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

[QUOTE=Mike5200;152800]Iraqi pilgrims die at Saudi border

"Iraq is allowed to send 32,000 pilgrims. Iraq has not exceeded that quota."

They are wary of terroists




Neither Iraqi nor Saudi officials have said whether the stranded pilgrims were Shia or Sunni Muslims.

Again, they are watching for terrorists. This is a major event in Muslim culture. There is enough bad news about Muslim extremists, they do not need any more.




JMHO, Gloribee

Originally Posted by Mike5200

Published on Friday, December 22, 2006 by the Baltimore Sun (Maryland)
Women's Rights Another Victim of the Iraq Catastrophe
by Kavita N. Ramdas

The Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq recently issued a frightening report documenting the growing practice of public executions of women by Shiite militias. One of the report's more grisly accounts was a story of a young woman dragged by a wire wound around her neck to a close-by soccer field and hung from the goal post. They pierced her body with bullets. Her brother came running, trying to defend his sister. He was also shot and killed. Sunni extremists are no better: Organization of Women's Freedom members estimate that at least 30 women are executed monthly for honor-related reasons.
Almost four years into the Iraq war, Iraqi women are worse off than they were under the Baathist regime in a country where, for decades, the freedoms and rights enjoyed by Iraqi women were the envy of women in most other countries of the Middle East.

Before the U.S. invasion, Iraqi women were highly educated. Their strong and independent women's movement had successfully forced the government to pass the groundbreaking 1959 Family Law Act, which ensured equal rights in matters of personal law. Iraqi women could inherit land and property; they had equal rights to divorce and custody of their children; they were protected from domestic violence within marriage. In other words, they had achieved real gains in the struggle for equality. Iraqi women, like all Iraqis, certainly suffered from the political repression and lack of freedom, but the secular - albeit brutal - Baathist regime did not impose tribal and religious fundamentalist laws that are now in effect and are contributing to women being kidnapped, raped and executed.

The invasion of Iraq, however, changed the status of Iraqi women for the worse. The United States elevated a new group of leaders, most of whom were allied with ultraconservative Shiite clerics. Among the Sunni minority, the quick disappearance of their once-dominant political power led to a resurgence of religious identity. Consequently, the Kurds, celebrated for their history of resistance to the Iraqi dictator, were able to reclaim traditions such as honor killings, putting thousands of women at risk.

Iraqi sectarian conflict has exacerbated violence against women. My organization, the Global Fund for Women, and the humanitarian community have long known that the presence of military troops in a region of conflict increases prostitution, violence against women and the potential for human trafficking.

Although many believed that interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq would result in greater freedoms for women, international women's rights organizations, including the Global Fund for Women, were highly skeptical of the Bush administration's claims from the start. U.S. representatives in Iraq failed to listen to the voices of independent and secular Iraqi women leaders like Yanar Mohammed, co-founder of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, during the process of drafting the constitution. As a result, the Iraqi constitution elevated Islamic law over constitutional rights for matters pertaining to personal and family matters.

For the first time in more than 50 years, Iraqi women's right to be treated as equal citizens has been overturned. This disgrace has happened on the watch of the United States. In many ways, it is no less shameful than the human rights abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib. If left unchallenged, it has the potential to affect many thousands more innocent lives.

Because the United States has failed to protect Iraqi women, United Nations Secretary General-designate Ban Ki Moon should step in and make this cause a priority of his new tenure. The women of Iraq deserve nothing less.

Kavita N. Ramdas is president and chief executive officer of the Global Fund for Women. Her e-mail is [email protected].

This saddens me. While it is a well known fact that Intelect is higher among women, these people continue to execute the very life blood that will assist in making Iraq prosper.

Gloribee.

by Jim Mannion 2 hours, 36 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - New US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will brief
President George W. Bush Saturday after a visit to
Iraq in which he reached a "broad strategic agreement" with the Iraqi government on how to bring security to Baghdad, the White House said.


Gates, who left Iraq Friday, will meet with Bush Saturday morning at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, as Bush mulls whether to order an increase of troops in Iraq, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Joining them in the meeting will be Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser
Stephen Hadley and Hadley's deputy Jack Crouch.

Pushed by sectarian violence bordering on civil war and under pressure from the American public to change the US approach in Iraq, Bush is studying alternatives with a view to announcing a new strategy for the Iraq war in early January.

Even as violence mounts in Iraq, he is under strong pressure from the US public to set a timetable to bring home the 129,000 US troops there.

Gates, who was only signed in as defense secretary Monday, replacing Donald Rumsfeld, the architect of the US campaign in Iraq, was in Iraq for three days to talk to US generals and Iraqi leaders including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about how to deal with the violence.

"This is a very difficult situation," he said at the US military headquarters in Iraq at the end of the visit, as the crackle of gunfire and roar of military aircraft reverberated in the distance.

"But I believe, based on what I have heard and seen both from American commanders and the Iraqis, that things are moving in a positive direction."

Gates said the embattled Iraqi government had put forward concrete plans to restore security in the war-shattered country, but gave no details. Nor would he say whether sending more US troops to Iraq was part of the plan.

Insurgent and sectarian violence is at an all-time high in Iraq where deadly bombings, shootings and kidnappings claim an average of 100 lives a day.

The US military announced Friday the deaths of five more US soldiers, bringing the total killed in the country to 2,960, according to an AFP count.

Gates said he had been impressed with the Iraqis' understanding of the problems and their eagerness to take charge.

"We've talked with the Iraqis about the best path forward in terms of improving the security situation here in Baghdad.

"And I think we have a broad strategic agreement between the Iraqi military, and the Iraqi government and our military," he said.

Gates's findings could be crucial to the much-anticipated decision by Bush on how to proceed in Iraq more than three years after the US invasion.

Bush is expected to lay out his new strategy sometime in January, though Perino said no date had been set.

Bush also plans to meet with the National Security Council next Thursday, after he heads to his Texas ranch to finish out the year. Those meetings will also include Vice President
Dick Cheney.

Meanwhile on Friday the head of an Al Qaeda-dominated group in Iraq offered to give US troops a month to pull out free of attack.

The White House declined comment on an audiotape posted on the Internet in which Abu Omar al-Baghdadi also said that Washington had attempted to open communications with his group through Saudi intermediaries.

But Baghdadi, leader of a self-proclaimed Islamic emirate in western and north-central Iraq, said he had rebuffed the overture, in the voice recording whose authenticity could not immediately be verified.

"We are offering you the opportunity to withdraw your troops in complete safety and we are expecting your response within two weeks," said the voice on the tape.

"We appeal to President George W. Bush to seize this historic opportunity which should allow your troops to pull out in safety," it said.

Iraqi-US cracks were only too apparent during Gates's visit over attempts by the Maliki administration to woo radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement back into the unity coalition, despite US attempts to sideline him.

US officials have made it clear they favor a realignment in Iraq's unity government which would exclude Sadr and his Shiite militia, which is blamed by US officials for much of the daily violence.

When asked if he had received a commitment from the government to deal with Shiite militias responsible for murder, Gates said he had been told that no group was exempt from the need to crack down on lawbreakers.

But after his Thursday meeting with Gates, Maliki insisted that Sunni extremist groups, not Shiite militias, were the main problem.

Iraq strikes deal with US on war strategy - Yahoo! News

He said the aim of raising interest rates was to strengthen the dinar to fight dollarisation -- the use of dollars on a daily basis alongside the local dinar currency -- to stem high inflation and boost Iraqis' confidence in the domestic currency.

"It is to fight dollarisation. Every economy that depends on the dollar is considered weak," he said.

"Now I can say that Iraqis should use dinars instead of dollars. When we increase the value of the dinar it will help ease inflation, which is now at 56 percent. We expect inflation will decrease," he said.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/Cris...-R5-Alertnet-5

1260 will get Iraqi's to use dinars instead of dollars?

Originally Posted by pipshurricane

He said the aim of raising interest rates was to strengthen the dinar to fight dollarisation -- the use of dollars on a daily basis alongside the local dinar currency -- to stem high inflation and boost Iraqis' confidence in the domestic currency.

"It is to fight dollarisation. Every economy that depends on the dollar is considered weak," he said.

"Now I can say that Iraqis should use dinars instead of dollars. When we increase the value of the dinar it will help ease inflation, which is now at 56 percent. We expect inflation will decrease," he said.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/Cris...-R5-Alertnet-5

1260 will get Iraqi's to use dinars instead of dollars?

The International Monetary Fund, which has backed Baghdad with a $685 million standby credit agreement, has also warned that rising inflation could undermine economic well-being and hinder the goal of improving the welfare of ordinary Iraqis.

Another problem facing the government is the high rate of unemployment, mainly among the young. Officials say the unemployment rate is between 30 and 40 percent.

Jabor said he was not worried by possible negative consequences of strengthening the dinar because the Central Bank had enough reserves to support the dinar.

"The dinar is strong -- the central bank is one of the best central banks in the region except for those in the Gulf. We have reserves of $15 billion in foreign currency other than gold, and it is only to support the dinar."

Originally Posted by neno

The International Monetary Fund, which has backed Baghdad with a $685 million standby credit agreement, has also warned that rising inflation could undermine economic well-being and hinder the goal of improving the welfare of ordinary Iraqis.

Another problem facing the government is the high rate of unemployment, mainly among the young. Officials say the unemployment rate is between 30 and 40 percent.

Jabor said he was not worried by possible negative consequences of strengthening the dinar because the Central Bank had enough reserves to support the dinar.

"The dinar is strong -- the central bank is one of the best central banks in the region except for those in the Gulf. We have reserves of $15 billion in foreign currency other than gold, and it is only to support the dinar."

If you take the 15 billion in foreign reserves and 10+billion in gold you get 25 billion. I was reading the history thread today and I saw an article that the MOF or CBI gave Iraq the OK to back the dinar 95%, so I see that the skies the limit!!!!!! But I'm a yeasayer anyway.

Originally Posted by cigarman

If you take the 15 billion in foreign reserves and 10+billion in gold you get 25 billion. I was reading the history thread today and I saw an article that the MOF or CBI gave Iraq the OK to back the dinar 95%, so I see that the skies the limit!!!!!! But I'm a yeasayer anyway.

And I am going to take "ph's" advice and take this one to Bed. Good Night Gang. Instead of counting sheep I might just count $ $$ $$$ $$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$ $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$.

Originally Posted by cigarman

If you take the 15 billion in foreign reserves and 10+billion in gold you get 25 billion. I was reading the history thread today and I saw an article that the MOF or CBI gave Iraq the OK to back the dinar 95%, so I see that the skies the limit!!!!!! But I'm a yeasayer anyway.

Sorry Cig, it's been a long day, can you explain the above highlighted? thanx

Originally Posted by jsfletcher

Sorry Cig, it's been a long day, can you explain the above highlighted? thanx

Sorry I read 400 pages today in the history thread trying to get a grasp on this thing. I actually believe the MOF stated that the IMF or World Bank gave Iraq the ok to back the dinar with oil up to 95% of it's value. I'll look for it tomorrow, but I think the article came out about the same time the article of the dinar = dollar in July.

Will be gone for the next few days.

Everyone have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New years.

Gloribee.