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

Mashhadani-Statements
Posted by: saleem on Sunday, January 07, 2007 - 06:54 PM

Mashhadani-Statements
Mashhadani's statements interfere in Maliki's affairs – PM's advisor
By Husam al-Shahmani and Santa Michael
Baghdad, Jan 7, (VOI) – The Iraqi premier's advisor for legal affairs said on Sunday that Parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani is not entitled to interfere in the affairs of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"Maliki's speech, which he delivered on Saturday on the 86th anniversary of the founding of Iraq's army, was expressive of the elected Iraqi government's views, not (the premier's) personal views," Ms. Maryam al-Rayes told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Mashhadani, in statements to BBC recently, had described the security plan to be applied in Iraq as "unconstitutional."
The parliament chairman said "our objection to the new security plan is out of keenness on the government's success and rested on legal and constitutional considerations."
Elaborating, Mashhadani said "the plan will use means outside the legal frameworks," adding "the government has to obtain authorization from parliament to extend the state of emergency first before embarking on the proposed plan."
"If the government intends to use the same old tainted instruments of the former era, we should put a question mark about the success of the plan," said Mashhadani.
He noted that the instruments to carry out this plan will be the defense and interior ministries, which are both infiltrated by the militias and other saboteurs.
Commenting on Mashhadani's remarks, Rayes said "such statements…could encumber the national reconciliation initiative launched by the prime minister."
"We wished that Parliament Speaker Mashhadani had refrained from giving such statements because he represents the parliament, not a certain group," she said.
AE

Baghdad-Arms
Posted by: saleem on Sunday, January 07, 2007 - 04:24 PM

Baghdad-Arms
Iraq to receive arms from Pentagon soon – spokesman
By Husam al-Shahmani
Baghdad, Jan 7, (VOI) – The Iraqi defense ministry will receive a gift of 4,000 armored personnel carriers (APCs), 1800 Humvee vehicles and 16 helicopter gunships from the Pentagon and will hopefully arrive next March, a ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
"The defense ministry is racing against time to obtain weapons that surpass those of gunmen so that security would be imposed in the area," Mohammed al-Aaskari, the spokesman for Iraq's defense ministry, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Aaskari said the armament of Iraq's army is still going on.
"We have got contracts to purchase armored vehicles, medium weapons and boats from the United States, Britain and other European countries," said Aaskari.
He added that the defense ministry is working in accordance with the armament plan that is inextricably linked to the state budget.
Meanwhile, Maj. General Nabil Khalil, director of war veterans' affairs in Iraq's defense ministry, told VOI "the new Iraqi army depends on light weapons and does not have the necessary backing arms that would help it satisfactorily carry out the assignments it receives."
Qassem al-Musawi, the spokesman for the commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces, said there was "a timetable reached with the multinational forces handover of (security) responsibilities in all Iraqi provinces.
"The year 2007 will be one of security, peace and stability," asserted Musawi, noting "the 86th anniversary of the founding of Iraq' s army, which was established on January 6, 1921, is marking an important step in enhancing security and stability nationwide."
Musawi affirmed that the (Iraqi) armed forces will work in association with the people on tracking down the “extremists and Saddamists who try to destabilize the country."
AE

Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers Sat Jan 6, 5:26 PM ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the opening battle of a major drive to tame the violent capital, the Iraqi army reported it killed 30 militants Saturday in a firefight in a Sunni insurgent stronghold just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.
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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking only hours earlier at a ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the Iraqi army, announced his intention for the open-ended attempt to crush the militant fighters who have left Baghdad in the grip of sectarian violence.

Hassan al-Suneid, a key aide and member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said the Iraqi leader had committed 20,000 soldiers to the operation and would call upon American troops and airpower only when needed.

A stern al-Maliki told the nation the operation in Baghdad would continue "until all goals are achieved and security is ensured for all citizens.

"We are fully aware that implementing the plan will lead to some harassment for all beloved Baghdad residents, but we are confident they fully understand the brutal terrorist assault we all face," he said.

State television said eight militants, including five Sudanese fighters, were captured in the battle near Haifa Street, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on the west bank of the Tigris where police reported finding the bodies of 27 torture victims earlier in the day.

Al-Suneid, who is also a member of parliament, said the new drive would focus initially on Sunni insurgent strongholds in western Baghdad.

Sunnis were likely to object, given that a large measure of today's violence in Baghdad is the work of Shiite militias, loyal to al-Maliki's key political backer, the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

An Iraqi army general said commanders would operate independently, a sharp break with Iraqi military tradition of heavy central control, and would be held individually responsible for failure.

Any civilians carrying arms faced automatic detention, he said, and would be shot if they resisted, the general said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

Al-Suneid and al-Maliki insisted that this drive to contain militants, as opposed to a largely ineffective joint operation with the Americans in the second half of 2006, would succeed because it would be in the hands of Iraqi commanders who have been promised American backup and airpower if they call for it.

But U.S. political and military officials — in a message of congratulation on
Iraq's Army Day — tempered Iraqi claims of full independence.

"As stated by the prime minister today, MNF-I (U.S. forces) will provide appropriate assistance as determined by Iraqi and coalition (American) field commanders, for the implementation of the new plan for securing Baghdad and its surrounding environs," said the statement from U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and overall American commander Gen. George W. Casey.

Al-Suneid said
President Bush signed off on the plan when he and al-Maliki spoke by video conference Thursday. The two leaders began formulating the operation during a November summit in Amman, Jordan.

Bush was widely reported to be planning to send at least 9,000 additional American forces to the capital from outside Iraq as part of his long-awaited strategy revisions in the fourth year of a war in which more than 3,000 American troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi's have died.

Last summer the U.S. military and Iraqi army flooded the capital with 12,000 additional troops, but by October, the U.S. military spokesman said the operation had not met expectations and the situation was disheartening.

The last half of 2006 was one of the most violent periods in the center and west of the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple
Saddam Hussein. The U.S. death toll in the capital spiked with the presence of extra American troops on the street during Operation Together Forward II, which has been supplanted by the new Iraqi-dominated drive to cleanse the capital of militant fighters.

In the earlier drive, the Iraqi army failed to send much of the promised troop strength, making it impossible to secure neighborhoods after American forces cleared them of insurgent and militia fighters.

The Iraqi army general said Iraqi forces, while nominally operating independently, would rely heavily on American support.

Bush hopes to prove that the Iraqi military and security forces are capable of controlling violence by the end of the year, opening the way for an American withdrawal.

Al-Maliki, whose political survival depends heavily on al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, is eager to show his independence of American occupation forces. He wants the Americans to quickly turn over security control to Iraqi forces and withdraw to the outskirts of Baghdad and other cities, where they would be out of sight but could be called to action.

Military commanders said operations against the al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in its Sadr City stronghold would be left largely to a joint force made up of U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi Special Operations Command division under Brig. Gen. Fadhil Birwari, a Kurd. Soldiers in the division are a mixture of Kurds and Arabs from both the Sunni and Shiite sects.

The prime minister has repeatedly rejected U.S. demands to move against the Mahdi Army.

Violence surged in Iraq Saturday after a week of relative quiet. Police reported 97 people were killed or found dead, 80 of them assassination victims dumped in Mosul, Baghdad and south of the capital.

____

Iraq's prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki, right, and the country's defense minster Abdul Qadir, left, attend celebrations of the Iraqi Army Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007. Al-Maliki said that Iraqi forces, with the help of their U.S. colleagues, would launch a new effort to wrest control of Baghdad's neighborhoods from militias and other sectarian killers. (AP Photo/ Ali al-Saadi, Pool)

decision to lift the value of the Iraqi dinar has come as a result of studies value

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.He added that the strike caused fluctuations in the local market due to some rumors that arise for blocking this improvement.
. Pointing out that the Iraqi Central Bank's decision to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar against the foreign currencies is a correct decision and the result of studies aimed to raise the value of a reduction in the purchasing power of the Iraqi people before everything else.

وکالة ال�رات العراقية للانباء
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The decision to lift the value of the Iraqi dinar has come as a result of studies value



He said the Finance Minister Baqir Jabr counterpart that the Iraqi dinar is Mlhoudha improvement during the current period.
.He added that the strike caused fluctuations in the local market due to some rumors that arise for blocking this improvement.
.Pointing out that the Iraqi Central Bank's decision to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar against the foreign currencies is a correct decision and the result of studies aimed to raise the value of a reduction in the purchasing power of the Iraqi people before everything else.
.He pointed out that the plans of the ministry absorbed all future programs in the budget for this year in order to stimulate the Iraqi economy properly

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...asp%3FID%3D2819
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U.S., Iraqi troops detain 84 in raids

Sun Jan 7, 3:30 AM ETU.S., Iraqi troops detain 84 in raids - Yahoo! News

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops detained more than a dozen people they suspect made roadside bombs and destroyed a bomb-making facility in a series of raids, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The operations took place last week but were reported Sunday by the military.

Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces searched 33 homes and detained 82 people Tuesday near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Sixty-nine of those captured were released after questioning. The 13 who remain in custody were accused of planting roadside bombs, the statement said.

Two more suspects were detained Thursday in a joint U.S.-Iraqi mission near Mahmoudiyah, 20 miles south of the Iraqi capital, another statement said. That mission also targeted people involved in bomb-making.

On Friday, U.S. forces destroyed a weapons cache used for assembling improvised explosive devices in western Baghdad, the military said. About 200 pounds of explosives were dispersed between two houses near a mosque in Ghazaliyah, along with timers, passports, detonation cords and several physics and engineering books, a statement said.

Originally Posted by readytogo

Mrs CK,

I enjoy your posts very much and appreciate the time, effort, and diligence you must expend to be able to post such diverse and extensive information as you have always done. I would very much like the reference material/site you from which you took this info please.

The following questions/comments have just popped into my head and are not particularly directed at you, unless of course you have the answers and would like to share. I have done no research on this subject.

Was this information ever brought up during George Bush Senior's campaigning? Very odd if not, seeing as how it was his own father that was accussed of these deeds. Surely there is more to this story. There has to be. Because if someone like Mrs CK, who seems to not have an agenda, can find and distribute this info, surely those in opposition to the Bush's would have used this against them during more vital times than this.

Maybe this info was brought up and then dispelled. Or maybe the American public did not hold GB responsible for his father's sins. I do not know. If it is true, then I salute GB and GW for overcoming and achieving what they have. I sure hope nobody judges me for my family's past. An infamous outlaw and murderer is named as one of my great-uncles. One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 3:13b ".......but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before."

If it is not true, or even if it is, I believe another scripture fits here nicely, Isaiah 54:17, "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgement you shall show to be in the wrong. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, says the Lord."

On the defensive and in response to any future posts that may accuse me of hiding behind the Word of God, I say, there's no better place to hide. And yes, just as susie said, I am defending my President. I believe he deserves it.

Monica

ahh, variety is the spice of life!! i suppose it would be massively boring if we were all cut from the same cloth.

Oil giants to profit from law change

Monday January 08, 2007
By Danny Fortson, Andrew Murray-Watson and Tim Webb

BAGHDAD - Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi Parliament within days.
The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday.
It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in Iraq since the industry was nationalised in 1972.
The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010.
"So where is the oil going to come from? ... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said.
Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise.
But it will operate through "production-sharing agreements" (or PSAs), which are unusual in the Middle East, where the oil industry in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the world's two largest producers, is state controlled.
PSAs allow a country to retain legal ownership of its oil, but gives a share of profits to the foreign companies that invest in infrastructure and operation of the wells, pipelines and refineries.
Opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95 per cent of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty.
Proposing the parliamentary motion for war in 2003, Tony Blair denied the "false claim" that "we want to seize" Iraq's oil revenues. He said the money should be put into a trust fund, run by the UN, for the Iraqis, but the idea came to nothing. The same year Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, said: "It cost a great deal of money to prosecute this war. But the oil of the Iraqi people belongs to the Iraqi people; it is their wealth, it will be used for their benefit. So we did not do it for oil."
Supporters say the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals.
Greg Muttitt, a researcher for Platform, a human rights and environmental group which monitors the oil industry, said Iraq was being asked to pay an enormous price over the next 30 years for its present instability. "They would lose out massively because they don't have the capacity at the moment to strike a good deal."
"It is a redrawing of the whole Iraqi oil industry [to] a modern standard," said Khaled Salih, spokesman for the Kurdish Regional Government, a party to the negotiations. The Iraqi government hopes to have the law on the books by March.
Several major oil companies are said to have sent teams into the country in recent months to lobby for deals ahead of the law, though the big names are considered unlikely to invest until the violence in Iraq abates.
James Paul, executive director at the Global Policy Forum, the international government watchdog, said: "It is not an exaggeration to say that the overwhelming majority of the population would be opposed to this. To do it anyway, with minimal discussion within the [Iraqi] Parliament is really just pouring more oil on the fire."
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman and a former chief economist at Shell, said it was crucial that any deal would guarantee funds to rebuild Iraq.
"Although it does make sense to collaborate with foreign investors, it is very important the terms are seen to be fair."
Oil giants to profit from law change - 08 Jan 2007 - Energy

Iraq to Seek Bids for Crude Oil Stored in Turkey (Update1)

By Andy Critchlow

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq will seek bids ``imminently'' for the almost 4 million barrels of crude oil it has stored in Turkey's Mediterranean port city of Ceyhan as the tanks there are almost full, an Iraqi oil ministry official said.

Iraq will offer contracts to load crude in up to 2 million-barrel consignments, the Iraqi oil ministry official, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, said in a phone interview from Baghdad today. The Kirkuk pipeline carries crude to Ceyhan into Turkey through northern Iraq.

Resuming Kirkuk oil sales may increase Iraq's exports by 300,000 barrels a day, or 19 percent, Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister said on Dec. 14. Iraq last month pumped 2.3 million barrels a day, and exported 1.6 million barrels a day of the total through the south of the country, he said.

Iraq isn't bound by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' quota limits because of the need to generate revenue to aid in the country's reconstruction. OPEC, producer of more than 40 percent of the world's oil, plans to cut output by 500,000 barrels a day from February to stem falling prices.

Crude oil for February delivery was trading at $58.10 a barrel, down 22 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 8:55 a.m. in London.

Iraq's oil ministry employees are working from home today due to the deteriorating security situation in Baghdad, the official said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Critchlow in Dubai at at [email protected] ;

The Ministry of Commerce announced a plan to import large construction materials

Department of Commerce announced that the coming year will witness the implementation of the plan to import the large construction materials to meet the need of reconstruction after the approval of the Investment Law. The source in the ministry said that the plan, which includes an increase in the import of construction materials and various support the manufacture of some construction materials aimed at the rehabilitation of the Iraqi economy through increased export and import operations and fill a need reconstruction projects of construction materials, especially after the investment law by the Council of Ministers. The source added that the Ministry of Commerce continues to enter into contracts with international companies known for the supply of construction materials and distribution among eligible citizens who leave the role of building housing through the General Company for Construction Materials Trading, as well as to promote local industries in this area in order to diversify the sources of construction materials and supporting the Iraqi economy. The Ministry of Trade had previously announced that next year is more economic activities in all areas, especially in the area of reconstruction in addition to improving the ration card items for the governorate


Translated version of جريدة المواطن العراقية