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

Violence and stifle inflation shops Baghdad
(Voice of Iraq) - 08-12-2006

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Lena-loving country mad but is horror because two weeks after the wedding. They fear that the bakery is closed and not open studio photographer and implemented powder poetry at the hairdresser.

The rise in the inflation rate, bombs, kidnappings and shooting in the market in the roads sector is full of roads and routes the trucks to stifle shops and companies Baghdad devastating economic recovery short witnessed the Iraqi capital with the end of United Nations sanctions and the repression of what was known by the Iraqis love the joys of life.

The struggling shopkeepers and small companies to keep their stocks of everything from the lighting of the lamps to toothbrushes and chocolate. It is Lena (33 years old) Pease. She said, "When my friend got married in July was a bad situation, but worse. I feel horror going shopping. He should be happy, but I am not feeling any wedding. "

The bombed repeatedly Shorja market for the wholesale trade in Baghdad is one of the oldest markets in the city and is one of the main markets for the supply of countless small shops scattered throughout the capital. In an attack in broad daylight in the last month, gunmen kidnapped dozens of porters on the market, which has reduced in recent hours of work. Said Sam Badi a shopkeeper in central Baghdad reaches the age of 40 years, "there is a recession in the market.

"Before I used to win $ 100 a day. The only win 50 per day. " Abdel-Hussein said the owner of another shop, it has become difficult for small businesses purchase goods from wholesale markets such as Aleshorja because of the violence. He added : "vehicles carrying goods habit stuck announcements by large commodity distributed, but no longer do so now. We have removed the posters. They are afraid of being killed or kidnapping. "

He wondered, referring to an American military convoy was passing, "How expects only afraid of people as they watch scenes like. People are afraid of the Americans, but afraid of the explosions which may occur near them. " More pessimistic said Abu Mohammed, who owns a small shop in the Karadah district of central Baghdad, "because of the explosions and fire became Aleshorja closed early date. They are very afraid to open. You do not know what is in you'll Aleshorja if I went there to that it is very difficult for small shops. "

The rate of inflation by more than 50% annually, but the prices of some of the recent luxury goods such as coffee and chocolate rose by 50% in a week or so. Many shops were closed in the Mansour district which was once alive commercially artistic beauty includes restaurants crowded with people and placed on the doors of the banners "for sale."

The abduction took place in the collective shops and restaurants and electronics shops in the neighborhood. The killing barbers had been set up and bakers. The kidnapped in recent Qsabon in meat factory outside Baghdad. With the imposition of Islamic extremists on their strict interpretation of Sharia law, where liquor stores in Christian areas and ignited the fire. Said Lina, which fears that turns what is supposed to be the happiest days of her life to the disaster, "I feel such a burden when I think of what might happen on Zvavna."

Sotaliraq.com


This country is bankrupt if they don't do something this month!!

Inflation on some goods of 50% a week and others 50% a year and the CBI wants to appreciate the dinar with 10%.

No way, they know that they have to do better then that.
RV that dinar!!

Originally Posted by kiko

Violence and stifle inflation shops Baghdad
(Voice of Iraq) - 08-12-2006

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Lena-loving country mad but is horror because two weeks after the wedding. They fear that the bakery is closed and not open studio photographer and implemented powder poetry at the hairdresser.

The rise in the inflation rate, bombs, kidnappings and shooting in the market in the roads sector is full of roads and routes the trucks to stifle shops and companies Baghdad devastating economic recovery short witnessed the Iraqi capital with the end of United Nations sanctions and the repression of what was known by the Iraqis love the joys of life.

The struggling shopkeepers and small companies to keep their stocks of everything from the lighting of the lamps to toothbrushes and chocolate. It is Lena (33 years old) Pease. She said, "When my friend got married in July was a bad situation, but worse. I feel horror going shopping. He should be happy, but I am not feeling any wedding. "

The bombed repeatedly Shorja market for the wholesale trade in Baghdad is one of the oldest markets in the city and is one of the main markets for the supply of countless small shops scattered throughout the capital. In an attack in broad daylight in the last month, gunmen kidnapped dozens of porters on the market, which has reduced in recent hours of work. Said Sam Badi a shopkeeper in central Baghdad reaches the age of 40 years, "there is a recession in the market.

"Before I used to win $ 100 a day. The only win 50 per day. " Abdel-Hussein said the owner of another shop, it has become difficult for small businesses purchase goods from wholesale markets such as Aleshorja because of the violence. He added : "vehicles carrying goods habit stuck announcements by large commodity distributed, but no longer do so now. We have removed the posters. They are afraid of being killed or kidnapping. "

He wondered, referring to an American military convoy was passing, "How expects only afraid of people as they watch scenes like. People are afraid of the Americans, but afraid of the explosions which may occur near them. " More pessimistic said Abu Mohammed, who owns a small shop in the Karadah district of central Baghdad, "because of the explosions and fire became Aleshorja closed early date. They are very afraid to open. You do not know what is in you'll Aleshorja if I went there to that it is very difficult for small shops. "

The rate of inflation by more than 50% annually, but the prices of some of the recent luxury goods such as coffee and chocolate rose by 50% in a week or so. Many shops were closed in the Mansour district which was once alive commercially artistic beauty includes restaurants crowded with people and placed on the doors of the banners "for sale."

The abduction took place in the collective shops and restaurants and electronics shops in the neighborhood. The killing barbers had been set up and bakers. The kidnapped in recent Qsabon in meat factory outside Baghdad. With the imposition of Islamic extremists on their strict interpretation of Sharia law, where liquor stores in Christian areas and ignited the fire. Said Lina, which fears that turns what is supposed to be the happiest days of her life to the disaster, "I feel such a burden when I think of what might happen on Zvavna."

Sotaliraq.com


This country is bankrupt if they don't do something this month!!

Inflation on some goods of 50% a week and others 50% a year and the CBI wants to appreciate the dinar with 10%.

No way, they know that they have to do better then that.
RV that dinar!!

Agreed. And judging by the article above stating 'moving the exchange rate' sounds like something significant, and didn't the CBI say this back in February???

Just changing the subject, nice to see Stef getting a hard time on IIF in the 'This is a first' thread, lol. Go have a read!!!! Sure Susie will enjoy it!!

Iraq-Kurds talks on budget and oil fail
BAGHDAD, 08 December 2006 (Gulf Daily News)

The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region said yesterday talks with the central government on budgets and oil had failed, further threatening the unity of the fragile country.

"I hope matters do not get worse," Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told a news conference in the regional capital Arbil after returning from Baghdad.

"If we had reached an agreement on the budget, the oil law, and the share of the provinces from oil sales, that would have been a major achievement."

But Barzani said he hoped these problems could be overcome with dialogue and he expected the discussions to resume within days.

In meetings with Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and Oil Minister Hussein Al Shahristani, Barzani discussed how much income the Kurdish region should be allocated from the whole country's oil sales, while at the same time maintaining its freedom to sign separate exploration deals.

Under the constitution, all parts of Iraq are allocated a proportion of oil sales, the country's main hard currency earner.

"The government was intending to grant 13 per cent from the budget to the province but we told them that was not enough," he said. "They should grant 17pc." At the same time, the Kurdistan Regional Government should still have the freedom to sign oil deals with foreign countries and keep the proceeds for itself, he argued.

"It would be impossible to hand over the signing issue to the Baghdad government. All contracts should be signed in the province.

All contracts signed earlier shall be put into implementation," Barzani said.

There would be no problem for a representative of the Iraqi government to be present at a signing, he said.

Iraq-Kurds talks on budget and oil fail | Iraq Updates

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - British and Danish troops backed by tanks seized five suspects accused of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq on Friday in the largest operation of its kind since the U.S. invasion, the British military said.

Some 1,000 troops launched pre-dawn raids on five homes in the densely populated northern al-Hartha district of Basra, where rival Shi'ite militias are battling for control of the city's oil wealth and coalition troops are sometimes attacked.

British military spokesman Major Charlie Burbridge said a mainly Danish force had struck from the north while an amphibious assault team crossed the Shatt al-Arab waterway and a force of Challenger main battle tanks from the south.

"As the armoured battle group crossed over the bridge in al -Hartha it came under heavy rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire. We returned fire with the tanks' chain guns and other small arms," he told Reuters.

He said coalition forces had suffered no casualties.

"This was the largest operation of its kind that we have conducted since the invasion. By that I mean the number of soldiers involved and the complexity of the operation."

He described the five targets of the raid, which began at 3 a.m. (0000 GMT), as "rogue elements of militia".

"One is a significant individual while the others are second tier involved in planning and direction of criminal activities. These individuals were involved in kidnapping, murder and attacks on coalition forces."

He said a search of the five homes had unearthed heavy machineguns and artillery shells wired up to be used in the next 48 hours as roadside bombs.

Britain has around 7,200 troops in southern Iraq, mostly stationed in and around Basra, the country's second largest city and it's oil wealth the source of most of the government's revenues.

Britain hopes to pull out thousands of troops next year and hand over control of Basra to Iraqi authorities in April, although British military officials say that is dependent on security conditions on the ground.

Much depends on the results of Operation Sinbad, launched earlier this year to rehabilitate the city's police force, which is accused of colluding with militias in killings and kidnappings. It also includes a programme of public works.

"The security situation is not good enough to transition to Iraqi control yet. It is not perfect but it is manageable," Burbridge said.

Major operation launched in Iraq

Originally Posted by Adster

Agreed. And judging by the article above stating 'moving the exchange rate' sounds like something significant, and didn't the CBI say this back in February???

Just changing the subject, nice to see Stef getting a hard time on IIF in the 'This is a first' thread, lol. Go have a read!!!! Sure Susie will enjoy it!!

They are telling it right now and more and more each day Adster!

People that don't believe it or see it are blind, like that Stephanie at IIF.

Yeeh, she is living on another planet with that arrogant attitude. Never liked that girl as many others over there!

Books : nakr2004 on Friday, 08 December 2006 9:09 AM-BT
اMultinational : arrest, "a senior commander" of the Al-Qaeda Organization in Fallujah.

Multinational forces announced that Iraqi special forces backed by multinational advisers arrested in Fallujah said that, "a senior commander" of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
A statement released by multinational forces in late Thursday night and received news agency
(Voices of Iraq) Independent today, Friday, a copy of which was "detained Iraqi special forces advisers with coalition forces commander (terrorism) is responsible for managing the operations and sniper attacks packagings
"Traps and car bombs against Iraqi security forces. "
The statement said that the arrest had been done "through a process begun, yesterday, Thursday, in Fallujah," located about (45 km) west of Baghdad, is one of the towns in the province of Anbar in western Iraq.
"The statement attributed to the multinational forces detained, "also participated in the kidnapping and execution of many of the Iraqi police officers, as well as fighters harboring terrorists", according to him, and described prison as "Commander in Chief (Al-Qaida) in Iraq, under the control of many of the aggregates operating in the Anbar province."
The statement noted that the supposed leader was "slightly damaged" during the mayor said, adding that "the lack of any casualties among Iraqi civilians or the coalition forces" during the operation.

Translated version of http://www.aswataliraq.info/?newlang=ara

Originally Posted by Adster

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

Interesting, cannot get into this site now.....anyone else??? Any ideas what Aemarih means?! Am thinking something like 'very'.....

Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization
By Antonia Juhasz

The Iraq Study Group may not have a solution for how to end the war, but it does have a way for its corporate friends to make money. In its heavily anticipated report released on Wednesday, the Iraq Study Group made at least four truly radical proposals.

The report calls for the United States to assist in privatizing Iraq's national oil industry, opening Iraq to private foreign oil and energy companies, providing direct technical assistance for the "drafting" of a new national oil law for Iraq, and assuring that all of Iraq's oil revenues accrue to the central government.

President Bush hired an employee from the U.S. consultancy firm Bearing Point Inc. over a year ago to advise the Iraq Oil Ministry on the drafting and passage of a new national oil law. As previously drafted, the law opens Iraq's nationalized oil sector to private foreign corporate investment, but stops short of full privatization. The ISG report, however, goes further, stating that "the United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise." In addition, the current Constitution of Iraq is ambiguous as to whether control over Iraq's oil should be shared among its regional provinces or held under the central government. The report specifically recommends the latter: "Oil revenues should accrue to the central government and be shared on the basis of population." If these proposals are followed, Iraq's national oil industry will be privatized and opened to foreign firms, and in control of all of Iraq's oil wealth.

The proposals should come as little surprise given that two authors of the report, James A. Baker III and Lawrence Eagleburger, have each spent much of their political and corporate careers in pursuit of greater access to Iraq's oil and wealth.

"Pragmatist" is the word most often used to describe Iraq Study Group co-chair James A. Baker III. It is equally appropriate for Lawrence Eagleburger. The term applies particularly well to each man's efforts to expand U.S. economic engagement with Saddam Hussein throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Not only did their efforts enrich Hussein and U.S. corporations, particularly oil companies, it also served the interests of their own private firms.

On April 21,1990, a U.S. delegation was sent to Iraq to placate Saddam Hussein as his anti-American rhetoric and threats of a Kuwaiti invasion intensified. James A. Baker III, then President George H.W. Bush's secretary of state, personally sent a cable to the U.S embassy in Baghdad instructing the U.S. ambassador to meet with Hussein and to make clear that, "as concerned as we are about Iraq's chemical, nuclear, and missile programs, we are not in any sense preparing the way for preemptive military unilateral effort to eliminate these programs."*

Instead, Baker's interest was focused on trade, which he described as the "central factor in the U.S-Iraq relationship." From 1982, when Reagan removed Iraq from the list of countries supporting terrorism, until August 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, Baker and Eagleburger worked with others in the Reagan and Bush administrations to aggressively and successfully expand this trade.

The efficacy of such a move may best be described in a memo written in 1988 by the Bush transition team arguing that the United States would have "to decide whether to treat Iraq as a distasteful dictatorship to be shunned where possible, or to recognize Iraq's present and potential power in the region and accord it relatively high priority. We strongly urge the latter view." Two reasons offered were Iraq's "vast oil reserves," which promised "a lucrative market for U.S. goods," and the fact that U.S. oil imports from Iraq were skyrocketing. Bush and Baker took the transition team's advice and ran with it.

In fact, from 1983 to 1989, annual trade between the United States and Iraq grew nearly sevenfold and was expected to double in 1990, before Iraq invaded Kuwait. In 1989, Iraq became the United States' second-largest trading partner in the Middle East: Iraq purchased $5.2 billion in U.S. exports, while the U.S. bought $5.5 billion in Iraqi petroleum. From 1987 to July 1990, U.S. imports of Iraqi oil increased from 80,000 to 1.1 million barrels per day.

Eagleburger and Baker had much to do with that skyrocketing trade. In December 1983, then undersecretary of state Eagleburger wrote the U.S. Export-Import Bank to personally urge it to begin extending loans to Iraq to "signal our belief in the future viability of the Iraqi economy and secure a U.S. foothold in a potentially large export market." He noted that Iraq "has plans well advanced for an additional 50 percent increase in its oil exports by the end of 1984." Ultimately, billions of loans would be made or backed by the U.S. government to the Iraqi dictator, money used by Hussein to purchase U.S. goods.

In 1984, Baker became treasury secretary, Reagan opened full diplomatic relations with Iraq, and Eagleburger became president of Henry Kissinger's corporate consultancy firm, Kissinger Associates.

Kissinger Associates participated in the U.S.-Iraq Business Forum through managing director Alan Stoga. The Forum was a trade association representing some 60 American companies, including Bechtel, Lockheed, Texaco, Exxon, Mobil, and Hunt Oil. The Iraqi ambassador to the United States told a Washington, D.C., audience in 1985, "Our people in Baghdad will give priority -- when there is a competition between two companies -- to the one that is a member of the Forum." Stoga appeared regularly at Forum events and traveled to Iraq on a Forum-sponsored trip in 1989 during which he met directly with Hussein. Many Kissinger clients were also members of the Forum and became recipients of contracts with Hussein.

In 1989, Eagleburger returned to the state department now under Secretary Baker. That same year, President Bush signed National Security Directive 26 stating, "We should pursue, and seek to facilitate, opportunities for U.S. firms to participate in the reconstruction of the Iraqi economy, particularly in the energy area."

The president then began discussions of a $1 billion loan guarantee for Iraq one week before Secretary Baker met with Tariq Aziz at the state department to seal the deal.

But once Hussein invaded Kuwait, all bets were off. Baker made a public plea for support of military action against Hussein, arguing, "The economic lifeline of the industrial world runs from the Gulf and we cannot permit a dictator such as this to sit astride that economic lifeline."

Baker had much to gain from increased access to Iraq's oil. According to author Robert Bryce, Baker and his immediate family's personal investments in the oil industry at the time of the first Gulf War included investments in Amoco, Exxon and Texaco. The family law firm, Baker Botts, has represented Texaco, Exxon, Halliburton and Conoco Phillips, among other companies, in some cases since 1914 and in many cases for decades. (Eagleburger is also connected to Halliburton, having only recently departed the company's board of directors). Baker is a longtime associate and now senior partner of Baker Botts, which this year, for the second year running, was recipient of "The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers Oil & Gas Law Firm of the Year Award," while the Middle East remains a central focus of the firm.

This past July, U.S. Energy Secretary Bodman announced in Baghdad that senior U.S. oil company executives would not enter Iraq without passage of the new law. Petroleum Economist magazine later reported that U.S. oil companies put passage of the oil law before security concerns as the deciding factor over their entry into Iraq. Put simply, the oil companies are trying to get what they were denied before the war or at anytime in modern Iraqi history: access to Iraq's oil under the ground. They are also trying to get the best deal possible out of a war-ravaged and occupied nation. However, waiting for the law's passage and the need to guarantee security of U.S. firms once they get to work, may well be a key factor driving the one proposal by the Iraq Study Group that has received great media attention: extending the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq at least until 2008.

As the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group are more thoroughly considered, we should remain ever vigilant and wary of corporate war profiteers in pragmatist's clothing.

*All quotes are referenced in my book, "The Bush Agenda."

Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization | Iraq Updates

All the news sounds pretty good lately....I wonder if there will be an auction on Sunday or if it will be our big day!!!! Any guesstimations....???

Originally Posted by CharmedPiper

All the news sounds pretty good lately....I wonder if there will be an auction on Sunday or if it will be our big day!!!! Any guesstimations....???

I'd love to see our big day, but i'm guessing auction