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

Originally Posted by Cyberkhan

Apparently someone moved or removed their index file...

Could just be a simple error. Nothing other than that though.

...

The index file is there for the English side. Only the arab side is missing. See :

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The Prime Minister announces the National Reconciliation Project before the Parliament
New Page 1

However , the menu links don't work - just a couple.

Here is a cached copy of the index file that is missing , from Google.

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You can access all the news from there ( updated page)> Sorry, the page has not been updated from 12/5/06.

Iraqis Near Deal on Distribution of Oil Revenues
11 December 2006 (New York Times)

Iraqi officials are near agreement on a national oil law that would give the central government the power to distribute current and future oil revenues to the provinces or regions, based on their population, Iraqi and American officials say.

If enacted, the measure, drafted by a committee of politicians and ministers, could help resolve a highly divisive issue that has consistently blocked efforts to reconcile the country’s feuding ethnic and sectarian factions. Sunni Arabs, who lead the insurgency, have opposed the idea of regional autonomy for fear that they would be deprived of a fair share of the country’s oil wealth, which is concentrated in the Shiite south and Kurdish north.

The Iraq Study Group report stressed that an oil law guaranteeing an equitable distribution of revenues was crucial to the process of national reconciliation, and thus to ending the war.

Without such a law, it would also be impossible for Iraq to attract the foreign investment it desperately needs to bolster its oil industry.

Officials cautioned that this was only a draft agreement, and that it could still be undermined by the ethnic and sectarian squabbling that has jeopardized other political talks. The Iraqi Constitution, for example, was stalled for weeks over small wording conflicts, and its measures are often meaningless in the chaos and violence in Iraq today.

But a deal on the oil law could be reached within days, according to officials involved in the drafting. It would then go to the cabinet and Parliament for approval.

The major remaining stumbling block, officials said, concerns the issuing of contracts for developing future oil fields. The Kurds are insisting that the regions reserve final approval over such contracts, fearing that if that power were given to a Shiite-dominated central government, it could ignore proposed contracts in the Kurdish north while permitting them in the Shiite south, American and Iraqi officials said.

The national oil law lies at the heart of debates about the future of Iraq, particularly the issue of a strong central government versus robust regional governments. The oil question has also inflamed ethnic and sectarian tensions. Sunni Arabs, who preside over areas of the country that apparently have little or no oil, are adamant about the equitable distribution of oil revenues by the central government.

On the drafting committee, Sunni Arabs have allied with the Shiites against the Kurds, who have sought to maintain as much regional control as possible over the oil industry in their autonomous northern enclave. Iraqi Kurdistan has enjoyed de facto independence since 1991, when the American military established a no-flight zone above the mountainous region to prevent raids by Saddam Hussein.

Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander here, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, have urged Iraqi politicians to put the oil law at the top of their agendas, saying it must be passed before the year’s end.

The drafting committee is made up of ministers and politicians from the main Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish blocs in government. They began talks months ago, but the pace picked up recently, said an American official tracking the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to give the appearance of Western interference in sovereign Iraqi matters.

At the start of the talks, the Kurds fought to ensure that regional governments have the power to collect and distribute revenues from future fields, Iraqi and American officials said. They also proposed that revenues be shared among the regions based on both population and crimes committed against the people under Mr. Hussein’s rule. That would have given the Kurds and Shiites a share of the oil wealth larger than the proportions of their populations.

But the Kurds dropped those demands, said Barham Salih, a deputy prime minister who is a Kurd and the chairman of the committee.

“Revenue sharing is an accepted principle by all the constituent elements of the Iraqi government, including the Kurds, and that is the unifying element that we’re all hoping for in the oil law,” Mr. Salih said in an interview.

The American official said the Kurds were willing to make concessions because a national oil law could attract more foreign oil companies to exploration and development in Kurdistan. A large foreign oil company would have more confidence in signing a contract with the Kurds if it were to operate under the law of a sovereign country rather than just the law of an autonomous region.

Some Kurdish leaders also believe that the concessions are a worthwhile price to pay for having a stake in the much larger revenue pool of the country’s oil industry, the American official said. The southern fields accounted for 85 percent of total Iraqi crude production last year, partly because northern production was hampered by insurgent sabotage. The south has an estimated 65 percent of the country’s 115 billion barrels of proven reserves.

But the Kurds are still holding out on the issue of oil contracts, arguing that the Constitution guarantees the regions absolute rights in those matters. The Kurds recently discovered two new oil fields after signing exploration contracts with a Turkish company and a Norwegian company.

“There are those among us who say we cannot go back to the former days of centralization, which were not conducive to good business practice and to the idea of federalism that is enshrined in the Constitution,” Mr. Salih said.

In its recommendations released Wednesday, the Iraq Study Group took the opposite tack, to the anger of the Kurds. The report said that “no formula that gives control over revenues from future fields to the regions or gives control of oil fields to the regions is compatible with national reconciliation.” Though the Kurds have ceded their position on the issue of future revenues, they are fighting for control over the development of future fields.

The drafting committee met Thursday night to try to resolve the contract issue, but could not reach an agreement.

Distributing revenues by population could be a difficult matter without a reliable census, which Iraq lacks. Sunni Arabs often claim they are at least 60 percent of the population, not the 20 percent that is commonly cited. The Shiites are generally estimated to be 60 percent of the population, and the Kurds 20 percent. The American official said a national census expected to be taken next year should determine the share of revenue that goes to each province or region.

If doing a census next year is too politically fraught, or if security conditions prevent it, then revenues could be distributed to provincial or regional governments according to the household counts used by Mr. Hussein’s government to distribute rations in the 1990s.

The Kurds have insisted that revenues collected by the central government should be put into an account that automatically redistributes the money into sub-accounts dedicated to the provinces or regions. This approach could be written into the national oil law or into a separate law, the American official said.

The working draft of the oil law re-establishes the state-run Iraq National Oil Company, which was founded in 1964 to oversee oil production but was shut down by Mr. Hussein in 1987. The company would operate using a business model and not through a government budget process. Iraqi and American officials say that would make management of oil production more efficient and separate it from the Oil Ministry, which has been rife with corruption.

The North and South Oil Companies, which currently manage production in their regions, would fall under the umbrella of the Iraq National Oil Company. Any exports would still be sold through a state marketing company.

The law also sets production thresholds for creating new regional companies. A province or region, for example, might have to show it can produce 100,000 barrels a day before a company can be created there. Officials in Maysan Province in the south have already said they want to start a company.

Iraqis Near Deal on Distribution of Oil Revenues | Iraq Updates

The first political : Maliki called for effective international presence in the International Covenant with Iraq
When he received ambassadors of countries participating in the conference

Baghdad-Sabah

The Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to effective international presence in the International Conference on Iraq, stressing that the issues to be discussed at the Conference will not be confined to the economic side, but will extend to aspects of security, politics and international relations and the issue of national reconciliation, came during his reception of the ambassadors of the countries participating in the International Covenant with Iraq.

He stressed the importance of activating the principle Maliki national reconciliation and integration between the central aspects of the political, economic, security and Iraq's desire to create a relationship based on common interests.

He said : that Iraq suffers from the obligations imposed on them by the policies of the previous regime, including debt imposed upon him, and hoped that the conference is a practical step on the road to helping Iraq and revive its economy. He suggested that the countries participating in the International Covenant should consider the solution to the debt problem in order that Iraq will be able to achieve a decent standard of services, indicating that the debt burden on the Iraqi economy Ocean is currently $ 75 billion.

The meeting was attended by ambassadors of the United States, Britain, Japan, Italy, Turkey and Germany and representatives of the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union.

The Iraqi side also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and the ministers of planning, finance and State for Foreign Affairs.

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Iraqi MPs: Some oil income should go to the people
11 December 2006 (The Kurdish Globe)

The Iraqi government to allocate 30% of its oil income to the people.

Some Iraqi parliament members are proposing a project that would require the Iraqi government to allocate 30% of its oil income to the people, local media reported.

"The basics of this project will be discussed with the Minister of Planning and the chairman of parliament's Economic Committee. It is expected to be submitted before parliament prior to the end of this year," Noraddin Al Hayali from the Iraqi Accord List said.

According to economists, annual income in Iraq from oil is more than $30 billion. The project being proposed by the parliament members requests that $10 billion be distributed to the people.

Iraqi MPs: Some oil income should go to the people | Iraq Updates

The first political : President of the province of Diyala, a citizen : the 50th day, some say ... And life

Semi idle in the province
Warned of the deterioration of the situation tended to seriously what the government does not intervene directly
Baghdad-Sabah

Warned the President of the Diyala province, Ibrahim Albajlan that the government did not intervene directly in Diyala things will deteriorate, pointing out that the number of security forces in the province are not commensurate with the scale of the terrorist challenge

.Faced by noting that life in Diyala semi-idle and terrorism hangs over large parts of major cities, especially in Baquba and Muqdadiya. The shops and furnaces and markets have closed.

He appealed Albajlan in a telephone conversation with the "morning" the government and parliament quickly intervene to stop the dangerous deterioration of security in this province, which has turned into a refuge for the terrorist gangs and warned unless the government and the joint leadership will not improve the situation in Diyala.

He pointed out that we maintain in the long asked the government to increase the military forces, especially the army but our demands have not received the summons lent also recently appealed to the Minister of Defense to increase the number of teams in the province, the army but we have not received a response.

.The Diyala losses among innocent civilians no less than the 50th day martyr. The Albajlan that what's really happening in the Diyala that terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda and the organization of Altkverein and Sadamiin and some political parties and several bodies remained Tgazlha even imposed the reality of the sectarian conflict in the province reached the serious stages could not maintain the emerging face alone. He said that over Albajlan complicated matters and the hypocrisy of a political attempt to distort the facts and give justifications for these terrorist elements in its approach and continue on the fate of students and the continuation of the school year in the province Albajlan said that the fate of the students, however, depends on the government and parents of students prevented their children from going to Almdserh fear for their lives. He appealed to the Ministry of Education to cooperate with the province to develop a new mechanism to study in Diyala take into account the security situation experienced by the city.

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Iraqi Politicians in Talks to Replace to Maliki as PM

Monday , December 11, 2006




BAGHDAD, Iraq — Major partners in Iraq's governing coalition are in behind-the-scenes talks to oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki amid discontent over his failure to quell raging violence, according to lawmakers involved.

The talks are aimed at forming a new parliamentary bloc that would seek to replace the current government and that would likely exclude supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is a vehement opponent of the U.S. military presence.

Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Iraq center.

The new alliance would be led by senior Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who met with President Bush last week. Al-Hakim, however, was not expected to be the next prime minister because he prefers the role of powerbroker, staying above the grinding day-to-day running of the country.

A key figure in the proposed alliance, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, left for Washington on Sunday for a meeting with Bush at least three weeks ahead of schedule.

"The failure of the government has forced us into this in the hope that it can provide a solution," said Omar Abdul-Sattar, a lawmaker from al-Hashemi's Iraqi Islamic Party. "The new alliance will form the new government."

The groups engaged in talks have yet to agree on a leader, said lawmaker Hameed Maalah, a senior official of al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI.

One likely candidate for prime minister, however, was said to be Iraq's other vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite who was al-Hakim's choice for the prime minister's job before al-Maliki emerged as a compromise candidate and won.

News of the bid to oust al-Maliki, in office since May, came amid growing dissent over his government's performance among his Sunni and Shiite partners and the damaging fallout from a leaked White House memo questioning the prime minister's abilities.

Washington also has been unhappy with al-Maliki's reluctance to comply with its repeated demands to disband Shiite militias blamed for much of Iraq's sectarian bloodletting.

Bush publicly expressed his confidence in al-Maliki after talks in Jordan on Nov. 30. But the president told White House reporters four days later that he was not satisfied with the pace of efforts to stop Iraq's violence.

It was not immediately clear how much progress had been made in the effort to cobble together a new parliamentary alliance. But lawmakers loyal to al-Sadr who support al-Maliki were almost certainly not going to be a part of it. They had no word on al-Maliki's Dawa party.

They said al-Maliki was livid at the attempt to unseat him.

"We know what's going on and we will sabotage it," said a close al-Maliki aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivities involved. He did not elaborate.

A senior aide to al-Sadr, who insisted on anonymity for the same reason, said the proposed alliance was primarily designed to exclude the cleric's backers and they would resist.

Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militiamen fought U.S. troops for much of 2004 in Baghdad and across central and southern Iraq. It is blamed for most of the sectarian violence raging in Iraq.

The cleric's supporters have been among al-Maliki's strongest backers, ensuring his election as prime minister. Relations have recently frayed, however, with the 30 Sadrist lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers boycotting the government and parliament to protest al-Maliki's meeting with Bush in Jordan.

The al-Sadr aide said recent contacts with the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, spiritual leader of most Iraqi Shiites, indicated the Iranian-born al-Sistani was not averse to replacing al-Maliki. Al-Sistani issued an unusually harsh criticism of the government in July.

Al-Hakim's SCIRI, along with parliament's Kurdish bloc and al-Hashemi's Islamic party, are likely to be the major powers of the new alliance. Independent lawmakers are also expected to join, legislators said.

Al-Hashemi's Islamic party said Sunday it would not join any future government unless it had a real voice.

Mahmoud Othman, a prominent Kurdish lawmaker and a sharp government critic, said talks on a new parliamentary alliance were initiated early this year, abandoned and recently resumed.

"This government must offer a remedy for all the problems we have in Iraq or publicly announce that it's unable to do so," said Othman, who is close to the negotiations.

Al-Maliki's government, under the Iraqi constitution, could be ousted if a simple majority of parliament's 275 members opposed it in a vote of confidence. Parties in the talks expressed confidence they had enough votes.

"The question of confidence in this government must be reconsidered," Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, told legislators Sunday. "Why should we continue to support it? For its failure?"

Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Iraq center.

The first political : Raising scientific Iraq and Syria over their respective embassies

Baghdad morning

Witness Baghdad and Damascus today decrees exchange of scientific lift the two countries over their respective embassies Kaitan formally re-establish diplomatic relations between Iraq and Syria after a hiatus of about a quarter of a century. The Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Lubaid Abbawi, announced shortly before traveling at the head of a diplomatic delegation to Damascus this event as "historic step," saying it "will constitute the beginning of the task for the resumption of relations

"Diplomatic and flagging of the two big step towards deepening this return. "
".He pointed out that the arrival of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallim to Baghdad and hold formal talks "is itself a political change in Syria," noting that this was expressed by the teacher explicitly. He expressed the hope that the fraternal Iraq, Syria, the opening of embassies urged diplomatic obstacles, Undersecretary of the Foreign Minister, Lubaid Abbawi, announced all Arab states to reopen its embassy in Baghdad because of the great importance in its relations with Iraq. He said Lubaid Abbawi, announced in this regard, "we believe that the presence of Arab States in Iraq is a test for them and they can be found close to what is happening in Baghdad and this is extremely important."

.The teacher told yesterday an Iraqi delegation headed by Dr. Ahmad Chalabi, that Syria Syria sent a delegation to Baghdad headed by Assistant Foreign Minister arrived yesterday, Sunday, to celebrate the lifting of the Syrian flag on the headquarters of the Syrian embassy in Baghdad to mark the lifting of diplomatic representation to the ambassadorial level between the two brotherly countries.

The Foreign Ministers of the two countries Hoshyar Zebari, Walid Muallim announced in Baghdad on the 21st of last month as the relations between the two countries after a gap of about a quarter of a century.

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I have been away for 6 days and only managed to read the last 200 posts. I we still looking at a r/v between the 11th and the 14th of this month?????

Here is a quote from another post.

Originally Posted by Socata 850;1
[B
"I'm going someplace where the beer flows like wine, and the women instinctively flock, like the salmon to Capistrano. I'm talkin' about a little place called, ASPEN" [/b]

(I always thought there were SWALLOWS in Capistrano. Salmon as well????). LOL.

The first political : Rumsfeld : The original American forces in Iraq
In Surprise Visit
Baghdad-Sabah

The American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, resigned yesterday a surprise visit to Iraq to say good-bye to American forces. The spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, "Pentagon" Brigadier wishes Vicien, Rumsfeld's visit to Baghdad.

Top secret that comes to express appreciation for the efforts and sacrifices made by American forces there. He explained Brian Whiteman spokesman for the Pentagon, news agencies that although the blackout was for security reasons but that the defense minister resigned and left him in a week in the office wanted to be confined to his country without meeting with troop-intensive media attendance. The web site of the Pentagon yesterday, Sunday, the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, resigned yesterday lost the first two in Iraq, al-Asad in Anbar province and the country.

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The first political : The Gulf Cooperation Council to conclude its summit for the unity and stability of Iraq
Research and Omani paper on the situation in the country

Riyadh-up morning

The Gulf Cooperation Council to conclude its work yesterday, the need to maintain the unity, stability and security of Iraq and to support all efforts that will encircle the volatile political and sectarian parties that seek to exploit to obstruct the march of the Iraqi people, with Council discussed a paper on Omani dealing with the situation in Iraq in light of the report of the Baker-Hamilton

He said Abdul Rahman Al-Attiya, Secretary General of the cooperation of the Arab Gulf states that there is a great responsibility on the support of neighboring countries on the foundations of stability and security in Iraq, pointing out that the Gulf Cooperation Council stressed the need for concerted efforts and good offices to consolidate national unity and work to consolidate the Arab affiliation to solve the problems suffered by the Iraqi people. The Council discussed a paper presented by the Omani side on the deal with the Iraqi situation in the light of the report of the Baker-Hamilton. The source confirmed that the early states of the Gulf Cooperation Council fumble possible change in American policy in the region, pointing out that the paper was discussed among the recommendations to the summit on security aspects. For his part, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, the report of the Baker-Hamilton did not come when something new as he put all scenarios and possibilities in one frame and this made him influence that makes. Faisal added that the extent of our influence on American policy report Baker important in itself, but what is more important is what the impact would be on the American political in the region and this is what the Council awaited with interest.

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