed to meet local demands.

The PUK and PDK have been controlling the region since 1992 when the Iraqi government withdrew its forces so as to avoid confrontation with the US and allied powers, which had declared the region a no-fly zone. Yet the nationalist parties have failed to allocate enough revenue to meet the local demand for electricity.

Both parties were also responsible for the 1991 looting, following the first Gulf War, of the $2 billion Bexma dam project near the town of Rania, close to the Iranian border. UN reports had estimated that the project was in its final stages and would have been capable of producing enough electricity for the entire region.

The frustration of the public with the lack of power is not surprising, especially given the fact that Iraq in the early 1980s had enough electricity for all its regions and was even able to export $20 million of electricity annually to neighbouring Turkey.

During the recent protests, the masses demanded a quick reaction from the government to fight rising inflation and corruption. According to the Iraqi Central Bank, inflation had risen to 70 percent by the end of July, compared to 52.5 percent in June. This increase amounts to almost 125 percent relative to the inflation rate in 2005, according to the estimate of the World Bank. This significant increase prompted the International Monetary Fund to declare, in its latest report about the state of the Iraqi economy, that “the overall economy is sinking in what is called stagflation.”

The unprecedented increase in the cost of living and the level of corruption in the region have even forced TV and radio programs to devote some attention to these issues in the past two months. The popular comedy program “Barnamay Barnama” (the Program) of the KURDSAT, the PUK’s TV satellite channel, ridiculed the KRG’s explanation for soaring inflation and demanded that the government take full responsibility.

Massoud Barzani, the president of the KRG, recently acknowledged the pervasive corruption within his government, but the KRG has refused to take any responsibility for the deterioration of basic services and the growth in social inequality. Barzani told the Kurdish radio of the Voice of America in early August that “if corruption persists, I don’t want to be the president of a corrupt government.”

Facing enormous pressure from the public, and having failed to improve basic services even after two weeks of protests, the KRG has tried to deflect public attention by launching a political war with the federal government in Baghdad. On September 1, a decree issued by the president of the KRG ordered that all Iraqi flags be removed from government offices in the region, stating that the flag represents the era of the Saddam Hussein regime, under which the Kurds suffered much.

This “flag war” prompted a strong reaction from both Shiite and Sunni politicians, who accused the KRG of seeking independence. The federal prime minister’s office issued a statement rejecting the Kurd’s proposal and demanding that “Iraqi flags should be the only flags raised over any square inch of Iraq.”

In another development, the Associated Press reported that Saleh Mutlaq, a leading Sunni lawmaker, responded harshly to the KRG position and warned the Kurds that “what is taken by force today will be returned by force another day.” Media reports also indicate increasing calls from clerics in Baghdad and other cities to oppose harshly to any move by the Kurds to separate. Hawlati also reported in a recent edition that thousands of Kurds who study in universities outside the region have been seeking alternative universities after receiving death threats.

The KRG does not intend to separate. In a political campaign to salvage the image of the KRG among Arab politicians, the leaders of the PDK and PUK, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, have repeatedly expressed their surprise at the campaign against them and offered their reassurances that they are strong defenders of federalism. The main aim of the KRG was to use an emotional topic such as an independent Kurdistan (supported by 95 percent of Kurds according to a 2004 poll) in order to deflect public attention away from the current social and economic crisis.

The KRG has repeatedly blamed the central government for the shortage of fuel and electricity supplies. Local media reported Kurdish officials complaining that the current crisis was due to Baghdad’s decision on June 25 to cut supplies to the region by half.

Jamal Abdullah, the deputy prime minister of the KRG, recently told the Kurdistan TV, the PDK’s main TV channel, that “95 percent of the problems that led to public frustration are from outside and we have no control over them.”

Abdullah’s solution to the lack of basic services was to press for the full-scale privatization of the region’s economy. He claimed that if privatization is expanded, the 1.1 million employees currently on the government’s payroll will leave government posts and reduce the pressure on the budget. This is in line with the policy of the Bush administration, which has pushed relentlessly to impose its profit-driven policies and destroy the public sector.

In the past three years, the KRG has been actively privatizing much of what remains of public institutions such as water, electricity and fuel distribution agencies. In late July, the Kurdish parliament passed a law that allows foreign investors to own 100 percent of local companies, with a tax break for up to 10 years. It is no small wonder that foreign companies were enthusiastic about participating in this year’s Erbil trade show, especially after the news that 100 million barrels of reserve of oil had been discovered in a town close to Turkish border.

While the Shiite elites are pushing for legislation in the Iraqi parliament to introduce a regional government in the south of the country similar to the one in the north, the experience of the last three years has shown that such a regional government, even if it survived sectarian violence and insurgency, would bring nothing but hardship for the overwhelming majority of the population. But for the rich, such a regional authority would be “an oasis of peace and prosperity”—the words used by US Congressman Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota during his visit to the Kurdish region last July.
Mounting social crisis in Kurdish Iraq

Jordanian papers call on Iraqis to stop bloodshed

POL-JORDAN-IRAQ-NEWSPAPERS
Jordanian papers call on Iraqis to stop bloodshed

AMMAN, Oct 14 (KUNA) -- Two Jordanian newspapers called on the Iraqi people on Saturday to stop the bloodshed and sectarian fighting that killed more than 500,000 Iraqis.

Al-Rai daily said in its editorial that the number of Iraqis killed since March 2003 is frightening, especially because Iraqis were promised to regain their freedom and rights and to feel their lives and properties are safe.

It stressed that the killing of such a large number of Iraqis in three years is a crime against humanity by all means, adding that it is the time to reconsider the military operations in Iraq and to stop saying that this is a step in the right way towards controlling the security situation.

Al-Rai pointed out that many innocent Iraqis paid their lives for sectarian political dreams and terrorism plans, calling those encouraging unrest to look at the death toll and to assess their plans.

If they do not change their agendas, they will not find any Iraqi people in the future, because a couple of more years with this situation will mean the death of millions and the migration of millions of others, the paper warned.

Meanwhile, Al-Dustour newspaper warned in its editorial that dividing Iraq to three regions will lead to a political, security, and constitutional division in the country and would be a great danger on its unity.

What is most dangerous about that law is implementing it in a period with the greatest sectarian conflicts, it said.

The paper emphasized that the long series of mistakes done by the "occupiers" trying to manage Iraq's affairs is the reason of the lack of security and freedom, and the increase of crimes and sectarian assassinations, as proven by several books and media reports published in the past few weeks.

It pointed out that dividing Iraq will not contribute in strengthening the central government, but will increase sectarian feelings and divisions which are currently destroying Iraq. (end) hd.

(Voice of Iraq) - 10 - 14-2006 | This issue was sent to a friend

Shamari : referendum is the basic foundation of the legitimacy of the Territories
Member of the Legal Committee in the House of Representatives Hussein Shamari said that "the referendum is the basic foundation of the legitimacy of the territories."
Shamari added in a press statement that "the Territories includes a request to the prime minister, and then forwarded to the Office of the Independent Electoral Commission, in order to take the necessary action within a period not exceeding three months. "
He pointed out that "the rate of participation in the referendum, which will be held in the province should not be less than 50% of the number of voters. although the proportion of majority voting for the participants. "
Radio Tigris

Sotaliraq.com

Arab League chief says provinces law should not disunite Iraqis
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa has confirmed that the league is attentively following up developments in the Iraqi arena, including the issue of the law on provinces, which was approved by the Iraqi parliament, Wednesday.

(Voice of Iraq) - 10 - 14-2006 | This issue was sent to a friend

After the issuance of the law of the provinces. Blocks rejecting resort to the Court and the other driven grass-roots From Santa Mikhail
Baghdad - (Voices of Iraq)
Reactions to the passage of the Law on Non Iraq by the House of Representatives last Wednesday, As varied positions of the bloc which boycotted the meeting in protest against the law, those threatened to resort to the Federal Supreme Court, and from what he said he would resort to inform and educate the grassroots about the dangers of this law.
At a time in which the Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni) they will resort to the Federal Court challenging the legality of the meeting at which the vote on the draft law, Both the Sadri trend, the Virtue Party Shiayan to resort to raising their roots on the risk Territories Act, with the insistence of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Kurdistan Alliance list for the meeting and a legal vote.
He said Salim al-Jabouri of the Iraqi Accord Front News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent, "There are several procedures could be followed by the front and challenge them in the voting process as contrary to the rules of procedure."
He added member of the Front, which has 44 seats out of 275 seats in parliament, saying : "We are counting on the constitutional amendment and the results will lead to, as that could result in changes at odds with the law (ie regions) and the origin of the (working) the amendments."
He continued, al-Jabouri said in a telephone News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent, "We are counting on the will of the people if the formation of the territory, We feel that there is a growing rejection of, no longer matter in the hands of the desire of the Sunni Arabs, but from the south, there is this voice, which could deepen. "
The United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite) in the past was one vote on the issue on everyone. Now there are different voices on the issue of federalism. Sadri trend with depth, the Virtue Party has a presence in Basra, and all of their views overlap with deems the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution. "
A member of the Front consensus that no date for the formation of a cluster of blocks reject the bill in the House, but he added a, "The situation that arose against the national federation, which includes secularists and Islamists, Sunnis and Shiites could crystallize the impact on future agreements could shape the views of one about various issues."
For his part, Hassan said Shamari, from the Islamic Virtue Party (15 seats) "diagnosis from the outset that the project would impose on the people's interest, In the future when the date of the referendum will be for us to display our efforts on the Iraqi street for its adoption. "
Regarding the possibility of the emergence of a new bloc within the House of Representatives includes blocs reject the draft Non-Shamari said that "for now, there directed programmers to work Aljubhui, But this prominent position similar positions between blocs reject the draft Territories, However, the future existence of a strong national finest work for the interest of Iraq, I do not think there will be a fresh work with. "
The trend of Nasser Al Saeedy Sadri (30 seats) with the adoption Shamari, public awareness and media Altthiaqv one of the actions against the draft Territories. He said, "Non draft was approved yesterday on the mechanisms that this paragraph does not apply only after a year and a half, , which we will work hard so as not to hit Iraq to the division and distribution Kalcich (cake) between the parties, we will in one way or another to prevent it. "
He told Alsaidi (Voices of Iraq) "will resort to the media, education and public awareness programs studied ... Support governorates and decentralizing, We will seek to change the government's policy, and what will happen. "
The other mechanism will be followed Sadri trend is "the delivery of his supporters as members of provincial assemblies to prevent passing the request to allow the formation of regions."
According to one of the paragraphs of the law of the provinces to request the formation of the Territory have the referendum at the request of two thirds of the members of district councils as one of the ways.
He stressed that the trend Alsaidi Sadri did not question the legality of the vote, he said : "Amshklh to vote on the legal and federations How we will look to be at the present time and under occupation."
It was Muhammad al-Jabouri of the National Dialogue Front led by Saleh Almtalk been stabbed Wednesday on the legality of the meeting and vote on the law of the provinces, He explained in a press conference that "the rules of procedure provides for the postponement of the meeting for half an hour until a quorum, In the absence of a quorum to be postponed to another day. "
He added, "but what happened is that he was scheduled to hold the meeting at 10:00 and 8:30 am, it was adjourned for half an hour ... then held in two p.m.. "
He said a member of the Front dialogue, which has 11 seats in the parliament that "the meeting was a violation of the law."
But the Vice-Presidency of the Council, Khaled al-Attiyah (Independent within the United Iraqi Alliance), said that "the meeting was legal." He added in a joint press conference with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, chairman of the coalition and head of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution, "followed strict procedures and more stringent in the area of inventory counting and the quorum, until been exhumed all staff and visitors, and the quorum of 140 deputies. "
This was confirmed by Abdullah Saleh of the Kurdistan Alliance (55 seats), who said "The number was a quorum and accurate and procedures followed in the countdown to unprecedented resolved in the House of Representatives."
In response to what was said by some of the bloc boycott of the meeting of the illegality of the meeting and repeated postponement, which counts violation of the rules of procedure, Kurdish member said, "are more than others know that all meetings of the House of Representatives are usually between ten and a half and 11:00 am, But behind the scenes discussions leading to the delay in convening the meeting, and many times flying the meeting for half an hour but held after two hours. "
He said "the truth are surprised the participation of members of the Iraqi List (headed by Iyad Allawi, had 25 seats) and a quorum."
Regarding legal meeting held No. 47 of the Parliament, which approved during Territories Act, he said law professor at the University of Basra, a member of the Constitutional Commission in the National Assembly dissolved Hassan agony that "the problem was not so much a legal were political. Theoretically, the meeting is being held on the presence of a majority of members of the Council any half-plus-one, The vote in the meeting by half plus one unless there is also text, if the words applied, authorizing the correct law and walked. "
Regarding the postponement of the meeting, "If already been postponed more than once Valjlsh are not in session (ie illegal), but this is what the Anarafh (any number of times postponement)."
He added : "With regard to terrorism and ideological pressures, which have been spoken about, Vsamana also other clumps practiced against some members of the bloc to prevent them from entering, either counting issues and the introduction of these people other things. "
And the agony continued in a telephone statement to (Voices of Iraq), "The political problem is basically that emerged and went to the level that the coalition had entered the elections on the basis of the federal exited two of the largest bloc on the line and are Virtue and the Sadri trend."
The meeting of the House of the 47 had witnessed the vote on the draft law defining the executive procedures for the formation of regions by an absolute majority of the audience members who are mainly members of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Dawa Party and independent of the coalition, Shiite and Kurdish members of the coalition and a number of members of the existing Iraq Yeh.
It boycotted the meeting all blocs and the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front and the National Dialogue, Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc (three seats), in addition to the Sadri movement and the Islamic Virtue Party, and a number of representatives from the Turkomen.
Pertaining


Sotaliraq.com

(Voice of Iraq) - 10 - 14-2006 | This issue was sent to a friend
Who is : Amendment to rid the ministry of sectarian influence
The Interior Minister Jawad who is that "leadership is planning to amend the ministry to rid it of sectarian influence and political support inside Iraq."
Who is Al in an interview with the newspaper (The New York Times) that he "enjoyed the support of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to do everything necessary changes between senior leaders of the ministry."
He pointed out that "all the senior officials of the Ministry of the Interior in the change and that a government committee reviewed the recommendations in this regard."
He who is the newspaper "he does not agree to the militias because it is" a new threat to the Iraqi political process in the country. "
Radio Tigris

Sotaliraq.com

Here's a thought. Dinar 3 years old tomorrow. Ration cards being distributed 16th. Add this to a big announcement the Republicans are meant to be coming out with tomorrow/16th.

Things that make you go hhmmmmmmmm........