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

I MADE IT TO SENIOR MEMBER BEFORE THE RV!!!!!!

Just in the nick of time I was cutting it close kind of like the Iraqi Government.

Good luck everyone this could be the RV DAY coming up.

HAPPY DINARING!!!!!!!

Dinar-Excited

Originally Posted by CharmedPiper

Someone helpppppp DO FILS MEAN SMALLER DENOMINATIONS???

They shure do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



WOOT, WOOOT, WOOOOOOOOOOT, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!




Arkie.

Originally Posted by CharmedPiper

Is this it.....is this a sign of smaller currency???

I would say yes but 20 cents rent, that at 1:1.

[QUOTE=ordinaryseawoman;134058][QUOTE=Zimi31;134037]

Originally Posted by Texas_Tea

I agree. I do not see why some people are concerned that money will be taken away from the troops while they are there. They shouldn't be. Democrats are trying to get the Iraq Government to get on with things so they can become self reliant and we can start using the money on other things like healthcare, elderly, energy projects, etc. Once this has been done and the people are no longer living in poverty (for the most part) then I think this will lower the need for those with no choice but to join into terrorist activities to feed their families so I predict that the problem with security issues will reduce to the point where troops can start coming home. While the troops are in Iraq, I do not think any government funding to keep them there will be cut. The democrats are more concerned with cutting spending given to the Iraq Government. Even though I do not agree with the war, I am not stupid. If i see a good investment opportunity then i will take it like most of you out there would. I am not saying that they are pushing a reval or anything. The Democrats want them to do something and soon. The only thing i can think of is to reval IMO but who knows.
I thought this was a news thread, but once again you want to talk about the wonderful & beneficial days ahead of us because of the democrats wise and instructive ways to run the war in Iraq and of course solve all the problems in this country with more social programs. Thanks for your input.[/QUOTE]

Zimi31--nice 2nd post. If you don't like what is being posted, go out and find some news yourself. *sigh* I guess some people just like to compain. Well, you wanted news, here's some news....

The good news is that the Iraqi people want change, they want to succeed and prosper...the bad news is for many reasons it's still a mess over there. Let's not get caught up in political BS, because, ultimately, none of that matters. The only thing that matters right now is that the Iraqi's succeed. That they build a coherent, orderly, and prosperous society. Anything short of that and we'll be looking over our shoulders for a very long time--regardless of political party.


The failure of Iraq's reconstruction
By Mark Gregory
International business reporter, BBC World Service

"All across Iraq, people are working hard to restore the country to normal. People are going to work, kids are going to school, all of which are a symbol of Iraq, the new Iraq, returning to normal."

Paul Bremer, head of the US-led administration before the return of sovereignty in Iraq, offered a vision of a country in which the lights worked and clean water flowed from the taps.

But two-and-a-half years after the handover, many Iraqis say their lives are getting worse, despite the vast sums spent on rebuilding.

Power output is barely above pre-war levels despite massive investment. The same is true of oil exports.

But the man who initially ran the main US reconstruction programme is unapologetic, and says he would do it all the same way again.

David Nash arrived in Baghdad in late 2003. He set up and managed an $18.4bn US aid programme approved by Congress.

But it was never going to be enough money to complete the task, he said.

"Nobody who ever worked with me thought we were going to fix the infrastructure of Iraq. It was in very bad shape because it had been neglected for 30 years.

"It was severely impacted by the burning and looting that occurred, and we ended up building under fire."

As the rebuilding programme got under way, the security situation became worse - and costs rose.

We have been told that half the money allocated for reconstruction was ultimately eaten up in direct and indirect security expenses.

A small number of huge companies - such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Parsons, and Washington International - were awarded huge contracts. Almost everything was contracted out to private firms.

But were large Western firms the best choice for the job?

'Bunker mentality'

Cameron Woolf is operations director for a small American engineering company with reconstruction contracts in Baghdad. He has watched the big corporations come in and fail.

"They didn't embrace the Iraqi people, the Iraqi engineers," he said.

"They weren't allowed to travel. It was definitely a bunker mentality. They honestly think the world ends when you walk outside the Green Zone or you're going to get shot.

"And big Western firms tended to rely on expensive expatriate staff, which meant it cost a lot to get things done. "

Companies with the main contracts often have not done the actual work - that is passed on to sub-contractors, who in turn pass all or part of the job on to others. And profits are taken at every stage.

There are legions of stories about reconstruction contracts that went wrong.

Parsons, a Californian firm, had a $900m contract to build new courts and prisons throughout Iraq, but the project was a disaster, according to Congressman Henry Waxman, a leading critic of the rebuilding effort.

"The toilets were leaking, the place stank; and this was where we were trying to train Iraqi police.

"This became the lens through which Iraqis now see America; incompetence, profiteering, arrogance."

Parsons told us they "regretted that problems with the new Baghdad police college occurred after the facility was turned over to the US government and put in use by Iraqi trainees".

"Working in a war zone poses unique challenges," they added.

How much oil?

Many of Iraq's business elite have relocated to Jordan, to operate what is left of their businesses back home.

Kamal Al-Kaisi, a businessman and academic, is a recent arrival. He fled after four people armed with machine-guns entered his house and attempted to kidnap him.

He escaped by jumping onto a neighbour's roof.

Asked why him, he said: "The mafia or gang have people to nominate a target - they give an estimate to say that we evaluate him at $100,000, or this target at $1m.

"And they usually take 10 or 15% of that ransom."

Ali Damirji is a British-educated Iraqi in Amman. He has 15 shops throughout Iraq but has recently closed three of them in Baghdad because it became too dangerous.

He has been put off reconstruction contracts by the pervasive corruption. To get $3m worth of work you may have to pay half in bribes, he said.

Corruption has been fuelled by the constant flux of Iraqi politics. Three different governments have held office since sovereignty was handed back.

And oil revenue that could rebuild the country is being lost to theft on an epic scale. When US technicians renovated the pipes and wells after the war they failed to install proper metering.

Nobody knows how much crude should be in the system.

The money that's stolen doesn't merely enrich criminals, but frequently goes out to fund criminal militias or insurgents - that means lost lives for US troops

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen
Baghdad's 'missing' billions

Issan Chalabi, an oil minister under Saddam Hussein, says the Americans failed to install meters even at the offshore terminals that handle all Iraq's crude exports.

Metering would take a matter of weeks to install at the cost of a few million dollars, he said.

"Here we are talking about millions and billions of dollars. Iraq wouldn't be in need of handouts, loans, or grants from anybody."

Mr Nash concedes the metering "probably should have been done".

"But there were so many things to do one has to come up with priorities," he said.

"It doesn't do any good to have a proper metering system if the pipeline is not operating."

It is easy to run away with the idea that everything in Iraq is hopeless.

But at a trade fair in Irbil, northern Iraq, I met a business development director of Trade Bank of Iraq, pleased to announce that it had installed the first ATM in the country.
And if you want to make a fashion statement in this part of the world, get yourself some designer security gear. It's a boom product, especially in Baghdad.

'Second insurgency'

But the $18bn US reconstruction programme has run its course - the funds had to be allocated by the end of September.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, has spent the last couple of years reporting to Congress on how American money has been spent.

Now, he says, attention should be paid to Iraqi government corruption. "I call it the second insurgency. This money that's stolen doesn't merely enrich criminals, but frequently goes out to fund criminal militias or insurgents. That means lost lives for US troops."

There is little to show for the money spent.

Profiteering, corruption, bad management and the strength of the insurgency have all played a part.

But Mr Nash says the critics of the $18bn aid effort are wrong.

"If we did an $18.4bn construction programme in your country and we ended up with 2200 major projects being completed in three years, I think we'd be heroes.

"And I say to people who criticise us at great length: Well where were you, when we needed help?"

Part two of Mark Gregory's documentary

BBC NEWS | Middle East | The failure of Iraq's reconstruction

I'm thrilled with the news everyday from you and everyone else that does all the hard work and I thank all of you. My point was that politics was a topic when Tea-Time posted. I guess a 2nd post is close to being...nothing!

I may be wrong , but, I thought the fils were the coins. And there are 100 dinar coins.

My thinking is that they are bringing back the fil coins from 1972 as part of the smaller denomination package....guessing....and hoping'

Saddam era dinar:

The main unit of currency in Iraq is the Iraqi Dinar, which is made up of 1,000 fils. Iraqi coins come in denominations that include 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 250 fils. Paper money includes 250 and 500 fils, and 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 dinars.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!
DayDream

Originally Posted by Dinar-Excited

I could not wait but I will give a bigger one on the RV day. Oops I lost my WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTT Virginity.

Dinar-Excited

Congratulation you made Senior the same time you lost your WOOOOOOTTTTTTT Virginity, I hope it was as good for you as it was to all of us.

fsn

Originally Posted by H2O_Lover

This is what Susie posted yesterday- NOTICE THE DATE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARTICLE- approved 11/12/2006!!!! SGS post 22311


Next Sunday the distribution amounts violated in Babylon

Guinness Mesopotamia : Hilla / Amir Muhammad

Start Rafidain Bank branch Babel next Sunday regardless grant feast that had been endorsed by the Council of Ministers to grant citizens the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, said Mr. Hakim Hussein Jabr director of Rafidain Bank / Babylon saying this grant will be disbursed as of next Sunday, approved in 2006 / 11 / 12 for three months as a the agenda for stabilizing agents by the names and the date of payment of the grant families so that all citizens receiving and continue to exchange up to 2007 / 1 / 31, adding the purpose of getting rid of the fraud had been organized special restrictions of each family as a special Bank.


http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl.../nhr1110f.html


OK......... now i know i am picking this apart a bit but are they giving this grant to each family ? or each person ?

thanks ahead of time

sounds like its either per family or there are rules according to who can be considered among the family or something.

SGS I found an article with 200 fils.....is this part of our smaller denominations surfacing....I am freaking out here.....HELP