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

Do or Die Against Iraq's Death Squads
By David Ignatius
Friday, July 28, 2006; Page A25

Nouri al-Maliki does not strike a commanding pose as Iraq's new prime minister: Slouching, stubble-faced, uneasy before foreign audiences, he looks more like a doughy Mukhabarat officer than the sleek exile politicians who have been making the rounds in Washington over the past decade.

His visit seemed almost a sideshow this week in the apocalyptic mood caused by the Lebanon war. Certainly Democrats in Congress treated it that way, bizarrely hectoring Maliki for not embracing Israel's war in Lebanon. But the visit was important in its own right because it offered a chance to assess the Bush administration's strategy as the Iraq war spins toward the point of no return.

Maliki's government is the last good chance for a democratic Iraq. Many Americans seem to take it almost for granted that the Iraq project has failed. But as bad as the situation is now, it could get worse. If Maliki cannot rally the country behind his so-called unity government, the civil war will shift into a grim new phase, with pitched sectarian battles for control of territory and the prospect of tens of thousands more dead.

To avert this cataclysm, Maliki has endorsed an aggressive strategy to retake Baghdad from the Shiite death squads roaming the streets. That means taking on militia gangs tied to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. The strategy is premised on a view that unless Maliki's Shiite-dominated government can stop the death squads from his own sect, he will have no chance of co-opting Sunni insurgent groups.

The military calls the new battle for Baghdad "Operation Together Forward." It began about two weeks ago, with raids by U.S. and British special operations forces to capture or kill death squad leaders. So far, about 10 have been "taken out," most of them members of the Mahdi Army, according to administration officials. The operations included a strike by British forces against a Mahdi Army lieutenant who had been terrorizing residents of Basra in southern Iraq.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, who accompanied Maliki here, explained the new strategy in an interview yesterday. "We need to make it risky for people to operate these death squads," he said. Although U.S. military planners were worried that Sadr might respond by bringing his fighters out in the streets en masse, Khalilzad said that, so far, "Moqtada's reaction has been muted. He understands that the death squads are out of control. They include former Saddamists who joined the Mahdi Army and are not under his control." Administration officials say that they don't want a pitched battle with Sadr, but that, in the words of one official: "If confrontation comes, it's best that it come now."

This stealthy war against the death squads is at the center of the new strategy for securing Baghdad. U.S. officials concede that the initial plan for retaking control of the capital, announced when Maliki took office in May, was a flop. That earlier strategy focused on checkpoints manned by the Iraqi army and police that, in theory, would cordon off the city. But Baghdad is a sprawling metropolis of 6.5 million people and more than 100 entry points, and the checkpoints had little practical effect.

The new idea is to add more force -- beefing up the 52,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops in the city by about 20 percent. In addition to targeting death squad leaders, the United States plans to retake Baghdad neighborhoods by starting with the city's 117 police stations. The plan is to install stronger Iraqi police leadership and embed U.S. forces with them. Administration officials speak of an "ink spot" strategy for Baghdad, establishing these pockets of security and then expanding them outward.

As coalition forces go after the Shiite death squads and Sunni insurgents, Khalilzad wants to push ahead with the larger reconciliation strategy. "We need to treat reconciliation the same way we treated the constitution and the formation of the government," he says, with meetings every day and "frank talk" about how to stop the ruination of Iraq. Meanwhile, to fund reconstruction without further depleting U.S. coffers, the Iraqis will ask European and Asian nations to contribute $100 billion or more over the next five years.

At this late stage of the Iraq story, skepticism is in order whenever officials talk of grand new strategies. The ideas discussed this week look good in PowerPoint presentations in the Green Zone, but they are much harder to implement out on the streets. What would change the equation would be if death squad leaders became afraid that they themselves would be captured or killed. That's the brutal logic of America's war in Iraq as it begins its decisive final chapters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072701215.html

Armed men dressed in Iraqi army uniforms and driving Iraqi army vehicles swiped $1.35 million in Iraqi currency Thursday from vehicles carrying cash from the central bank to a private bank in west Baghdad, police said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...78_iraq28.html

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/9595

Iraq Is Back in World Insurance Markets
23 July 2006 (Baghdad: Al Sabah newspaper) -- The Iraq Reinsurance Company has managed to recapture its international position in world insurance markets through its already existing relations and the...

Never did like the Foreign Minister Zubaidi, he'd like nothing more than to lop zeros, always did have his own agenda..........Shabibi won't let this happen.



Some Ideas Are Discussed Over the Value of the Dinar
23 July 2006 (Baghdad: Al-Iraqiyah TV)
Some Ideas Are Discussed Over the Value of the Dinar Iraq TV St. St. , Al Sabah 23.7 Today Iraq is facing the most difficult problems its economy has ever had to confront. Apart from the violence and terror, which seem endless, and the deterioration of the electric sector and fuel products market (the two main pillars of Iraq¹s economy) extra hardships are being added to an already embattled economy. The price of all items is increasing beyond any acceptable logic with the excuse always being that it is the price of electricity and transportation that are driving inflation. Within this atmosphere of uncertainty and doubt, Minister of Finance Bayan Jaber al Zubaidi made a suggestion which had an enormous impact on those following economic trends in Iraq. He suggested that the best way to fight inflation, which is spiraling out of control, is to abolish several zeros from the Iraqi dinar to align it closely with the value of the US dollar. For example, if the dollar is equal to 1500 Iraqi dinar, one dollar would equal one Iraqi dinar, which would mean deleting the last three zeros from the dinar. Economists, however, believe such an idea is impractical because with an economy such as Iraq¹s with its large foreign debt (estimated in tens of billions -- the bulk of which has already been written off), a 40% rate of unemployment, a poor infrastructure, and an urgent need for tens of billions of dollars to rebuild its oil sector (the prime underpinning of the country¹s economy and major hard currency earner) chances for success are very slim. The premise for the idea was based on the fact that some countries experiencing a similar state of affairs implemented such a course of action and were successful in controlling their levels of inflation. Turkey, which managed to control its inflation by abolishing six zeros from its circulating currency, was cited as an example. Most economists (in particular, the governor of the Central Bank, who is a world expert on such matters), however, felt that the suggestion made by the minister did not go far enough, so the proposal has, at least for the moment, been set aside.

It sounds to me that the reval we are all hoping for is far from a done deal.

Let's hope that the security issue is addressed very soon, so it can pave the way.

My prayers go out to all of the coalition and Iraqi forces in their current struggles.

Today on the Internet the White House hosted a question and answer session on Iraq. Many people emailed questions and some were answered. As it happens to be one person asked about the Dinar..... Best non answer, Potomac two-step I’ve ever heard lol... tight lipped bunch all of them.....

Here it is in its entirety:



http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/20060727.html

Erin, from Santa Rosa, CA writes:
Do you feel the Iraqi Dinar is ready for the international market?

Brett McGurk:

Thanks, Erin. This is the first economic-related issues I’ve received – and I’d like to use it to broaden the discussion. On the Dinar, specifically, the news is fairly good. Since the introduction of a unified currency and foreign exchange auctions, Iraq’s exchange rate has been relatively stable and this has allowed the Central Bank of Iraq to better manage inflationary pressures. Inflation is still a potential problem in Iraq, but that the Central Bank is working closely with IMF experts to combat these pressures.
The Prime Minister and the President did not discuss the Dinar specifically, but they did discuss the Prime Minister’s economic agenda. It is fair to say that in only two months in office, we have seen a level of activity that surpasses action taken by the previous government over an entire year. Most economic indicators are in positive territory. Iraq has realized its highest oil production and export levels since before the war. Electricity hours of power jumped from 4 or 5 hours per day in Baghdad in April and May to on average 8 hours per day in June and July. Maliki and his new Minister of Electricity has been particular successful in improving security and repair response times, and they discussed these efforts with the President.

On July 12, Maliki presented a far-reaching economic speech to the Council of Representatives. The speech was one of the most reformist offered by an Arab leader in decades and put him on record for change in key areas of the economy. Maliki laid out his plans for new investment laws, anti-corruption measures, restored financial relationships with Gulf States, and initiatives to restore essential services through investment and reform. And he is following up. Maliki has directed each cabinet member to establish a comptroller and submit ethics and financial disclosure agreements. He has submitted an investment law to parliament which should be enacted before the end of this month. Fuel import liberalization laws are also pending in parliament and have been passed by the Council of Ministers. (This is a key initiative to facilitate private enterprise, undermine the black market, and improve the fuel supply.) The government has kept to IMF SBA schedules by increasing non-gasoline fuel prices on June 17, meeting an IMF benchmark.

This is in addition to Maliki reaching out to the international community to make Iraq a reliable economic partner. He has visited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwiat to encourage them to invest in Iraq. And Iraq and the UN today announced the formal launch of the International Compact with Iraq. This Compact, jointly shared by the Government of Iraq and the Untied Nations, with the support of the World Bank, will, over the next five years, bring together the international community and multilateral organizations to help Iraq implement key reforms and grow fully integrated into the international economic community. You can read the UN's press release about this important initiative.

We are assisting the Iraqis in the economic area. Secretary Guitierrez and Secretary Bodman recently traveled to Baghdad to meet with their Iraqi counterparts, and more such visits will follow in the coming weeks. These efforts are all part of our integrated – political, economic, security – strategy for success in Iraq.

We understand, of course, that the security situation must stabilize for Iraq to truly flourish economically. There is also hard work to do on important piece of legislation, particularly in the petroleum area. But the Prime Minister is identifying the right priorities and moving forward with necessary reforms. During the lunch following the Oval Office meetings, the President heard from a number of Iraqi ministers on their ambitious agendas for increasing investment in Iraq, reforming Iraq’s massive subsidy programs, and bringing targeted job creation opportunities to lagging areas of the country (in particular Anbar Province where young men are prone to recruitment by terrorists and insurgent groups). Remember that unlike the transitional governments of the past three years, this new government may serve until 2010 – so the new ministers have both short and long term strategic goals.

Why do they call it "question and answer session" if the only purpose is producing of a lot of text saying nothing?

Blah blah blah = No answer to the question.

Thanks, Erin. This is the first economic-related issues I’ve received – and I’d like to use it to broaden the discussion. On the Dinar, specifically, the news is fairly good. Since the introduction of a unified currency and foreign exchange auctions, Iraq’s exchange rate has been relatively stable and this has allowed the Central Bank of Iraq to better manage inflationary pressures. Inflation is still a potential problem in Iraq, but that the Central Bank is working closely with IMF experts to combat these pressures.


Tells me something is going to happen soon....

Let's hope so...

Oil: Iraq Energy Minister meets with oil executives, discuss contracts
Posted on Thursday, July 27 @ 07:35:18 PDT
Topic: Oil
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Al-Shahristani met with oil executives to discuss possible joint ventures and a new hydrocarbon law that would regulate the critical energy sector throughout the country.

Al-Shahristani met with US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Wednesday in a day of meetings at the US Energy Department that included representatives from oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Marathon, BP and Shell Oil.

Speaking to reporters after the meetings, Al-Shahristani said that oil company representatives offered their advice and assistance for plans on a hydrocarbon law that will be introduced to the Iraqi Parliament for voting at the end of this year. The law has been touted by Bodman as a way for Iraq to attract 20 billion dollars in foreign investment that is needed to increase Iraqi oil production. Moreover, the hydrocarbon law is expected to impact the worlds oil market by improving confidence in Iraqs energy sector. Although Al-Shahristani told reporters that Iraq has not negotiated joint ventures with companies to begin work in specific oil fields, he said that some contracts could be signed before the hydrocarbon law is voted on by parliament.

The Department of Energy has said that the Iraqi Oil Ministry makes its decisions independent of the United States, but aside from helping Iraq draft the hydrocarbon law the Department said in a statement that it provides technical experts and will be pursuing joint projects with the Iraqi energy ministry. Bodman was in Iraq last week where he met with Al-Shahristani and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, who delivered an address to Congress earlier in the day and met with US President George W. Bush at the White House Tuesday. Al-Maliki and Bush announced that more Iraqi and US forces would be relocated to Baghdad from other parts of the country to boost security in the city.

Oil is seen as a critical way to boost economic development in Iraq and help finance the cost of rebuilding the country from continued attacks. But the cost of security for investors can amount to over fifty percent of the cost of a project, according to the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Office. There have been over 300 attacks on Iraqi oil fields in the last three years, according to Iraqi government figures.

Iraq, which is currently producing 1.9 million barrels of oil per day, hopes to boost production to three million barrels per day by the end of the year, said Al-Shahristani.

The oil minister ambitiously projected that Iraq could produce up to 4.5 million barrels per day in the next five years and that it could be the second largest producer of oil in fifteen years.

Bodman characterized such figures as "ambitious." The US Energy Department estimated that at its current output, Iraq is still far under its pre-war oil production level of 2.6 million barrels per day.

According to Iraqi oil ministry, Iraq has suffered over 11 billion dollars in losses due to theft, sabotage of the oil infrastructure, security concerns and corruption

http://lawksalih.com/php/modules.php...rder=0&thold=0