Thread: Iraq/Dinar News Until 5/3/07 Midnight CST.

Iraq Conference Aims to Relieve Debt, Improve Security

International efforts to stabilize Iraq continue later this week when regional and international leaders meet in Egypt to discuss how Iraq's neighbors and the international community can help bring peace to the war-torn country.
The meetings will be two-fold. On Thursday, the Iraqi government, in conjunction with the United Nations, will launch an initiative known as the Iraq Compact, which will deal with mostly economic issues. On Friday, foreign ministers and other high level officials will discuss Iraq's internal security and efforts to unify the country's political factions.

Iraq's Ambassador to Washington, Samir Sumaida'ie tells VOA that Baghdad hopes to elicit broad support from the international community.

"Of course we want everybody's help in this," he said. "We want people to be engaged positively, to give support to the Iraqi government, public support, political support, financial support, if possible."

Iraq hopes some of its major creditors will write off billions of dollars in debt dating back to the Saddam Hussein regime. Some countries, such as Kuwait, which Saddam invaded in 1990, have been reluctant, saying Iraq is an oil-rich nation that can afford to repay. But an announcement of significant debt relief is expected at the conference.

The Sharm El-Sheikh meetings are really two separate conferences.

The first day will launch the Iraq Compact initiative. Iraq and the United Nations conceived the initiative more than a year ago. It lays out economic and political tasks, with deadlines, for the Iraqi government. If achieved, they would lead to specific supports from the international community.


Thick smoke billows from the site of an explosion in central Baghdad


The second day will bring together regional foreign ministers and the five permanent Security Council members to discuss Iraq's internal security and political reconciliation. the U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey says Washington hopes to see active engagement from all participants.

"Certainly we want to see all countries that are there come to the table with not only positive words, but with the willingness to take positive actions to help Iraq deal with its very difficult situation right now," he said.

The United States wants to see Iran and Syria increase control over their borders and end their support of militias and insurgents.

"We have been very frank in the previous round at the envoy level in airing our concerns both about Iranian support for militias, about their provision of some of these very deadly IEDs [improvised explosive devices] that are having a serious impact on our troops," said Casey. "And I certainly expect that under discussions of those kinds of issues. The Secretary [Rice] will be equally forceful in making our case on those and I expect that others will also raise their concerns with Iranian behavior as well as Syrian behavior."

Iraq's government is also struggling to reconcile its Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. What was initially a domestic problem has taken on regional overtones, as some neighbors try to further their own interests by supporting specific political and ethnic groups inside Iraq. Ambassador Sumaida'ie says the best thing neighbors can do is to let Iraq solve its problems by itself.

"We are not seeking that our neighbors will devise a solution for us in Iraq," he said. "That has to be done by Iraqis. But we ask them to step back and reduce their interference."

The Ambassador says Iraq does not expect a miracle from the conference, but rather a real commitment of support from its neighbors as it works toward peace and stability.

VOA News

Amman - About 200 Iraqi academics, intellectuals and artists on Monday launched the Iraqi Cultural Council, an independent organization which is to be tasked with defending Iraqi culture, which they said was "jeopardised by sectarian" forces. The council, which will be based in Baghdad, was announced by a member of the preparatory committee, Ibrahim al-Zubaidi at the end of a two-day meeting in Amman.

"The main motive behind the creation of this council is the systematic campaign of destruction and killings the Iraqi culture and intellectuals have been exposed to at the hands of sectarian and racial sides both from inside and outside the country as well as the forced silence imposed on those intellectuals who remain in Iraq," al-Zubaidi said.

Leaders of the Iraqi Sunni community have complained that thousands of Iraqi intellectuals, scientists and university professors were killed or targeted by Iran-backed militias since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Shiite militias, which are also backed by the Iraqi government, reportedly accused the victims of being supportive of the deposed regime of the executed former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

A large number of Iraqi academics and intellectuals are among the 750,000 Iraqis who living in Jordan, having fled their country over the past four years in search for safety.

"The new Iraqi Cultural Council is a non-government and independent cultural organization that discards all forms of sectarian fanaticism, seeks to help the Iraqi people to get rid of occupation and its destructive impact on the Iraqi people, and derives its principles and objectives from the humanitarian heritage," al-Zubaidi said.

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Okay...I can't be the only one on here wondering about this...just because the CBI site crashed, why would an incorrect rate be posted??????

go to the cbi mistake thread; the computer gurus have discussed it there :)

PENSION LAW PASSED
HCL POSSIBLY PASSED IN ITS ENTIRETY
CBI SITE DOWN DUE TO BEING 'PARKED'

did i mention the PENSION LAW PASSED???

Originally Posted by shotgunsusie

PENSION LAW PASSED
HCL POSSIBLY PASSED IN ITS ENTIRETY
CBI SITE DOWN DUE TO BEING 'PARKED'

did i mention the PENSION LAW PASSED???

Susie or Anyone,

I must have missed it, but when did the Pesion Law pass?

Thanks,
JT2154

Never mind, I found it. Just needed to go back and read previous pages.

Thanks anyway.
JT2154

Rice: Bush would oppose Iraq benchmarks By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 30, 8:21 AM ET



WASHINGTON - President Bush will not sign any war spending bill that penalizes Iraq's government for failing to make progress, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday, a fresh warning to Congress about challenging him.

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Bush is expected to veto a bill this week that would order U.S. troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq by Oct. 1. Lacking the votes to override a veto, the Democratic-led Congress is considering a revised plan to pay for the way while requiring Iraq to meet benchmarks for progress.

Congress has not decided whether to punish Iraq for falling short. Rice sent lawmakers a clear message, saying Bush would not agree to a plan that penalizes the Baghdad for insufficient progress.

"To begin now to tie our own hands — and to say 'We must do this if they don't do that' — doesn't allow us the flexibility and creativity that we need to move this forward," Rice said.

Democratic lawmakers, eager to wind the war down, showed little appetite for establishing goals without consequences. Iraq has struggled to keep its own promises for distributing oil wealth, refining its constitution and expanding democratic participation.

"The benchmarks — the Iraqis agreed to it, the president agreed it," said Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., who heads a House subcommittee that controls defense spending. "We're saying to them, `Well, let's put some teeth into the benchmarks.'"

Even if they agree to scrap a troop withdrawal timetable, Democratic lawmakers say they want to link U.S. support to Iraq's performance in some way. But they must find an approach that win Republican support to pass a new bill that Bush is willing to sign.

Bush is expected the veto the war bill by Tuesday, then meet Wednesday with congressional leaders on the next steps. The current legislation would provide $124.2 billion, more than $90 billion of which would go for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows, Rice said Iraqi leaders know U.S. patience is worn. Still, she said deadlines for progress could undermine the work of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

"The United States is paying in blood and treasures," Rice acknowledged. "The Iraqi leadership is being told, and I think they understand, that the kind of Iraq that there is going to be is up to them. We can't give them a united Iraq."

Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Iraqi leaders have gotten the message.

"We have no illusion that the U.S. commitment is not open-ended," he said. "We have said it from the beginning. This is our country."

Democrats are intent on finding some way to restrain the war, raising doubts about the combat troop increase that Bush has ordered.

"American troops are dying for no good reason at this point," said Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis. "They are in a situation where they are being sacrificed because people want political comfort in Washington. The surge isn't working. The situation in Iraq isn't working."

With a regional conference on Iraq set to begin Thursday in Egypt, Rice raised the possibility of a rare direct encounter between high-level U.S. and Iranian officials. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is expected to lead his country's delegation.

"I will not rule out that we may encounter one another," Rice said. "But what do we need to do? It's quite obvious. Stop the flow of arms to foreign fighters. Stop the flow of foreign fighters across the borders."

Rice appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation," CNN's "Late Edition" and "This Week" on ABC. Murtha was on CBS, Feingold on ABC and Zebari on CNN

Originally Posted by JT2154

Susie or Anyone,

I must have missed it, but when did the Pesion Law pass?

Thanks,
JT2154

Never mind, I found it. Just needed to go back and read previous pages.

Thanks anyway.
JT2154

http://www.rolclub.com/194094-post417.html

Syrian FM ready to meet Rice at Iraq conference Mon Apr 30, 9:55 AM ET



BEIRUT (AFP) - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said he was ready to meet his US counterpart on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq security this week.

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"The Americans have not made such a request, but if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wishes, then we can meet," Muallem said in an interview aired on Lebanon's ANB television late on Sunday.

Washington accuses the Syrian regime of allowing anti-US insurgents to cross from Syria into Iraq and of supporting terrorist groups in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories.

The US withdrew its ambassador from Damascus after linking Syria to the February 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, an outspoken opponent of Syrian dominance over Lebanon.

Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Syria earlier this month and met President Bashar al-Assad against strong White House objections.

Rice on Sunday did not rule out a meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Syria's main regional ally which the US accuses of seeking nuclear arms and of sponsoring insurgents in Iraq.

"The mere fact that the conference is being held constitutes an admission that the United States cannot resolve the Iraqi conflict by itself," Muallem said.

On the Middle East peace process, Muallem said "establishing peace between the Arab states and Israel is not on the agenda" of the Bush administration.

"Syria backed the Arab peace initiative" which Arab states revived at their summit meeting in Riyadh in March, said Muallem. "But Israel does not want peace."

Muallem downplayed the chances of a new war in the Middle East, including a conflict with Iran over its nuclear programme, "because the Israeli government is weak and the US Administration is in a delicate situation internally."

"We will most probably remain in a situation of no war and no peace," he said.

Muallem also reiterated criticism of the UN-drafted statutes of the international tribunal due to be established to try suspects in the Hariri murder which was widely blamed on Syria. Damascus denied any involvement in the killing.

The statutes, which "are unprecedented in the history of international tribunals... will make the general prosecutor a high commissioner not only over Lebanon but also in all the region.

"Such a tribunal could lead to divisions in Lebanon," he warned.

"We hope that the Lebanese agree among themselves" on the tribunal which has yet to be established because of deep divisions between the pro-Western government in Beirut and the Syrian-backed opposition.

Damascus refuses to allow any Syrian suspects to appear before the proposed court

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In mid-2007 President George Bush is due to lose his power to approve trade deals with minimal congressional involvement.

"We've been talking for four and a half years. Even if we didn't have the Trade Promotion Authority deadline, it's time to pull this round together," said the USTR.

"I don't see how we miss that [April 30] date and still keep our summer deadline and then have time to finalize tariff schedules to be able to send an agreement forward early in 2007. So I think that's the drop dead date," said Portman.

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CalTrade Report - Developed Countries Chided for Lack of WTO Input