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

The Cabinet-Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih meets

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-21-2006
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The Republic of Iraq
Council of Ministers-the governmental communications
Media Relations
Press Release Press release /
Thursday, 12-21-2006


Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Barham Salih will meet with the President and members of the municipal council in Sadr City


He met with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih with the President and members of the municipal council in Sadr City.
It was during the meeting, which was attended by the Minister of Sports and Youth and Deputy Minister of Health, to review the draft accelerate reconstruction in the city.
It also heard a detailed explanation of the reality of the city and Mathtajeh of projects for upgrading the social and economic development and improve their services.

During the meeting also discussed allocations of the budget allocated to the investment and reconstruction projects in the city in the sectors of health and sports.
The Deputy Prime Minister to the need for the municipal council of Sadr City, in turn, to provide appropriate security environment in order to begin reconstruction projects and the need for concerted efforts of all governmental and grass-roots organizations for the delivery of service to the public interest.

Recall that the investment budget for 2007 allocated a significant amount of funds for reconstruction projects and the advancement of economic realities, social and service in all parts of Iraq.

Islamic retreating from the race to the front with the Kurds and the

(Voice of Iraq) - 12-21-2006
The Islamic Party, retreating from the race to the front with the Kurds and the Supreme Council
Ayat Allah al-Sistani has tended to support a
new front of the parties supporting the political process

Baghdad-Washington-file Press

He said Iraqi officials told the Western (file Press) that the Shiite majority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, approved on a temporary basis to support a coalition backed by the Americans of the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, which aims to isolate the forces cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and hardline. While Kurdish officials expressed their expectation that the new coalition will need more than two months to do a list, and officials in turn said that the Islamic Party conditions to be met before entering into the new coalition.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Sistani is the spiritual shepherd of the Shiite political bloc control in Iraq inclusive of all parties in the Shiite coalition governing Iraq.

Politicians said that the grief of the Shiite al-Sistani has escalated significantly in light of the inability of the government controlled by Shiites to reduce violence and whose ability to provide public services.

Spanish sources in Najaf close to the institution of the Shiite religious authorities in Najaf four adults now abandon the requirement that the Shiite bloc to play the dominant political role, and became these references look more realistic for the continued unity of the Shiite coalition at any price.

While American officials in Baghdad said that al-Sistani's position would accelerate the establishment of the new coalition, said Iraqi officials told (file Press) that the position of the Islamic Party (Sunni) could undermine efforts for the establishment of the new coalition.

American officials said they learned of the mediators that the Shiites, Ayatollah al-Sistani, "Park had the idea of forming a front moderate", the American official added, "we can not achieve this without the support dimension."

The adviser Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security wrote in his leaked a month ago, that the Americans must be "Estmiloa Sistani to re-assure and to the search for support for the non-sectarian political movement." In recent weeks, President Bush met with officials Shiites and Sunnites in the White House to encourage them to move forward on forming a front to break the case Lineups Altevih and ethnic groups.

Known since the American invasion of Iraq, al-Sistani refused to meet any American official, but received verbal messages through intermediaries.

During a meeting with officials of the Shiites in his home in Najaf About two weeks ago, the Ayatollah isolation conditions must be adhered to by all parties of the new coalition gain full acceptance, according to Sheikh Humam Hamudi one Shiite representatives. The basic requirement "says Hammoudi, is that the political support" preserves the "130 Shiite member of Parliament in the United Iraqi Alliance.

With it this requirement reservation by the man who enjoys the absolute position of the Shiite front to be established, officials said that the requirement could be widely interpreted to mean that the Shiite bloc must preserve the name only.

It is expected that the new coalition will lead to the fragmentation of the effective mass of the Shiite ruling because it is unlikely that Mr. Sadr's young Shiite leader would agree to enter into this new front, and it is likely that such fragmentation would weaken the control of the government and the Shiites over the tension between rival Shiite militias that clashed periodically.

Prime Minister al-Maliki and the party to which he belongs is Dawa Party reluctant to approve the coalition. He says members of advocacy they are worried that the competing parties trying to topple the Shiite Al-Maliki, who are also complaining about the real objectives of the Year Arabs are weakening the Shiites. He said one military Sami parliament and the Shiite al-Maliki adviser : "I believe that jumping into the unknown, and the negative things clear, but Aahd could explain what positive things."

Officials acknowledge the Shiites in the meetings to press the fragmentation of the Shiite bloc is now on the road. The form of Ayatollah Sistani, the coalition in 2004 to ensure that religious Shiite parties submitted a unified front in the elections. But Block started to splinter by competitors who increased internal and power.

Al-Sadr has ordered his deputies and Osarah withdraw from the parliament and the government to protest the meeting which took place in Jordan between President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki debtor to support Sadr political him. The al-Sadr clashed for Wida militarily and politically with the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

And perhaps because of weakness surrounding the political Shiites, the Ayatollah al-Sistani, did not release any statement or statement of unity urging Shiites not able to curb the violence. Hammoudi said, "It is very sad and feel that we must do anything to save Iraq and preserve Iraq's unity and prevent the shedding of the blood of Iraqis."

The escalation of the chest through the strengthening of the Mahdi Army to show some sort of challenge to the authority of al-Sistani, the highest reference in Iraq. In light of al-Sistani directed towards tolerance towards the Sunni Arabs, the Mahdi Army in March bloody violence, which leads to the death of more than 100 people per day. It remains Ayatollah Sistani Almatnv* deeply in the center and Shiite authority in Iraq as long as he gets the feeling visited his home in Najaf to get his advice. Al-Maliki planned to send envoys from his party to discuss the issue of the new coalition with the Ayatollah, based on the relationship of the Shiite politicians Bamaliki.

The idea of the new coalition, which aims to bridge the relations between the races and communities, emerged for the first time in the spring during a week packed with events that have long accompanied the Prime Minister a personal choice. Having withdrawn to debate various aspects, approached Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim of politicians Sunnis and Kurds about supporting a candidate based on a single Iraqi officials and Westerners.

But Ayatollah al-Sistani was the adoption of the barrier project in order to maintain the Shiite bloc. According to Iraqi officials now disagree everything is certainly the position of Najaf turn disagreed, and the idea of coalition returned again in the last few weeks in order to revive the political process and perhaps the country to move beyond the sectarian politics corrupt reflected in the violence in the street without mercy. " That light of hope Almmeleh clouds in the sky, "according to Sheikh Humam Hamudi.

The talks were held between the two parties and the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Shiite religious-Hakim, who long sought cabinet. But Iraqi officials stressed that the basic components of the new coalition agreement on the continuation of the fully-Maliki prime minister.

But those Iraqi officials told (file Press) that year became disabled for a new coalition, he informed the members of the Islamic party leaders Kurds and the Shiites leaders of the party wise to have conditions to be met before joining the new coalition. It was one of the Kurdish leaders "that the conditions are in reality no more than talk about the need to dissolve the militias and death squads and stop the liquidation of sectarianism away from the marginalization of the Year Arabs and expand their participation." He adds leading Kurdish "that the new coalition of the looks he is leaving the country of the deteriorating security situation caused by the bunker Altevi and the presence of armed groups and militias, control on the street, and the current government incapable of achieving security and stability, and consequently the new coalition seeks to form a strong government that can carry out its tasks away from quotas and the language of the tensile sectarian, and therefore the preconditions of the Islamic party is akin to putting the cart before the horse."

However, American officials in Baghdad said that the position of the Islamic party will change and expiring terms to join the coalition if the new leader Tariq Al-Hashmi return from his visit to the United States. They added that next spring will see the front of the Kurdish parties and partisan advocacy, the Supreme Council and the Islamic Party and the National Accord Movement, which will represent the majority in the parliament and form the government.

This is some of the discussions Condoleezza Rice had with the press on 12/19. The article was very very long so I just pulled some of pertinent passages.

Condoleezza Rice Roundtable With Press 12/19/2006

Thursday, 21 December 2006, 10:55 am
Press Release: US State Department

Roundtable With the Press
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
December 19, 2006

SECRETARY RICE: Oh, political aside -- oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Well, clearly, the Iraqis have some difficult decisions to make and I think Prime Minister Maliki made clear in that speech that they are making those decisions and are trying to organize themselves to make those decisions. If national reconciliation is going to work, they're going to have to have a national hydrocarbons law because that will be the source of a lot of sectarian difficulty if there isn't a hydrocarbons law.
They will have to make decisions, as Prime Minister Maliki started laying out some of them, about what will be done about debaathification, what will be done about reintegrating people who were not high-ranking baathists into the system. They will have to make decisions, as he suggested, about having to go after the people, as he put it, who are breaking the law from whatever side.

And I think the other piece that the Prime Minister has been very interested in is how can Iraqis more rapidly disburse funds for reconstruction and not just at the national level. I think the national reconstruction program actually is relatively entrained. It's really more at the local level where there have been some provinces that have not had the kind of resources that they need to really have a proper counterinsurgency strategy where you clear an area and then hold with forces and then build it.

So those are the companion pieces for us, the political commitment and really doing something to make the economic reconstruction, particularly the local level, work better.

QUESTION: Most of the debate in the newspapers and in the public has been about more troops versus not more troops. And I want to ask a question about resources. General Chiarelli, before he left, talked about that this isn't a military problem, you need more jobs for Iraqis, you need more reconstruction and so forth.

And the question is, as part of this President's review, could you conceive of a new request to Congress for significant resources? Because the 18 billion is about to run out.

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah. The President is reviewing everything. Of course, you know, there's some possibility to move resources around as well. But we ought to also note that Iraq has considerable resources of its own. This is not a circumstance of a country that is without revenue and they are -- one of the issues that's been there in the International Compact is to use Iraq's resources effectively leveraging international resources, not just relying on international resources.
And when the budget was put together for security, for instance, Iraq put up a good deal of the money to deal with that. So I think we have to -- it's a different mentality in dealing with a country that actually has significant revenue. Now when it comes to some of the big reconstruction, they're going to need some help from the international community and I don't think it needs to be all -- that most of it needs to be the United States. There are other international partners in the Gulf and other places.

But, you know, if there needs to be a creation of more jobs or more projects or whatever, we can contribute some to that and monies that are already available or monies that are being -- are going to be made available, I would hope, through budget requests that are going forward. The Iraqis have considerable resources to put toward this.
Okay.

SECRETARY RICE: I didn't say it was going in a positive direction. What I said is that the old Middle East wasn't going to stay, all right. Let's stop mourning the old Middle East. It was not so great and it wasn't going to survive anyway. And there are some positive elements of the new alignment that is there.

I don't know, for instance, if any of you were at that Security Council meeting that was held on the Middle East which the, you know, the Qatari -- I'm sorry, that the Danes arranged. It was during the UNGA and we had a session on the Middle East toward the end. I thought it was quite phenomenal. You know, there was no -- we were -- it was the end of the -- you know, Lebanon had just ended, you know, what terrible things were going to be said and so forth. There was no posturing and talking about occupation and this and that. There was a real strong sense that actually, if states came together, you know, maybe the Palestinian situation could be resolved. I've never really seen that kind of mood about the issues.

I just -- my only point is that there are -- it's a positive alignment when you have Arab states, some new democratic forces, and the potential for an Israeli Prime Minister who sees the need to try and resolve some of the outstanding questions for the Jewish state, vis-Ã -vis, the Palestinian state. That's an interesting new alignment and we ought to see if we can make it have an outcome.

So I'm not arguing that it's just going great, no. There are a lot of very difficult places. So of course, some of these, as you put it, teeter on the edge of really bad outcomes. But my point about the Cold War is that if you just go back and put yourself in that time and walk through the events of that time, you will have the same feel of things that could have gone very badly and thrown the whole beginning of the Cold War in a completely different direction, but for the United States getting in there, trusting in the values and working at it day after day.

You know, you've heard it before, but in '46, the French Communists won 46 percent of the vote and the Italian Communists 48 percent of the vote. People actually worried that Western Europe -- not Eastern Europe, Western Europe was about to go communist. In 1947, you did have a civil war in Greece, all out civil war in Greece and civil conflict in Turkey. Two million Europeans were starving in Europe in 1947.

In 1948, Berlin, the permanent division of Germany, Czechoslovakia falls to a coup. In 1949, the Soviet Union explodes a nuclear weapon five years ahead of schedule, the Chinese Communists win their revolution, and in 1950, the Korean war breaks out. Does it look that much better than it looks now in the Middle East? I don't think so.

That's the point that I'm trying to get across, is that at the beginning of big historic transitions, yes, everything is on the table and yes, it can go wrong, but it can also go right. And if you just sit in the middle of it and say, "Oh, my God, it's all going wrong," you miss the hooks, the pillars on which you can begin to build to make it go right. And so I'm just -- am just not given to the day-to-day assessment of the -- you know, where are we today. It's not how my mind works. My mind works, where are we today, but what is there in what is this very difficult situation today that might provide a platform or a hook or a pillar for setting that next brick in place for moving towards something that I am quite certain will not have a full resolution and that you will be able to fully judge for decades and there, I really do mean decades.

2006/1131

Released on December 20, 2006

ENDS

Scoop: Condoleezza Rice Roundtable With Press 12/19/2006

Here are some highlighted points from President Bush's news conference.

Text From Bush News Conference
19 hrs ago Text From Bush News Conference

Dec 20, 2006 12:26 PM (19 hrs ago)

Text from President Bush's news conference on Wednesday
We've had a lot of discussions here in this administration on - on the Doha round of the WTO - WTO negotiations. And I'm very strongly in favor of seeing if we can't reach an accord with our trading partners and other countries around the world to promote - to get this round completed, so that free trade is universal in its application.

Free trade's going to be good for producers of U.S. product and services, but free trade is also going to be the most powerful engine for development around the world.

It's going to help poor nations become wealthier nations. It's going to enable countries to be able to, you know, find markets for their goods and services, so that they can better grow their economies and create prosperity for their people.

The - this - success in Iraq will be success - there'll be a combination of military success, political success and reconstruction.

And they've got to go hand in hand.

And that's why I think it's important that the moderate coalition is standing up, which is the beginning of a political process that I hope will marginalize the radicals and extremists who are trying to stop the advance of a free Iraq.

That's why the oil law is going to be a very important piece of legislation.

In other words, when this government begins to send messages that we will put law in place that helps unify the country, it's going to make the security situation easier to deal with.

On the other hand, without better, stronger security measures, it's going to be hard to get the political process to move forward.

And so it's a - we got a parallel strategy.

So when you hear me talking about the military - I know there's a lot of discussion about troops, and there should be.

But you got to keep in mind, we've also got to make sure we have a parallel political process and a reconstruction process going together; concurrently with a new military strategy.

The - I thought it was an interesting statement that Prime Minister Maliki made the other day about generals, former generals in the Saddam army; that they could come back in or receive a pension. In other words, beginning to reach out in terms of a reconciliation plan that I think is going to be important.

Had interesting discussions the other day with provincial reconstruction team members in Iraq. These are really brave souls who work for the State Department that are in these different provinces helping these provincial governments rebuild and to see a political way forward.

And one of the things that - most of these people were in the Sunni territory that I talked to. And most of them were very anxious for me to help them and help the Iraqi government put reconciliation plans in place.

BUSH: There's a lot of people trying to make a choice as to whether or not they want to support a government or whether or not their interests may lay in extremism. And they understand that a political process that is positive, that sends a signal we want to be a unified country, will help these folks make a rational choice.

So it's a multifaceted plan. And, absolutely, we're looking at where things went wrong, where expectations were dashed, and where things hadn't gone the way we wanted them to have gone.

Text From Bush News Conference - Examiner.com

Iraq oil could provide $3,500 per citizen

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21 December 2006 (Al Arab Online)
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A plan gaining favor in Washington to distribute Iraq's oil revenue directly to its people could put $3,500 a year in the hands of every adult Iraqi citizen, a Texas-based energy analyst said on Tuesday.

Veteran analyst Dale Steffes said his estimate was based on an oil price of $60 a barrel, $10 a barrel production costs, and the assumption that 10 million Iraqis would be old enough to qualify for a share of their country's oil wealth.

Iraq produces 2.2 million barrels of oil a day and exports 1.5 million barrels, according to the Iraq Study Group Report issued earlier this month.

Estimates for current average annual income in Iraq vary widely, but top out at around $1,500 a year.

Steffes, who has been urging the distribution of Iraqi oil money in his reports since 2004, said in an interview the best way to administer the program may be to give the money to those who register to vote and maintain a bank account, thus promoting social involvement and stability.

"Once people understand that the money is coming to them, they will want to protect that income stream and have some kind of government that can settle disputes," he said.

Opponents say distributing the money would be difficult due to logistical and corruption problems, but the idea has picked up advocates as the United States looks for ways to stop the chaos that has followed the 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In an op-ed piece in Monday's Wall Street Journal, two U.S. senators, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican John Ensign, urged President George W. Bush to form an "Iraq Oil Trust" modeled on the Alaskan Permanent Fund which gives Alaskan citizens a share of revenue produced from that state's oil fields.

"A distribution of revenues to all Iraqis would mean they have a greater incentive to keep the oil flowing, help the economy grow, reject the insurgency, and commit to the future of their nation," Clinton and Ensign wrote.

outstanding 1360 Today!!!

5 more auctions left for the year...at least, that's my understanding. What's the chance of a 3 dinar decrement each day to bring it upto 1345 as per IMF's guidelines or recommendations or whatever you wish to call it?

I'd like to see it go straight to 1345 on Sunday and R/V soon after

Originally Posted by Socata 850

Number of banks 6 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1360 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ 1358 -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 1.250.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) 1.500.000
Total offers for buying (US $) 1.250.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) 1.500.000 -----


Can you believe a 13 point drop and only $1,250,000 in the auction. If this isn't getting close, I don't know what is. This gets my blood flowing again. Come on Baby, lets get this done before the end of the year.


Such a Goooooooooooooood Morning Today RolClub !!



1. The dinar to the dollar is down 13 more points today from 1373 to 1360

2. A negative $250,000 (net) worth of dinars, (IQD - negative 340,000,000) out of circulation

3. 6 banks participating.

4. 49th auction since the beginning of CBI's reval plan

5. 82 days into the CBI's reval plan.

6. 2,828,858,877,000 dinars pulled from circulation !!

7. 340,000,000 Dinars back into circulation today !!

8. 117 dinar change since Nov 1st (baseline was 1477) 7.921% increase in value of the dinar since beginning of reval plan.

9. 51 point reduction in the rate this week. Was at 1411 at the end of last week, 1360 this week.

10. 75 point drop so far in the month of Dec. Ended at 1435 in Nov, now stands at 1360

Hello everyone. Largest movement in one day (almost 1 %) and the largest movement in one auction week. And the lowest level for the dinar? All is good for us and gives us a very good indication as to what is to come. There seems to be an increasing amount of attention now, to the dinar in the world and I think this will continue. We are approaching a 10% rise in the value and this will set off alarms in the world business community. Which means an increase in demand. We may continue to see evidence that the dinar is drying up out there, this is a good thing. So we will have a decrease in supply. The best possible place to be in. The political situation is improving and we may yet get a FIL & HCL. So enjoy the ride. Have a good Xmas weekend and we'll see what happens next week. Thank You.

Central Bank opens the daily auction of treasury remittances
and denies determining the price of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar

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21 December 2006 (Iraq Directory)
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After its price was down for more than a week, the dollar exchange rate rose again in the daily auction of the Iraqi Central Bank, no."822", for buying and selling foreign currencies.

A source in the Bank indicated that the number of banks participating in this auction amounted to 10 banks between governmental and private.

Stressing that the auction came to 1422 dinars to the dollar, and the quantity sold by the bank was fourteen million and '830' thousand dollars, while the quantity purchased by the bank was one million dollar.

The source added that the quantity sold in cash to banks and customers amounted to eight million and '820' thousand dollars, while the quantity sold for remittances outside Iraq reached six million and ten thousand dollars.

On the other hand, an official source in the Iraqi Central Bank denied rumors on the bank seeking to determine the rate of the dollar against the dinar at one thousand dinar.

Stressing that the issue of determining the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar is not possible, now, for two reasons: first, the reserve capacity of the bank is not absolute, and second is the factor of the price increase.

He added: observing the general trends point to higher prices in return for a lack of improvement, which makes the dollar reduction to this value impossible at the present time, in addition to the limited financial capabilities of the Bank.

He explained: that the significant decline in the dollar, directly after the fall of the previous regime, was caused by the flow of billions of dollars to Iraq and distributing them among employees as well as opening exchange and restrictions. He pointed out: that at the present time and because of the deterioration of security and the high rate of inflation, the devaluation of the dollar is not expected at all.

It is noteworthy that some economists pointed out the Bank have sought to reduce the price of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar through the monetary policy which it follows in the opening of the daily auction for treasury remittances.

Iraqi officials reach a tentative deal on oil lawIraqi officials reach a tentative deal on oil law

Iraqi officials reach a tentative deal on oil law

12/21/2006 Reuters
Baghdad - Iraqi officials have reached a tentative deal on an oil law that would allow the regions to negotiate oilfield contracts with foreign investors but gives the central government the final say.

Iraq desperately needs foreign investment to revive its shattered economy, which relies heavily on oil export revenues. The country straddles the world’s third largest oil reserves.

Sources close to the negotiations said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has "signalled his approval" of the draft, but the law still awaits political approval and endorsement by the cabinet.

The sources said the law calls for the formation of a national oil council - led by either the prime minister or his deputy - that will have the authority to reject oilfield deals.

"Regions will be negotiating in accordance with specific parameters and investment models decided by the national oil policy council ... in the presence of a representative of the national oil body," one of the sources said.

"If rejection happens and the region insists on the contract, a body of (independent) experts will arbitrate."

The oil minister, central bank governor, a representative from each region and oil, finance and economy experts will serve on the council, the sources said.

"The Kurdish regional government has accepted to review its existing contracts so that it will become consistent with the law," a source said.

The industry desperately needs foreign investment to revive Iraq’s shattered economy, which relies heavily on oil export revenues.

The contracts issue is vital to Iraq’s future as a solution favouring the regions would devolve power over its most valuable resources to the majority Shias and the Kurds whose regions are home to the country’s most coveted oilfields.

Minority Sunni Arabs, who were the dominant group under Saddam Hussain before the US-led invasion in 2003, fear regional devolution will leave them with nothing.

"Contracts will not become effective unless the national body does not reject it. If the national policy council were to reject any draft contract within a specified period of 60 days then the contract will not be effective," the sources said.

The sources said the law calls for Iraq’s two national oil companies to be turned into a holding company with operational affiliates to manage different aspects of the industry.

It also says oil policy would be set nationally and the ministry of oil would be restructured and transformed into a regulatory body. All revenues would be deposited into a single national account.

Iraqi officials have said the law will be delivered to the parliament for ratification by the end of December. But the legislation is likely to be finalised early next year because of the holiday season, the sources said.

Next stock purchase???

Coffin making blooms in Baghdad
Muhammad Abdel Kader makes at least 20 coffins a day for victims of post invasion Iraq violence.

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BAGHDAD, 21 December 2006 (IRIN)
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“My name is Muhammad Abdel Kader. I am 36 years old and live in the Ejidida neighbourhood of Baghdad with my parents, wife and only son. I have lived in Baghdad all my life. I have been making coffins since I was 24 to help with the family income.

I work non-stop, 12 hours a day, six days a week. I have never made so many coffins a day in my life. I have to make as many coffins as I can to meet demand in al-Qarah Cemetery.

Before the war, we were making about two or maximum three coffins a day for people who had died from diseases or car accidents. But today we make at least 20 a day for victims of the violence.

For me, this is good business because the more people I bury the more income I get. I usually get US $10 per burial. But I can’t be inhuman and say that I don’t care because the suffering of the families sometimes makes me think about changing my profession so that I don’t ever have to see such depressing scenes.

We coffin makers are in so much demand these days. My job is essential to the country because of the dozens of people who are killed daily and if I don’t make coffins, there will be more chaos.

I remember a day, some four months ago, when I and my colleague had to make 50 coffins. Soon there will be no more places here in the cemetery to bury so many bodies.

Some of the dead have been killed by militias or insurgents or in bomb explosions. Others have been killed by gangsters for money or in senseless sectarian violence.

My worst experience was making the coffin of my own brother, Ahmed. He was a 33-year-old cabinet maker with two children. I had to help burying him. He was killed in a bomb explosion and fate had it that I was the one working in the cemetery on that day. Sometimes you don’t even have time to cry for the loss of your relative.

After burying my brother, I had to help make coffins for 13 other people who had died on the same day.

My brother’s death was a tragedy for my family. We were only two brothers helping our parents because my father lost his leg in the 1991 Gulf War and a month earlier my uncle had been killed by insurgents inside his home - but thank God I didn’t have to bury him as it was my day off.

It is very sad to see Iraq like this today. I hope that my children one day will live in a better country without violence but in a country filled with happiness and dignity.”