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

Prague conference on Iraq will be held in Parliament 21:50News were added on 12-8-2006 21:50

... Prague conference on Iraq will be held in Parliament :

The Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Czech Lubomir Zaralik today that the "Prague Appeal for Iraq" decision in the 9th and 10th of this month will be held as scheduled at the headquarters of the Czech parliament, but elsewhere in the search for him is now before the organizers of this effectiveness.
He added in a press conference held today that the organizers of the conference did not want a further deterioration of the controversy on the political scene Czech Therefore, "we have decided to retreat from the our purpose because we found that it is not correct to insist on our position convening of the conference at the Parliament at the time does not approve of it hand in the parliament" in a reference to the party, the Civil Democratic Party, expressed the position of opposition to it is believed that some supporters of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are going to attend and the Qatari Al-Jazeera transferred proceedings of the conference, which was denied by the organizers.
The Zaralik Conference, which will be under his auspices that it may be delayed for a week the convening of the conference, stressing the importance of such initiatives.
He was quoted by the Czech news Novinki this afternoon saying "that he hoped to give this matter the attention is also being elsewhere in the European Union should be aware that the civil war in Iraq that could affect life even in the Czech Republic.
The Zaralik that he had received the list of participants in this conference 10 days before the conference and therefore stressed that there is no justification for suspicion or doubt that what one wants to pass one of the proponents of the former regime to this Conference and who would participate are known and therefore there are no doubts Bagradhm
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Half Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’ marshes begin to recover, thanks to UN-backed plan
7 December 2006 – Fifteen years after nearly being annihilated by Saddam Hussein, almost half of Iraq’s fabled marshlands of Mesopotamia, considered by some to be the original Garden of Eden, have regained their 1970s extent, thanks to a multi-million dollar programme managed by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Satellite images and analysis released by UNEP today showed that almost 50 per cent of the total area, one of the world’s largest wetland ecosystems, had been re-flooded with seasonal fluctuations, in sharp contrast to agency images in 2001 that revealed that 90 per cent of the Marshlands had already been lost.

They were ravaged by a vast drainage operation carried out by Mr. Hussein after the 1991 Persian Gulf War in one of Iraq’s major environmental and humanitarian disasters, with the desertification of millennia-old wetlands, displacement of much of the indigenous population and destruction of a unique cultural heritage.

Once totalling almost 9,000 square kilometres, the Marshlands dwindled to just 760 square kilometres in 2002 and experts feared they could disappear entirely by 2008.

As the regime fell in 2003, people began to open floodgates and break down the embankments that had been built to drain the Marshlands. Re-flooding has since occurred in some, but not all, areas. The rehabilitation project – Support for Environmental Management of the Iraqi Marshlands – which includes a series of local community-led campaigns, is funded by Japan and managed by UNEP.

Up to 22,000 people living in the area are now getting access to safe drinking water and 300 Iraqis have been trained in marshland management techniques and policies, UNEP said today. The programme aims eventually to provide clean water for up to 100,000.

The results of the project’s first phase will be presented to a meeting of high-level Iraqi officials, local community leaders and international donors in Kyoto, Japan, tomorrow.

By the middle of 2006, 23 kilometres of water distribution pipes and 86 common distribution taps had been installed. A sanitation system pilot project is being implemented in the community of Al-Chibayish where inhabitants are facing health hazards from discharges of untreated wastewater to a nearby canal.

“The key to the success of this project has been the solid cooperation with Ministries of Environment and Municipalities and Public Works, southern Governorates, local communities, and NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and dedication of many Iraqis,” Per Bakken, Director of the UNEP International Environmental Technology Centre said.

Half Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’ marshes begin to recover, thanks to UN-backed plan

wOOt!!!

Bush vows new approach on Iraq
Thu Dec 7, 2006 8:41pm ET

Lots of good articles about Iraq at the Drudge Report


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By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush vowed on Thursday to adopt a new strategy for Iraq and outline it in a major speech soon as he made his first substantive response to a bipartisan panel's finding his Iraq policy has failed and time is running out for changing course.

"I believe we need a new approach," Bush said a day after the panel, the Iraq Study Group, prodded him to change direction in Iraq. A senior White House official said Bush's speech to Americans outlining his new policy was likely before Christmas.

Bush rejected direct talks with Iran and Syria, a central recommendation by the panel, but said he was open to the two countries participating in an international support group for Iraq if they met certain tough conditions.

To what extent the Iraq Study Group's 79 recommendations will figure into Bush's new strategy was left unclear at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his closest ally on Iraq.
Bush said he would not accept every recommendation by the panel and while he would take the report seriously, he would consider internal reviews being conducted by the Pentagon and the State Department before proceeding.

The study group report on Wednesday advised Bush to push the Iraqi government toward independence and avoid "a slide toward chaos" by launching a diplomatic drive to include Iran and Syria and a sustained commitment to Arab-Israeli peace.

Bush said he would only talk to Tehran if it suspended uranium enrichment, which Iran has refused, and he accused Syria of disrupting the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

To include Iran and Syria in an international support group is possible, he said, if they stop funding terrorism and help Iraq's economy. If Syria and Iran are not committed to that concept, then they shouldn't bother to show up," he said.

Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, a co-author of the Iraq Study Group, said he did not necessarily read Bush's comments as setting preconditions.

But Baker told U.S. lawmakers Bush had given him permission recently to approach the Iranian government, with which the United States has no diplomatic relations.

"And they, in effect, said, 'We would not be inclined to help you this time around,'" Baker told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Blair, headed shortly to the Middle East to talk to the Israelis and Palestinians, was not as unwilling to accept the recommendation to engage directly with Tehran and Damascus.
"The issue, for me, is not a question of being unwilling to sit down with people or not, but the basis upon which we discuss Iraq has got to be clear," Blair said.

U.S. TROOP CUTS POSSIBLE?

Bush did not shut the door on another important recommendation from the panel, a call for a rapid increase in the training of Iraqi forces to allow most U.S. combat troops to pull out of Iraq by early 2008.

"I thought that made a lot of sense. I've always said we'd like our troops out as fast as possible. I think that's an important goal," Bush said, while adding his usual language that it depended on having an Iraqi government that can defend itself and govern.

voters were widely seen as repudiating Bush's approach in Iraq in November 7 elections in which his Republican Party lost control of the U.S. Congress and Blair has been under fire at home for his staunch support of Washington.

The U.S. military confirmed that at least 11 U.S. soldiers were killed in the insurgency this week, bringing to at least 30 the number killed in December. More than 2,900 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Scores of Iraqis also die each week in sectarian fighting between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.

Bush replied testily to a questioner who asked whether he was in denial about how bad conditions in Iraq are.

"Make no mistake about it: I understand how tough it is," Bush said. "It's bad in Iraq."



(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria)

Psychiatrist who treated Iraqi distress shot dead
Thu Dec 7, 2006 12:17pm ET

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - One of Iraq's best-known psychiatrists, Al Harith Hassan, who frequently appeared in the local media to comment on the emotional toll of daily violence on Iraqis, has been killed, a close relative said on Thursday.

Hassan, dean of Baghdad University's psychiatric center, was driving to work on Wednesday morning when gunmen pulled up to his car at an intersection in the Jadriya district and shot him seven times. His driver and another passenger were unharmed.

The relative, who asked not to be named, said Hassan, 56, died on his way to hospital.

It was not clear why he had been targeted, but sectarian death squads targeting Sunni Muslims or Shi'ites roam the capital, killing scores of people every day. Many university lecturers and teachers have also been targeted and killed.
Hassan had been due to travel to Syria on Friday to present a paper at a conference in the capital, Damascus, before heading to Beirut to arrange the publication of a new book detailing his work on the mental scars of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and the violent anarchy that has followed his overthrow.

"I believe that clear and pure love is the ideal way of resolving all conflicts and clashes and is the path to peace," said a message on his Web site on Thursday.

The relative said he and his wife had often discussed joining the brain drain of professionals who are among the estimated 100,000 Iraqis fleeing the country each month.

But he always had one reply: "He would say 'How can I leave my family and my patients?' He lived for people," the distraught relative told Reuters.

Hassan, who had also studied in Edinburgh, London and Dublin, had a private practice that was inundated by people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression in the chaos that followed the U.S-led invasion in March 2003.

He saw his role as an educator and he spent much of his time trying to persuade frustrated young Iraqi men to steer clear of violence and seek employment or an education instead.

"How can Iraqis understand what a human right is when they never had one?" he told Reuters in an interview in October 2004 in which he also spoke of his strategies for resolving conflict and building peace.

"We can only stabilize the country when Iraqis begin to learn about a new way of life." The New Iraq is right around the corner - R/V

He recalled one woman patient whose father, brother and husband were shot dead as they traveled in their car.
"Three bullets wiped out her family in a second. She may never know who killed them. I felt shocked and depressed."

Hassan was well known for his television appearances and for his comments in local newspapers on the state of the national psyche, scarred by sectarian and insurgent conflict that the United Nations estimates kills 120 people a day.

On Wednesday morning, Hassan became part of that statistic.

Iran cautious over U.S. report seeking engagement
By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has responded cautiously to proposals for the United States to engage its foe directly, as analysts say Tehran waits to see whether President George W. Bush embraces the idea and what concessions it can win.

The U.S. bipartisan Iraq Study Group called on Wednesday for a new diplomatic push by Washington, including urging the United States to deal directly with Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria.

Bush said he would take the report "very seriously". But the White House also said the president would not be bound by the report's ideas and rejected one-on-one talks with Iran for now.

"Any decision by the United States to withdraw from Iraq does not require any negotiations with Iran or any other country in the region," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the satellite channel Al Jazeera television.
"(The) report has some important points ... There seems to be at least some aspects of the U.S administration's policy in Iraq which are considered to have been mistaken," he said.

Analysts say Iran is in no hurry to respond more positively at this stage, although some say Tehran would like to talk if it felt it could win security assurances and other concessions.

Washington broke ties with Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution and past efforts at talks were abortive.

"The Iranians feel confident at the moment that the Americans are really not in a position to impose anything on Iran and also not in a position to solve any issues in Iraq without the help of Iran," said one Iranian political analyst, who asked not be identified.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter enjoying an oil windfall, feels it has a strong hand to make demands as U.S. troops battle rising violence in Iraq and the U.N. Security Council is deadlocked over Iran's atomic plans.

The United States and European nations, who accuse Iran of trying to make nuclear bombs despite Tehran's denials, want to impose sanctions but Russia has sought to reduce any penalties.

COMPROMISE

Iran is wary Washington could drag it into helping calm Iraq "without giving any concession", the analyst said, adding that talks could happen but "it will be a long process".

Tehran is still bitter that after assisting Washington in its war in Afghanistan and sitting down to multilateral talks afterwards, Bush still branded Iran part of the "axis of evil".
Washington accuses Iran of fuelling the violence in Iraq, while Iran blames the U.S. occupation.

"America's engagement with Iran on stabilizing Iraq can be useful, but a package of compromises should be considered," a former senior Iranian official told Reuters.

"As America could not compromise on Iran's nuclear issue, Iran also cannot focus on assisting America to resolve Iraq's issue. Everything is related to each other," he said.

Analysts say Iran wants concessions such as an end to talk of "regime change", assurances about the role of U.S. troops in the region and moves to end U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

Some analysts say Iran's self-confidence could scuttle talks before they start if Tehran overplayed its hand with Washington.

Tehran University professor Hamidreza Jalaiepour said anti-U.S. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government may be a better partner for talks than a more moderate one because "no one will make obstacles".

When pro-reform former President Mohammad Khatami made overtures to the West, he was stymied by hardline rivals.

© Reuters 2006

Originally Posted by $onedaysoon$

Translated version of http://www.iraqhurr.org/

Friday, the first 08 کanon 2006
التقرير الاقتصاديEconomic Report
The reasons for the decline of the textile industry Iraqi, Kuwaiti investments in Iraq, the Russian equipment for the Iraqi oil industry
اعداد و تقديم: ناظم ياسينPreparation and submission : Nazim Yasin
Welcome to this episode of the new (economic report), which contains an interview with the Director-General of one of the companies of the textile industry in Iraq, talked about the problems faced by local industries and the reasons for the low level of production.
In today's episode up on the Kuwaiti investments in Iraq in addition to an interview with the manager of the branch of a Russian company talked about the details of two decades to export equipment to the oil industry of Iraq.

The reasons for the decline of the textile industry Iraqi

Experiencing Iraqi industries, especially textiles from several problems affecting the marketing of their products locally. Analysts and economists agreed with officials of the industrial companies that one of the most prominent reasons for the stagnation of locally manufactured goods on the Iraqi market and the existence of foreign origin goods sold at cheap prices.
In exclusive statements to Al (economic report), the one of the directors of the Iraqi textile companies that such foreign goods, especially those that are imported from China are not subject to controls or customs duties which leads to offer attractive prices less than those of the prices of local goods. This, in turn, will lead to a decline in the production of Iraqi companies.
In the following interview conducted by Radio Free Iraq correspondent Imad Jasim, diagnosed Mr. Mohammed Ziad Ebeid, general manager of textile industries in Wasit agency and the reasons for the low level of production and low rates of inflation and the number of employees-known producers or disguised unemployment.
(اInterview with the director-general of textile industries in Wasit Agency)

- - Kuwaiti investments in Iraq

In Kuwait announced recently that an investment company intends to implement a number of large real estate projects in Iraq, including the construction of hotels and commercial complexes.
As I mentioned (Iraq Holding Company) that the Iraqi government has donated a plot of land to build a plant to produce cement.
Further details in the context of follow-up briefing by Radio Free Iraq's correspondent in Kuwait, Saad Al-Ajmi.
(المتابعة من الكويت)(Up from Kuwait)

- Russian equipment for the Iraqi oil industry

In the framework of economic cooperation between Iraq and Russia, said in Moscow recently that a Russian company and the company (Hydro Mach Hydromachservice Service Agency) would export of equipment for the Iraqi oil industry an estimated value of one million dollars.
In follow-up to this topic, a correspondent of Radio Free Iraq Mikhail Alandarenko following interview with the manager of the branch of the Russian company in Iraq Eng Vladimir Anoshkin Vladimir Anoshkin, who spoke about the details of the contracts were signed with the Iraqi side to the export of equipment, pointing out that the agreed equipment will be shipped to Iraq during the month of November.

(Interview with the manager of the branch of the Russian company in Iraq)

(الختام)(Conclusion)

الأرشيفArchive
الصفحة الرئيسيةThe main page

Translated version of http://www.iraqhurr.org/

Originally Posted by nventr

Yes, I have cancer, and have been hoping for the R/V to continue paying for alternative treatments - very $$$. (NVENTR's daughter)

I had to have surgury 2 years ago this month for skin cancer. I don't remember what they called it, malignant mellinoma? Anyway, it was the worst one. I'll tell ya what, being in combat is not as scary as having a Dr tell you you have cancer! My family's prayers are with you.

Sorry for breaking the thread.

Originally Posted by ronbo

I had to have surgury 2 years ago this month for skin cancer. I don't remember what they called it, malignant mellinoma? Anyway, it was the worst one. I'll tell ya what, being in combat is not as scary as having a Dr tell you you have cancer! My family's prayers are with you.

Sorry for breaking the thread.

screw the thread in a case like this. bless you and anyone else with that horrid disease.

Originally Posted by rvalreadydang

Minister vows to beat ‘terror’ and reconstruct Iraq in 2007



Azzaman, December 7, 2006



The year 2007 will see the end of ‘terror’ in Iraq, return of stability and large-scale reconstruction, a cabinet minister claimed.



Finance Minister Baqer Solagh said the same year should see the value of the Iraqi dinar surging as a sign of a robust economy.



In a statement faxed to Azzaman, the minister said he would personally follow the implementation of projects that he hoped will see a drastic decline in unemployment.



The statement was released ahead of the publication of 2007 budget which Solagh said would secure the necessary financial resources to reconstruct the country.



“Next year will see a revolution in reconstruction which will check unemployment, defeat terror and consolidate security and stability in the new Iraq,” he said.



But he gave a gloomy picture of the pace of reconstruction in 2006 in which projects worth more than 2.5 billion dollars remain unimplemented due to security problems.



But the minister said he would see to it that all projects in the 2007 are carried out.



He gave no figures on money earmarked for reconstruction in 2007.




email this page printable version
Azzaman in English

I like these quotes! It is clear they are gonna do it.

Still I personally we must see the RV before or with the start of new fiscal year and that is in my opinion 1/1/2007. At this point HCL, FIL and ICI must be ready.

I think 1/1/2007 is the latest to do this, personally I look for next week around the 15th.

That gives them also time to bring in the small denoms and recalculate prices for their daily business.

This is great, know it was posted already, just going to go back and read the responses to this from last night. Just wanted to say this sounds like our reval guys!


MENAFNMENAFN - 07/12/2006- 07 / 12 / 2006

(MENAFN) أعلن وزير المالية العراقي ان العراق بصدد دعم الدينار العراقي وتقويته، حيث سينعكس ذلك ايجابيا علي الدولة وعلى الشعب، ويساعد على زيادة الخدمات.(MENAFN) Finance Minister announced that Iraq is about Iraqi support and strengthening of the Iraqi dinar, which will be reflected positively on the state and the people, and help increase the services.

وأكد الوزير في تصريح ان العام القادم سيشهد زيادة في الموازنة بنسبة تصل الى 73% عن هذا العام، اذ شهد تباطئ في صرف المبالغ، حيث صرفت وزارة الموارد المائية حوالي 75% من موازنتها و20% في الاسكان و17% في النفط.The minister said in a statement that next year will witness an increase in the budget by up to 73% this year, which saw a slowdown in disbursements, which spent the Ministry of Water Resources, about 75% of its budget, and 20% in housing and 17% in oil.

ويذكر ان السبب هو ان الاموال لم تطلق الا في منصف شهر نيسان، ليؤدي الى ضياع نصف العام، فهناك 2.5 مليار دولار لاعمار المحافظات، بالإضافة الى عدم وجود مكاتب استشارية هندسية وقلة الخبرة.It is noteworthy that the reason is that the funds have not been launched only in the month of April fair, leading to the loss of half a year, there are 2.5 billion dollars to reconstruct the governorates, in addition to the lack of engineering consulting firms and the lack of experience.

ومن المتوقع ان يشهد الشهر الاول من العام القادم التحرك لصرف وقيام المحافظات بتهيئة المكاتب الاستشارية والهندسية التي ستتعامل مع صرف الموازنة بنسبة 100%.It is expected that the first month of next year to move the exchange rate and the creation of provincial offices consulting, engineering, which will deal with the disbursement of the budget by 100%.

وتجدر الاشارة الى ان العام المقبل سيشهد ثورة اعمارية كبيرة، وسوف تسهم في تقليص حجم البطالة وتعزيز الامن والاستقرار في العراق.It should be noted that the coming year will witness a revolution Aemarih large, and will contribute to reduce unemployment and enhance security and stability in Iraq.
Translated version of MENAFN - Middle East North Africa . Financial Network