Thread: Iraqi/Dinar news until March 1st, 2007

Suspected Insurgent Leader Held in Iraq
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

Friday, February 23, 2007

(02-23) 05:56 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --


A suspected al-Qaida linked insurgent leader accused of financing attacks and recruiting fighters was captured in southern Iraq, Iraqi police said Friday. The U.S. military also said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties in fierce fighting in the volatile city of Ramadi.


Issa Abdul-Razzaq Ahmed, who was detained during a raid Thursday on a house in central Basra, has been traveling to neighboring countries to collect funds for militant operations in Iraq, provincial police commander Gen. Mohammed al-Moussawi said.


He also said the suspect, a 22-year-old Sunni, was on the Interior Ministry's most-wanted list and was accused of being a major figure in recruiting fighters. Police also found lists with the names of other wanted militants, maps and propaganda CDs.


"Working under the guise of a businessman, he has been shuttling between Syria and the United Arab Emirates to collect funds for the terrorists in Iraq," Moussawi said.


The announcement of the capture took on added significance as it came just days after Britain announced that it would withdraw 1,600 troops from the area in the coming months with hopes the Iraqis can take over their own security.


Basra, Iraq's second-largest city 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, and the region around it are predominantly Shiite and have seen little of the sectarian violence that has ransacked the capital, although rival Shiite militant factions often clash and Sunni insurgents maintain a presence.


Spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, meanwhile, said the military was investigating reports of civilian casualties during intense fighting between American troops and Sunni insurgents in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.


A six-hour battle that broke out Wednesday evening after insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked U.S. troops from nearby buildings. Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Shawn Mercer said Thursday that 12 insurgents were killed and no civilian casualties were reported, but Iraqi authorities the dead included women and children.


The military said several buildings were damaged when the Americans responded with "precision guided munitions" that ended the fight.


However, Dr. Hafidh Ibrahim of the Ramadi Hospital said the bodies of 26 people, including four women and children, were pulled from the rubble of three houses damaged in the fighting.


Photographs made available to The Associated Press showed the bodies of two small boys wrapped in one blanket. Other photos showed four or five bodies covered by blankets, and several men clearing rubble.


Firefights are not unusual in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar. The clashes underscore the challenges posed by Sunni insurgents in the area even as the U.S. seeks to quell Sunni-Shiite violence in the capital.


The U.S. military also has warned that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic after troops uncovered a car bomb factory west of Baghdad with propane tanks and chlorine cylinders — possible ingredients for more chemical attacks following three explosions involving chlorine.


Those blasts and a recent spate of attacks against helicopters have raised fears that insurgents are trying to develop new ways to confront U.S. and Iraqi forces. Any increase in chemical bombings could complicate the Baghdad security crackdown, now in its second week.


Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, said Thursday he did not think the attacks signaled a more capable insurgency. Instead, he said they were an attempt to provoke fear.


"What they're trying to do is ... adapt in such ways where they can continue to create instability," Odierno said.


The general also said at least two suspects have been arrested in the downing of eight helicopters since Jan. 20, but he gave no further details.


The raid on the car bomb factory occurred late Tuesday near Karmah, in Anbar, U.S. authorities said. U.S. troops discovered a pickup truck and three other vehicles that were being prepared as car bombs, as well as detonation material in five buildings.


"We also found ingredients to be used to devise or enhance explosives, such as fertilizer and chlorine cylinders," Odierno told Pentagon reporters by video-link.


Insurgents have detonated three trucks carrying chlorine canisters since late January. The most recent attack occurred Wednesday in Baghdad, killing five people and sending more than 55 to hospitals.


On Tuesday, a bomb planted on a chlorine tanker left more than 150 villagers stricken north of the capital. More than 60 were still under medical care Wednesday.


A suicide bomber driving a dump truck filled with explosives and a chlorine tank also struck a quick reaction force and Iraqi police in the Sunni city of Ramadi on Jan. 28, killing 16 people.


Jeremy Binnie, an analyst with Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center, noted that it is unclear how many in the attacks died from the explosions and how many were victims of the chlorine itself.


U.S. and Iraqi officials pledged to adapt to fight the evolving insurgent tactics.


"What is obvious to us is that the terrorists are adopting new tactics to cause panic and as many casualties as they can among civilians," Iraqi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, told reporters. "But our plans also are always changeable and flexible to face the enemies' new tactics."

Suspected Insurgent Leader Held in Iraq

Suspected Insurgent Leader Held in Iraq

I tend not to post these types of articles, but I felt this one was significant. We will probably never find out how the info was discovered about this guy for obivous reasons. I feel that it is because of the security measures in place and that things are starting to come together. Hopefully they got this guy with a significant amount of intel and we'll start seeing more arrests of this nature.

Shiites Say U.S. Arrested Leader's Son

By KIM GAMEL
Associated Press Writer
Published February 23, 2007
U.S. troops arrested the son of Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician Friday as he returned to the country from Iran, Shiite officials said.

Amar al-Hakim, son of political leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was taken into custody at a crossing point and was transferred to a U.S. facility in Kut, according to the elder al-Hakim's secretary, Jamal al-Sagheer.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim is leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's largest Shiite party with longtime ties to Iran. He met with President Bush at the White House in December, and his party is part of the Shiite alliance that includes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

U.S. authorities have complained about Iranian weapons sales and financial aid to major Shiite parties in Iraq, especially the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Security guards accompanying the younger al-Hakim were also detained at the Zirbatyah crossing point , al-Sagheer said.

U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said he was looking into the report.

But mainstream Shiite parties also have close ties to Iran, including political groups that have worked with the United States in trying to promote democracy here.

Amar al-Hakim heads a charity dedicated to the memory of his uncle, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who was killed along with scores of others in a car bombing in Najaf in August 2003. Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim took over SCIRI after his older brother died.

A Shiite lawmaker close to al-Hakim, Hameed Moalah, said Amar al-Hakim was detained at 9 a.m. on the Iranian border.

"We have made urgent contacts with the offices of the president and the prime minister as well as the Americans. The Americans told us the detention was a mistake that will be rectified, but nothing happened until now," Moalah told The Associated Press.

He later told SCIRI's Al-Forat television that the U.S. troops assaulted al-Hakim's bodyguards, but gave no details.

"We don't know what is the message the Americans are trying to send by doing this, but it is certainly a negative one. They have told us that they will redress the situation. That was this morning. It's now evening, and nothing happened," he said.

Also Friday, police said a suspected al-Qaida-linked insurgent leader accused of financing attacks and recruiting fighters was captured in southern Iraq.

Issa Abdul-Razzaq Ahmed, who was detained during a raid Thursday on a house in central Basra, has been traveling to neighboring countries to collect funds for militant operations in Iraq, provincial police commander Gen. Mohammed al-Moussawi said.

He also said the suspect, a 22-year-old Sunni, was on the Interior Ministry's most-wanted list and was accused of being a major figure in recruiting fighters. Police also found lists with the names of other wanted militants, maps and propaganda CDs.

"Working under the guise of a businessman, he has been shuttling between Syria and the United Arab Emirates to collect funds for the terrorists in Iraq," al-Moussawi said.

The announcement of the capture took on added significance, coming just days after Britain said it would withdraw 1,600 troops from the area in the coming months with hopes the Iraqis can take over their own security.

Basra, Iraq's second-largest city 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, and the region around it are predominantly Shiite and have seen little of the sectarian violence that has beset the capital, although rival Shiite militant factions often clash and Sunni insurgents maintain a presence.

The U.S. military said three U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday in combat in volatile Anbar province, but did not give specific locations or circumstances for the deaths.

Garver also said the military was investigating reports of civilian casualties during intense fighting between American troops and Sunni insurgents in Anbar province's capital of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

A six-hour battle broke out Wednesday evening after insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked U.S. troops from nearby buildings. Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Shawn Mercer said 12 insurgents were killed and there were no civilian casualties reported; Iraqi authorities said the dead included women and children.

The military said several buildings were damaged when the Americans responded with "precision guided munitions" that ended the fight.

However, Dr. Hafidh Ibrahim of the Ramadi Hospital said the bodies of 26 people, including four women and children, were pulled from the rubble of three houses damaged in the fighting.

Photographs made available to the AP showed the bodies of two small boys wrapped in one blanket. Other photos showed four or five bodies covered by blankets, and several men clearing rubble.

Meanwhile, a top al-Sadr aide has been released from U.S. custody after five months, an al-Sadr official said.

Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr, was freed Wednesday and appeared "in good shape" in Kufa, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

Al-Obeidi and another member of al-Sadr's inner circle, Muayed al-Khazraji, were taken in a raid in September by U.S. and Iraqi forces. No charges were made public, but U.S.-led authorities have increased pressure on al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia as part of sweeps to battle sectarian violence.

Al-Sadr's forces have significantly lowered their profile in parts of Baghdad since a major security effort began last week, including a drop in reports of Sunni killings blamed on Shiite death squads.

Shiites Say U.S. Arrested Leader's Son | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg, S.C.

Baghdad-U.S.

Voices of Iraq / Baghdad
Posted by nakr2004 on Feb 23, 2007 - 03:20 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hmmm, maybe, just maybe they do get it...


Baghdad-U.S.
Iraq's trade minister, U.S. official take up economic relations
Baghdad, Feb 23, (VOI) – Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul-Falah al-Sudani and the U.S. Undersecretary for International Trade of the Department of Commerce Frank L. Lavin discussed means to further economic cooperation relations as an important means of ending violence and unemployment in Iraq.Baghdad-U.S.
Iraq's trade minister, U.S. official take up economic relations
Baghdad, Feb 23, (VOI) – Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul-Falah al-Sudani and the U.S. Undersecretary for International Trade of the Department of Commerce Frank L. Lavin discussed means to further economic cooperation relations as an important means of ending violence and unemployment in Iraq.
The meeting took place in Arbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, on the sidelines of the Iraqi-U.S. businessmen's dialogue meetings.
"Iraq is in possession immense economic potentials that would enable it to return to the arena of global economy and restore its relations with the outside world," according to an Iraqi cabinet's statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on Friday.
The statement quoted Sudani as saying "there is a new government policy that would allow the Iraqi economy to open to the free market and offer investment opportunities to corporations all over the globe."
Lavin expressed the U.S. government's wish to "up the volume of trade and economic exchange with Iraq and the U.S. companies' contribution to the investment in the areas enjoying security."Lavin said "Iraq would need to build 5,000 housing units, develop a modern system of registering lands, settle disputes that have to do with intellectual property rights, draw up construction systems and enhance safety."
The statement referred to "Iraq's need to refresh companies for the sake of increasing jobs, bolstering principles of accountability and transparency, training managers to modern trade and accounting practices and strengthening partnership between the public and private sectors through joint-stock companies."
AE

And this coming from NPR, must be better than we all know, because we know which direction NPR leans...

Analysis
Are Iraq Security Efforts Taking Hold?


Morning Edition, February 23, 2007 · Car bombings and insurgent attacks in Iraq persist, but new military operations are having some impact. so says Bing West — a former assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan — who just returned from his 11th visit to Iraq in four years. He discusses the situation on the ground with Renee Montagne.

Sure hope this isn't what they mean by foreign investment




Iraq plans to renovate embassy, buy mansion: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Iraq plans to renovate embassy, buy mansion


Envoy says rebuilding is part of recovery



By Nora Boustany
The Washington Post

February 23, 2007



WASHINGTON · Iraq may be facing a deadly civil war, but the Iraqi government is initiating major, costly repairs to its diplomatic building in Washington, D.C., and expanding its real estate holdings here.

The latest Iraqi government purchase for its U.S. mission is a $5.8 million mansion at 3421 Massachusetts Ave. NW in Observatory Circle, across the street from Vice President Dick Cheney's official residence. The three-story, 1920 Tudor-style structure, with more than 7,000 square feet, will serve as temporary embassy during renovations to its fading Dupont Circle mission. Plans are to turn the Dupont Circle building into a cultural center for the exhibition of Iraqi art.

The mansion comes with bright skylights, inset lighting fixtures, a top-floor kitchenette with a built-in espresso machine, new hardwood floors and soft pistachio carpeting up the winding stairs. There are heated floors, a firefighting system, speakers for music throughout the building, and spacious bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi.

"We have bathrooms coming out of our ears," said Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie, inspecting the new digs.

A Washington design and restoration firm, Skynear and Co., repaired the building after a 2004 fire, replicating almost every detail. Original plaster moldings were recast and French chandeliers imported to replace the originals. "A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it," said Lynn Skynear. "We think we resurrected it."

The Iraqi government bought the building in October.

Overseeing the effort is Sumaidaie, an electrical engineer by training, a poet and Islamic art connoisseur by inclination. His soon-to-be-vacated Dupont Circle office is a study in good lighting and precision. There is chaos in Iraq, but his working space exudes maximum control: a sleek computer screen, a yellow pad, Mont Blanc pens in a wooden case, rows of rulers, cellphones.

"It is a tiny part of what I do here," he said last week, looking up from design plans spread over a desk buffed to gleaming perfection. "Bear with me, I have to watch this," he said as he watched President Bush, on a vast television screen, speak about the importance of success in Iraq.

Asked about spending oil revenue on embassy buildings while Iraq is in the throes of a civil war, Sumaidaie turned off the television's sound. "Rebuilding is part of our recovery, regaining normalcy is part of our recovery," he replied. "It is building, not destroying."

Sumaidaie is the first Iraqi ambassador to the United States since Mohamed al-Mashat fled to Canada in January 1991 before the start of the Persian Gulf War. Sumaidaie's hands are full, with requests for media interviews, meetings with U.S. officials and lobbying a newly critical Congress, in addition to sifting through plans submitted by five local companies vying for the embassy's renovation project. The embassy also tends to the local Iraqi community.

"I believe every person in charge of something should do his best," Sumaidaie said. "I am doing the best for Iraq from where I am sitting."

Sumaidaie has even bigger real estate expansion plans, once peace descends on Iraq: a new facility in a prime location in Washington that would be designed by one of Iraq's internationally renowned architects, such as Iraq-born, Britain-based Zaha Hadid. The Dupont Circle embassy would then become an Iraqi museum.

On this day, however, the daily reports of casualties, both Iraqi and American, are topmost in this thoughts.

After a recent visit to Walter Reed hospital, he said, "These great young men and women are heroes, yet their lives will never be the same. Each one of their sacrifices is a personal tragedy. This has been a joint effort, like a baptism of fire. We will get to the other side of this war, hopefully."

In the meantime, he wants to repair Iraq's image in Washington -- or at least its public facade. After 15 years of neglect, the red-brick embassy off Dupont Circle is in disrepair, with corroding pipes, peeling gold-leaf ceilings and rusty wiring. To repair the Dupont Circle building will take millions. Sumaidaie is soliciting bids. Once the renovation under way, the Iraqi mission will decamp to the posh new quarters at Observatory Circle.

The new facility sits amidst some of the city's major religious centers: across Massachusetts Avenue from St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, next to a construction site for a Buddhist temple, and five blocks from the Islamic Center of Washington. The towers of Washington National Cathedral can be seen nearby.




Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Voices of Iraq : Karbala - sermon
كتب: alin PM BTAlin wrote : On Friday, February 23, 2007-02 : 15 PM BT

The representative of al-Sistani calls for the implementation of the security plan everyone without exception
From the young
Karbala - (Voices of Iraq)

The representative of the supreme Shiite religious authority in Iraq, Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Karbala, in his Friday sermon of day to implement the plan to impose the law on everybody Astt remote, He stressed that the success of the plan depends on the return of the displaced security to their areas.

He said the preacher, Ahmed Gomaa Karbala net in a sermon for Gomaa today Balshan Husseini "on a security plan do not exclude anyone, and not target one specific. "
"He added, "the state and promised to the prestige of the law, and it is to fulfill the promise ", adding that" the law over El Jem Regrettably, and must be imposed on all political entities, whether a a participation in the government or outside because targeting k Yanat full year or Shiites or Kurds is not true. "
"He continued, "no one has the right to protect the killer, There are many murderers have a veneer official. "
He stressed that "the security of the Iraqi citizen, a red line, and everybody except manipulated citizen's security. " ."His said "the success and failure of the security plan once Wen information, but not the return of displaced families to us Zha. He said, "When these families back to their lives and a it is reassuring then say that the security plan had succeeded. "
He added that "the State will not allow any party to stand with the affected those who are arrested, because the safety of the citizens in the necks of the executors of the plan. "
He demanded that the net political discourse one, He asked, "Why is divided into two politicians and the the difference between the two? "
He criticized the net positions of some countries that allow some Raja Aya appeal to the Iraqis and cynicism as he says, He said, "some called for the demolition of all the holy shrines, Aat Broa that had demolished the dome of Imams military in S. princes people believers because they tore down places of the trap. "
Commenting on that, saying that such statements were "open door the sedition. "
He asked these countries to "easing surgeries Iraqis. because in all the countries of the world, there are ways of worship. "

ßÑÈáÇÁ – ÎØÈÉ :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military warned Thursday that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic after troops uncovered a car bomb factory with propane tanks and chlorine cylinders — possible ingredients for more chemical attacks following three explosions involving chlorine.
Those blasts and a recent spate of attacks against helicopters have raised fears that insurgents are trying to develop new ways to confront U.S. and Iraqi forces. Any increase in chemical bombings could complicate the Baghdad security crackdown, now in its second week.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, said he did not think the attacks signaled a more capable insurgency. Instead, he said they were merely an attempt to provoke fear.

"What they're trying to do is ... adapt in such ways where they can continue to create instability," Odierno said.

The general also said at least two suspects have been arrested in the downing of eight helicopters since Jan. 20, but he gave no further details.

The raid on the car bomb factory occurred late Tuesday in the volatile western province of Anbar, U.S. authorities said. U.S. troops discovered a pickup and three other vehicles that were being prepared as car bombs, as well as detonation material in five buildings.

"We also found ingredients to be used to devise or enhance explosives, such as fertilizer and chlorine cylinders," Odierno told Pentagon reporters by video-link.

Insurgents have detonated three trucks carrying chlorine canisters since late January. The most recent attack occurred Wednesday in Baghdad, killing five people and sending more than 55 to hospitals.

On Tuesday, a bomb planted on a chlorine tanker left more than 150 villagers stricken north of the capital. More than 60 were still under medical care Wednesday.

A suicide bomber driving a dump truck filled with explosives and a chlorine tank also struck a quick reaction force and Iraqi police in the Sunni city of Ramadi on Jan. 28, killing 16 people.

Jeremy Binnie, an analyst with Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center, noted that it is unclear how many in the attacks died from the explosions and how many were victims of the chlorine itself.

U.S. and Iraqi officials pledged to adapt to fight the evolving insurgent tactics.

"What is obvious to us is that the terrorists are adopting new tactics to cause panic and as many casualties as they can among civilians," Iraqi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, told reporters. "But our plans also are always changeable and flexible to face the enemies' new tactics."

Although relatively few people have been killed or seriously injured in the chlorine blasts, such attacks are unnerving and can cause panic among a people suffering severe psychological strains after nearly four years of war.

With low levels of exposure, chlorine, which was used as a weapon in World War I, can cause breathing problems and irritate the skin. At high levels, it is fatal.

Experts say chlorine is used as a disinfectant and is widely available in Iraq, which the U.N. long suspected of trying to build a chemical weapons arsenal.

But former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay said U.N. experts paid little attention to "garden variety" industrial-grade chemicals such as fertilizers and chlorine unless they were found in large quantities or near weapons plants. Major cities such as Baghdad stocked chlorine for water treatment.

The discovery of the car bomb factory Tuesday took place in the town of Karmah, 50 miles west of the capital.

Elsewhere in Anbar province, Sunni insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked U.S. troops in the volatile city of Ramadi, setting off a six-hour firefight that killed at least 12 people, the U.S. military said Thursday. Iraqi authorities said the dead included women and children.

The battle broke out Wednesday evening when insurgents opened fire on a U.S. patrol from nearby buildings. The Americans responded with "precision guided munitions" that damaged several buildings and ended the fight, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Shawn Mercer said.

There were no U.S. casualties, but 12 insurgents were killed and three were wounded, Mercer said. He said no civilian casualties were reported.

However, Hafidh Ibrahim of the Ramadi Hospital said the bodies of 26 people, including four women and children, were pulled from the rubble of three houses damaged in the fighting.

Photographs made available to the Associated Press showed the bodies of two small boys wrapped in one blanket. Other photos showed four or five bodies covered by blankets, and several men clearing rubble.

Firefights are not unusual in Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital 75 miles west of Baghdad. The clashes underscore the challenges posed by Sunni insurgents in the area even as the U.S. seeks to quell Sunni-Shiite violence in the capital.

President Bush is sending 21,500 more soldiers to Iraq — 4,000 of them to Anbar and the rest to Baghdad for the security plan.

One U.S. soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bombing Thursday near the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, the U.S. command said.

Nationwide, at least 19 people were killed or found dead Thursday, including 14 bullet-riddled bodies showing signs of torture that were found in Baghdad and two in the southeastern city of Kut. Three others were shot to death in the northern city of Mosul.

Also Thursday, an Iraqi official said four Iraqi soldiers were accused of raping a 50-year-old Sunni woman and the attempted rape of her two daughters — the second allegation of sexual assault leveled against Iraqi forces this week.

Brig. Gen. Nijm Abdullah said the alleged attack took place about 10 days ago in the northern city of Tal Afar during a search for weapons and insurgents.

A lieutenant and three enlisted men denied the charge but later confessed after they were confronted by the woman, a Turkoman, Abdullah said. He said a fifth soldier suspected something was wrong, burst into the house and forced the others at gunpoint to stop the assault.

A second rape allegation within a single week is likely to undermine further the reputation of Iraq's security services, which the U.S. hopes can take over from coalition troops so the Americans and their allies can go home.

The al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, purportedly called on his followers to step up attacks on Iraqi security forces to avenge the alleged rapes.

He also claimed in an audio tape that 300 followers have volunteered for suicide missions within hours of hearing news of the alleged rape in Baghdad, which the woman said took place in a police garrison.

Of the volunteers, 50 are members of her tribe and 20 expressed a willingness to marry her, he said.

"Go ahead with Allah's blessing and engulf their checkpoints in fire, destroy their homes, and spill their blood to flow as streams," the terror leader said.

The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified, but the voice sounded like al-Masri's and it appeared on websites commonly used by the militant groups.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Insurgent bomb factory found in Baghdad - Worldnews.com

Originally Posted by postcon

Iraqi "government" to hike fuel prices by 15 pct

ALARAB ONLINE | Display Page

Consumer fuel prices will be hiked by around 15 percent in March as Iraq implements an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to cut subsidies, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said.

Iraq has the world's third largest known oil reserves but decades of war, sanctions, under-investment and now widespread violence and sabotage have left it critically short of fuel.

It has to import much of its gasoline.

The government continues to control prices, fostering a thriving black market in fuel for those unwilling to queue for hours, sometimes days, to fill their vehicles.

Shahristani told Arabiya television in an interview broadcast on Friday the price of benzene would rise from 350 dinars (about 27 U.S. cents) to 400 dinar and the price of gasoline would rise from 300 dinar to 350 dinar by mid-March.

Iraq won a loan accord with the IMF in December 2005 and a $14 billion debt swap with private lenders. Since then, the price of a litre of ordinary gasoline has risen from 20 dinars.

I think this is GREAT news. It shows the IMF that Iraq is moving one BIG step toward Standing On Its Own Two Feet. Just another movement toward a Reval

U.S. soldiers branch out to Iraqi hotspots with new tactics of war and peace
By LAUREN FRAYER

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

23 February 2007 (AP Worldstream)
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In a muddy, half-collapsed police station northeast of Baghdad, in the heart of insurgent territory, 30 American and 60 Iraqi troopers hunker down amid constant mortar fire and study how to undermine an enemy who is literally next door.

Such ramshackle compounds are likely signs of the future in Iraq.

Militants, once dismissed as "dead-enders" on their "last legs," continue to confound American tacticians, and U.S. war planners are shifting strategy.

Instead of storming an area to drive away militants and then withdrawing to the relative safety of big bases, select forces are being stationed among the insurgents themselves in the heart of communities around Iraq, where soldiers are warned to be "ready each day to be greeted with a handshake or a hand grenade."

The idea is to fight the "three-block war" _ in the words of the Pentagon's first new counterinsurgency manual in 20 years, a 242-page document written in part by the new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.

The hope is that increased contact with ordinary Iraqis will pay off with goodwill and sharper tips on militant activity and let Iraqi soldiers learn how to rule the streets on their own. But there are obvious risks.

On Monday, a suicide bomber and gunmen laid siege to a similar post north of Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding 17.

"Our battle space is villages and towns, and you have to engage the people as much as you engage the enemy," said Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Brigade and the top U.S. officer in this province.

On a recent patrol, American soldiers shadowed Iraqis going house-to-house handing out school supplies. Suddenly, all were forced to dive into a dusty roadside crevice when Buhriz reverberated with gunfire _ first from what was believed to be a rooftop sniper, then from the deafening pop of a 25 mm machine gun mounted on a Bradley fighting vehicle. Shell casings whizzed across an intersection, and the Americans quickly evacuated.

"Buhriz embodies the new counterinsurgency plan, which tells us: `Clear, hold, build,'" said the 45-year-old Sutherland. But he notes it often is just a matter of keeping a foothold.

When U.S. soldiers first arrived in Buhriz, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) north of Baghdad, they found fliers taped to lampposts with an ominous warning to residents: "If American forces come, go into your houses or we'll kill you, too."

Still, the unit launched a daring raid to reclaim the Buhriz police station, which had been abandoned by Iraqi forces and overtaken by insurgents months earlier. The operation required help from Apache helicopters and more than 13,000 rounds of ammunition, and left a two-story section of the station flattened.

Hauling in food, cots, surveillance equipment and ammunition, soldiers set about making this crumbling cement structure their home. Crates of Gatorade and Pepsi are stacked in sooty corners. A medic plays solitaire on a laptop.

An adjacent barracks was refurbished, and, weeks later, skittish Iraqi soldiers were persuaded to move in.

The Buhriz police station is one of several joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol bases in the suburbs of Baqouba, a mostly Sunni town that extremists claim as the capital of an Islamic state. Fierce fighting rages as U.S. troops engage insurgents believed to be streaming out of Baghdad during a security crackdown.

Capt. Peter Chapman is a 30-year-old company commander with the Army's 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division. He was one of hundreds of military officers who attended a five-day seminar on the new counterinsurgency manual last October.

"It gives us more purpose and helps us understand how smaller things lead to bigger things," he said. "Like how it's better to talk to people than shoot at them, and how it's better to have the Iraqi army up front working with us.

"But sometimes we find ourselves talking less and less and shooting more."

Recently, soldiers hauled huge bags of brightly colored sneakers and stuffed animals to pass out to children as they cleared houses along narrow passageways.

But nearly every house was mysteriously empty. A space heater still glowed red in one living room, suggesting its inhabitants had left moments earlier.

In another house, medical supplies _ saline bottles, IV bags, syringes _ were scattered about. U.S. soldiers believed it was a makeshift aid station for insurgents.

That day, the bags of toys came home with the soldiers.

Chapman's battalion commander, Lt. Col. Morris Goins, 41, expects it will be awhile before locals accept their new neighbors.

"Killing someone is simple. It's easy. But getting people to come to the table _ building a country _ that takes time," said Goins, on his third tour in Iraq.

Life is much easier on a large American military base nearby, but Goins said about half his 1,000 soldiers are off-base at any given time, embedded in Iraqi villages at posts like this one _ an arrangement he concedes is "not at all conventional."

"I'm working with the provincial council, I'm meeting with sheiks, I'm trying to train the Iraqi police and Iraqi army, and, oh, yeah, I also have to engage in a firefight once in a while," he said with a smile. "It's difficult, but it's our best shot right now."

U.S. soldiers branch out to Iraqi hotspots with new tactics of war and peace | Iraq Updates

Principles and rules to transform companies into governmental

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23 February 2007 (Iraq Directory)

The Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Industry, Professor Yaqub Shonia, said that adopting the economic reform as a new method to reform the economic and service institutions requires a special national development strategy based on Iraq’s needs at the current stage.

This came during his heading the first meeting of the Ministerial Committee assigned to put the principles and rules of transforming companies in Iraq into governmental and formed under the Ministerial Order issued by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in November of the year 2006. Shonia said that the strategy of transforming companies into governmental requires a comprehensive program that includes experts and specialists from different economic departments and sectors. He added: to enter this approach, we need to make use of former international experiences in this field, and then tallying them on the economic and social facts in our country to come up with proper rules enable us to avoid any negative impact on the Iraqi experiment in this area. He urged the members of the Committee to do their best in searching for the right means that contribute in creating highly efficient managements. After that, he deployed the members of the Committee into four groups; each specialized at one of the four pivots of the work: the first pivot included putting principles and rules of transforming companies in Iraq into governmental ones, using as guidance the principles of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and of other countries.

The second pivot included reviewing the economic activity and prepare proposals for amendment, if necessary, to deepen the principles of the transformation; while the third pivot included opening communication channels with regional and international organizations and other countries to benefit from the expertise and request their technical assistance, as well as following up conferences and symposia concerning this topic.

Finally, the fourth pivot included making the public aware of the concept of transforming into governmental and preparing training programs for administrative leaderships in all sectors. During the meeting, it was decided to hold monthly meetings for the entire members of the Committee to follow up on what was done by each group, as well as composing a data center containing the available published studies and researches on the subject; also, members of the Committee should contribute in providing the center with whatever available documents they have.

Principles and rules to transform companies into governmental | Iraq Updates