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

Turkey responds to activities of Jewish backed Kurdish Credit Bank with Ziraat Bank

by Cihan News Agency | Cihan News Agency | 13 November 2003 ISTANBUL - The Turkish government will take precautions against an increase in banking activities and the purchase of land in northern Iraq. The Turkish government plans to respond to activities of "Kurdish Credit Bank" which grants loans to Kurdish people to purchase land belonging to the Arab and Turkmen people in northern Iraq, by opening a branch of the Turkish state-owned Ziraat Bank in the region.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Ankara Representative Ahmet Muratli said that they have discovered that Israel was behind these banking activities in the region. He said he immediately informed the Turkish government about these activities several months ago and as a result they persuaded state-owned Ziraat Bank to become active in the region.
Muratli said that northern Iraq has great importance in terms of both potential commercial and strategic importance and they applied to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Turkish Treasury to establish a branch of the Turkish owned bank.

Muratli said, "Everyone wants Ziraat Bank or another Turkish bank in the region. Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen businessmen personally conveyed their demands to Turkish officials in Ankara."

'Purchasing land in Mosul is encouraged'
Iraq is an oil rich region and has the second largest oil reserves in the world. Northern Iraq produces approximately 70 percent of all Iraqi's oil reserves. The Kurdish Credit Bank has subsequently caused worries among the Turkmen and Arab people.

Muratli said the Kurdish Credit Bank is centered in the city of Suleymaniya in northern Iraq and the Bank was established through the assistance of Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party. Muratli said they discovered after exhaustive research that Israel was behind the creation of the Kurdish Credit Bank.

Muratli said, "Kurdish groups at first wanted to seize the homes and property of Turkmen and Arab people, who form a majority in the Mosul and Kerkuk regions, by force. When the Kurdish groups were not successful in their efforts, they wanted to purchase these homes and property by paying for it. When we talked with Arab tribes, they said that Jewish Kurds and Israelis began to purchase property. The Jewish Kurds and Jewish Arabs, who have obtained long term and interest-free loans from the Kurdish Credit Bank, began to purchase property, which was allegedly their property in the past. We are following the developments very closely."

Investment-Development Banking needs specialization and Kurds are not specialized in this area

Bush names new spy chief with Iraq speech looming by Olivier Knox
Fri Jan 5, 9:46 AM ET



WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush was to name a new spy chief and fill a top diplomatic vacancy as he put the last touches on a retooled strategy for the unpopular war in Iraq.

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In a White House ceremony at 9:50 am (1450 GMT) Friday, Bush was to nominate director of national intelligence John Negroponte to be US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's deputy -- a key post vacant since July 2006.

And Bush was to announce that he had chosen vice admiral Michael McConnell, a former head of the National Security Agency, to replace Negroponte at the head of all 16 US spy agencies, officials said.

The reshuffle -- begun when he dumped defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld after opposition Democrats captured the US Congress in November elections -- came days before Bush was to reveal his plans for the unpopular war in Iraq.

The embattled US president, his job approval numbers in the cellar, said late Thursday that he would make a speech announcing his strategy "sometime next week" after consultations with key world leaders and US lawmakers.

"I'll be ready to outline a strategy that will help the Iraqis achieve the objective of a country that can govern, sustain and defend itself sometime next week," he said after talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He did not address reports that he plans to escalate the US troop level in Iraq but stressed: "One thing is for certain: I will want to make sure that the mission is clear and specific and can be accomplished."

Bush, who held a nearly two-hour videoconference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that the Iraqi leader "has the will necessary to make the tough decisions. That's one of the things I learned today."

But The Washington Post reported Friday that the US president's top aides are still deeply divided over Maliki's reliability and over whether to escalate the war by sending more US troops to Iraq.

The advisers fear Maliki's government may not provide the military support and implement the political reforms necessary for US forces to eventually withdraw, the Post reported, citing officials familiar with the debate.

In addition to shifting Negroponte -- the first US ambassador to post- Saddam Hussein Iraq -- Bush was to nominate the current US ambassador there, Zalmay Khalilzad, to be US ambassador to the United Nations, at top aide said.

It was not clear when Bush would announce that move, which would fill another key vacancy since the departure last week of the controversial diplomat John Bolton.

Replacing Khalilzad in Baghdad is Ryan Crocker, 57, the current US ambassador in Pakistan since November 2004. Crocker is one of the State Department's most experienced Middle East experts and a fluent Arabic speaker.

On the military side, the head of the US Central Command and the top US military commander in Iraq are both set to change, ABC television and major US print media reported.

Admiral William Fallon, currently head of US forces in the Pacific, would replace retiring General John Abizaid, 55, at the Central Command, which manages the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In Iraq, Lieutenant General David Petraeus would replace General George Casey as the man in charge of all US and coalition forces, according to the reports, which went unchallenged by the White House.

Several US news media sources reported that Bush was likely to announce he was boosting the US military presence in Iraq by 20,000 soldiers when he unveils his new approach in a speech as early as Wednesday.

But the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the top generals and admirals who advise the president on military policy -- believe the possible dangers of sending more US troops to Iraq outweigh the benefits, according to the Post.

The all-volunteer US military is already stretched thin with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those 20,000 soldiers could be obtained only by extending tours of duty, re-mobilizing reserve units and accelerating planned deployments, according to the US media

Iraq Plan Seeks Up To 20,000 More Troops
CBS News Exclusive: Details On The Defense Secretary's Recommendations To President


(CBS/AP) CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that President Bush order an immediate buildup of 10,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, with an option of doubling that to 20,000 by spring.

The plan is known as "Five Plus Two," sending five Army brigades into Baghdad plus two Marine battalions into western Iraq. Two of the Army brigades would go into Baghdad starting in January, with the other three on call.

A senior defense official told The Associated Press that parts of the CBS report were incorrect but declined to say which parts or to comment on any recommendations Gates might have made to Bush.

Meanwhile, one day after taking control of Congress, the new Democratic leaders sent a blunt message to the president Friday: his new strategy should focus on bringing U.S. forces home, rather than the "surge" in troops he's considering.

In a letter sent to Mr. Bush on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged him to begin pulling troops out of Iraq in four to six months. They also asked the president to begin shifting the mission of U.S. forces there from combat to training and logistical support of the Iraqis.

The Democrats' criticism of a troop buildup was not new. But the letter underscored a new reality for Mr. Bush: With the new congressional leadership, his Iraq policy will be challenged at every turn by lawmakers.

"Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain," Pelosi, D-Calif., and Reid, D-Nev., wrote a day after their party took control of Capitol Hill.

"We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq," they said.

But Martin reports that one of the plan's architects, retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, has said the insurgency can't be defeated without first protecting Iraqi citizens from violence.

"We have never had a strategy to defeat the insurgency," Keane says. "And if we had a strategy to defeat the insurgency, then the No. 1 military objective would have been protect and support the population. That is what this plan is all about."

There have been temporary buildups before to protect Iraqis going to the polls to vote, but this would be different. The new plan would need to last a year and a-half.

"What is different is you bring in a 24/7 force and they stay in those neighborhoods and they do not go back to their bases," Keane explains. "They stay in the neighborhoods and that force is U.S. and Iraqi."

Defense Secretary Gates made an unannounced visit Friday to the headquarters of the U.S. central command in Florida, which has overall control of the war in Iraq and where he is installing new commanders.

To Frederick Kagan, another architect of the plan, the change is long overdue.

"For too long, I think the administration has allowed military leadership that was clearly on the wrong track to continue driving in the wrong direction," Kagan says.

The president on Friday nominated Adm. William Fallon, described by people who have worked for him as "caustic," "arrogant" and an "SOB," to take over central command from Gen. John Abizaid. Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, perhaps the most controversial officer in the Army because of his "Type A" personality and what many view as his too-cozy relationship with the media, will replace Gen. George Casey as top American general in Iraq. Both men must be approved by the Senate.

Both Abizaid and Casey have expressed qualms in recent weeks about boosting U.S. forces in Iraq. Abizaid said an increase of 20,000 could not be sustained for long by the overburdened American military, and Casey said such a boost should be used only to advance U.S. strategic goals.

Author Rick Atkinson spent two months with Petraeus during the initial invasion of Iraq.

According to Atkinson, "He [Petraeus] said at one point, perhaps a week into the war, 'Tell me how this ends. Tell me how this ends.' Now, there's an ironic inflection when he says this, but it was the right question. It's the right question four years later

Critics slam possible Iraq troop boost By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 32 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Days from announcing an overhaul of Iraq strategy, President Bush on Friday encountered a wall of criticism of the U.S. troop escalation that is expected to be the centerpiece of his new war plan.

Bush also reshuffled his war commanders, installing a new team to support the policies he will announce next week. Democrats and Republicans alike took aim at the expected increase in U.S. forces.

"It has to be significant and sustained. Otherwise do not do it," said Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a Republican presidential hopeful and Vietnam veteran who has been advocating a troop increase.

Those for going in the opposite direction spoke out, too.

"We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq," new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote in a letter to Bush a day after their party took the reins on Capitol Hill. Instead, Pelosi and Reid urged Bush to begin pulling troops out in four to six months.

The criticism underscored that Bush, preparing his new policy for an increasingly unpopular and costly war, will face a Congress that is not only controlled by Democrats who could challenge him at any turn but also populated with Republicans looking toward the congressional and presidential elections of 2008.

The president spent much of the day in last-minute consultations with members of Congress from both parties, by all accounts soliciting their input while giving few hints of his own plans. But doubts about dispatching more soldiers to Iraq — which Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (news, bio, voting record) called "the elephant in the room" at the White House — were expressed to the president's face and before various audiences around Washington.

Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., an Air Force veteran and member of the House Intelligence Committee who had just returned from Iraq, lambasted Bush's war leadership as lacking "a clarity of mission."

She spoke at a news conference against sending more Americans, saying the U.S. should be focused only on hunting for al-Qaida terrorists and ensuring Iraq does not become a source of regional instability.

"We're talking about goals in lofty terms that are not vital American national interests," she said.

CBS News reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that the president order an immediate 10,000 additional troops to Iraq with an option to double that number by spring under a plan in which five additional brigades of troops could eventually help in Baghdad and two in troubled Anbar province. Asked for comment, a senior defense official told The Associated Press that parts of the CBS report were incorrect but declined to say which parts or to comment on any recommendations Gates might have made to Bush.

Bush, meanwhile, announced more changes in his team of military and diplomatic advisers.

He said Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander overseeing the theater that includes Iraq, will be succeeded by Adm. William Fallon, now Abizaid's counterpart in the Pacific. Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is the president's choice to be the new chief commander in Iraq, replacing Gen. George Casey. The nominations must be approved by the Senate.

Petraeus led the 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 Iraq invasion and later headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces.

Both Abizaid and Casey already had been expected to rotate out of their jobs. Both also had publicly expressed skepticism about a troop increase, and when Bush began devising a new Iraq plan their timetable appeared to move up.

Also, Ryan Crocker, a veteran American diplomat who is now U.S. envoy to Pakistan, was expected to replace Zalmay Khalilzad as U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Bush nominated Khalilzad, a subject of criticism in Iraq as favoring his fellow Sunni Muslims, to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

In a White House that prides itself on discipline, there was much confusion about the personnel changes. There was a torrent of news leaks, unsuccessful efforts by the White House to control the flow of information and messy shifts in how the announcements would be made.

The president's talks Friday with several groups of lawmakers included moderate Democrats and loyalist Republicans but also some of the president's biggest critics, such as Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"He did say he has not made up his mind yet," said Rep. Chris Carney, a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania who is in the Navy Reserve and served as a Pentagon intelligence analyst.

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), part of a later meeting with over a dozen senators of both parties, said the skepticism about whether a burst of troops could achieve anything was nearly universal.

"I don't think there was a sense that case had been made," said Coleman, from Minnesota.

Several senators said Bush promised an increase would be done only in concert with greater efforts by the Iraqi government, which has failed to rein in the Shiite militias and to supply the promised amount of Iraqi forces to work alongside Americans.

Nelson, who said he walked away with no doubt Bush is planning to boost troops, said the president suggested there would be "the expectation of the Iraqis carrying out their part of the deal or else." But, said the Nebraska Democrat, the president did not define the consequences.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, set to unveil his own revamped strategy within days, is himself uneasy about more American troops, preferring that the U.S. presence be pulled back to Baghdad's outskirts.

During a nearly two-hour discussion Thursday, Bush told al-Maliki he was ready to send additional U.S. forces. But the Iraqi leader replied "he would have to talk that over with his senior military officers to see if they were needed," Sami al-Askari, an al-Maliki political adviser, told The Associated Press.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, meanwhile, agreed with McCain that a small, temporary force boost would not be enough. Neither of the senators, appearing together at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, would put a precise number on how many more troops might be necessary.

However, they said that — at minimum — it should be another three to five brigades for Baghdad, where Shiite militias are terrorizing the minority Sunni population, and one brigade for western Anbar Province, the center of the mostly Sunni anti-American insurgency. With about 3,500 troops in each brigade, that would total 14,000 to 21,000 additional troops.

A letter from 28 House Republicans urged Bush to divert some of the 21 Iraqi battalions operating in peaceful provinces to Baghdad and other dangerous areas, to spare U.S. troops.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush's meetings with lawmakers were more than just window dressing.

He said, "The fact is, these meetings may not be happy-face, kumbaya, but they have been very constructive."

___

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Anne Flaherty, Liz Sidoti, Kimberly Hefling, Jennifer Talhelm and Frederic J. Frommer and Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.

I thought jordanian dinars, but one thing confuses me, is the code for jordanian dinars JD? If so, it's listed to the left, could the ones at bottom right be kuwait?

never mind made a mistake and was reading it wrong, lol

NOOZZ.COM CBI

Updated: 1/5/2007 12/28/2006 Last Official Update

IQD/curr curr/IQD

USD 0.00075 1325.000 USD 1325.000

EUR 0.00058 1720.165 EUR 1739.063

GPB 0.00039 2553.125 GPB 2592.495

JPY 0.08969 11.150 JPY 11.157

CHF 0.00093 1070.562 CHF 1081.368


This is from NOOZZ.COM Site.

Take a look; all currencies moving except USD...I wonder why? This as of 1/5/2007 yesterday.

NOOZZ.COM CBI

Updated: 1/5/2007 12/28/2006 Last Official Update

IQD/curr curr/IQD

USD 0.00075 1325.000 USD 1325.000

EUR 0.00058 1720.165 EUR 1739.063

GPB 0.00039 2553.125 GPB 2592.495

JPY 0.08969 11.150 JPY 11.157

CHF 0.00093 1070.562 CHF 1081.368


This is from NOOZZ.COM Site.

Take a look; all currencies moving except USD...I wonder why? This is as of 1/5/2007, yesterday.

BREAKING NEWS


U.S. news agency says photographer killed in Iraq
(Reuters) Jan 5 2007 23:4

US Democrats mull trying to cap Iraq troops levels
(Reuters) Jan 5 2007 21:45

Gates picks new U.S. commanders for Iraq
(Reuters) Jan 5 2007 20:51

Moroccans protest outside U.S. embassy over Saddam
(Reuters) Jan 5 2007 20:12

Rome to light Colosseum in death penalty protest
(Reuters) Jan 5 2007 18:37


More BREAKING NEWS



Iraq politics: A deeper hole?
Shredding Paper; The poor performance of Iraqi government bonds could affect Baghdad’s budget plans Read
Gallows ill-Humour
By Derek Brown

Economist Intelligence Unit
The latest Research on Iraq's political and economic climate Read

Iraq Tenders: Extensive Database







EDITORIAL


NoozzVIEW; Bush to call in the cavalry
(Noozz Editorial) Jan 6 2007

Merchants and their Capital are Fleeing Iraq
(Noozz Editorial) Jan 6 2007

Police Storm Sharqiya TV Offices in Baghdad
(Nooozz Editorial) Jan 5 2007

Originally Posted by adm

NOOZZ.COM CBI

Updated: 1/5/2007 12/28/2006 Last Official Update

IQD/curr curr/IQD

USD 0.00075 1325.000 USD 1325.000

EUR 0.00058 1720.165 EUR 1739.063

GPB 0.00039 2553.125 GPB 2592.495

JPY 0.08969 11.150 JPY 11.157

CHF 0.00093 1070.562 CHF 1081.368


This is from NOOZZ.COM Site.

Take a look; all currencies moving except USD...I wonder why? This is as of 1/5/2007, yesterday.

hmm, also the rates went up instead of down.......strange too

A friend set this, I dont believe I've I seen it yet, but if nothing else may answer a couple of our sites questions.




With Oil prices going up once again to the $58.00 per barrel, there is no doubt that Iraq will benefit, and this will reflect directly in the exchange rate.

If you are interested in numbers, here is the quantity of banknotes in circulation in Iraq. This is looking from a collectors point of view and by studying the Prefixes and Serial number of the new banknotes.

25,000 Dinar 211 million pieces
10,000 Dinar 230 million pieces
5,000 Dinar 400 million pieces
1,000 Dinar 300 million pieces
500 Dinar 40 million pieces
250 Dinar 520 million pieces
50 Dinar 100 million pieces


This gives a grand total of 10,030,000,000,000 or amere 10 Trillion Dinars, which; when divided by the exchange rate of 1450, makes seven billion US$. I leave it to the economists to decide if this is in line with Iraq’s neighboring countries!

Seems like an older release, but I can not recollect if I've read any thing that says even furter issues were made since then. Thoughts?

Gloribee