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

2007The House majority to approve 2007 budget
من كوثر عبد الامير وسانتا ميخائيلFrom the hushed Abdulamir and Santa Mikhail
()(To add details and closing of the chapter of the Legislative 2nd)
العراق)Baghdad - (Voices of Iraq) الثاني.The House of Representatives approved its Iraqi today, Thursday, b the majority of the budget in 2007 and the transfer of 5% of the allocations social benefits of the prime minister and the presidency Jamho Rayya, the Council Secretariat to the allocation of benefits only Jtmaeih in the House of Representatives, the Speaker announced the adjournment of the meeting and conclusion of Ama told the Legislative Chapter II.
وكانت.The provision of social benefits to the presidency Alozra automatic and the presidency one points of disagreement between the coalition united Iraqi Alliance of Kurdistan.
530) مليي.The general budget (42), Trillion (64) billion. , (530) million, (267) thousand Iraqi dinars.
بندا.The voting process on the budget before the House of Representatives those who attended the meeting and the (157) member itemizing.
.The budget address the shortfall from A. Waed of the budget last year, the cancellation was one of the chapters of the budget recommendation being told m unpopular House, which dealt with grants and loans that come to the State.
.The delayed vote on the state budget for more two weeks due to some differences on the allocation of amounts told the social benefits for the presidency and ministers.
إجازته.And the Parliament Dr. Mahmoud a Almshahadani workers meeting to postpone announcing the end of a to separate the legislative and the second takes his leave Parliament.
.News today witnessed a heated verbal altercations between Ada automatic Parliament on the differences in the nomination meeting, which allocated T. to interrogate Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader Mohammed a for Obedi, but Almshahadani the matter in the end and making the Board's e hosting a result of the withdrawal of a number of MPs who Kano a question had presented to the Minister of Defense.
مشتركة.The meeting also included a speech by the Minister of Health, the Iraqi al-Shamri, who attended today's meeting denounced the process the arrest and Undersecretary of the Ministry for Administrative Affairs Governor Zamili before American forces and the Iraqi joint.
وقد ."The following Dr. Almshahadani on saying, "The Mai the violations by the multinational Aljunsia v is part of reduced sovereignty. "
."He added, "If what we are doing incomplete sovereignty must we call for full sovereignty to have credibility when Elisha Iraqi stalemate. "
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http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...0% 26thold%3D0

Iraqi Arabs seek sanctuary in Kurdish north

SULAIMANIYAH: As snow fell outside, the smell of frying eggplant and onions burned Umm Ali's eyes as she cooked in her kitchen, which doubles as the family bathroom. There's not much else: one other room for her, her husband and four children. Still, she says, it's better here than at the family's home in Baghdad, 260 kilometers south, at the center of Iraq's bloodshed. "Even if we were living in a tent, without a real roof over our heads in this snowy weather, we'd still be happy to be away from that intimidation," said the 41-year-old Shiite housewife.
Some 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries in the past three years and up to 3,000 more flee abroad everyday, according to the UN refugee agency. But Umm Ali and her husband, Hussein Jawad, are among nearly 85,000 Iraqi Arabs who have chosen, instead, to flee to the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. There, they too find themselves in what feels like a foreign country: Kurdistan has been autonomous since 1991, and Kurds have run their own affairs. While Arabic is still an official language, it is all but eclipsed by Kurdish. But Iraq's Kurdistan also has largely been spared the relentless car bombings, suicide attacks and Shiite-Sunni slayings that have killed thousands in Baghdad, central Iraq and the south. People here also are mostly free of the daily crime, kidnappings, death threats and fear present in Baghdad.

The result has been an economic boom in the three provinces that make up Kurdistan, with numerous jobs in construction for Iraqis from the south. "Our joy comes in feeling secure," said Jawad, who took his family from the Baghdad district of Dora after a note was left at their house calling the family "Shiite infidels" and warning that the children would be "slain like sheep" if the family didn't leave. "I didn't care about my house," he said. "I just felt my children and I needed to live our lives." He now works as an electrician in a new three-star hotel here. The influx has strained social services in the north, however, and fueled rising housing prices. It also comes at a time when Kurdish-Arab tensions are increasing in the city of Kirkuk, just outside the Kurdish zone, over Kurdish attempts to include it in Kurdistan. Similar Kurdish-Arab tensions have arisen in the northern city of Mosul. That makes the current, peaceful migration of Iraqi Arabs to Kurdish cities like Sulaimaniyah somewhat unusual in the country's history. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Kurds were terrorized and repressed and Saddam tried to send Arab residents north in some cases to displace Kurds in key cities. But so far, the flight of Iraqi Arabs to the three Kurdish provinces has not sparked significant ethnic tensions. In fact, the governor of Sulaimaniyah, Dana Ahmad Majeed, has invited more Iraqis to flee north rather than leave Iraq altogether.

Still, he said the federal government needs to give Kurdistan more medical supplies, fuel and electricity in order to handle the flood of refugees. "The support these displaced people are getting is so slim compared to the skyrocketing numbers of these emigrants (to Kurdistan) everyday," he told The Associated Press. Of the nearly 85,000 Iraqis displaced from farther south who now live in the three Kurdish provinces, about 30,000 live in Sulaimaniyah province, said Anita Raman, an official of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees monitoring Iraqi refugees. UNHCR has been providing emergency help for the most vulnerable, including kerosene, lanterns, blankets and food, Raman said. Majeed said at least 10 more families enter Sulaimaniyah everyday- on top of some 25,000 Arabs who have come simply looking for jobs rather than fleeing violence. The region's pre-refugee exact population is not known. At the "border" between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, Kurdish fighters at checkpoints now stop and search the cars of entering Arabs. Families are allowed in without permits, but single men must have a Kurdish sponsor and a work permit to pass -a security measure to prevent militants from entering, Kurdish authorities say.
Those who come have to make adjustments- to the high rents, scarce housing, cold winter weather and language barrier. The Kurdish language uses the Arabic alphabet, but is an Indo-European language unrelated to Semitic Arabic. "We couldn't even read the signs in the streets," said Jawdat Al-Obaidi, a Sunni Arab from the town of Youssifiyah, just south of Baghdad. "I am trying to learn the language so I can find a decent job and settle here." The 46-year-old engineer fled Youssifiyah two months ago after Shiite militiamen scrawled "death to terrorists" on his house. Now he's thrilled to have found the Jawahiri Elementary School- Sulaimaniyah's only Arabic language school, where he has enrolled his three sons. Near the school one recent day, a Kurdish street vendor selling cookies and chocolates stood surrounded by a dozen Arab schoolchildren. Hussein Mazin, a 12-year-old Shiite, struggled to find a way to ask the vendor whether he sold a particular kind of potato chip. "I speak some Kurdish," Mazin said, smiling. "But obviously not very good." Mazin's family fled the southern city of Basra after his brother was snatched near his school for ransom. The kidnappers then threatened to seize his younger sister, too. "We are not afraid of the kidnappers anymore," Mazin said. _ AP

Published: 09/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

Officials hope Kuwait waives billions in debt
By Basil Adas, Correspondent



Baghdad: Iraqi officials are making an intensive effort to cancel the compensation that Iraq is expected to pay to those who suffered from the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and to write off billions of dollars of Iraqi debt to Kuwait.

"Kuwaitis promised us to write-off 80 per cent of the $10 billion (the total value of its debts on Iraq)," Ayad Al-Samarra'ai, Chairman of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament told Gulf News.

He added, "Iraqi political activities towards Kuwait aim to cancel or to convince Kuwait to waive the compensation from the second Gulf War and to reduce its debts on Iraq."

Al Samarra'ai continued to say, "Kuwaiti officials expressed the possibility of responding positively to Iraqi demands. However, before the Kuwaitis take any political decision, they want to be reassured on the political and economic situation in Iraq, and that the circumstances will allow Kuwaiti investements to enter Iraqi markets."

Ammira Al-Bldawi, an Economist and a member of the Economic Committee in the Iraqi Parliament told Gulf News, "about 100 Iraqi members of parliament signed a petition to submit to the Kuwaiti national assembly asking it to write off Kuwait's debts."

"Iraq pays 5 per cent of its oil revenues as compensation to Kuwait. In 2006 Iraq paid 21 billion Iraqi dinars (Dh59.89 million), while in 2007 the payment decreased to 19 billion Iraqi dinars (Dh54.19 million). This certainly will have a negative impact on the Iraqi government's general budget, and it will affect providing services to Iraqi citizens," she added.

For Iraq to continue paying compensation for the 1990-1991 Gulf War is "unacceptable because the new political situation cannot endure the burdens of the former regime, and Kuwait, which stood by the political change in Iraq, should take practical steps for the cancellation of debts and compensations."

She called both governments to start political negotiations to achieve this.

Iraq
Neighbors Wait for a Chance to Co-Exist in Baghdad
by Anne Garrels

Morning Edition, February 8, 2007 · In one Baghdad neighborhood, both Sunnis and Shia see the arrival of U.S. troops as their last chance to survive as a mixed community.

The streets of al-I'lam are now deserted. Where Sunnis and Shia, longtime friends, used to sit outside chatting or playing dominos, there is silence. It all began to change just a month ago, when a militia commander loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr moved into the area.

Saleem Amer, a translator for NPR, lives in the neighborhood. At first, the arrival of the Mahdi commander looked surprisingly promising. Abu Sajad reassured local Sunnis that there had been a change in Sadr policy. He told Sunnis he was there to protect everyone.

"He went to the Sunni families, knocked on their doors, passed his phone number. He told them, 'Anything happens while you guys (are) outside, you or your family members, if they … get captured, call this. This is my personal cell phone number, and I will get them out."

Saleem is a Shiite. His best friend Sabah Mohammed, a Sunni, got confirmation that Sunnis would not be attacked.

"We spoke to the Mahdi Army leader. He told us no Sunnis will be forced from the area anymore, and you should feel safe," Sabah Mohammed said through a translator.

Saleem said the Sunnis came back home "and they came on the street and start telling the story, and they've been so happy that nothing happened."

The relief was short-lived — and the promise empty. Two weeks ago, the Mahdi commander was assassinated and militiamen came to the neighborhood to exact revenge. For the first time, a roadside bomb blew up here, right outside Saleem's house. It killed four people. The tight-knit community was in shock.

"I lost my mind, personally," Saleem said. "And it was not just me, it was everybody in the neighborhood."

Then three cars arrived with young thugs dressed in black warning the Sunnis to leave by dawn.

According to Saleem, the men in black said, "The ones who will stay, we will blow off their heads."

The police standing nearby did nothing.

As Saleem watched from his upstairs window, he saw the men beat a 15-year-old boy.

"Later we found the kid dead behind the bakery, like 20 or 30 bullets…," Saleem said. "He was just a kid, you know, just a poor family, they have a small mini-market."

Now gunshots are heard every night.

"It's weird, a little bit, to me, you know, because I am a Shia, and I'm telling you a story against the Mahdi's militia," Saleem said. "Everybody thought they will protect us, but they are just protecting their gains."

The militia has attacked five Sunni families.

One afternoon, after Sabah had done what he could to help his fellow Sunnis, he came to check on Saleem. The cars appeared again.

"They shot him," Saleem said. "Three bullets: one in his head, one in the neck, and one in the chest. He died. Innocently."

Saleem, struggling to hold back his tears, says he could do nothing to help his friend.

"The guy get killed in front of us. And none of us can do anything. We (have) just been sitting and watching what was happening. They just wanted to pass a message to everybody: that we can do whatever we want; Sunnis should leave; and the Shia should obey. We can kill anybody."

Attacks on the Sunni families still living in the neighborhood have continued; three women and two children have been killed. Saleem says Shiite families are doing what the can to provide for those hiding in their houses.

"Food gets passed to them through my mother and through other old women in the neighborhood that they go outside and buy stuff (for) them, you know, vegetables, food. But secretly, you know. We don't want anybody to know because we are afraid (of) what's going to happen."

While the militiamen are forcing Sunnis out, they are threatening any Shiite who tries to leave, warning: Stay put — or else. Everyone here suddenly is living in terror. For them, the new security plan is a matter of life and death.

"We want the security plan to start today or tomorrow," Saleem said.

People want the American troops to blanket their neighborhoods as they have promised — and they want them to do it quickly.

Engineers help clean up Ghazaliya
Thursday, 08 February 2007
By 2nd Lt. Mike Daschel
2nd Battalion 12th Cavalry Regiment


Prior to the arrival of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry, and the 642nd Engineer Company, the streets in Ghazaliya were covered with trash, providing insurgents with perfect places to plant roadside bombs. Many of the streets have now been cleared by U.S. forces, improving security while improving living conditions in the area. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Darren Kerr. BAGHDAD — Streets in Ghazaliya are cleaner and safer now for residents due to the efforts of the Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers.

The 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, with the help of the 642nd Engineer Company from Fort Drum, N.Y., and elements from the 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army, completed Operation Thunder Tide.

This operation was aimed to clear the streets in Ghazaliya of trash and debris that had been a severe problem in the area.

“(I) want everything cleared from along the road, to include pieces of broken curb that have been used in the past to hide bombs,” said Lt. Col. James Nickolas, the commander of 2-12 Cavalry.

“There were two main purposes to this operation,” explained Maj. Dan Rouse, the 2-12th’s operations officer, “One was to provide sanitation on the streets so people have a cleaner area to live. The other was to prevent terrorists from having a convenient place to plant roadside bombs to terrorize the people of Ghazaliya and attack U.S. forces.”

Trash, that had covered an enormous amount of the neighborhood streets, made a good hiding place for explosives.

Operation Thunder Tide began Jan. 26, and lasted for two nights. Parts of three streets in southern Ghazaliya were chosen to be cleaned for the mission.

After two nights of clearing, the trash had been removed on these roads.

The operation involved two teams, the clearance team and the sanitation team.
Iraqi army and U.S. soldiers, acting as the clearance team, searched for bombs ahead of the sanitation team to make sure there were no bombs in the trash piles.

The trash was cleared by the sanitation team with bulldozers and bucket loaders and taken by truck to a dump nearby. The end result makes it easier for route clearance teams to detect bombs on the side of the road, making the sanitation teams a valuable asset to the military mission.

IRAQI GOVERNMENT CRITICIZES AL-JAZEERA
The Iraqi government on February 7 accused Al-Jazeera satellite television of helping to "spread death and destruction" in Iraq, Reuters reported the same day. The Iraqi cabinet called on the parliament to take legal action against the satellite channel's perceived negative coverage of Iraq. "Al-Jazeera broadcasts programs that try to create a state of confusion, distort facts, and distract the international public opinion from the disastrous crimes committed by gangs," the cabinet said in a statement. "We call on parliament to take a strict and clear attitude towards this channel and use the legal methods to sue it and deter it from its hostility to the aspirations and ambitions of the Iraqi people and the national government." It is unclear what brought on the new criticism, but one Shi'ite lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the issue was a talk show broadcast on February 6 that criticized the Iraqi government and ruling Shi'ite parties. Al-Jazeera Editor in Chief Ahmad Sheikh called the accusations "unjustified, baseless, and ridiculous." "The Iraqi government is looking for a scapegoat to justify their failure in bringing security and stability to Iraqis," he added. Al-Jazeera has been banned in Iraq since August 2004, although it still reports from the Kurdish region. SS

Originally Posted by Gloribee

I believe you are correct. As of 9 PM bagdad time security was still in place for the officials in the meetings. This was 6 hours ago our time, so this Info may be stale, but yes they are still meeting. Sorry thats all I have at this moment. Will post when I have more.

Gloribee

Thanks for the update. If these guys are really working late, that's encouraging. Maybe Malicki is starting to be a leader and these guys are going to start earning their money or maybe they're just going to hang in there a few more days so they can take there extended vacation.

Normalization Process in Kirkuk Takes Shape

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London, 08 February 2007 (Asharq Alawsat)
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The Kurdistan National Assembly Speaker (KNA), Adnan Mufti disclosed that over 7,000 Arab families, who the former regime had used as a means to change the demographic map of Kirkuk with a policy of deliberate Arabization of the city, have decided to return to their places of origin in return for a generous compensation in accordance with Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution relating to the normalization of the situation in the multi-ethnic city. Deputy speaker of the KNA, Kamal Kirkuki spoke in Arbil (350 km north of Baghdad) and said that “the number of Arab families currently residing in Kirkuk who have registered their names in preparation for their return to their places of origin comes to 4,007 families.”

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat from his Abril office in a phone interview yesterday, Mufti said, “a plot of residential land and a grant of 20 million Iraqi Dinars (IQD – the equivalent of approximately US $15,000), in addition to compensation that will be paid to all citizens returning to their original cities. Their possessions in Kirkuk will be valued at generous prices and will not be undermined,” furthermore reaffirming that, “there will be no coercive action taken, it will all be legal and in accordance with Article 130 of the Iraqi constitution.” He explained that, “the city of Kirkuk and the rest of Iraqi Kurdistan’s cities are open to all Iraqis to live and settle in. They are Iraqi cities and every Iraqi citizen has the right to reside in the place of their choice provided that it does not alter the demographic map. Evidence of this is that there are thousands of Arab families residing in Kurdistan’s cities, however these families did not come with the implementation of polices such as the aforementioned, or with Arabization intentions and other such polices that the former regime had practiced.”

Mufti affirmed that “the process is fully constitutional and does not flout any laws, and that the families that want to return to their original cities are the ones who approached with their requests and that there were no coercive measures taken.” He strongly negated, “that there were Kurdish families, Iraqi or otherwise, that have been repopulated in Kirkuk.” He added that, “there are rumors circulating from unreliable sources claiming the existence of Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish Kurds that have been relocated to Kirkuk with the purpose of using them in the referendum. I challenge any party to present us with a name that comes from outside of Kirkuk and that doesn’t belong to one of the city’s original residents. We face the problem that there are Turkmen and native Kurds to Kirkuk who are living in Abril and Sulaimaniya who refuse to return to Kirkuk because of its security situation, and are moreover requesting compensation and financial privileges to return once again to their homes.”

The speaker of the KNA confirmed that the Kurdisatni parliament and government, “will respect any decision taken by the citizens of Kirkuk after the execution of the process of normalization, census and referendum, meaning, after the implementation of Article 140 with all that it entails if the citizens opt against joining the region of Kurdistan,” he added, “According to the attested historical documents and maps, Kirkuk is part of the map of the Kurdistani region and if we now consider the region to be comprised of three provinces, after the referendum it will be included in the map of the region, in the case where its citizens decide upon that.

For his part, Kirkuki confirmed in a press conference in Abril with Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the “the registration of the names of families living in Kirkuk and the surrounding areas who had arrived and settled as a result of the former regime’s Arabization policy to change the city’s demography was still in progress,” without revealing the total number of Arab families that had settled in the multi-ethnic Kirkuk.

It should be noted that the Kurds are requesting that the oil-rich city be added to the Kurdistani region while the Turkmen and the Arabs oppose that.

The Supreme Committee in charge of implementing Article 140 of the constitution has decided last Sunday upon the necessity of “the return of the Arabs, who had come to reside in Kirkuk to their places of origin in central and southern Iraq, in addition to providing them with the appropriate financial compensation.”

The committee, headed by Iraqi Minister of Justice, Hashim al Shebli, has issued the decision to return the Arabs who had arrived in Kirkuk and transfer their ration cards, and that they may return to their old jobs in their places of origin, in addition to giving them a plot of residential land and IQD 20 million. Kirkuki confirmed that “the execution of the resolution is binding and no one is capable of standing in the way of its implementation,” while Turkmen member of the committee, Tahseen Kahya said, “the resolution is optional, not compulsory.”

Article 140 stipulates the “normalization and census and concludes with a referendum in Kirkuk and other disputed territories to determine the will of the citizens, to be implemented at a date no later than 31 December 2007.” Kirkuki warned those, “who believe they are capable of standing in the way of Article 140 from the remaining dissolved Baathist party and the perpetrators of the crime of Anfal [also known as Operation Anfal, the anti-Kurdish campaign led by Saddam Hussein’s Baathist Iraqi regime between 1986-89] that their fate will not be much better than those who led the al-Anfal campaign.”

More than 1,000 Arab figures, both Sunni and Shia participating in the fourth Arab conference have rejected this. The conference was held last Sunday in Kirkuk and was the largest one since the destruction of Iraq. During the conference, the threat of ‘resorting to violence’ in defense of the historical presence of Arabs in the city was voiced.

Normalization Process in Kirkuk Takes Shape | Iraq Updates

Trade Minister : Most Iraqi cities ready to invest
08.02.07

He said Iraqi Trade Minister Abdalvalah Sudanese : 'Most areas of the country live a stable and secure environment and uh j ready to invest and companies will be preferred told and I thought to operate in Iraq '.

He added after his meeting with the President to launch Musa Bom Korean Agency international cooperation : 'that the Iraqi government has an objective and comprehensive M. n for the bright future of the country, The investment law granting greater opportunity to benefit from a Foreign investments, We must exploit this opportunity by the kind of major Korean companies known worldwide capability and the possibility of Aya enormous'.

The Sudanese statement of the Ministry of Trade : 'the important role played by the Korean Agency for Tao n international particularly in the area of providing technical assistance Lela refined to rebuild institutions and infrastructure building a of particular economy and the possibility of further training for you Faat Iraqi and benefiting from the Korean expertise P j various areas'.

For his part, Musa said that the agency is continuing its support for the Korean bumpy s is ready for greater cooperation and expansion in the area AT different.

He added : 'Iraq is an economic heavyweight in the region, which died you enormous economic potential, which makes it Lae Ba essential if the security aspect, which is to Laf z major impediment to return to work in the brain enveloped '. The ministerial delegation headed by Sudanese Minister of Ala Mar housing and the number of ministries and agents left to Corr Oh south to activate the bilateral relations between the country Yen.

The opening of the biggest center for businessmen in Baghdad Airport
08.02.07

Opened Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iraqi Alamirk Yeh new branch status of businessmen in a Baghdad Airport for international. He said the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Els Nah Iraqi American Raad Omar, the chamber is seeking a I support the Iraqi businessmen and foreigners Alozar AT Iraq through the provision of many services, as well the main aim of the development of the business community.

He added. This center has the availability of advanced services contribute to the Ast Katab investors Iraqis and foreigners, provides Alag brigade appropriate for them, pointing out the chamber has sought to strengthen the work of businessmen and improving the economy of the future Iraqi through services and economic forums Wa taller international exhibitions and training courses.

Omar also said : We seek to support investment programs and laws Alast fruits in Baghdad and Iraq as a whole through coordination and meetings between Iraqi companies and companies Alajenbe Yeh on the other side in order to support the reconstruction of Iraq.

He referred to the supervision of the management and the signing of a contract of particular business transaction and the reconstruction of Iraq wa to promote investment in the airport area, announcing the intention of Conference to organize weekly lectures in the area of a development for management and the creation of successful managers.

Meanwhile, the long businessmen to Michael Magid the goal of the center is to rapidly gather and provide services blatant businessmen and opened the way for them to benefit e services provided by the Center (such as the Internet, fax. international communications and hotel reservations and reservations Waller Halat air from Baghdad and to anywhere in the world).