Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. Before Feb. 21, 2007

Originally Posted by Wm.Knowles

Hello everyone. The increase in interest rates by the CBI is another tool of intervention to reduce inflation by a central bank. Increased interest rates decrease the flow of money into the economy and help to reduce the base money supply. Raising rates by the CBI, while not as dramatic as purchasing dinar and removing it from the economy, is still an effective intervention that has been used (by the Fed) to slow growth. By the way, Jimmy Carter did not give us high interest and inflation. It has been said that we never paid for the Vietnam War. We "montetarized" the debt buy "printing money". Of course, by the time the effects of so much money being printed were felt in the economy, it did "hit" during the Carter administration. We got away with it due to our expanding economy eventually "absorbing" the inflationary pressures of the expanded money supply base through a growth in US GNP. Thank You.

Exactly,

Well put, and as to Carter era, right on, he paid for it, but the gov. has been printing money for years with nothing backing it, so I predict the Iraqi dinar will be backed while the U.S. dollar goes down the toilet. It has been floating on top for decades, and soon it will be flushed, so hold onto your dinars everyone. lol

Good luck to all, Mike

Iraqi unit in Anbar becomes first to control its own troops


Stars and Stripes,
European edition, Saturday, February 17, 2007



An Iraqi unit has become the first Iraqi division in Anbar to be given “operational control” over its own soldiers, U.S. military officials said Friday.

The 1st Iraqi Army Division — one of two Iraqi divisions in the volatile western province of Anbar — now falls under the purview of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command.

U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. W.E. Gaskin, commander of Multi-National Force-West, relinquished operational control of the division to Iraqi Maj. Gen. Tariq Abual Wahab Jasim el Azawi in a ceremony at Habbaniyah, officials said.

The Iraqi division’s area of responsibility is centered in the city of Fallujah, but brigades from the division are currently assigned in locations from Baghdad to Ramadi.

“We share a common goal — to provide a secure and stable environment so that Iraq and its citizens can achieve the prosperity they deserve,” Gaskin said, according to a news release.

The Iraqi unit will continue to get logistical and medical support from U.S. troops.

Iraqi vice-president says he could run for prime minister

LONDON: Iraqi vice-president Adil Abdul Mahdi would be ready to serve as prime minister of his violence-scarred country, he said in an interview with BBC World Service radio on Friday. Mahdi unsuccessfully ran for the mainly Shiite United Iraqi Alliance’s (UIA) nomination to be prime minister of Iraq’s first permanent government against Ibrahim Al-Jaafari in 2006, but lost by one vote. Nuri Al-Maliki was then named UIA candidate and secured the post. According to extracts released in advance, Mahdi told the BBC he had supported both Jafaari and Maliki but “should there be a change in Iraq, I am still there”. “If the Iraqi parliament sees in me a prime minister, at the proper time, as an alternative, in a constitutional way, in a democratic way, I’ve served my country, I’ll continue serving my country, that’s all.” “I am one of the political players on the scene,” he said, adding: “I am not a coup d’etat man.” On January 2 this year, Maliki told the Wall Street Journal newspaper in an interview he had not wanted to become prime minister in the first place and did not want to serve a second term in office. His premiership has also been dogged by claims he has failed to clamp down on sectarian militia partly responsible for the violence in Iraq. Mahdi, a trained economist, is one of Iraq’s two vice-presidents. He was formerly the finance minister in the interim government in place from 2004 until national assembly elections in January 2005. afp

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IRAQ'S SUNNI VICE PRESIDENT PRAISES BAGHDAD SECURITY PLAN
Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi praised the Baghdad security operation in a February 15 interview with Al-Arabiyah television, saying the plan is "based on neutrality and professionalism." He added that if the plan's principles, outlined by the prime minister earlier this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 14, 2007), are implemented, then it "will proceed well." Al-Hashimi noted his disappointment, however, that details of the plan were leaked ahead of time, which gave insurgents, both Sunni and Shi'ite, the opportunity to flee or hide. "These criminals should have been targeted, arrested, and brought to justice," al-Hashimi said. "I regret to say these groups have now fled and disappeared." He also called on Prime Minister al-Maliki to develop a comprehensive plan to get all unauthorized weapons off the streets. "I think the government is in dire need of an integrated plan to tempt people to surrender their weapons to the government," he said. "I wish this step would have been taken before the implementation of the Baghdad security plan, but this did not happen." KR

TURKISH PREMIER SUGGESTS FORGING STRONGER RELATIONS WITH IRAQI KURDISH REGION
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on February 15 that his government should take steps to forge better relations with Iraq's Kurdistan region government, Istanbul-based NTV reported the same day. He added that he will inform President Talabani of his proposal. Talabani's party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), issued a report on Erdogan's comments on its website, saying PUK media chief Azad Jundiyani welcomed the statement. "We consider Erdogan's statements a significant development in the relationship between Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey," Jundiyani said. "The courageous statements by Erdogan indicate the adoption of a new and realistic policy by the Turkish government. We are sure that this will have a [positive] impact on the future of the region," he added. KR

Kurds cry out for change: Abandoned Kurdish dogs protest!


Saturday, February 17, 2007

KurdishMedia.com - By Dr Kamal Mirawdeli

Part 4: Kurds cry out for change: Abandoned Kurdish dogs protest!

By Hastyar Ghamgin
Translated by Dr Kamal Mirawdeli
Published on ˜æÑÏÓÊÇä äیÊ Kurdistan net on 14-02-2007
[http://kurdistannet.info/2007/2-2007/15-2/sege.pdf]

After importing of countless foreign dogs to Kurdistan by the sons and daughters of the ‘officials’ who started to feed and take care of them in the best way, the local Kurdish dogs had a meeting and made a statement strongly protesting against this position of the officials and condemned their trampling upon the animal rights of Kurdistan animals.

The statement which carries the signatures of a large number of starved abandoned dogs calls upon the Kurdish officials to ban the flood of importation of foreign dogs which is pursued by many officials and other rich families.

These poor dogs state: We are a number of lonely abandoned stray dogs on roads and plains of Kurdistan, we are entitled to demand our rights and ask for basic animal rights.’’ The dogs strongly condemn the incident of the death of Mino although Mino was a foreign dog.

This life is really a joke. No one pays attention to the plight of those poor dogs of Kurdistan many of which are attacked and hurt by naughty children. They are not allowed to pass a day in rest while one day food of the [foreign] dogs of some officials equals the wages of ten Kurdish children.
But what difference is there between us barking journalists and the dogs that with all their strength call for their rights like all the other animals who enjoy these rights.

But not only have they not been given these rights, they are also not allowed to live normally as animals.
I ask: what is the difference between an article that I as a journalist write and raise the issues of lack of electricity, lack of services, homelessness, injustice, in short, I write for the right to live, and the howl of stray dogs all the night?

Perhaps some readers say: how do you put yourself in the rank of dogs that God has created as an animal. Why not? Don’t you remember an official said: the journalists bark at the government of the region like stray dogs?

I do not say that the regional government should treat me as a dog but I say let me at least live like those dogs that lack nothing and lead a happy life. The life of a foreign dog compared with the life of a journalist like me is worlds apart. Then which words of regional government shall I cherish?

I ask your conscience: Which Kurdish children even in their dreams are as well fed and spoiled as these dogs?

I heard that Miss Layla Fariqi has been given large plots of land on which she will build farms for breeding dogs and cats. I beg this lady not to forget the abandoned dogs in our won streets. We human beings have for long been living in comfort and pleasure. It is time these poor dogs did.

Dr Kamal Mirawdeli is a regular KurdishMedia.com contributor and one of the internationally known Kurdish writers. Dr Mirawdali was born in southern Kurdistan, studied in Baghdad and the UK. He lives in diaspora, London.

Taking Care of Our Iraqi Friends
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Posted GMT 2-17-2007 19:42:28
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The United States has taken a small step toward righting a terrible injustice.

This past week, the Bush administration announced that we would accept 7,000 Iraqi refugees this year. That compares with only 600 in nearly four years of war. The administration also announced it would contribute $18 million to international relief and resettlement efforts for displaced Iraqis.

The figures are inexact, but there are a lot of Iraqi refugees: at least 2 million who have fled the country, mostly to Syria and Jordan, and at least 1.7 million displaced internally.

Many of the refugees in the Mideast prefer to stay there, waiting for the day they can safely return to their homes. But many would like to come here, and accepting 7,000 is a small enough gesture. As a Jordanian official pointedly noted, it is 1 percent of the 700,000 his relatively poor country is accommodating.

There is one group the United States must especially welcome and whose arrival should be expedited. Those are the Iraqis who have risked their lives and those of their families to work for the American forces, a group especially targeted for ghastly reprisals by the insurgents.

Returning American troops speak well of the Iraqis they encounter and are admiring and respectful of the ones they employ. There's nothing to indicate they would be anything other than good citizens and a positive addition to the national tapestry. And, in a calculation of cold self-interest, they would add a store of expertise about Iraq and the Mideast that we clearly lacked before the war.

Supporters of the war argue that a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be taken as a sign of American weakness. That would be a strategic failing. Abandoning the Iraqis who sought to help us would be a moral failing.

We trust that the 7,000 is only a down payment to people we owe.

The Cincinnati Post

© 2007, Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi and coalition troops begin major security operation in Basra
Saturday, 17 February 2007

Joint forces from 19 Light Brigade and Iraqi Security Forces man Permanent Vehicle Check Points (PVCP) during Operation TROY in Basrah city. Royal Air Force photo by Cpl Andy Benson.BASRAH — A major security crackdown was launched by Iraqi Security Forces, assisted by coalition troops, in Basrah Feb. 15. This is part of a nationwide effort by the Iraqi Government.
Operation TROY will last for 72 hours and involves the reinforcing and closure of the border crossing points between IranIraq, establishing a security ring around the city and increased activity within.

The operation aims to halt smuggling, contain criminal and rogue militia activity and conduct a series of intelligence-led operations against them.

It involves 2,000 Iraqi personnel from the Iraqi Army (IA), Department for Border Enforcement (DBE), Iraqi Police Service (IPS), Coast Guard Inland Waterways Department (CGIWD), Tactical Support Unit (TSU), Auxiliary Police and 1,200 British troops from 19 Light Brigade, part of the Multi National Division (South East).

It is being conducted in support of the Baghdad Security Plan and builds on the success of Operation SINBAD, a $77 million regeneration project which has been taking place in recent months.

Operation TROY is the first security operation of this scale planned and conducted by the Iraqi Security Forces in southern Iraq. and

The Permanent Vehicle Check Point (PVCP) Police, assisted by troops from 19 Light Brigade, have 'locked-down' the city using the PVCPs on the eight arterial routes to search traffic entering and leaving Basra.

The IA, IPS and DBE units surged into the more notorious areas of the city to search for illegal and suspicious vehicles. The CGIWD are conducting joint boat patrols with the Royal Marines searching traffic along the Shatt Al Arab waterway.

The DBE, in conjunction with multi-national forces, have also temporarily shut the border crossing points at Shalamchan and Sheeb. The IA, supported by troops from 19 Light Brigade, will also target those elements trying to undermine stability in the region.

"Operation TROY is a large-scale operation which sees Iraqi and multi-national forces working together for the greater good of the people of Basra,” said Captain Ollie Pile, a spokesman for 19 Light Brigade in southern Iraq.

"We see this as another step along the way towards the Iraqi authorities taking responsibility for the security of Basra. It is also conducted in partnership with the Baghdad Security Plan and other security operations being conducted throughout Iraq."

Multi-National Force (MNF) troops are providing a supportive role in Operation TROY, mentoring the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and assisting with security patrols and operations. With Al Muthana and Dhi Qar provinces already at Provincial Iraqi Control, the ISF and MNF are working together to enable transition in Maysaan and Basra.

Operation SINBAD, which has been running since October 2006, has concentrated on the reconstruction of essential infrastructure in Basra and the rehabilitation of the IPS. Operation TROY intends to improve security and will test the ISF at coordinating increasingly complex security operations.

Iraqi Security Forces work with U.S. troops at traffic control point
Saturday, 17 February 2007
Story and photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp
1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs



Spc. Willard Mays, a field artilleryman with Battery B, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment and a native of Smackover, Ark., aids an Iraqi troop from the 5th Special Troops Company, 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division (Mechanized), in doing a vehicle search, Feb. 14, at a traffic control point near Husayniyah, Iraq.HUSAYNIYAH — Iraqi security forces along with coalition forces set up a traffic control point, Feb. 14, to improve the security of the city by hindering insurgents from being able to transport weapons and improvised explosive device-making materials into the area via a major highway.

The control point was set up by Iraqis with the 5th Special Troops Company, 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division (Mechanized) with the help of Soldiers from Battery B, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery.

During the joint operation, Iraqi security forces and the U.S. troops directed traffic and searched vehicles.

According to 2nd Lt. Rico Vargas, a platoon leader for Battery B, 1st Bn., 37th FA Regt., the traffic control point will improve the quality of life for the citizens of Husayniyah by helping to protect them.

“Most Iraqis just want to live their daily lives, going to work and doing the normal things that everyone does,” said Vargas. “When they see the Iraqi Security Forces working with Americans, it makes them feel safe.”

“It helps us to put a face on what we’re doing here, showing the Iraqis that we’re here to help them,” he added.

Despite obvious language barriers, Soldiers said there was a sense of esprit de corps as they worked with the Iraqi troops.

“To a certain extent, there was a great amount of camaraderie,” Vargas said. “We’re Army and they’re Army, so we do, in a sense, speak a common language. They’re making great sacrifices to keep their people free, and we’re making sacrifices too.”

Smackover, Ark., native Spc. Willard Mays, a field artilleryman for Battery B, echoed Vargas’ sentiments.

“We’re doing a good thing here, and I actually like working with the Iraqi Army soldiers,” said Mays. “Most of the (Iraqi Army troops) we work with are really great at doing their jobs.”

Vargas said working with the Iraqis through operations such as the control point in Husayniyah places them a few steps closer towards transitioning to having full sovereignty over their own security forces and government.

“You can see how well they work toward solving their own problems, and in many ways we’re just observing and mentoring them,” said Vargas. “You can really see how well trained they are. They’re trained to think through certain scenarios and come up with their own solutions—and that’s exactly what they’re doing on the job here.”

Organization delivers supplies to Iraqi families
Saturday, 17 February 2007
By Multi-National Division - Central South Public Affairs Office


Members of Multinational Division - Central South load food onto a truck, which will be delivered to residents of Diwaniyah, Iraq. Courtesy photo.CAMP ECHO — Diwaniyah is the place where humanitarian aid for two provinces, Al Quadishia and Wasit, is coordinated and realized.

Those two provinces are areas of responsibility of the Multinational Division - Central South.

Edyta Gorlicka from Polish CIMIC (Civil Military Cooperation) Group provided the gifts for the project, Organization for The Help for Family, which is located in Diwaniyah. Humanitarian aid consisting of food and hygenic detergents were provided to the Iraqi Association. All the donations were handed over by the chief of organization, Helena Rahim.

"The aid will be given to the poorest citizens whom the organization serves," said Gorlicka. "Humanitarian aid provides for the life which the poorest people of that town need. It is very important to obtain some aid of whatever sort. For the people living in poverty, every bar of soap or a bottle of mineral water is valuable. "

Diwaniyah is a cit y in Al Quadishiah province with half a milion inhabitants. Sixty percent of them are unemployed. The Organization for The Help for Family deals with 600 families; each family has 5 to 10 members.