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

Just heard on Fox News (Shepard Smith) that Bush and Maliki will be meeting FACE to FACE in Jordan on the 29th and 30th of November. I wonder what that could be about. RV this thing b4 Xmas I bet.

BIG MEETING is what I met to type.

Voices of Iraq: Kurdistan-Film
Posted by: nadioshka on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 08:33 PM

Kurdistan-Film
Kurdistan to take part in Cairo film festival
By Abdul-Hamid Zibari
Erbil, Nov 21, (VOI) – Kurdish director Shawkat Amin Kouli said on Tuesday his movie "Crossing Through Dust" would take part in the Cairo international film festival later this month.
The movie, set in post-war Iraq, will be shown outside the official competition of the festival which opens on November 28, he told the independent news agency Voice of Iraq (VOI).
The film, which will have its début in Cairo, will not participate in the contest because it arrived too late for the jurors, he added.
Kouli said he hoped to show the film at Netherlands' Rotterdam film festival.
Producer Hassan Ali said the movie was produced by the regional government of Iraqi Kurdistan in collaboration with Nareen Film Company.
The film tells the story of Peshmerga, local Kurdish fighters, entering an Iraqi town during the 2003 war. Two of the fighters find a child who has lost his way and one of them dies in their attempt to save him.

Posted by: nadioshka on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 07:27 PM

Iraqis-Advice (Feature)
Iraqis find new rules of survival
By Ibrahim Zannoun
Mosul, Nov 21, (VOI) – Iraqis have learned them by heart, yet they keep exchanging them every time there is an act of violence in their daily toiling through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Advice on how to escape a multitude of ways to get killed has become boring clichés, however, Iraqis who sometimes poke fun at such precautions, believe they could save lives.
Here are some of the safety measures recommended by ordinary Iraqis.
"My wife is expecting a baby. Family and friends have advised me to steer away from Islamic, historical names and names of Arab figures when we choose our child's name," said 27-year-old Salem Mahmoud, an employee.
"They considered it a golden advice as hundreds of Iraqis are being killed because of their names. We started to take precautions for the future in naming our kids," he added.
Names such as Ali or Omar could indicate a certain Moslem sect, making the bearer likely to get killed in the escalating wave of sectarian killings that has been engulfing Iraq since the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samaraa last February.
"I bought a mobile telephone and my brother advised me not to use certain backgrounds or tunes of religious, nationalist or political songs. Some got killed because they had an expensive set or because of a tune or a background as it could reveal his identity," said university student Walid Khaled.
"I chose the tune of Titanic and nobody objected," he added.
Tareq Kanaan, a retired army soldier, stopped buying newspapers although he is a keen reader.
"There are those who choose there victims through their choice of certain newspapers which can be the key to reveal the affiliations of the reader costing him his life," Kanaan said.
"My son, who is a university student, implored me to do without newspapers… Even my wife who waited for me to finish reading newspapers to use them in the kitchen or for cleaning windows said she did not want a newspaper that could turn her into a widow," he added.
Umm Ahmed, a housewife, tells her children not chat with colleagues at schools.
"How many a family died when their children spoke unwittingly about their wealth of money or furniture. How many a family paid everything they had gained to have back a child who was kidnapped by gangs," she says.
"Children like to talk and boast of their dad's car or even of their daily pocket money," she adds.
Shaker Abdul-Wahab has a different piece of advice for his children.
"I tell them everyday to stay away from American convoys or tanks, police patrols, army vehicles…and official motorcades as well as hooded men," he said.
"What we see every day is driving us crazy. I tell my children before they leave home everyday to keep away from anything that may cost them their lives even if they have to jump into a pond of rotten water," said Abdul-Wahab.
Retired army soldier Mohammed Amin, 58, stopped going to mosques to pray for fear gestures might reveal his sectarian affiliation. Shiites and Sunnis make different gestures with their hands during prayers.
"What do we do? We pray different ways according to the circumstances for fear of the consequences," Amin added.
He has also advised his neighbors to do the same.
Housewife Samira Ammar says her husband prevents her and their children from leaving the house for fear of armed attacks.
"Yesterday, the only thing we could see from our neighbor Hadi was his leg. The rest of his body was mutilated and molten by the car bomb that exploded in a crowded place," she said.
Mohammed Ismail, a pupil in the second grade, says his father advises him not to move far away from the house for fear of getting kidnapped.
"My friend was kidnapped two months ago and they cut his throat," he says.
What bothers him most is that thuds of explosions scare birds off the trees.
"Funerals are now more than the birds," he says.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iraqi comedian who was gunned down in Baghdad is buried in a holy city
The Associated PressPublished: November 21, 2006

NAJAF, Iraq: Relatives and colleagues of popular actor Walid Hassan buried him at a cemetery in this holy Shiite city on Tuesday, remembering him as a comedian who provided hard-pressed Iraqis with comic relief by poking fun at everything from Iraqi politicians to long lines at gas stations.

Hassan's casket was tied atop a taxi outside Yarmouk Hospital's morgue in Baghdad, then driven to Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the south, on a long and treacherous journey that passed through many checkpoints and areas controlled by Sunni-Arab militants in Iraq's so-called "Triangle of Death."

Before it left, grieving relatives and fellow actors gathered around it to mourn.

"We will miss you," his two sisters wailed over and over again, both wearing head-to-toe black gowns.

Haasan, 47, a Shiite star of "Caricature," a weekend show on Al-Sharqiyah TV known for its dark humor about the country's many problems, was shot to death while driving through Baghdad on Monday. As with many other killings in Baghdad, the identity of the Iraqis who shot Hassan, a father of five children, was not known, police said.

"He was an actor who made fun of the miserable situation in our country, not a politician. But some people don't like that, so he was assassinated to silence him," one grieving fan, Namiq Hassan, 42, an Oil Ministry employee, said in Baghdad on Monday.

Hassan was one of five actors in "Caricature," a 45-minute comedy satire, that did not hesitate to make fun of U.S. forces, Shiite militias, Sunni-Arab insurgent groups, and the chaotic Iraqi governments that have tried to rule this country since Saddam Hussain was overthrown in the 2003 invasion.

Iraqis weary of the tumult around them — from widespread killings and kidnappings, to inadequate power and water supplies — have turned to the TV show to watch Hassan and his fellow actors portray policemen taking bribes and government officials whose main goal in life is lining their own pockets and leaving the country to protect their own safety, not solving the many problems of Iraqi citizens.

Another actor on the show is Saad Khalifa, who also stars in "Hurry Up, He's Dead," a popular TV comedy that provides parody newscasts in an Iraqi version of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."

In one episode of "Caricature," Hassan told his friends that "Iraqi policemen in a convoy were firing in the air in order to make their way through my neighborhood yesterday, and they used more ammunition than the Russians did to break the siege on Stalingrad in World War II."

For fan Faris Naeem, 35, Hassan's killing was heartbreaking.

"The assassination of this actor is another sign of Iraq's chaos. The criminals who are targeting actors, athletes and other public figures want to keep the blood flowing over any sign of humanity and culture," said Naeem, the owner of TV repair shop in Baghdad.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21 November 2006 (Al-Sabaah)
Babil province council prepared the suggested balance sheet investment for the coming year in the fields of municipality and services within a finance amount 75 billion dinar.

A source at the finance committee Raja'a Naji said that the council organized with the cooperation local sides towards preparing a mechanism technical and scientific balance plan for the coming year, showing the real need in the municipality, pointing that the suggested balance need 75 billion dinar including paving, cities numbering, establishing gardens and parks besides other cleaning works for the various districts and streets.

Investment law in Kurdistan region opens wide horizons for private sector
21/11/2006
Source: Al-Sabah

Businessmen in Kurdistan region have said that special investment law of the region has opened wide horizons for international firms and private sector to inter Iraqi market and compos a real partnership with businessmen in the country.
Head of Iraqi businessmen union of Kurdistan said that agreement of Kurdistan parliament and government of allowing international firms to invest in the region has emboldened private sectors in the region to contact major international firms and encouraged to attract foreign reserve capitals.
He added that the union tries to represent help for each investor who wants to invest in Kurdistan with giving him economical advise to inter businesses that not available and which represent real needs of the region and have economical use.
He referred that the region prefers strategic projects with economical dimension which will serve the region and modern factories can participate in developing the fact of the city.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2622

Volume of Iranian goods exported to Iraq up by 19 percent





RELATED NEWS

» Iran's seven-month exports to Iraq hit to $700m 21Nov06


21 November 2006
A 19-percent boost in the volume of Iranian goods exported to Iraq over the first seven months of the current Iranian year (started March 21) compared to last year's figure for the same period has been reported.


According to a report released by the Public Relations Department of Iran's Customs Office on Tuesday, the goods exported over the period weighed 1.439 million tons and had a value of USD 700 million.


It further said that the exported goods weighed 26 percent higher than last year's exports for the same period.


"Ten major items, including mineral water, various detergents or washing liquids, biscuits, water coolers, pistacchios, fresh or dried tomatoes, apples and home appliances accounted for 28 percent of the value of the exported goods.


"Over the same period, USD 32.305 million worth of mineral water, USD 31.987 worth of various detergents or washing liquids and USD 29.899 million worth of biscuits were exported to Iraq."
report.


The report further said that sunflower oil worth USD 18.898 million dollars, water coolers worth USD 17.465 million, pistacchios worth USD 14.982 million, fresh or dried tomatoes worth USD 14.831 million, fresh apples worth USD 13.767 million, cheese worth USD 13.454 million and home appliances worth USD 12.877 million were exported to Iraq over the same period.


It said Iraq was the third biggest importer of Iranian products in the period followed by the UAE and China.


"Iraq accounted for 6.9 percent of the total weight and eight percent of the total value of Iranian exported goods in the period." In conclusion, the report said that "the value of products imported to Iran from Iraq in the period stands at USD 817,000."


© IRNA 2006

It appears that the Shiite is hitting the fan...

Voices of Iraq: Parliament-Exchange
Posted by: nadioshka on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 10:08 PM

Parliament-Exchange
Iraqi Sunni, Shiite MPs trade accusations of inflaming sectarian sedition
By Wathiq Ismail
Baghdad, Nov 21, (VOI) – Prominent Sunni and Shiite Iraqi legislators exchanged accusations of inflaming sectarian sedition in a heated parliamentary session on Tuesday.
Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer of the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC) accused armed groups he did not name of being behind the killings in Baghdad.
“What happens in al-Adl and al-Jameaa neighborhoods will open the doors of hell on the Iraqi people who will lose their faith (in the parliament) and accordingly will find no other way but to resort to militias,” Sagheer, also a member of the Shiite umbrella Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told the 54th session of the Iraqi House of Representatives.
Al-Adl and al-Jameaa are Sunni-majority neighborhoods in western Baghdad.
Sagheer said the two areas witnessed killings of Shiites.
He accused members of the parliament of “inciting violence even though they took the oath in this house to safeguard the law.”
Shiite parliamentarian Hadi al-Ameri, also a member of SCIRI, accused Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of Sunni umbrella Iraqi Accordance Front, of “political hypocrisy”.
“To bad mouth this country while we are part of it is a political hypocrisy that does not become those present here,” Ameri said referring to comments recently given by Dulaimi to a satellite TV channel.
Dulaimi rejected Sagheer’s comments about al-Adl and al-Jameaa neighborhoods as “completely baseless”.
He accused Sagheer himself of being “one of the elements of sectarian sedition.”
The accusation stirred uproar as deputy Speaker Khaled al-Attiya, a Shiite, and several legislators objected and the session turned chaotic.
“This language is unacceptable and it is refused. The statement will be taken out of the session minute,” Attiya said.
Dulaimi went on and rejected Ameri’s comments as untrue.
Addressing Sagheer and Ameri, he said: “We are holding out our hands to you for the good of Iraq but we demand you to treat us with respect.”
“You (should not) treat us as if we were majus (fire-worshippers) or Jews. Our mosques are set on fire and our sons get killed every where,” Dulaimi lashed out.
Tuesday’s session was the first time Iraqi legislators exchange such harsh accusations.
The session reflected the depth of conflicts between the two main parliamentary blocs, the Shiite and the Sunni, which many political commentators consider a main reason of the security deterioration in Iraq.
Sectarian killings have been escalating in Iraq since the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samaraa in February. Scores of unidentified bodies are frequently found dumped in different parts of Baghdad as violence rages unabated in Iraq.

Parliament-Exchange :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will meet next week in Jordan to discuss the security situation in Iraq.



In a joint statement, the two leaders said: "We will meet in Amman, Jordan, on Nov. 29-30 to continue our consultation on building security and stability in Iraq."

Press secretary Tony Snow distributed the statement to reporters returning home with Bush on Tuesday from an eight-day Asia trip.

Bush will fly directly to Amman from the NATO summit in Rega, Latvia.

"We will focus our discussions on current developments in Iraq, progress made to date in the deliberations of a high-level joint committee on transferring security responsibilities and the role of the region in supporting Iraq," the statement said.

"We reiterate our commitment to building the foundations of a peaceful, democratic and secure Iraq and to strengthening the partnership between our two nations," the statement said.

The two leaders also said they look forward to meeting Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Bush and al-Maliki last met July 25 in Washington.

National security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters that when the two leaders meet in Jordan, "We're not looking for a big, bold announcement."

The meeting will allow a joint commission established to examine how to speed up the transition from coalition to Iraqi security forces to report to Bush and al-Maliki, Hadley said.

"It will also be an opportunity for the president and the prime minister to review the situation in Iraq more generally and talk about the way forward in order to accomplish ... move toward our objectives in an expeditious way," he said.

The idea for a meeting came up a week or more ago, and plans accelerated in the last few days, Hadley said.

Article a few weeks old...sorry if posted before...just found it interesting

An Oil Rush in (Yes) Iraq

The Kurds may be sitting on buried treasure, and foreign firms want to do business

By Bay Fang
Posted Sunday, November 5, 2006

LONDON-In a small townhouse in the financial district here, a high-ceilinged room is packed to capacity with oil executives in dark suits. They are men from all over the world, representing some of the largest multinational oil companies, and they sit in rows like schoolchildren, assiduously taking notes. At the front of the room, the minister of natural resources from the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq is speaking, his English fluent. On the wall behind him is a large map of potential oil fields in the Kurdish region and the beginning of a PowerPoint presentation that reads, "Oil Can Be a Source of Stability."
The government of Iraq may be far from ready to welcome foreign investment into its oil sector right now but, like it or not, the Kurds are moving ahead. While the government in Baghdad is still haggling over its petroleum law and violence wracks much of the country, the Kurds are about to pass their own oil law. They have already signed contracts with a handful of foreign oil companies, and they're aggressively wooing more. The question now is whether these attempts to sign separate contracts, establish a parallel legal regime, and attract much-needed foreign investment will be a source of stability or instability in a country that knows far too much of the latter and very little of the former.
Money. The dispute over oil goes to the heart of the political debate in Iraq. The Kurdish region, currently the only autonomous region in Iraq, has enjoyed self-rule since 1991. Earlier this month, the Shiite-dominated parliament in Baghdad passed a federalism law, allowing other regions to be formed-but not for another year and a half. The law was hotly debated because although the Shiites would like to create their own zone in their oil-rich heartland in the south, the Sunnis fear being left with only an area in resource-poor central Iraq. An agreement empowers the federal government to receive all oil revenues and redistribute them to the regions according to population and "needs."
But the real question is who gets to sign the contracts and manage the fields. And on this point the Kurds won't budge-Iraq's Constitution, they say, gives them control over so-called future fields (existing fields are controlled by the central government, and the fate of those in Kirkuk will be decided by a referendum next year). "In management of new fields, we are adamant that we will not share with federal authorities," says Ashti Hawrami, an English-trained petroleum engineer who is the new minister of natural resources. "Planning, coordination-no problem. But who has the right to write contracts? We can consult with the center, but the ultimate authority lies with the [Kurds]."
High-level jabs have already been exchanged over the issue. The Iraqi oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, has insisted publicly that contracts signed by the Kurdish regional government must be subject to the ministry's review. In response, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani issued a statement that many interpreted as a threat of secession: "The people of Kurdistan chose to be in a voluntary union with Iraq on the basis of the Constitution. If Baghdad ministers refuse to abide by that Constitution, the people of Kurdistan reserve the right to reconsider our choice."
Iraq has the third-largest proven oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 115 billion barrels, and oil companies have salivated over the country's potential since Saddam Hussein's regime fell in 2003. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 90 percent of Iraq's regions are unexplored, with only about 2,000 wells drilled, compared with about 1 million in Texas alone. But the industry has been in terrible shape for the past 20-some years. International sanctions against Saddam's regime meant that the infrastructure was not upgraded. Oil experts think that if international expertise were brought in and facilities modernized, Iraq could produce up to 4 million barrels per day (which is what it produced in 1990, before the invasion of Kuwait). "Iraq's entry into the market will change the entire global oil game," says Ed Chow, a longtime oil consultant who used to work for Chevron.
And that is what is so tempting for the oil companies. In the London townhouse, after the presentations, the questions come quickly from the audience, as much flattery as inquiry. "Congratulations," one oil company rep tells Hawrami. "When can we come negotiate with you?" His answer: "It's first come, first served. We welcome entrepreneurs, but we want structured companies with experience, who offer something we don't have ourselves."
Reserves. Oil companies say that though there are no producing oil fields in the Kurdish territory, initial exploration has shown geological structures similar to large oil fields in other parts of Iraq. The Kurdish government claims 25 billion barrels of proven reserves in the north, plus 20 billion barrels of potential reserves. A Norwegian company, DNO, began drilling last November and discovered its first well this spring. While there is much more oil in the south, the violence there prevents those reserves from being exploited now.
The Kurds themselves marvel at the change in international reaction to their advances. "Five to six months ago, no one would shake hands with a Kurd," says Hawrami. But in May, the Kurdish government created the Ministry of Natural Resources and appointed the minister. In July, Kurdish legislators passed an investment law, which spells out foreign investors' rights. And last month the Kurds published the final version of their own petroleum law. The regional government intends to move it through the Kurdish parliament this month-despite being asked by the United States to hold off for the sake of national reconciliation. The Kurds have signed four contracts with foreign oil companies, and the government's website says it "expects a large-scale licensing round following the passage of the act."
Downstairs, over bites of salmon and pasta, the oil executives feel one another out warily. One congratulates another on a just signed production-sharing agreement. Another group discusses options for doing seismic testing in Kurdistan (there are only two operators there now, both Chinese). Representatives from two major oil companies chat with a British government official. One was preparing to go to Kurdistan but decided to stay in order to meet with Hawrami. "What stage is the central government at with its petroleum law, anyway?" one asks. "I'm not sure," answers the other. "I guess if there's a conflict, that would make things complicated."
That's the consensus view. The U.S. government has expressed concern about companies investing in Kurdistan before the rest of Iraq is ready. "If the Kurds pass their own law, it definitely complicates things-the opportunity for cooperation probably diminishes," says one senior U.S. official. "But it's a great negotiation tactic-you offer something up that's your ideal and then go from there."
To the Kurds, however, their law is most definitely not just a starting point. In fact, though they are involved in the negotiations over the central hydrocarbons law, Kurdish officials say it will not mean much to the region. "Not for investing in Kurdistan, it doesn't," says Hawrami. "But it does matter for the Kurdish people, because we need our fair share of revenue from the rest of the regions!"
So the companies are going with what is available now. Hawrami comes into the room after having had private discussions with one company and is instantly mobbed. Tibor Szatmari, the CEO of a Hungarian oil company that is the largest in Central Europe, waits to talk with him. When he gets an opening, he thrusts his company's annual report into the minister's hands. He admits that he's desperate to get one of these contracts. "If you wait until the situation is absolutely clear, you'll never go," Szatmari explains. "So you take a calculated risk."
Especially if you don't expect to be entering Baghdad anytime soon. "There's a paralysis in the central government," says one former senior U.S. official who quit to start a company that is now investing in Kurdistan. "It's the cultural baggage of the old regime-no one can make a decision without consulting the top guy."
So what's next? A mess, perhaps, as the Kurds press ahead despite Baghdad's explicit protests. Hawrami finishes his presentation on an upbeat note-and just the hint of a threat. "We will soon be awarding new contracts, perhaps on the strength of the new law," he says. "If you come to Kurdistan, we guarantee that you can go to Basra and work as well. After all, who's going to block you?"
USNews.com: The Kurds May Be Sitting on Buried Treasure, and Foreign Firms Want to Do Business

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