Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. before Febuary 2nd 2006

LONG STORY FOLLOW LINK TO ECONOMY BELOW
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Monopolies Bank is planning to plunder Iraq's oil wealth
المصدر: الزوراءSource : Zawra
31 / 01 / 07


With Iraq witnessing a serious deterioration in the security situation and rising sectarian violence, to kill thousands of innocent Iraqis Orah, hotly dispute over US-Iraqi plans to control security in the capital, Baghdad.

Continue to actively and several months ago, and behind the scenes, quietly, away from the sound of explosions and the screams of the victims, put the final touches on the final draft of the draft <the oil> before being submitted to the Iraqi government in preparation for a pass in the Parliament. Press reports revealed recently that a draft of this law, which the government intervened in the preparation of the American Foundation through advisory body, will give Western oil companies the right to exploit the huge oil reserves held by Iraq, a condition for the country's wealth of oil monopolies for decades to come and alienating the Iraqi people's rights, in flagrant violation of national sovereignty and economic.
In spite of repeated assurances from the leaders of the American administration, and representatives of former occupation authority in the interim, that the goal of the war was not getting hold of Iraq's oil and reserve, which is the third largest oil reserves in the world (115 billion barrels), and that it will remain the property of the Division, the data reveal increasing again the reality of these intentions. And it would be an illusion to believe that the United States persuaded eventually leave Iraq without reaping the fruits <invested> Aklavh prohibitive, which is estimated at $ 344 billion so far (according to a report of the American Congress), at a monthly cost of the war amounting to about eight billion dollars, which was expressed by the American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an interview recently (December 21, 2006) saying that Iraq <deserves investment in lives and American dollars>.

In the seventh month of January (January) this month, the newspaper published <Independent on Sunday> British, a widely published page on a most critical issue will be included, it seems, the draft <the oil> anticipated as the draft was leaked, it was pointed out that the items represent a radical departure from what is customary for the developing countries. Under a system known b <production sharing agreements> will be able monopolies such as global oil <BP, Shell> and <> in Britain, and <Exxon, Chevron> and <> in the United States, the signing of agreements for the extraction of Iraqi oil for a period of up to 30 years.

The newspaper pointed out that the information in its report was based on a copy of the draft law, located in 40 pages, was circulated among Western oil companies in July (July) 2006. The report also pointed out that there had not been, it seems, significant changes to the final draft.

Translated version of http://www.alzawraa.net/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4880&Ite mid=73

دولار (اقتصاد)$ (Economy)
كتب: dhrgham في يوم الأربعاء, 31 يناير, 2007 - 03:14 PM BTBooks : dhrgham on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 3:14 PM-BT

استمرار انخفاض الطلب على شراء الدولارThe continuing decline in demand for dollar
من ضرغام محمد عليDargham of Muhammad Ali
Continued lower demand for the dollar today, Wednesday, for the fourth consecutive day auction in the Iraqi Central Bank registered 92 million and 165 thousand dollars against 97 million and 420 thousand dollars on Monday after a halt of the auction yesterday, because yesterday's holiday of Ashura.
The bulletin periodic adopted by the Central Bank to demand distributed at 14 million and 965 thousand dollars in cash and 77 million and 200 thousand dollars in the form of remittances outside the country, the Bank has full coverage at the exchange rate stable for the fourth consecutive year of 1292 dinars.
She pointed out that the 12 banks participating in the auction made offers for the sale of 830 thousand dollars bought by the bank in full at the exchange rate of 1290 dinars.
And Mr. Yasiri, one of the dealers with the bank News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent expressed optimism because of the high volume of demand for dollar from the regular rates, despite being dropped from the previous meeting, but the index did not fall meetings for six meetings on consecutive exceeded 90 million, which was due to exchange rate stability in the bank.
Translated version of http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid= 32340&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

إحتجبت الصحف العراقية اليوم الأربعاء ولليوم الثاني على التوالى في بغداد بسبب عطلة العاشر من المحرم ، ويستمر الاحتجاب لمدة يومين قادمين، بينما إستمر إحتجاب الصحف المحلية في كربلاء لليوم السادس .Gains Iraqi newspapers today, Wednesday, for the second day running in Baghdad because of the holiday, which is the 10th, and will continue occultation of the coming two days, while the continued invisibility of the local newspapers in Karbala, for the sixth day.
وقال مدير تحرير صحيفة ( الصباح ) شبه الرسمية فليح وداي لوكالة أنباء (أصوات العراق) المستقلة اليوم الاربعاء إن احتجاب الصحف خلال اليومين القادمين جاء نتيجة وقوع اليوم الاربعاء بين عطلة العاشر من محرم امس الثلاثاء والخميس.The chief editor of the newspaper (morning) and the semi-official Fleih Dae News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent today, Wednesday, that the invisibility of the press in the next two days was the result of today, Wednesday, the 10th of Muharram holiday yesterday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
واوضح أنه" تم الاتفاق مع المطابع بعدم الصدور حتى يوم السبت ."He explained that "an agreement has been reached with the printing presses not suspended until Saturday."
Translated version of http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid= 32340&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

As Dinar Devil Dog has stated:

I puchased 600,000 (IQD) from JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Yuma, West Branch 00142 on 01/31/2007

Exchange rate: .00086370
US Amount: $518.22

puts the rate at 1158 dinar to the $1

Just another little piece of interesting information that leads you to believe things are happening and in a good way.

Iraq only needs small increase in US troops: Maliki 2 hours, 48 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said his country only needs a slight increase in the number of US troops in Iraq to help quell violence there.

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"We believe that the existing number, with a slight addition, will do the job, but if there seems to be more need, we will ask for more troops," Maliki told CNN television Wednesday, speaking through an interpreter. He did not specify a number.

There are currently 132,000 soldiers stationed in Iraq, and President George W. Bush announced earlier this month that an additional 21,500 US troops would be sent to Iraq, 4,000 marines to Anbar province and about 17,500 soldiers to reinforce security in Baghdad.

Maliki told CNN that Bush's new strategy would help bolster security efforts in Baghdad but said that "one of the major issues ... is the extent to which there's a need for additional troops."

In the coming weeks, Iraqi and US forces are due to implement a new plan aimed at restoring order in the Iraqi capital.

Nearly 85,000 people -- 50,000 police officers and Iraqi soldiers, and 35,000 US troops -- are expected to participate in the operation, the third such effort in eight months

Ahead of the Bell: Iraq contractors
Published on : Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:18
By : Agencies
URL : Ahead of the Bell: Iraq contractors


WASHINGTON (AFX) - Defense stocks could come under pressure Wednesday after White House and Pentagon officials testify before a U.S. Senate committee examining flawed contracting services in Iraq.

Since winning back Congress, Democrats have signaled plans to ramp up oversight on billions of dollars spent in Iraq and contracting services overseen by the Defense Department.

On Wednesday, Paul Dennett, administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy for the Office of Management and Budget and Shay Assad, director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy for the Pentagon will testify before Senate Armed Services committee members.

Since the war began in Iraq, defense contractors on the ground like Houston-based KBR Inc., which provides food and shelter to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and Houston-based Halliburton Inc., which provides engineering and energy services, have been linked with allegations of fraud and abuse.

The Government Accountability Office has launched several investigations into contracting practices by the Pentagon and defense firms. Between 2001 and 2004, the Army spent roughly $15.4 billion on the Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, according to a report released last month by the watchdog agency.

The report also identified other contractors on the ground in Iraq, including Fluor Corp., hired for electric generation power plant construction; Raytheon Co., contracted to install communications systems; DaimlerChrysler AG, hired to provide armored vehicles, and DynCorp International, hired for constructing and training at police training facility.

The Army also contracts bundles of services such as communications, body armor, weapons systems and intelligence to defense firms like Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp.

Also among those slated to testify are Marcia Madsen, partner at Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw, a Washington law firm which specializes in government contracts and litigation; consultant Jonathan Etherton, former Aerospace Industries Association legislative affairs official and now founder of Etherton & Associates; and deputy general counsel for acquisition of the Air Force James A. 'Ty' Hughes.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



Ahead of the Bell: Iraq contractors

abc13.com: Audit says $80M believed wasted in Iraq police training camp

Audit says $80M believed wasted in Iraq police training camp
(1/31/07 - WASHINGTON) - It was supposed to be a residential housing camp in Baghdad for police trainers. But it's never been used. And all the weapons, vehicles and body armor that were supposed to be there can't be accounted for.


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In all, the project added another $80 million of U.S. taxpayer money to the billions believed to have been wasted in Iraq.

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, told Congress this month that 15 percent of all the money the United States had spent so far on Iraq reconstruction had been wasted.

The police training program is just the latest example. In SIGR's quarterly report that came out today, Bowen and his staff said the State Department spent nearly $44 million to build trailers and then store them for the residential camp.

But the SIGIR report said the camp "has never been used."

The State Department may have "spent another $36.4 million for weapons and equipment, including armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that cannot be accounted for" because of vague paperwork and invoices, according to the report.

The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs contracted with DynCorp for the facilities and equipment.

A State Department official told ABC News it realized there was a problem with the contract and had started its own investigation. The official said the State Department is now trying to find and clarify invoices for the project, and it is trying to get taxpayers' money back.

The official said the department is making "every effort to recover overpayments and any payments that are inconsistent with the contract terms and conditions."

So far, the United States has spent more than $20 billion on reconstruction. Using Bowen's formula, at least $3 billion has been wasted.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Top Commander Says Time Short In Iraq, Adm. William Fallon Says Stabilizing Iraq Will Require "New And Different Actions" - CBS News

Top Commander Says Time Short In Iraq

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2007
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(CBS/AP) Stabilizing Iraq will require "new and different actions" to improve security and promote political reconciliation, the Navy admiral poised to lead American forces in the Middle East said Tuesday.

Adm. William Fallon, at his confirmation hearing, also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it may be time to "redefine the goals" in Iraq.

"I believe the situation in Iraq can be turned around, but time is short," he said.

Fallon, 62, who currently is commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said he saw a need for a comprehensive approach to Iraq, including economic and political actions to resolve a problem that requires more than military force.

"What we have been doing has not been working," he said. "We have got to be doing, it seems to me, something different."

Fallon said that "we probably erred in our assessment" of the Iraqi government's ability to rebuild its society and establish a peaceful order after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.

"One of the things in the back of my mind that I'd like to get answered is to meet with the people that have been working this issue — particularly our ambassadors, our diplomats — to get an assessment of what's realistic and what's practical," Fallon said.

"And maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting some progress and then maybe take on the other things later," he added.

In addition Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened a hearing to consider the nomination of John Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, to become deputy secretary of state.

Negroponte told the panel that Syria is allowing 40 to 75 foreign fighters to cross its border into Iraq each month and repeated the charge that Iran is providing lethal help to insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

Negroponte gave only mild endorsement, however, to the administration's diplomatic hands-off policy toward Damascus and Tehran. Negroponte would lead the department's Iraq policy if confirmed.

Fallon and Negroponte's confirmations were not expected to rouse Senate protests, despite bitter opposition in Congress to President Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.

Public sentiment has turned strongly against a war that has dragged on for nearly four years with more than 3,000 American dead and violence unabated by insurgents and sectarian militias.

Mr. Bush nominated Fallon to replace Army Gen. John Abizaid, who is retiring after nearly four years as commander of Central Command.

Fallon said he did not know how many extra troops will be needed in Iraq to successfully implement the new strategy Mr. Bush announced Jan. 10. The president approved the deployment of an additional 21,500 troops between now and May.

Asked by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the committee, whether the flow of additional U.S. troops would be tied to progress by the Iraqis on political and other commitments they made to Mr. Bush, Fallon said he had not yet studied the plans in detail, given his continuing responsibilities as Pacific Command chief.

"I'm surprised you don't have that understanding going in, frankly," Levin said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the senior Republican on the committee, said he hoped Fallon intended to give Congress his unvarnished view of conditions in Iraq and elsewhere in his Central Command region.

"Too often administration officials came before this committee and the American people and painted a rosy scenario when it was not there," McCain said, referring to Iraq.

"We need candid assessments, and you'll get them from me," Fallon said.

Some were surprised when Mr. Bush chose Fallon to lead Central Command, in light of the protracted land wars it is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He would be the first Navy admiral to hold the position.

The Central Command is responsible for U.S. military operations and relations in 27 countries stretching from the Horn of Africa, through the Middle East to Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In remarks prepared for delivery later Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Armed Services Committee who recently returned from a trip to the region, said only another 200,000 or 300,000 U.S. troops would make a substantial difference in Iraq.

"Based on everything I saw last month, and based on my conversations with Iraqi officials, our own military leaders and rank-and-file soldiers, I am convinced more troops won't end the sectarian violence," Nelson said.

Nelson also was expected to deliver a sharp rebuke of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Nelson said that al-Maliki "either lacks the will, or the nerve, to take on the Shiite militias."

Mr. Bush, meanwhile, warned lawmakers about the message they'll be sending with a resolution opposing an Iraq troop buildup.

Mr. Bush told National Public Radio lawmakers will do what "they feel they've got to do," but he said he hopes the Senate doesn't undercut the troops or their mission.

The president said he doesn't understand why senators would confirm a new top general for Iraq but vote against the buildup the general supports. He sees that as a "contradictory message."

Last Friday the Senate approved, 81-0, Mr. Bush's nomination of Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus to be the senior U.S. commander in Iraq. Petraeus, who is replacing Gen. George Casey, would report to Fallon.

Kurdish delegation in Baghdad for talks on oil
By Abdul-Hamid Zibari
Arbil, Jan 31, (VOI)- A delegation from Iraq's Kurdistan government is currently on a visit to Baghdad for talks on an oil draft law, Kurdistan government spokesman said on Wednesday.
"A Kurdish delegation led by Kurdistan natural resources minister Ashti Haurami is currently on a visit to Baghdad to resume negotiations with the federal government on working out a final draft for the oil draft law," Khaled Saleh, spokesman for Kurdistan government, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
He added "the talks were still going on till a final agreement would be reached on the oil draft law."
"As soon as a final formula was reached, the content of the draft law would be made public," Saleh added.
Two weeks ago, the Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Aasem Jihad said a draft law for oil investment in Iraq, including Kurdistan region, was worked out by his ministry and was sent for the Iraqi parliament.
Iraq's Kurdistan government immediately voiced concern over the new draft law as no consultation was made with Kurdistan region over the proposed oil law.
Kurdistan Prime Minister Nigervan Barazani told reporters last week a new round of talks would soon start between his government and the federal authorities in Baghdad on working out a formula for an expected oil law that regulate investment in the oil industry throughout Iraq including Kurdistan region.
Barazani pointed out the new law is expected to handle 60 percent of the lingering issues between Baghdad and Arbil over oil and the distribution of its revenues.
Kurds demand a free choice of the companies that would invest in oil within Iraq's Kurdistan, a right to sign oil contracts with no intervention from the central government in Baghdad, and an increase in the oil revenues allocated for Kurdistan region from the present 17 percent up to 20 percent of the total oil revenues in the whole Iraq.

Kurdistan-Oil :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

Are the Iranians Out for Revenge?
Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2007 By ROBERT BAER

The speed and level of chaos in Iraq is picking up fast. An apocalyptic cult came uncomfortably close to taking Najaf, one of Shi'a Islam's most holy cities, and murdering Grand Ayatollah Sistani. Sistani is the neo-cons' favorite quietist Shi'a cleric, the man who was supposed to keep Iraq's Shi'a in line while we went about nation building. And then, on Sunday, Iran's ambassador to Baghdad told the New York Times that Iran is in Iraq to stay, whether the Bush Administration likes it or not.

Just when you thought you knew the players in the war, a cult tries to take over the holy city of Najaf

And that's not the worst of it. American forces still hold five members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Arrested by American forces in Erbil on Jan. 11, the five are accused by the Administration of helping the Iraqi opposition kill Americans.

I've written here before that the IRGC has a long history of calculated violence against its enemies, particularly the United States. The Administration's accusations are plausible. But at the same time the U.S. needs to remember what a serious spoiler the IRGC can be when provoked.

In July 1982, after a Christian Lebanese militia kidnapped the Iranian charge d'affaires in Beirut, the IRGC set in motion a campaign of retaliatory kidnappings, hijackings and assassinations against the U.S. and the West. The Iranian charge was a senior IRGC officer, and the IRGC had no intention of letting his kidnapping go unanswered. The IRGC campaign lasted for more than 10 years and dragged the U.S. into Iran-contra and the arms-for-hostages deal that nearly brought down the Reagan Administration.

Some Iraqis speculate that the IRGC has already started a campaign of revenge with the killing of five American soldiers in Karbala on Jan. 20, nine days after the arrest of the IRGC members in Erbil. As the logic of the rumor goes, five American soldiers were killed for five Iranians taken; Karbala was an IRGC message to release its colleagues — or else.

The speculation that Karbala was an IRGC operation may have as much to do with Iraqis' respect for IRGC capacity for revenge as it does with the truth. Nevertheless, we should count on the IRGC gearing up for a fight. And we shouldn't underestimate its capacities. Aside from arming the opposition, the IRGC is capable of doing serious damage to our logistics lines. I called up an American contractor in Baghdad who runs convoys from Kuwait every day and asked him just how much damage. "Let me put it this way," he said. "In Basra today the currency is the Iranian toman, not the Iraqi dinar." He said his convoys now are forced to pay a 40% surcharge to Shi'a militias and Iraqi police in the south, many of whom are affiliated with IRGC.

Mindful of the spreading chaos in Iraq, President Bush has promised not to take the war into Iran. But it won't matter to the IRGC. There is nothing the IRGC likes better than to fight a proxy war in another country.

Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, is the author of See No Evil and, most recently, the novel Blow the House Down.