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

Coalition kills 6, captures 32 terrorists
Sunday, 31 December 2006
American Forces Press Service
{mosimage}BAGHDAD — Coalition and Iraqi forces killed six terrorists and captured 32 suspected terrorists today, military officials reported.


Coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained two others during a raid against al Qaeda terrorists today in Baghdad. While moving toward the targeted building, coalition forces encountered two armed men who had exited nearby buildings. Coalition forces assessed the two armed men as an immediate threat and engaged them. Both men were wounded.

Coalition forces immediately rendered first aid and transported the two men to a nearby medical facility. Upon further investigation, coalition forces determined the men were local nationals. The men are in stable condition.

Additional forces performing security outside the targeted building were confronted by two armed terrorists during the raid. The terrorists began maneuvering toward coalition forces despite the ground troops' repeated attempts to halt the men. The terrorists were noncompliant and continued to maneuver toward the coalition forces who engaged, killing the two armed terrorists.

Ground forces entered the targeted building and found a weapons cache consisting of AK-47s, which was seized. Two suspected terrorists were also detained during the raid.

Elsewhere, coalition forces killed four terrorists and destroyed two buildings along with nearby cache sites containing improvised explosive device equipment during a raid today in Thar Thar.

Intelligence reports indicated roadside bombs were being produced in the targeted buildings. Upon entering the first building, coalition forces were engaged by armed terrorists. Coalition forces returned fire, killing four terrorists.

While searching the targeted buildings and surrounding area, ground forces found a significant cache consisting a large amount of IED-making material, including 16 pounds of homemade explosives, one 60-pound and one 80-pound bomb.

Also found on the site were multiple batteries, blasting caps, a rocket-propelled grenade,100 feet of detonation cord, suicide vests, grenades and machine guns.

Coalition forces coordinated an air strike that destroyed the buildings containing the weapons cache.

In another operation, special Iraqi police forces, with coalition advisers, captured two suspected insurgent cell leaders during operations today in Bahbahani, near Iskandariyah. The suspected insurgents are allegedly responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Iraqi civilians in the area.

The insurgent cell leaders, who are tied to al Qaeda in Iraq, are also implicated in numerous roadside bomb attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in the Babil and Karbala provinces.

In other developments, coalition forces detained two suspects during operations today in the Ad Dawrah area of southern Baghdad to capture a suspected member of al Qaeda in Iraq who allegedly plans and participates in the kidnapping of Iraqi civilians. He is also alleged to advise on and facilitates violent activities, kidnappings and murders perpetuated by other insurgents.

Additionally, special Iraqi army forces detained 13 suspects during operations today in Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad, to capture the alleged commander of illegal armed group elements responsible for sectarian violence and attacks against Iraqi civilians in the area.

The Iraqi-led operation, with coalition advisers, involved entry into the Salman Pak mosque. The mosque was reportedly used as a base of operations for planning and conducting attacks, kidnappings and murder. Credible intelligence also indicated the mosque was being used by illegal armed groups as a place to store and traffic weapons.

Iraqi forces entered the mosque and confiscated a large weapons cache consisting of 21 armored vests, two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, three heavy machine guns, 10 assault rifles and 12 grenades.

Twenty RPG rounds were also found, but destroyed near the objective after explosive ordnance disposal personnel determined their condition prevented transport. The rounds were destroyed in a location that minimized any damage to the mosque.

(Compiled from Multi-National Corps - Iraq news releases.)

Originally Posted by CharmedPiper

Azzaman, December 27, 2006


If implemented properly, the budget should create 136,000 new jobs, said Safi.

The cabinet has passed the budget to the parliament for approval.

Any ideas on how long this will take to gain approval??? Hopefully, less than one week and one day!!

Marines look back at a year of progress with Iraqi Army
Sunday, 31 December 2006


In the Al Anbar Province of Iraq, the Iraqi Security Forces facilitate the development of official rule of law through democratic government reforms, and continue the development of a market based economy centered on Iraqi Reconstruction. photo by: Lance Cpl. Geoffrey P. Ingersoll.CAMP FALLUJAH — Marines with Regimental Combat Team 5 spent 2006 making significant progress, with the help of the Iraqi Army, in eastern Al Anbar Province.

Fallujah, once the site of a pitched battle between Marines and al Qaida insurgents, is now considered a Sunni safe haven. It’s a marked progression that’s led to Marines turning over increasing responsibility to the Iraqi Security Force, a functioning city government and Iraqis seeking safety within the city’s limits.

It’s been a year of tough days, spectacular battlefield performances, hope, faith and steadfast discipline.

“We have aggressively worked to make Fallujah a model of progress, cooperation, and see it as an emerging, advanced and forward-looking city, perhaps one of the most in all of Iraq, certainly the most in all of Al Anbar Province,” said Col. Larry D. Nicholson, RCT-5’s commanding officer, in a recent press briefing. “The key to our success in Fallujah has been a thematic approach. We focus on ‘Team Fallujah,’ meaning that as the Marines, the Iraqi Army, the Fallujah police and the local citizens working together, nothing can stop us, no one can beat us.”

Marines now stand at the entry control points to the city alongside Iraqi Soldiers and Police.

Combined operations are standard in the area. Recruiting drives brought hundreds of Sunni Soldiers into the Iraqi Army, where none had volunteered before.

And Fallujah, along with the outlying cities that had never seen a Police Force, are now protected by their own. Fallujans continue to join the police, despite terrorists’ attacks.

“In many locations, Marines, Iraqi Soldiers and Police, along with Iraqi civilians and military advisers, live and work together in the same facility, sharing the same hardships, dangers and goals for the future,” Nicholson said. “Despite a campaign of murder and intimidation of local civic leaders and police by insurgents and criminals, city government and police stations across our area continue to develop and grow.”

Security in Fallujah improved so dramatically that the city, once the flashpoint for violence in Iraq, is now considered a safe haven for Sunnis fleeing sectarian violence in Baghdad and other regions in Iraq.

“In the two years since the conclusion of the battle, the population has rebounded to pre-Al Fajr levels,” Nicholson explained. “Today anywhere between 300,000 and 400,000 is our estimate. But not only have most of the original citizens returned, but many Iraqi citizens who were fleeing sectarian violence in Baghdad have found refuge in Fallujah.”

Security operations dominated much of what Marines in the regiment were seen accomplishing in 2006. They were marked by events such as a battle fought by 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in Gharmah and the capture of Jill Carroll’s kidnappers, the Christian Science Monitor journalist who was held captive for nearly three months. The capture was the result of the efforts of “Darkhorse” battalion of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

They also were credited with the recovery of a sniper rifle stolen from the “Magnificent Bastards” of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment in June 2004. Darkhorse snipers recovered the rifle after killing insurgents near Habbaniyah, almost two years to the day it was stolen.

The road between Habbaniyah was opened for the first time by Darkhorse when the regiment expanded its area of operations and expanded further by the “Betio Bastards” of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment who relieved Darkhorse.

Outlying camps were closed, handing off responsibility to Iraqis and at the same time, the regiment preceded the call for more Military Transition Team trainers and increased the size of teams of Marines training Iraqi Soldiers and Police.

“We’ve probably doubled the size of the teams right now,” Nicholson said. “We are, as Marines, a better unit when we go out that we have Iraqis with us. You know, nothing against our great force, and again, we’re exceptionally capable, but the Iraqis see things we'll never see. They understand intuitively things that we just won’t understand.”

Still, Nicholson said more Iraqi Soldiers and Police are needed.

“Probably the most pressing need we have right now in our area of operations is a lack of Iraqi Soldiers and Police,” he said. “The ones we have are doing great, but we just don’t have enough.”

All the effort put in by the regiment wasn’t just on security, though. Behind the scenes, Marines worked to help Iraqi business leaders prepare and carry out reconstruction projects throughout the area. Clean water, medical care, improved electricity, cell phone services and even a street clean-up project in Fallujah were shepherded along by RCT-5 Marines.

“Fallujah is today a boomtown for construction and is again reasserting its financial muscle in the province," Nicholson said. “We continue to work feverishly on items like electrical distribution, but what we are finding out is that there has now recently developed a First World appetite for consumer goods like air conditioners, satellite TVs, freezers and fridges, while there still remains a Third World infrastructure that struggles to keep up.”

Through it all, the enduring factor has been the Marines, Sailors and Soldiers of RCT-5, along with the Iraq Security Force, gear up every day and patrol in the sweltering summer heat and stand post in the freezing winter nights.

“Each day these young Americans are risking their lives for the basic security of the Iraqis, supporting local governance and improving the economic opportunities and conditions, and, in short, making life better for the Iraqis,” Nicholson said. “There’s no aspect of the Iraqi challenge that Marines are not involved in and working hard to improve. I just want to say that I am honored and humbled each and every day to lead this magnificent regiment here in Iraq.”

(By Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva, Regimental Combat Team 5.)

PHCs scheduled for completion by June
Sunday, 31 December 2006
Story and photo by Betsy Weiner
Gulf Region South District



Mike Osborne, Dhi Qar resident engineer, examines the mortar on the skeletal structure of a primary healthcare center in Nasiriyah recently. Dhi Qar and Muthanna have 12 PHCs that fall under the purview of the Adder Area Office, GRS.Twelve primary healthcare centers (PHC), designed to provide essential medical care to people in underdeveloped urban and rural areas in the Dhi Qar and Muthanna provinces, will open by June, according to Gulf Region South District officials.


Construction on 55 facilities in the nine southern provinces halted when the primary contractor, Parson’s Corp., was terminated last year, but GRS re-awarded the contracts six months ago, according to Mike Osborne, Dhi Qar resident engineer.

“The clinics were in various stages of construction when Parsons left,” he said. “Some were weeks ahead of the others.”


Lt. Col. Dale Johnson, Camp Adder area engineer, noted that the centers under his watch – eight in Muthanna and four in Dhi Qar – exist in an increasingly dangerous security environment and this makes them difficult to build.

“I’ve got two in the area that are nearly finished,” he said, “one in Muthanna and one in Dhi Qar. Both have been built by the same contractor and will be finished in the next 30 days.”


Johnson said that despite the challenges of building the facilities, he reaps personal rewards from knowing that GRS has provided the community with something that is “uniquely good. They don’t get this level of medical care or service,” he said. “Not outside of hospitals anyway.”

“These (centers) will be great for preventative care - and we have separate contracts for equipment and medical supplies – more modern than anything they have ever had – to stock these places for the first time,” he said.
Of the three PHC designs, the centers under the Adder Area Office’s purview fell into one category – the smaller design, Osborne said. “That’s because, in the Nasiriyah area, there are major hospitals available to the people,” he said. “Type A and B – those are the smaller facilities. Type C facilities are larger and have emergency, trauma and maternity centers.”


All three centers have dental facilities, X-ray departments and instructional units with one physician in residence. The Type C healthcare centers will have two physicians and will be built in more rural areas, according to Osborne.
“Nasiriyah is obviously a city and has core sections which are in the less fortunate areas,” he said. “That’s where we have built the A and B centers – in the poorer sections of town. Because of the availability of the local hospitals, these centers typically do not have emergency services.”


The cost for the healthcare centers runs between $500,000 to $600,000 for Type A and B centers, and between $650,000 and $1 million for Type C.


“Empirically,” Osborne said, “we are running 37-38 percent completed on these contracts. There is one in Nasiriyah that is the last one to come back online in GRS – its further behind relative to the others.”Most of the contracts awarded are of 180-210 day duration. Some work has been “painfully slow” for a number of reasons.


“We don’t finance projects here – we build the project and monitor the production. Typically in the States, a big contractor has to post a bond stating that he has enough funding to float the project. In Iraq, it’s a different delivery concept for some contractors.”


He added that getting experienced contractor laborers has been a challenge as well.


“You know, they lack middle management here,” Osborne said. “It reminds me of a lot of when there are lay-offs in the coal mines and then, well, everyone is a carpenter. It seems like if you work around construction or know someone who does, you are an engineer. Not necessarily in educated tech sense, but maybe in the foreman sense. But you do have the educated engineers – guys running these jobs are young guys out of college trying to move up the ladder – instead of crusty old construction workers like me out here.”


Most of the PHCs will be completed around the May-June time frame, Osborne said, but added that other contracts for equipment and services, such as electrical and plumbing, also have to be completed.


“Coordinating all that stuff is something that doesn’t translate into Arabic. It is hard to get across the idea of doing concurrent work or doing work in a logical sequence to make these things come on line at the end,” he said.


“But these PHCs are going to be a little more technical so you have to have more sophisticated electrical and mechanical systems. For example, you have alarms, things that will trigger a generator so the air conditioning remains constant.”Training people to operate the systems when the clinics are handed over to the Ministry of Health is the key to their successes, Osborne said.


“Training is required for all these things – the systems and all that,” he said. “And we are working with the Ministry of Health about providing or dedicating staff to operate these systems so these clinics will remain operational.”



“The construction that I have seen so far on these facilities is some of the best I have seen in Iraq,” Johnson said, “And the equipment they are getting is an added bonus to the utility of these clinics. The (healthcare centers) look and smell great.”

Status of Some of Saddam Hussein's Relatives
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Posted GMT 12-30-2006 8:52:42
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(AP) -- Status of some of Saddam Hussein's relatives:


Barzan Ibrahim, half brother and former intelligence chief, received the death sentence along with Saddam for 1982 killings of 148 Shiite Muslims. He has not been executed.
Ali al-Majid, cousin known as "Chemical Ali" for alleged role in use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds, on trial charged with genocide for crackdown on Kurds in 1987-88.
Sajida Khairallah Tulfah, wife, believed in Qatar and sought by Iraqi government for allegedly supporting and financing terrorism in Iraq.
Odai and Qusai Hussein, sons, and grandson Mustafa died July 22, 2003, in gunbattle with U.S. troops in Mosul.
Raghad and Rana Saddam Hussein, daughters, along with their nine children, granted refuge in Jordan on humanitarian grounds in July 2003.
Ayman Sabawi, nephew, escaped from Iraqi prison Dec. 9 where he was serving life sentence for financing insurgents and possessing bombs.
Mulhana Hamood Abdul Jabar, brother-in-law, arrested by U.S. military in May 2003 in Tikrit.
Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid and Saddam Kamel al-Majid, sons-in-law, executed at Saddam's order in February 1996 after returning from defection to Jordan.


© 2006, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

Thousands of Iraqis flock to Saddam grave

Posted: 31-12-2006 , 10:57 GMT


Thousands of Iraqis flocked to Saddam Hussein's hometown of Ouja on Sunday, where the former leader was buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution.



Dozens of relatives and other mourners, some of them crying and moaning, attended the interment shortly before dawn near Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. A large framed photograph of Saddam was propped up on a chair nearby, the AP reported.



An official close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told AFP that Saddam's body was flown early Sunday to Tikrit by the US military. "At 1:30 am Sunday, a US helicopter transported Saddam's body to Tikrit," he said.


His burial place is about 2 miles from the graves of his sons, Uday and Qusai, in the main town cemetery. The sons and a grandson died in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.



"The president, the leader, Saddam Hussein is a martyr and God will put him along with other martyrs," said Yahya al-Attawi, who led prayer at a towering Sunni mosque constructed by Saddam in Tikrit.





© 2006 Al Bawaba (albawaba.com middle east news information)

Originally Posted by D-Day

Read - http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=2859

What bad news?

This article, or parts of it, has been posted many times in the past few days. Where do you see the bad news? Hard to know what you're referring to when just the link is posted with no comment on just where the bad news is.

Randy

Iraqi PM urges Saddam followers to reconsider positions
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-12-31 14:38

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday called on followers of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to reconsider their tactics and join the political process to include all Iraqis.
"I urge followers of the ousted regime to reconsider their stances as the door is still open to anyone who has no innocent blood on his hands, to help in rebuilding an Iraq for all Iraqis," Maliki said in a statement released Saturday just hours prior to Saddam's execution.

"We reject considering Saddam as representative of a specific Iraqi group or faction. The tyrant represents only his cruel self," the statement said.

Maliki described Saddam's execution as a lesson for all ruling despots who commit crimes against their people, adding that persecution of citizens would lead them to the same dead end of their predecessors who violated human rights.

The Iraqi justice has proved throughout the trial of Saddam and his henchmen that it was competent and impartial, the statement said.

Maliki also said that the security issue would now be completely handled by the government, calling on the security apparatus to live up to responsibilities that are grave through combat of the terrorists and their collaborators. "The dark page in the country's history should be folded and we have to look for the future," Maliki concluded.

U.S.-backed Iraqi TV Al Hurra reported in the early morning that Saddam was executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) Saturday.

The execution took place after Saddam, who was born on April 28,1937, and was deposed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was handed over to the Iraqi authorities from a U.S. camp near Baghdad international airport where he had been held.

Jordan hopes no negative effects following Saddam''s execution

POL-SADDAM-EXECUTION-JORDAN
Jordan hopes no negative effects following Saddam's execution

AMMAN, Dec 30 (KUNA) -- The Jordanian government expressed hope Saturday that the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein would not have any negative effects on Iraq's unity and solidarity, a governmental spokesman said here Saturday.

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency (Petra), Spokesman for the Jordanian government Nasser Judah stressed the importance of preserving Iraqi unity and integrity, calling on the Iraqi people to assume responsibility for protecting their country from any harm.

The Jordanian spokesman also called on all Iraqi political factions to bury the hatchet and put an end to violence and communal clashes so as to maintain their country's national unity.

The deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq with a rod of iron for almost a couple of decades, was executed early Saturday. (end) bs.

gta


KUNA 302306 Dec

Petrodollar-driven acquisition boom to surge in H1 of 2007



MENAFN - 30/12/2006




(MENAFN) European Head of Merrill Lynch predicted that the petrodollar-driven acquisition boom across the world will soar in the first half of 2007, Khaleej Times reported.

He said that petrodollars from Middle East will help finance a further wave of infrastructure asset-buying worth around $500 billion over the next two years.

According to a recent report by International Institute of Finance (IIF) and Dubai-based Hawkama, a corporate governance institute, GCC-based investors have acquired more than $50 billion worth foreign assets during the past 12 months, GCC-based investors have acquired more than $50 billion worth foreign assets. The report said that GCC companies acquired $26 billion worth assets in UK, Europe and North America.

The huge growth in Gulf states' oil revenues have led to a series of foreign acquisitions during the past two years.

Although European analysts are worried over an asset price bubble developing in UK and Europe that could eventually dampen the M&A activities, experts like Wigley are confident that the massive overseas money flow will keep the market buoyant.

The surging petrodollar push in the M&A market is evident from the recent deals and attempts by Middle East based companies to buy corporate assets abroad. Middle East's first success in big ticket acquisitions came in February this year when Dubai's DP World acquired the UK ports and ferry operator P&O for $6.9 billion.