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

Originally Posted by Loki

Iraqi leaders pledge to enact oil law by end May
26 Feb 2007 16:42:47 GMT
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Iraqi political leaders have pledged to push through parliamentary approval of a new oil law and have it implemented by the end of May, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said on Monday.

"The political leadership have committed to have the law and other associated laws and regulations be implemented by the end of May 2007 -- admittedly tough, and a gruelling schedule, but economic and political imperatives of the country require all of us to rise to the challenge," he told Reuters after the cabinet ended months of wrangling and approved the draft law.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR659765.htm

Now we have gone from February, to March, and now May for having HCL done? I tell you, there is just no belief in the parliament anymore on what they say.

Egypt removes Iraq pro-insurgency channel from air
26 Feb 2007 18:42:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO, Feb 26 (Reuters) - An Egyptian state-run satellite firm has stopped transmitting an Iraqi channel whose footage of U.S. soldiers being blown up by Sunni insurgents infuriated Washington, an Egyptian broadcasting official said on Monday.

Analysts pointed to U.S. and Arab diplomatic pressure as a likely reason, although satellite service provider Nilesat said the anti-U.S. al-Zawraa channel was removed from the air because it created a "buzz" that interfered with other channels.

"We discovered lately that there is a buzz on the whole transponder which al-Zawraa transmits through," Amin Bassiouni, chairman of Egypt's Nilesat, told Reuters.

"So we began to feel this is dangerous for the satellite itself ... We stopped it at once. And when we stopped Zawraa, the buzz stopped," he added. He said the broadcasts were stopped on Saturday.

Al-Zawraa, which had been broadcast by Nilesat for more than a year, angered Washington and Iraq by showing bloody images of attacks by Sunni insurgents, including some in which U.S. soldiers were killed.

Washington and Iraq had voiced concerns over the channel with the Egyptian government. But Arab media said Egypt initially resisted pleas to stop transmissions.

U.S. embassy officials declined to comment, and Egyptian officials could not be immediately reached.

Arab media have reported that Egypt had said it could not interfere with a purely business deal between al-Zawraa and Nilesat, and that Egypt was not responsible for the content of the channel.

But Egypt, a key ally of Washington in the Middle East, has not shied away from attempting to silence Egyptian and Arab media whose message either criticises the Egyptian government or offends sensibilities.

An Al-Jazeera producer is currently facing trial over a planned documentary on torture in Egyptian police stations, and an opposition blogger was sentenced to four years in jail last week for insulting both Islam and President Hosni Mubarak.

Independent Cairo-based analyst Josh Stacher said of the al-Zawraa move: "This thing has all the hallmarks of having some sort of quiet diplomatic resolution."

"Maybe it was the United States or maybe it was other Arab governments like Saudi Arabia and Jordan telling them to turn it off because it's really sort of hurting the Sunni-Shi'ite divide," he added. Al-Zawraa has also been widely seen as anti-Shi'ite.

Egypt was friendly with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the 1980s but fell out with him over Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Cairo opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, but has since said U.S. troops should stay in Iraq until law and order is restored.

Last month, Egypt's foreign minister expressed support for a U.S. plan to send more troops to Iraq to help the government improve security, especially in the capital. Egypt has also expressed concerns that rival Iran was trying to spread Shi'ite Islam in Arab countries, including Iraq..

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26717493.htm

Originally Posted by pipshurricane

Iraq's government has fulfilled all requirements and procedures to apply for the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a USAID official in Baghdad said on Saturday, according to independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Noozz.com | IRAQ

And the significance of this is (for any new people to this investment) is that Iraq must have a tradeable currency on the world market before being accepted into the WTO.

They are just pushing this thing through, aren't they!

Originally Posted by Loki

Iraqi leaders pledge to enact oil law by end May
26 Feb 2007 16:42:47 GMT
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Iraqi political leaders have pledged to push through parliamentary approval of a new oil law and have it implemented by the end of May, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said on Monday.

"The political leadership have committed to have the law and other associated laws and regulations be implemented by the end of May 2007 -- admittedly tough, and a gruelling schedule, but economic and political imperatives of the country require all of us to rise to the challenge," he told Reuters after the cabinet ended months of wrangling and approved the draft law.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR659765.htm

May????

the post by dave titled ' THE PLAN ' # 400 is absolutely fantastic.
Is there any info on the author ?
thanks

Originally Posted by Vipor

May????

"BY May"

Iraq VP survives bomb, cabinet backs oil law
26 Feb 2007 18:49:38 GMT
Source: Reuters

(Adds Maliki's comments)
By Ahmed Rasheed and Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite vice president and a cabinet minister were wounded in an apparent assassination attempt on Monday when a bomb killed six people at a ministry in Baghdad where they were attending a ceremony.

While militants defied a security crackdown in Baghdad, the cabinet endorsed a draft oil law crucial to regulating how wealth from Iraq's vast reserves would be shared by its ethnic and sectarian groups, a move hailed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as a "pillar for the unity of Iraqis".

Settling potentially explosive disputes over the world's third largest oil reserves has been a top demand of Washington to maintain its support for Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist who leads a unity government of Shi'ites, ethnic Kurds and Sunni Arabs.

Police said Public Works Minister Riad Ghareeb, a Shi'ite, was seriously wounded when the bomb exploded in a meeting hall. Aides to Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi said he escaped with light shrapnel wounds. One police source said the death toll could be as high as 12. The bomb wounded 31 people.

Maliki, under pressure to quell violence threatening to plunge the country into all-out civil war, vowed to hunt down those responsible for the attack.

Iraqi leaders are often targeted by militants on either side of the sectarian divide. The bomb attack came despite a major new U.S.-backed crackdown aimed at ridding Baghdad's lawless streets of Sunni Arab insurgents and Shi'ite militias.

One witness told Reuters the force of the blast had thrown Abdul-Mahdi against a wall at the ministry, in the Sunni Arab neighbourhood of Mansour in western Baghdad.

"All his guards threw themselves on top of him," he said.

His aides said he was later discharged from hospital.

"He has light shrapnel wounds in different parts of his body but it is not serious," a political source from the ruling Shi'ite Alliance said, referring to the vice president.

Abdul-Mahdi is one of Iraq's two vice presidents. The other is Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab.

The cause of the blast was under investigation. Militants are increasingly using suicide vests to launch attacks because of tighter checks on roads aimed at reducing car bombs.

Ghareeb's deputy had also been taken to hospital. Several senior ministry officials were among those killed, police said.

Around 100,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops have been deployed in Baghdad, the epicentre of Iraq's violence, over the past two weeks to implement the security plan. But car bombings and suicide attacks have continued, piling pressure on Maliki.

BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Iraq's vast oil reserves are concentrated in the Kurdish north and the Shi'ite south, so sharing its oil revenues is one of the country's most sensitive issues.

Sunni Arabs, dominant under Saddam Hussein but now the backbone of the insurgency, fear a bad deal will seal their political doom in oil-deprived central and western Iraq.

The draft oil law, which now goes for a vote in parliament, could unlock billions of dollars in foreign investment Iraq badly needs to revive its shattered economy.

It was endorsed with the backing of the Kurds, who had been haggling over the terms of some articles.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, head of the committee that drafted the law, told Reuters that Iraq's leaders had pledged to have the law enacted by the end of May after it is approved by parliament.

Speaking later to reporters, Maliki said: "The benefits of this wealth will form a firm pillar for the unity of Iraqis and consolidate their social structure."

The attack on the vice president came when President Jalal Talabani was in Jordan undergoing medical tests after suffering extreme exhaustion and dehydration.

His office said Talabani's life was not in danger, and denied media reports that he had undergone heart surgery. (Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Claudia Parsons, Mussab Al-Khairalla and Dean Yates in Baghdad)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO661076.htm

Originally Posted by JT2154

Now we have gone from February, to March, and now May for having HCL done? I tell you, there is just no belief in the parliament anymore on what they say.

Of course they arn't going to tell you what they are doing step by step that would make it to easy for speculation we have seen before where they give a date miss it keep us in the dark give another date push it back then turn around and make it happen before the date all part of the game I will bet its done and dusted and enacted before the April Oil summit

Originally Posted by Onenomad

Of course they arn't going to tell you what they are doing step by step that would make it to easy for speculation we have seen before where they give a date miss it keep us in the dark give another date push it back then turn around and make it happen before the date all part of the game I will bet its done and dusted and enacted before the April Oil summit

A good example of this is TerryTate's post #184 in this thread. Check it out.

Originally Posted by Pegasus

And the significance of this is (for any new people to this investment) is that Iraq must have a tradeable currency on the world market before being accepted into the WTO.

They are just pushing this thing through, aren't they!

...and when are they expected to make their GRAND ENTRANCE into the WTO? Must be by May! (but a specific date would be GREAT! lol! )