Thread: Iraq/Dinar News Before Febuary 12th, 2006

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Despite the preparations for the implementation of the security plan or report Erki new expected continued deterioration of the situation in Iraq

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اIraqi MPs : the budget proposals for 2007 must ensure that the right of the citizen to Ar Christians and away from the political interests

USAID allocates $9.9m for Iraqi microfinance organizations



MENAFN - 02/02/2007




(MENAFN) One hundred Iraqi Parliament members have signed a note urging the Kuwaiti authorities to cancel Iraq's debt to Kuwait in order to help the government to reconstruct the country and restructure the economy, Iraq Directory reported.

Kuwait has been receiving 5 percent of Iraq's oil revenues through a compensation fund established by the United Nations after the former regime's invasion of the Gulf state in 1990.

A senior Iraqi deputy said that canceling Iraq's debts will help the war-torn country to abide with the requirements of the International Monetary Fund to reconstruct Iraq's economy and improve the citizens' income and living conditions.
MENAFN - Middle East North Africa . Financial Network News: USAID allocates $9.9m for Iraqi microfinance organizations

Iraqi MPs : the budget proposals for 2007 must ensure that the right of the citizen to Ar Christians and away from the political interests

Baghdad-file Press

Varied views on the proposals of the Iraqi parliament facet topical 2007 - was welcomed by some and rejected others P the main issue that accompanied put these issues are the Iraqi citizen who has lived in isolation from the State forth automatic loss of service, price increases and the lack of attention to the direct the basic needs of citizens.

(File Press) explored the views of Iraqi parliamentarians n order to get acquainted with the Iraqi citizen's share of those budgetary aspects e, which has been described as the largest in the history of Iraq, The deputy said Abbas Bayati of the Iraqi Coalition The consolidated budget for 2007 will be the 150 P jobs to deal with unemployment in Iraq is therefore must take into account the rights of the Iraqi citizen, Wa n assessed budget is the weakness of the budget last year, an increase of 21 billion dollars.

He was double the budget of the ministries of electricity and the earth. Yeh and education, The funds that have not disposal provinces and ministries because of the security situation, will be rounded any sense will not due to the budget, in addition to the funds allocated within the budget this year. He continued Bayati The ministries and governorates that those AT and restricted spending budget will put restrictions by Witt Hididha in the event that the situation is what it will transfer part of its budget to other ministries.

The budget takes into account staff salaries, He said Bayati notes budget increase salaries the career ladder class to class ten of% touching the fact that these grades from the lower grades, The Fund will support retirement and the new law to Lltek prepared.

And staff members of the dissolved entities said Elbe comes : within the directions of national interest, the state will mo repairs dissolved entities them to retirement (those who a service of 15 years and above) and donated a permanent and not batches Wa what would not be covered by (ie serving less than 15 years old) and the Ba Attakadi will give income to the families of these people and enable them to Moak by lives.

A deputy Nawzad Saleh rose from the coalition Kardst I am proposals circulated the House of us straw 2007 budget for the reconstruction of the presidential palaces saying : I imagine that those proposals are members of the government and uh a does not mean that the government is replacing these proposals and placed was changing and I would imagine that any member of the House dissatisfied j reconstruction deficiencies, But if it turns those shortcomings to the museums or the States e or tourist centers and the public interest, I think that this u % pw good, but that used to Arusha for the purpose of personal, as in the past, such as what happened in the era of Saddam Hussein is unacceptable.

And the resentment of the Iraqi citizen of the lack of services mm a reason for the isolation between the citizen and the government, Saleh said, I do not defend the government's policy of economic e, administrative, as the economic and administrative situation is not good in Iraq The main reason is the lack stabilize the security j and the presence of terrorism has a major impact on the situation Listeriosis Erkl efforts of the government to carry out its work to the fullest extent.

And if the House of Representatives will issue laws exclude Landespolizei to regulate economic life, including the Interior a price and services said that the House of Representatives is interested in this a the things we after the ratification of the budget committees brain enveloped will work to regulate the issuance of life Aldach Why for the Iraqi people and we hope the government can benefit from these views and to cooperate with the House for attained s these things.

MP Wael Abdel Latif of the Iraqi bloc responded s Ala : With respect to the allocation of funds for the reconstruction of palaces and buy i Arat and May are appropriate at the current stage Yes, I support this because the amounts previously allocated to the travel e hacked Presidency and the Council of Ministers and the House of very high Vsfarh a single person responsible for the cost half a million dollars Osv saw too many members of the government, God and Baltake d provide aircraft for the government of both the presidency or the Iluz Overseas, I think the House will be more anxious to h rude Iraqi capital from the non-purchase of these aircraft and j Stko n immune from political interference to control it.

He welcomed proposals Abdul Latif rehabilitation shortcomings Luke told that these shortcomings are used by military forces Yeh, embassies and the concept has already become the people's palaces Wye Ada invite the Iraqi government to buy the planes for peacekeeping Kerr Iraqi nation, Iraq was previously owned 17 aircraft only and therefore Ed Ndung'u the government to buy more than 25 aircraft since the population of a Iraq to increase and this will serve the Iraqis and can be Ha positive for us instead of the money going to companies bird that is not Iraqi.


Confirmed that the federal budget carry No. 41 billion de Laar addition to the 15 billion dollars are now in Ahh d French bank in the United States, these figures fell short of both departments Iraqi provincial assemblies or Alozar AT Iraqi spend these amounts are present but told there is a suitable job for spending, I believe that a significant sum, addressed all the problems of services and security, retirement and network Waller Aeh social and support the ration card.

And continued I think saying that terrorism and the reluctance of political leaders the cause of failures that happen in the Iraqi street, Wa Na with the son of the people in these failures because it is therefore m n responsibility and the lack of supplies has become very large and took a long time, now required of the executive branch to sharpen them by, to address these issues and are not on Kpthrh of Iraqi N..

And whether the House of Representatives on legislation to challenge laws d prices and curb inflation explained that the strategy the state is promoting the free market and strategic Alagh catch the free movement of the competition is to invite all components Altj Ariah to work without any restriction of the state and away from spending e affiliate of the State, and I think that is not a flaw in the concept of free economy is modern and sophisticated, but it hinders things If terrorism is what has been achieved security and stability in Ar Requests will be a very big leaps for instance economy Aten Iraq.

The special laws and I do not think that m regarding these laws can address something Many of the articles stolen and smuggled example, five thousand tons of oil only Sood decision sent to Syria Instead it hit 50 thousand tons m Nha How that happened we do not know and many of the failures and get theft of items from the ration card and I think Bassett General security situation in Iraq will move to the economically m the best trip.

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Archangel come back to chat. All is well and you are missed dearly.

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Iraq tightens borders as crackdown nears By Qassim Abdul-Zahra | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC

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Iran Daily - National - 02/03/07

Iraq Wants MKO Out

Ali Al-Dabbagh

BAGHDAD, Iraq,
Feb. 2--Iraq announced Thursday it will expel members of the main Iranian opposition group.
Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s cabinet had demanded that members of the Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) be rapidly transferred to countries other than Iraq or Iran, AFP reported.
“The presence of this organization is illegal and the cabinet has decided to put an end to it,“ he said.
“This organization has broken the law... and interfered in internal Iraqi affairs,“ Dabbagh said.
Dabbagh said on Thursday: “We have our own problems and are going through a trying period that prevents us from offering refuge.
Our constitution forbids us from hosting an organization considered to be terrorist.“
The MKO has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, although a European court ruling in December might see the group removed from the EU terror list.
“We have given it time to prepare to leave Iraq for a country ready to receive it. We have left it to them to go to the county of their choice.“
During the regime of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, the MKO was welcomed in Iraq and fought with Iraqi forces against Iran.
Many of Iraq’s current leaders were themselves living in exile in Iran at that time.
Meanwhile, Iraq has invited neighboring countries, including Iran and Syria, to attend a meeting on security next month in Baghdad, Dabbagh said.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry official did not give a specific date for the meeting but said it was planned for March and would be the tenth held by Iraq’s neighbors but the first to take place in the Iraqi capital. The last such meeting was held in July in Iran.

Assyrian International News Agency
Iraq's PM Confronts Kurds and Iran--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted GMT 2-2-2007 19:19:56

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's over for the Kurdish/Iranian Axis. Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, supported by Sadr, is confronting the pro-Kurdish Axis.

First, as announced in an interview today, Maliki will move out of Kirkuk (or disqualify from voting in the upcoming Kirkuk referendum in December 2007) all those who moved to Kirkuk after 1957. This policy could uphold an Iraqi/Arab majority in Kirkuk. All the Arabs settled in Kirkuk by Saddam would be disenfranchised, but so would the Kurds resettled in the post-Saddam era -- quite possibly a larger number.

Second, Maliki in the same interview referred to Kirkuk as an Iraqi city (interview is below, see last paragraph).

Third, Iraq's oil minister announced today that Baghdad, not the Kurds, will deal with Turkish officials on oil-related issues. The Kurdish regional government since Monday had attempted to dislpace Baghdad as interlocutor with Turkey.

Fourth, Iraq announced it will host a regional security conferencein March. Invitees include all of Iraq's neighbors. Syria's FM, from Ankara (!) was overjoyed. Because Syria detests the Kurds, it is certain that Iran and the Kurds will not be amused. By the way, last year Syria refused to attend a similar Iranian/Kurdish conference convened by Ahmadinejad, which was canceled to his embarrassment.

Finally, PM Minister Maliki could take one additional step. Maliki could put high profile pressure on Talabani and Hakim to approve Iraq's petroleum law (both are blocking this legislation because they want to undermine Maliki and to promite Kurdish and Shia separatism). However, Maliki cannot do this until assured of US support, which is far from certain.

Maliki Interview

Al-Hayat: You have an important file, namely the Karkouk issue, that needs to be done with by a certain deadline. How will you cope with this issue in the light of the present political developments? Nouri Al-Maliki: Kirkuk is now subject to a constitutional clause that the Iraqi people have voted for. There is the normalization phase, the statistics phase and the referendum phase. We, as the executive power, have committed ourselves to implementing constitutional provisions. We have formed committees and have spent the required sums of money. A lot of work is awaiting the committees. The Kirkuk issue is complicated and needs additional examination, contemplation, and wisdom so that the results will be favorable to Iraq and all the Iraqis and so that it is not transformed into a nest for confrontations. The committee will scrutinize the IDs of the province inhabitants according to the 1957 census, as it will carefully inquire into land ownership and return land to its owners.

Al-Hayat: What if some people refuse to quit the city? Nouri Al-Maliki: Maybe they will not go, but they will not be allowed to participate in the referendum on the city while they still live in it. I don't want to anticipate the events, but I need to say that Kirkuk is an Iraqi city that is subject to the Iraqi constitution. The committee that is formed according to the Iraqi constitution will perform its duties in a fair, objective and professional manner, away from biases to any trend. *Al-Hayat Translation Unit

By Scott Sullivan
The Conservative Voice News and Columns

Iraq's PM Confronts Kurds and Iran

The Jitters in Tehran--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted GMT 2-2-2007 18:9:47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tehran -- Although you wouldn't know it listening the bellicose rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's leadership has the jitters. While the President this week stayed on message, proclaiming that "our nation is swiftly on track to becoming a superpower," anxiety over the possibility of a military confrontation with the U.S. in Iraq and further damage to Iran's international position has the country's leaders locked in sober, closed-door consultations. And Tehran's most influential businessmen are again debating whether to transfer their assets abroad. Says political analyst Saeed Laylaz: "At the highest levels of the regime, the situation today is being taken very, very seriously."

Escalating tensions with the U.S. are sufficiently worrisome that former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is once again leading a drive to contain Ahmadinejad and his political ambitions. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who heads the executive branch in Iran's system, asked Rafsanjani -- who was beaten by Ahmadinejad in the last presidential election -- to spearhead a similar effort last year, after Ahmadinejad's remarks about Israel sparked an international outcry. That intervention was late and ineffective, but this time Rafsanjani is moving more quickly and aggressively to defuse tensions with the West. The former president has been meeting with MPs critical of the President, and issued a terse and rare reprimand after a recent presidential speech. Official and semi-official media have joined the effort to curb Ahmadinejad, with two prominent newspapers in the past month running editorials critical of the President, calling his foreign policy obtuse and ordering him to stay out of diplomacy over the country's nuclear program. Even Baztab, the conservative news website connected with Mohsen Rezai, former Revolutionary Guard commander and current secretary of the powerful Expediency Council, is running analyses of U.S.-Iran relations with headlines such as "How to prevent confrontation between the lion and the eagle."

Even more revealing than the skittish media and internal political maneuvering, analysts here say, is Tehran's muted response to the U.S. military's detention of Iranian security officials in Iraq, and the raid on its official liaison office in Erbil. Both acts might have provoked a harsher response were Tehran more confident that Washington's confrontational rhetoric was meant only to intimidate. Former president Mohammad Khatami, viewed here as a valuable interlocutor in dealing with the United States, attended a session with Senator Bob Kerrey at the World Economic Summit in Davos -- under normal circumstances such a meeting would leave radicals here livid.

With the United States resistant to opening talks with Tehran over Iraq and the nuclear issue, Iran's leaders are divided over what to concede in their attempts to head off a potential clash. The country's response to the U.N. Security Council's Feb. 20 deadline to cease uranium enrichment will be the first real test of whether Iran will blink. But even if officials here are increasingly anxious about the approaching deadline and rising tension with Washington, ordinary Iranians -- mostly relying for information on newspapers that downplay the crisis -- feel secure. "America has already shown in Iraq that it can't do anything," say Jaleh Momeni, a 26-year-old secretary in Tehran. "They don't dare attack us."

By Azadeh Moaveni
Breaking News, Analysis, Opinions, Multimedia and Blogs | TIME

The Jitters in Tehran

VOA News - US Defense Secretary: Iraq Must Send More Troops to Baghdad

US Defense Secretary: Iraq Must Send More Troops to Baghdad
By Al Pessin
Pentagon
02 February 2007

Pessin report - Download 363k
Listen to Pessin report


U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Iraqi military must do better at meeting its commitment to send more forces to Baghdad, as part of the new security plan. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.


Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman General Peter Pace, gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon
At a news conference, Secretary Gates was asked about a comment his Iraq commander, General George Casey, made on Thursday, when he said Iraqi units arriving in Baghdad are only at between 55 and 65 percent of their promised strength.

"Fifty-five percent probably isn't good enough," he said. "But I'm not sure that that's what the end strength of that unit is going to be when the time comes for it to go into combat."

At the same news conference, the top U.S. military officer, General Peter Pace, described the Iraqi troop movements as "good news and bad news."

"They're not at the level we would like them to be, total strength-wise, but they are showing up on the timeline they said they would," he noted.

General Pace said the current situation is better than in the past, when some promised Iraqi units did not deploy to Baghdad at all. Still, he said, the Iraqi military will have to increase the strength of the units in Baghdad in order to fulfill its commitments under the new security plan.

President Bush announced the plan last month, after consulting with the Iraqi government and U.S. civilian and military leaders. It is meant to bring security to the Iraqi capital to enable the government to move forward on political reconciliation. The plan involves sending 21,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq to work with Iraqi forces, and there is considerable opposition to the plan among members of Congress and the American people.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin, is trying to get the administration to make public a series of benchmarks that are to be used to measure whether Iraq is fulfilling its commitments under the plan. Secretary Gates says he has no objection to making the benchmarks public, and he listed some of them.

"The benchmarks that we will see earliest on performance are: Are the brigades showing up? Are they showing up reasonably on time? Are they showing up in the numbers that they need to be showing up? Are the politicians staying out of decisions on which neighborhoods to go into? Are the security forces allowed to go into all neighborhoods where there are lawbreakers? There are several of these that are pretty straightforward benchmarks, it seems to me," he added.

Secretary Gates and General Pace also said there is growing evidence of Iranian involvement in attacks in Iraq, particularly in providing technology and material to make more powerful and deadly bombs. But the secretary said the United States has no plan for war with Iran.

General Pace said two raids on bombing networks in Iraq in the last month have resulted in the arrest of Iranians, but Secretary Gates said he does not know whether the Iranian government is involved. Gates said plans for a briefing in Baghdad to detail Iranian involvement have been postponed because he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice want officials to be absolutely sure their information is accurate and detailed.

Iraq lifts curfew in Najaf


Iraqi officials say nearly 2,000 civilians killed in raging sectarian conflict across Iraq in January.


By Hasan Abdul Zahra - NAJAF, Iraq


Iraqi authorities on Friday lifted a curfew imposed on Shiite Islam's holiest city of Najaf in a bid to thwart attacks a day after 73 people died in twin suicide bombings in nearby Hilla.


In Baghdad, the US military was investigating reports that another helicopter had gone down near Taji, north of the Iraqi capital.


If confirmed, it would be the third US military helicopter lost in two weeks. A private US security chopper also crashed in Baghdad on January 22.


In the central city of Najaf, a curfew which was imposed late Thursday was lifted after dark on Friday.


"The curfew has been completely lifted from Najaf and the surrounding towns including Kufa," Najaf police spokesman Ali Jariu said.


Najaf provincial spokesman Ahmad Duaibel said the curfew was imposed after the authorities received information that armed groups planned to launch attacks against the city.


On Sunday, Iraqi and US forces fought members of a Shiite sect north of Najaf, killing more than 250 "Soldiers of Heaven," wounding more than 200 and arresting almost 300.


Officials said the well-armed militia and its cult leader planned to attack senior Shiite clerics in Najaf and occupy holy sites there.


On Friday, security around offices and residences of Shiite clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and the holy shrine of Imam Ali was stepped up, police said.


In Baghdad, US Lieutenant Colonel Josslyn Aberle said the military was checking reports of another helicopter crash after an Iraqi army source reported that soldiers saw one fall to the earth near the sprawling US military base in Taji.


"We don't know the reasons for the crash, nor its exact site because the US army has sealed off the area," the source said.


On January 20, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed northeast of Baghdad, killing 12 troops, and a US attack helicopter went down Sunday north of Najaf during the battle with Shiite militiamen, killing its two-man crew.


At least 73 people were killed in a twin suicide bombing Thursday in the centre of Hilla, the predominantly Shiite capital of Babil province.


The attacks came as Iraqi officials said that nearly 2,000 civilians had been killed in the raging sectarian conflict across the country in January.


On Friday, two more people were reported killed in rebel attacks.


In Washington, a report concluded that US President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 troops to Iraq to help stem sectarian bloodshed could result in an increased force of up to 48,000 soldiers, when non-combat support troops were included.


Iran, meanwhile, blamed Washington again for Iraq's ongoing turbulence.


"The United States, despite the presence of hundreds of thousands of troops, is unable to achieve its objectives," said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.


"It has failed in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Palestine," he said. "And in the face of its failures, it is hunting for a scapegoat and so accuses Iran."


Washington has repeatedly accused Tehran of arming militias in Iraq and some US officials have suggested Iran was behind a recent attack in the shrine city of Karbala where five US soldiers were killed.


The military reported the deaths of three soldiers in vehicle accidents, taking losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,083, according to Pentagon figures.


A separate statement said US forces had killed 18 insurgents in the western Sunni bastion town of Ramadi in two battles over the past two days.

Middle East Online