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

These people need electric currents up their butts.


Running out of Patience in Iraq
April 10, 2006
More than 16 weeks after the election Iraq's Shiites and Kurds have failed to establish a government in Baghdad. The British and Americans have lost faith in Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and are now looking for alternatives.
In a moment of anger, US Ambassador Zalay Khalilzad proposed locking the country's leading Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds into a cell and keeping them locked up until they found a compromise. The object that appears most frequently in current cartoons in Iraqi newspapers is a negotiating table. But instead of negotiating, the politicians sitting around the table are sleeping, eating pizza, picking their noses or offering each other cigarettes, all the while surrounded by grenades exploding, children being murdered and mosques going up in flames.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/wo...ewanted=3&_r=1

Jaafari is history, good news, bad news they're bickering over a replacement candidate!! And all the while the country goes backwards. These politicians need to sort their country out and quick.


http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsAr...l&related=true

Good interesting stuff on Iraq.


http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/iz.html

Get in there GW!


Bush pushes Iraq leaders to form government
Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:25 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Bush pressed Iraqi leaders again on Monday to form a government as it looked increasingly likely that the main Shi'ite Alliance would drop its candidate for prime minister to break the deadlock.

The alliance had been expected to decide on whether to replace Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its nominee but it delayed a meeting on a final decision even after intense pressure from Kurdish and Sunni leaders left it with no other options.

At stake is the unity of the Alliance, which fears that removing Jaafari, who only won his nomination by one vote, would split the bloc apart at a time when Iraq needs strong leadership.

Jaafari's critics -- including some in his own ranks -- accuse him of monopolizing power and governing ineffectively.

The stalemate since December elections has seen Iraq slide closer to all-out civil war, with sectarian bloodshed and the emergence of militia death squads adding to the woes of Iraqis already demoralized by insurgent suicide bombings and attacks.

"Iraq's leaders need to rise to the moment, to put aside their personal agendas and take charge of their destiny," Bush said in a speech in Washington.

Delaying the formation of a government creates a vacuum that "terrorists" can exploit and slow down progress, he said.

I think my Dinars will be going on ebay!

No way mogo! am in this ride to the end! it'll happen, be patient, know we hate that word but hang in there chum.

I see no other way but a solution to stop uncertainty within the Middle East is inevitable...may be not as soon as we would like to see but come it will COME... and be prepared for it!!!

I'll say this too, many are building extra re-inforced bunkers for what they can afford underground.... from any "fall outs"....hmmmm, yes, some are nodding heads now... but ask an Israeli... and he won't bother if you NOD or NOT.... at all



Now fellas, better start saving aside all you can and go in search of real equity in property... like ME... go travel and you will be amazed at what U R missing out there... sweet and sunny and filled with lavish leisure to luxury ... if you want it, it will happen!!! Pick yr potential.... pick up that point to paradise...away from wore torn regions, join us in selling your home or buy someone else's...



YB.

Gas prices, discontent rising in Iraq11/04/2006 Source: The Washington Times

In what is seen as an unavoidable trade-off, Iraq's acting government is risking public anger by ramping up gasoline prices to boost revenues and reduce a gas-smuggling trade that is helping to fund the insurgency.
Heavily subsidized since the days of Saddam Hussein, the price of gas has risen from about 5 cents a gallon to 10 cents a gallon, and is expected to rise dramatically in the coming months, despite the threat of street protests and other signs of discontent.

Robert Silverman, director of the State Department's Office of Iraq Economic Affairs, told an audience at Rice University's James A.Baker III Institute for Public Policy on March 30 that he expected the price to reach 50 cents a gallon by the end of the year.

Several violent demonstrations greeted an announcement in December that prices would be boosted, and it is not clear how the further price increases will be received in a country where driving is popular and the average annual income is about $1,500.

But the gas subsidies have placed a huge burden on the Iraqi treasury, amounting to $8 billion a year in lost revenues, or 30 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. U.S. congressmen have also complained about U.S. taxpayer funds being used to purchase gas in neighboring countries for sale in Iraq at such low prices.

Mr. Silverman said higher gas prices also are needed to attract foreign investment into a struggling refinery industry. Despite having some of the world's largest crude-oil reserves, Iraq still imports some 200,000 barrels per day of refined products, at a cost of $200 million to $250 million per month, according to the Energy Information Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Although Iraq's eight refineries sustained no damage during the 2003 war, a combination of lagging investment and skyrocketing security costs has kept them operating at only 50 percent to 75 percent of capacity. Outside investment will be even more important in the future, as the United States winds down its effort to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.
Yet another reason for boosting gas prices, Mr. Silverman said, is to cut down on a booming smuggling trade, which is indirectly financing the Iraqi insurgency. More than 50 percent of Iraq's oil profit may be lost to such practices annually, according to Iraqi officials.

With gas prices so low, it has proved extremely lucrative to smuggle Iraqi gas to neighboring countries such as Jordan, Syria and Turkey, where domestic prices are much higher, according to a recent International Monetary Fund report.

Many of the smuggling routes pass through insurgent-controlled areas in western Anbar province and elsewhere, where the truckers are stopped at roadblocks and forced to pay "taxes" usually totaling about 10 percent of the shipment's value.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of U.S. Central Command with responsibility for military operations in the Middle East, testified on Iraq's fuel problems during a March 9 Senate hearing on military operations in Iraq and the war on terrorism.

"Part of the insecurity of the oil has to do with bad infrastructure that's in terrible state of disrepair," he said. "It has to do with economic conditions where it becomes advantageous to smuggle oil. It has to do with a lot of corruption and criminal activity and tribal activity, as well."

Responsibility for the smuggling is thought to reach into the upper levels of the oil ministry, with ministry officials reported to have arranged for their own trucks to pick up gasoline from refineries and drive it to the borders. Record-keeping at the refineries is notoriously poor.

Although Iraq has created a commission to deal with corruption and openness in government, there is still "significant corruption in the system at this point," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during the same March 9 hearing.
Commission members are often reluctant to report illicit activities because of death threats against them and their families. Some have already been killed.


With higher gas prices, the pressure for peg mounts.

Good luck to all, MIke

looks like things r kinda quiet on this forum.....have'nt heard from mike or adster in a few days....maybe thats a good sign.....lol...hopefully anyhow....hoping everyone has a great easter weekend....will check back here on monday and see if there are any updates....Pat

Originally Posted by bigopie

looks like things r kinda quiet on this forum.....have'nt heard from mike or adster in a few days....maybe thats a good sign.....lol...hopefully anyhow....hoping everyone has a great easter weekend....will check back here on monday and see if there are any updates....Pat

Hi Pat,

Yes, it has been a bit quiet as they try to appoint someone other than al Jaafari, so this is good, but it is delaying final details of government formation. So, as usual, we have to wait. One good bit of news is they killed the most wanted terrorist in Pakistan which was the major bomb maker in group, so one by one we will see these insurgents eliminated.

Happy Easter or Passover to all, Mike