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

Originally Posted by clintstella

Interesting article too long to post.

Kurdistan: The Quest for Statehood

.:: Peyamner Daily news::.

Interesting,

Good article and it points out why I would rather have the Kurd's running the whole government instead of Maliki's militia. LOL

Good luck to all, Mike

Arab press gloomy over US Iraq plans


Newspapers in the Arab world doubt any good can come from any possible rethink of US policy in Iraq, following President Bush's speech expressing dissatisfaction with the situation in the country.

Syrian and Qatari commentators believe that Mr Bush's refusal to set a timetable for troop withdrawal means there can be no end to the bloodshed.

One Lebanese paper predicts America is close to admitting defeat, while there is also speculation that US troops may be withdrawn, leaving a destroyed Iraq "to an uncertain fate".


UMAR JAFTLI IN SYRIA'S TISHRIN

It is a feast soaked with Arab blood. In Iraq dozens die every day because of the US occupation and its policy of divide and rule. There is no hope of achieving an end to these tragic incidents or an end to the occupation, because President Bush insists on saying that the presence of US forces in Iraq is necessary to spread democracy, for the future of Iraq and to protect the US from terrorists.


HASAN THABIT IN QATAR'S AL-WATAN

President Bush has caused the death of large numbers of Iraqis, more than those killed by the regime of Saddam Hussein. Nevertheless, the US president is still defending the invasion of Iraq claiming that this is driving Iraq towards a democratic regime, which will be a centre for enlightenment for the entire Arab region. This is completely untrue, if we take into consideration the sectarian and ethnic fighting we see in this Arab country.


PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI

It seems that President Bush's patience is wearing thin. [Prime Minister] Nouri Maliki's days in Iraq are numbered... What is clear is that the US Administration is now convinced that there is no point in continuing to support Maliki's government because it has failed to commit to the pledges it made to ensure security, disband the sectarian militia and achieve national reconciliation between the different sects and groups in Iraq... The honeymoon for the ruling coalition in Iraq and the US administration is nearly over.


EGYPT'S AL-JUMHURIYAH

The US administration has ignored the sincere successive warnings against undertaking the invasion of Iraq and opening a battle zone in the Middle East... Anyone watching what is happening in Iraq now will realise that the warnings from Egypt and others were right, as Baghdad and all Iraq's cities have turned into a swamp, which the US administration has admitted is similar to Vietnam.


LEBANON'S AL-SAFIR

When President Bush admits that the situation in Iraq has become similar to that of Vietnam, you should believe him and believe that he is very near to admitting defeat.


PAN-ARAB AL-ARAB AL-ALAMIYAH

A change in US policy is possible. Its logical aim would be to save the US... and leave the Iraqis to an uncertain fate now the US and British occupation has destroyed Iraq and divided it into factions.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio

Kurdistan Oil Troubles Begin to Surface
By Mohammed Salih
ARBIL, 26 October 2006 (Inter Press Service News Agency)

Through a steadily worsening security situation and deepening political
divisions, a dispute is now erupting between Kurdish leaders and the Baghdad
regime over access to oil resources.

Kurdish authorities and the federal government in Baghdad have exchanged sharply
worded statements recently in their rival claims for control over northern oil
fields. The row is expected to intensify after the Kurdistan regional government
(KRG) in charge of the three northern provinces Arbil, Sulaimaniya, and Dohuk
presents an oil bill to the regional parliament.

This would then be a basis of claims from the federal government, and an
assertion of rights over oil in the north.

In an attempt to calm this growing confrontation U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice urged Kurdish leaders on her last visit to Kurdistan to make
concessions to Baghdad on distribution of oil revenues.

Kurdish leaders agreed to share an unspecified portion of their revenues with
Baghdad, but they say they will not hand over control of oil wells to the Iraqi
oil ministry.

"We have not made any concessions, and the KRG has constitutionally the right to
exploit the oil wealth in areas under its control," Dler Shaways, head of the
economic and financial committee of the Kurdistan Parliament in Arbil, told IPS.
"It is part of the characteristics of federal systems that regions can govern
themselves and control their revenues."

Accusing federal authorities of adopting "a colonialist approach in dealing with
Kurdistan," Shaways said "the regimes in Baghdad have so far used our oil wealth
to buy bombs and destroy the country with it."

Disputes emerged first in December last year when the KRG officially declared
the discovery of oil in the northern town Zakho by a small Norwegian firm.

Such oil explorations in the north have led Iraq's Shia Oil Minister Hussein
al-Shahristani to declare that his ministry "isn't committed to oil investment
contracts signed in the past … by officials of the government of the Kurdistan
region."

The Kurdish government in turn held out options other than coexistence with the
federal government if it refused to recognize its authority over oil wealth in
the north.

Over the course of the past three years, since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq,
the Kurdish government has signed three production-sharing deals. These are with
the Turkish companies Petoil in April 2003 and Genel Enerji in January 2004, and
recently the Canadian company Western Oil Sands.

Much of the disagreement over oil management and revenue distribution has
emanated from ambiguities in the text of the national constitution.

The constitution gives ownership of oil and gas resources to Iraqi people, but
stipulates that "the federal government, with the producing governorates and
regional governments, shall undertake the management of oil and gas extracted
from present fields."

The phrase "present fields" has been interpreted by Kurdish officials as those
that are producing oil already, not new fields.

Many see the oil dispute as a major battle of self-assertion for the Kurdish and
Iraqi governments. Baghdad fears that Kurds' control of their oil wealth will
give them powers challenging the central government's domain of influence.

Sunni Arabs, who constitute the core of insurgency against the U.S. and Iraqi
government, are afraid that the Kurdish example would inspire Shias to follow a
similar path in their southern oil-rich regions, and leave their oil-barren
central region impoverished.

As squabbling over oil increases, what many Iraqis want is only an end to the
fuel shortage they have been facing for years.

Abdullah Razwan, 32, a government employee from Arbil, is not interested in the
dispute. Stopping every now and then to wipe the sweat off his face as he rolled
an empty barrel to a kerosene tanker, he said the oil controversy is all
politics.

"When I cannot get a barrel of oil easily without paying the whole of my monthly
salary for it, what difference can it make in my life who controls the oil?"

Iraqi tribes dragged into sectarian strife
By Mazzen Abdulhameed
26 October 2006 (Azzaman)

Iraqi tribes are getting more and more involved in the sectarian strife that is
tearing the country apart.

Both Arab and Kurdish tribes still wield influence in the country and many
thought they could play a decisive role in halting the current bloodshed.

But the tribes, like other sectors of the society, find themselves drawn into
the current sectarian struggle.

Kurdish and Arab tribes in the northern city of Mosul and restive oil-rich city
of Kirkuk fight each other and Sunni and Shiite tribes across the country are
also involved in the fight.

Affiliation particularly among Arab tribal hierarchy has little to do with
sectarian divisions as many major tribes have both Shiite and Sunni members.

But the ferocity of the present strife and its heavy toll in casualties is
setting them apart.

Mixed tribes are present in several areas in Iraq, particularly in the small
towns between Baghdad and Tikrit in the north.

There are reports that the tribes have divided themselves on sectarian grounds
and have began fighting each other, using rocket propelled grenades and mortars.

The governor Hamad al-Shakti said he was deeply concerned. “If tribes lose
control of their areas and continue fighting, the situation will get completely
out of control,” al-Shakti said.

The governor has had several meetings with tribal chieftains in his province for
face to face meetings in which they vow not to fight each other.

Recently, he convened the tribes in the volatile region north of Baghdad where
Balad, Dhiloiya and Dujail are situation. This mixed region has seen a dramatic
rise in violence and sectarian killings most of which is going unreported by
both local and international media.

A written document that forbids inter-tribe fighting was signed last week to
halt fighting and sectarian killings for 20 days as a prelude for
reconciliation.

Only two days later, sectarian killings resumed with at least nine more people
killed and 12 injured.

“This is a black page in the history of the country,” the governor said when
asked about the latest killings.

“I urge all the tribes to put an end to the bloodshed and turn a new page of
reconciliation in their relations. Only with reconciliation we can build a
bright future for Iraq,” he said.

As a reconciliatory gesture on his part, al-Shakti has promised to handsomely
compensate all the families of the dead and those injured in his province in the
hope that victims’ families and tribes would no longer ask for revenge.

Originally Posted by dinarminar

What is your point in posting this irrelevant article other than supporting the efforts of the radical left downstream media who hates all things Bush and Cheney, Republicans, conservatives, patriots, etc? (Hint) It's a rhetorical question. The media's obsession with demonizing Cheney who has done more to serve this country than will ever be reported has gotten very old and is now being rehashed ironically just in time for the November elections. Ignorant postings like this confirm my inference. You might consider refraining from expressing your Travis County mindset because this conservative sees right through it. If this is a political thread (which I'm certain it is not), then be prepared to be challenged when you opt to post a politically biased article that has NOTHING to do with the dinar.

IT WAS MENT THAT "PROGRESS" WAS BEING MADE IN THE ENERGY SIDE OF IRAQ - GO BACK AND READ THE LAST MONTH ON NEWS PLEASE.

Defiant Iraqi PM Disavows Timetable

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 26, 2006; 1:29 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An angry Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki disavowed a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid in the capital's Sadr City slum Wednesday, and criticized the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for saying his government needs to set a timetable to curb violence in the country.

Al-Maliki spoke at a news conference a day after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Iraqi leaders had agreed to set deadlines by year's end for achieving specific political and security goals laid out by the United States, including reining in militia groups.

















"I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," the prime minister said.

The prime minister dismissed U.S. talk of timelines as driven by the coming midterm elections in the United States. "I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign. And that does not concern us much," he said.

Al-Maliki complained that he was not consulted befo*****d about the Sadr City offensive. The raid was conducted by Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. advisers and was aimed at capturing a top militia commander wanted for running a Shiite death squad.

"We will ask for clarification to what has happened," al-Maliki said. "We will review this issue with the Multinational Forces so that it will not be repeated."

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, his national security adviser, later told The Associated Press that al-Maliki's anger grew out of a misunderstanding that had since been cleared up with Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

While the U.S. military said the raid had been cleared in advance with al-Maliki's government, President Bush acknowledged that al-Maliki himself may not have been consulted.

"We need coordinate with him. That makes sense to me. And there's a lot of operations taking place which means sometimes communications are not as good as they should be. And we'll continue to work very closely with the government to make sure communications are solid," Bush said at his own news conference.

Military action in Sadr City is especially sensitive for the prime minister.

Until Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi forces had largely avoided the densely populated slum, a grid of rutted streets and tumble-down housing that is home to 2.5 million Shiites and under the control of anti-American cleric Muqtada's al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

Reining in the Mahdi Army and the other major militia, the Badr Brigades, remains one of the thorniest problems facing al-Maliki. His fragile Shiite-dominated government derives much of its power from the al-Sadr's faction and from the Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, which operates the Badr Brigades.

The U.S. military said Mahdi Army militiamen fought back in the Sadr City raid and that the Americans called in an air strike and cordoned the sprawling east Baghdad region.

Late Wednesday the military said it had killed 10 suspected militia fighters and wounded two in the battle. It did not identify the wanted militia leader or say whether he was still at large. Earlier, police and hospital officials said four people were killed and at least 18 wounded.









The military also said it had raided a mosque in Sadr City looking for a missing U.S. soldier and his kidnappers. The soldier was not found but three suspects were detained.

Residents living near Sadr City said gunfire and air strikes began about 11 p.m. Tuesday and continued for hours. The neighborhood was sealed to outsiders before dawn.

Groups of young men in black fatigues favored by the Mahdi Army were seen driving toward the area to join the fight. Explosions and automatic weapons fire were heard above the noise of U.S. helicopters circling overhead firing flares.

Crowds of Shiite men, some carrying pistols and others hoisting giant posters of al-Sadr, swarmed onto the district's streets Wednesday morning, chanting, "America has insulted us."

Throughout the day and into the night, U.S. F-16 jet fighters growled across the Baghdad sky, and at one point the report of tank cannon fire echoed across the city five times in quick succession.

Streets were empty and shops closed, although the district still had electricity from the national power grid.

Well after nightfall, residents said all roads into the slum remained blocked by U.S. and Iraqi forces. U.S. soldiers were searching all cars.

A frustrated motorist waiting at one checkpoint jumped out of his car and called for al-Maliki to resign.

"Where is al-Maliki? It would be more honorable for him to resign. Why is he letting the Americans do this to us," the driver could be heard to scream.

Falah Hassan Shanshal, a lawmaker from al-Sadr's political bloc, said women and children had been killed, although videotape pictures of the bodies from the neighborhood taken at the local morgue showed only male victims.

"If there was an arrest operation, it should have been carried out by the Iraqi authorities, and not like this where air cover is used as if we were in a war zone," Shanshal said in an interview with the government's al-Iraqiya television station.

Originally Posted by MrsCK

I JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT I WILL FIND ON GOOGLE - BUT THIS PUT A HMMMM

ALSO THE "IRAQ DINAR" LINK DON'T WORK ON THE WEBSITE - HMMMMMM

LINK
participating banks

In addition to the five Operating Consortium banks, a group of world-class banking institutions have joined the Trade Bank of Iraq Consortium as Participating Banks. These banks were selected for their geographic breadth, the strength of their trade finance franchise, and their commitment to doing business in the Middle East.

Participating Banks further broaden the client base and global reach of TBI. The larger group of banks is also positioned to engage a wider circle of export credit agencies to provide coverage for exports to Iraq. These banks will also be engaged to line up financing during future phases of the Trade Bank. These banks will also form the nucleus of TBI's correspondent banking relationships.

Akbank TAS .................................... (Turkey)
Bank of China ....................................... (China)
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi ..................... (Japan)
Calyon ....................................... (France)
DBS .......................................... (Singapore)
Gruppo SanPaolo IMI S.p.A ..................... (Italy)
Internationale Nederlanden Group ....... (Netherland)
Millennium BCP .................................. (Portugal)
Royal Bank of Canada ....................... (Canada)
Standard Bank Group Limited ............... (South Africa)
State Bank of India ........................... (India)
Vneshtorgbank (Bank for Foreign Trade) ....... (Russia)
Woori Bank .................................. (Korea)

Between the Operating Consortium and the Participating Banks, the Trade Bank of Iraq is able to reach every corner of the world. Our Partners presence throughout the world is truly impressive.

MrsCK,
Great find. This just shows us how extensive the reach will be for plugging
IRAQ back into the world markets. Something has got to give soon.
LIT

This translation is crap, anyone out there that can shed some light on this!!!

please do not overlook this people



A sudden rise of the dollar exchange rate in Iraq
بسبب عطلة العيدBecause of holiday
المصدر : الشرق الأوسط - 24/10/2006Source : Middle East-24 / 10 / 2006

The observers of the currency market that any appropriate punctuated by public holidays and special continuing for several days is expected to raise the value of the American dollar against the Iraqi dinar but the difference is limited only in the most serious cases of 1500 dinars to the dollar, because such increases in the view of some speculators will be temporary, They fear from the Iraqi Central Bank by stopping safety valve of the Iraqi dinar and the market. Even the view that the bank market rose as the case already before this year and a half it would go a vacation to begin offering large amounts of hard currency on the market and directly and at prices lower than the price of this transaction and believe more speculators nervous about keeping large quantities within their bags due to the risk of loss. But dealing in the market on the basis of supply and demand, this means that speculators small dealers with any citizen would have very high profits for this reason any of supply and demand. And the expectations of market prices between the observer that the dollar exchange rate in the auction, the central place in the Central Bank of Iraq finally began to retreat before the Iraqi dinar, as the bank began raises huge amounts of dollars because of the need of local government to criticism, especially as the volume of government consumption increased recently and this requires secure Sarvia T. through the auction. Finally, the supply has increased from $ 35 million to $ 60 million per day.

Full story follow link

Translated version of http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNewsAr.aspx?id=2384

U.S. blames Iran, Syria for violence in Iraq – Extracts of text
Wed. 25 Oct 2006
Iran Focus

London, Oct. 25 – The following are extracts of the transcript of a briefing in Baghdad by the United States ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and commanding general of the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) General George W. Casey on the U.S. politico-military strategy for Iraq. Khalilzad and Casey blamed Iran, Syria, and al-Qaeda for the violence in Iraq.



AMB. KHALILZAD: …

Iraq is strategically vital, due to its location and resources. However, more than Iraq is at stake. The broader Middle East is the source of most of the world's security problems, as was Europe in previous centuries. This is the defining challenge of our era. The struggle for the future of the region is between moderates and extremist political forces. The outcome in Iraq will profoundly shape this wider struggle, and in turn, the security of the world. Those forces that constitute the extremist's camp, including not only al Qaeda, but Iran and Syria, are at work to keep us and the Iraqis from succeeding. They fear Iraq's success. They want to undermine our resolve by imposing costs on us in terms of prolonging the conflict, imposing casualties, and creating the perception that Iraq cannot be stabilized. The enemies of the American people believe that their will is stronger than ours and that they can win by outlasting us. The killings that we all see every night on the television news are the work of the extremists.

…

While a few provinces experience great violence, there is stability and progress in many others. However, the battle over the future of Iraq has not been a one-sided fight. The enemies of Iraq -- al Qaeda, Iraq's historic rivals and their local clients -- concentrate their efforts on tearing the Iraqi people apart along sectarian lines. Tragically, these efforts have had an effect. Now the primary source of violence is not simply an insurgency, but also sectarian killings involving al Qaeda terrorists, insurgents, militias and death squads. Iran and Syria are providing support to the groups involved.

As we look ahead, the question for the United States is whether we will acquiesce to or defeat the efforts of the enemies of Iraq. The answer to that question is that we should not acquiesce, but instead should make adjustments in our strategy and redouble our efforts to succeed

The United States, as well as other supporters of Iraq, is pursuing a strategy to reduce the sources of violence: to defeat the extremists fomenting killing, to increase Iraq's capability to provide for its own security, and to expand the involvement of the international community in supporting Iraq. This is not easy, and cannot proceed without occasional setbacks and necessary adjustments.

To reduce the sources of violence, our strategy has three key elements.

First, we are inducing Iraqi political and religious leaders who can control or influence on groups in Baghdad to agree to stop sectarian violence.

Second, we are helping Iraqi leaders to complete a national compact. Key political forces must make difficult decisions in the coming weeks to reach agreements on a number of outstanding issues on which Iraqis differ: Enacting an oil law that will share the profits of Iraq's resources in a way that unites the country -- this is of critical importance; amending the constitution to make all Iraqis understand that their children will be guaranteed democratic rights and equality; reforming the de-Ba'athification Commission to transform it into an accountability and reconciliation program; implementing a plan to address militias and death squads; setting a date for provincial elections; and increasing the credibility and capability of Iraqi forces.

Iraqi leaders have agreed to a timeline for making the hard decisions needed to resolve these issues. President Talabani has made these commitments public. The United States and its coalition partners will support Prime Minister Maliki and other leaders in their effort to meet these benchmarks.

The third element is persuading Sunni insurgents to lay down their arms and accept national reconciliation. We are reaching out to Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan to help by encouraging these groups to end the violence and work for a united and independent Iraq, and to work against al Qaeda. These countries have promised to be helpful. To defeat extremist groups, we will continue military operation against death squads and al Qaeda and adapt our plans for stabilizing Baghdad.

To increase the capability of Iraqi security forces, we continue to train and equip the Iraqi forces needed to achieve success. We are coordinating with Prime Minister Maliki and his team on developing a plan for the transfer of security responsibilities. Reforming the Security Ministry is one of the benchmarks that the Iraqi leaders have agreed to. This plan will be ready before the end of the year.

To broaden international support for stabilizing Iraq, Iraqi leaders and the United Nations have been working on a plan, an International Compact with Iraq, that will consist of a commitment by Iraq to do what's necessary in terms of continued economic reform and policies to put the country on the path to stability and prosperity, in exchange for the international community's support. Many countries, including those who opposed the initial intervention in Iraq, are participating in the process, which should be completed by the end of the year.

To counter the hostile policies of Iran and Syria, countries that cynically support groups involved in the violence in Iraq, we are working with Iraqis and other governments in the region to develop appropriate policies and strategies.

…

GEN. CASEY: Good afternoon, everybody. I'd like to give you an update on how I see the mission here, and then Zal and I will take your questions.

A situation -- this will come as no surprise -- the situation here in Iraq remains difficult and complex. And I'm sure for the folks back in the United States trying to look at this, it looks very confusing and very hard to understand. I'm not sure I can cut through all that, but let me try.

Several factors add to the complexity that we're now seeing. First, since the elections in December, we've seen the nature of the conflict evolving from what was an insurgency against us to a struggle for the division of political and economic power among the Iraqis. The bombing of the al-Askari mosque in Samarra in February heightened this.

Second, there's several groups here that are working actively to upset and disrupt the political process. The first, al Qaeda and the Iraqis that are supporting them, have an active strategy of fomenting sectarian violence. In the aftermath of Zarqawi's death, they've remained wounded but lethal.

Second, the death squads and the more militant illegal armed groups are attacking and murdering civilians in the center of the country and have caused security problems in the central and southern parts of the country.

The third group is the resistance, the insurgents that primarily fight us and who claim to be the honorable resistance to foreign occupation in Iraq

And lastly, I'll mention the external actors, Iran and Syria. And both Iran and Syria continue to be decidedly unhelpful by providing support to the different extremists and terrorist groups operating inside Iraq.

Now, if you add to all this the intensities of Ramadan and the fact that the new government is about 150 days old, it makes for a difficult situation, and it's likely to remain that way over the near term.

…

Hey, DINAR-WATCHER19!!! Where did you go?? Any confirmation on the $5??
Patience is running realllllly low!! lol