Thread: Iraq/Dinar News Until 5/31/2007 7:15 PM CST..

Security firms feel the pressure in Iraq


Thursday, May 31, 2007

Private security contractors gained popular notoriety for coining money out of the invasion of Iraq. Without them, though, the number of coalition troops in the country would have been significantly higher. And since the peak of the market in 2004, they have faced greater dangers than ever and reduced financial returns, according to experts in the field.

"It's certainly more dangerous. The number and the sophistication of attacks have risen, as has the level of information the terrorists have regarding our activities," said Jonathan Garratt, ma-naging director of Erinys, which has about 1,000 security personnel in Iraq, main-ly on US government contracts. Insurgent groups have had four years to monitor the way private security companies conduct their activities, and adjust their own operations accordingly. As a result, most companies advise clients to travel only when necessary. Companies try to avoid establishing a pattern of behaviour, travel at different times and use different routes with different vehicles.

But as the work has got more dangerous, it has also become less profitable, say executives for some companies. "I think the market is shrinking. It's now a buyer's market, both in terms of those buying the services and those looking for em-ployees," said one executive who requested anonymity.

The chief driver behind the market decline has always been the US government, and the number of contracts has fallen since the 2004 "Baghdad boom". Moreover, contracts from other governments and the private sector have fallen as violence has risen.

Estimates of the numbers of foreign private security operators in Iraq vary, although numbers are likely to have fallen from the 25,000 estimated to have been there last year. The numbers of foreign contractors killed - including non-security personnel and people killed in accidents - runs into the hundreds.

A partial list on the website Iraq Coalition Casualty Count records 398 contractor deaths, while the US Labor Department has recorded more than 900 deaths of people working on US government funded contracts. The figures suggest this year is the worst yet, with 146 casualties recorded.

"The risk of foreign and local national contractors becoming victims of terrorism has increased over the last year, and what would appear to be an infiltration of the police forces by the insurgency on a nationwide scale has certainly added to this," said Lachlan Monro, chief operating officer of Blue Hackle, a UK company.

The group who kidnapped five people on Tuesday - including four from a Canadian Security company, GardaWorld, and their client - from the finance ministry in Baghdad were said to be wearing police uniforms.

Despite the assessment of continually worsening security, the numbers of foreigners kidnapped in Iraq has fallen every year since 2004. According to figures from the Brookings Institution, one foreigner was kidnapped in 2003, 149 in 2004, 99 in 2005, 36 in 2005 and 11 this year.

The decline is due mainly to the reduced numbers of foreigners in Iraq, and the higher security that surrounds those who remain.

The overall security situation is more accurately reflected, spe******ts say, in the high numbers of kidnappings of Iraqis. Brookings stopped recording these numbers in March 2006 because of the difficulty of compiling reliable figures but at that time they were estimated to be between 30 to 40 per day. Some of these have a political motive, but many are done for simple commercial reasons.

"The risk for local people becoming the victims of sectarian violence seems to be increasing, particularly in Baghdad where both Sunni and Shia populations live side by side," said Mr Monro.

By STEPHEN FIDLER


© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2007. Privacy policy.

Protests in southern province over powers cuts



By Saad Hussein



Azzaman, May 30, 2007



Thousands of people went to the streets in the southern Province of Muthana, protesting power and fuel shortages.



The demonstration took place in Samawa, Muthana’s capital, with the organizers warning of grave consequence if the current shortages of fuel and power were not addressed.



Demonstrations also took place in Rumaitha, a provincial town.



Residents say the province has been without electricity in the past few days. The total outage has had detrimental impact on public services.



The outage has been aggravated by chronic fuel shortages. The crisis, officials say, is unprecedented in the province’s history.



A senior provincial official, Ridaydh Dwaini, blamed the Ministry of Electricity for the crisis.



He said the province does not have its own power-generating plant and totally relies on the national grid for supplies.



But the ministry says acts of sabotage, particularly of pylons, have increased substantially recently making it very hard to control the national grid.



The head of Samawa fuel distribution center, Kamel Mohsen, also blamed the Ministry of Electricity, saying filling stations and distribution centers rely on continuous power supplies to operate.



Samawa has a small refinery capable of meeting nearly half of the province’s fuel demands.



But Mohsen said a fuel tanker was blown up in the refinery itself recently, setting loading pumps and meters on fire

Near Iraq Border Routine: Turkish Army Chief
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Posted GMT 5-31-2007 14:9:25
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ISTANBUL (Reuters) -- Turkey's military played down its manoeuvres near the Iraqi border on Thursday, saying they were a routine, seasonal affair aimed at deterring Kurdish separatist rebels.

Ankara sent more tanks to its border with Iraq this week as part of manoeuvres that have spurred talk of an impending cross-border military operation into northern Iraq to crush Turkish Kurd guerrillas hiding there.

"This is spring planning. We can't do it in the winter when temperatures are minus 20-30 Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit). No new troops have been sent to the region," General Yasar Buyukanit, head of the army General Staff, told reporters.

© 2007, Assyrian International News Agency

Iraqi, Coalition Forces clear Muqdadiya
Thursday, 31 May 2007
By Multinational Division – North PAO

TIKRIT — Twenty-four suspected insurgents were detained and one cache was discovered in the Molameen and Baloor neighborhoods near Muqdadiya, Iraq, during a joint Iraqi army and coalition operation Tuesday.

Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 5th Iraqi army, led the operation and were supported by Soldiers from 6-9 Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. The goal of the mission was to clear the area of insurgents and to provide a safe and secure environment for the people throughout the Muqdadiya Qadah.

“This mission was another example of how the IA is becoming a legitimate, credible force,” said Capt. James Locklear, commander for Troop B, 6-9 ARS. “They continue to improve and take more of a lead with every mission that we do.”

During the operation, a cache of improvised explosive-device making material was discovered including multiple propane tanks, timers, command wire, batteries and terrorist propaganda. Iraqi soldiers were responsible for clearing two objectives independent of coalition support.

“This operation showed Iraqi security forces as a unified force, giving credibility to both the Iraqi army and police while comforting the good people of Muqdadiya,” said Locklear. “There is no doubt the Iraqi army is effective at planning and conducting missions.”

Earning, maintaining trust of residents
Thursday, 31 May 2007
By Sgt. Mike Pryor
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division



1st Lt. Josh Rowan (left), of College Station, Texas, goes over some information with 1st Lt. Jeremy Tillman, of Walnut Ridge, Ark., at a meeting with the chairman of the neighborhood council in Rabi, Adhamiyah May 21. Tillman would soon be taking over for Rowan as a new platoon leader with B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Photographer: Sgt. Michael Pryor, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.BAGHDAD — It’s the usual happy chaos when 1st Lt. Josh Rowan arrives at neighborhood advisory council member Abu Muhanned’s house for their weekly meeting – children running amuck in the yard, women crowded into the kitchen, and Muhanned standing in the doorway in pajamas and bare feet, a cigarette in one hand, jabbering into his cell phone.

He greets Rowan warmly and ushers him and his Soldiers inside his home nestled in eastern Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District. While a security team sets up on the roof, Rowan and Muhanned move to the living room to talk. By now, it’s a familiar routine.

It should be.

Muhanned’s house was the destination of Rowan’s very first patrol in Iraq, almost four months ago, and they have met regularly ever since to plan development projects for the area.

Today, however, will be Rowan’s last visit. Rowan, a platoon leader with 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, from College Station, Texas, is moving to a different job. The purpose of this final meeting was to introduce Muhanned to his replacement, 1st Lt. Jeremy Tillman, of Walnut Ridge, Ark.

“All I’m here to do is introduce Tillman and close the loop,” Rowan said.

In the Army, the only constant is change. Soldiers are always moving from one position to another and taking over different duties. But in Iraq, the challenge for new leaders like Tillman is, how do you take over a relationship? Rowan and Muhanned worked successfully together because they had a strong personal bond. Tillman will have to build that trust all over again.

“That’s the challenge of counter-insurgency warfare,” Rowan said.

“It’s difficult,” agreed Tillman. “It’s really just about the individual person’s personality.”

Over tea and cigarettes at Muhanned’s house, Rowan made a big show of introducing Tillman.

“Sir, I look forward to working with you,” Tillman told Muhanned, when Rowan was done.

“I will put my hand in your hand. You will protect me, and I will protect you,” Muhanned replied.

The meeting continued for almost two hours, with conversation bouncing from topic to topic. One minute they were talking about putting trash cans on the street corners, the next minute about a trip Muhanned’s son was planning and the next about security threats in the area. In between, Muhanned’s wife served a huge lunch.

When the meeting was over, Tillman said it had been an eye-opening experience. At his previous unit, the focus had been almost entirely on raids and kinetic operations. Tillman could only remember a few times when he had actually sat in an Iraqi’s house and talked.

“Here, they’re interacting. They’re constantly getting out there and talking to local leaders,” Tillman said. “The mindset is just totally different.”

Since the 2-319th took over its section of Baghdad in February, the paratroopers have adhered to classic counter-insurgency theory, balancing military operations with efforts to engage local leaders, build the economy, and improve essential services. Rowan said the strategy, though slow and difficult to measure, is showing results.

“People are moving here from other parts of Baghdad because they say this is a safe place,” he told his platoon members just before his last patrol with them. “It’s the little things that we are doing that are making a difference.”

In the end, it all boils down to personal relationships, said Capt. Jonathan Harvey, Rowan and Tillman’s battery commander.

The challenge when a key leader gets switched out is to maintain the existing relationships.

“You have to be very delicate in the hand over,” said Harvey, of Nebraska City, Neb. “Iraqi culture is big on trust.”

Harvey said he made sure Tillman had plenty of time to shadow Rowan and meet one on one with all his Iraqi counterparts.

“Back in the states, a change of command is nothing more than an inventory. Here, it’s a much more deliberate process,” Harvey said. “(For Tillman and Rowan) we took 11 days, and each day had a different leader engagement.”

Despite the introductions and the crash course he received on Adhamiyah’s kaleidoscopic array of political and religious groups and their rivalries, Tillman said he still has a lot to learn. It will take time to build up the kind of personal relationships that Rowan had, where he knew not just someone’s name, but their wife and son’s name and what brand of cigarette they smoked, too.

“I know the area. As far as terrain, how to operate, tactics - I know all that,” Tillman said. “What I need to learn is who I can trust.”

South Korea might pull out troops from Iraq

Thursday, May 31, 2007 11:23 GMT

South Korea is studying a plan to pull out its forces from Iraq when the Parliament finalizes its approval by the end of the current year.






On the other hand, a South Korean newspaper published information about a report by the Korean Institute for defense analyses which recommended the Defense Ministry to extend the mission of South Korean troops in Iraq in order to increase the chances of South Korean companies to do business with Baghdad.
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© 2007 Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite Network

PARIS, May 30, 2007 (Dow Jones Newswires)
Russian oil producer OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS) said Wednesday it is optimistic about its chances of getting back into Iraq to develop the big West Qurna oil field, an executive said Wednesday.

The company lost control of the field, one of Iraq's biggest existing oil fields, in 2002 after it failed to develop West Qurna according to its original $3 billion contract signed in 1997. Saddam Hussein voided the contract in 2002.


Related Pictures

West Qurna Field
(Click to Enlarge)

Lukoil, Russia's second biggest oil producer by production, began talks in recent months with the Iraqi government on West Qurna.
"I think there is progress being made and we hope and expect to be back (at West Qurna)," Lukoil vice president Dzhevan Cheloyants told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of an industry conference in Paris.

He declined to elaborate on the company's negotiations with Baghdad, but said that any deal with the Iraqi government would come only after Iraq's long-delayed hydrocarbons oil law becomes final. A draft oil law has missed several deadlines, including the most recent for the end of May. Officials say a parliamentary vote to give final approval to the draft has been pushed back by another month or two.

Cheloyants added that any work in Iraq would take many months to resume because of the lack of security and daily threats and attacks against civilians and contractors.

West Qurna is one of the top production priorities of the Iraqi government because of its 4 billion barrels in proven oil reserves and because much is known about the field's geology and how it should be developed.

Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Even Iraqis are struggling to afford gas
A lot of their pay now goes for fuel
May 30, 2007

BY JENAN HUSSEIN and HUSSEIN KADHIM

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Abu Mohammed is a slight man without prospects of beefing up. His 8-year-old son is barely tall enough to lean his skinny frame against the rear of their old car.

But from dawn to dusk two or three times a week, they push the rusty vehicle up an incline, one car length at a time, to buy gasoline they can scarcely afford.

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Their shove to the front of the line repeats itself throughout the week so Mohammed can drive a cab.

If he makes $20 a day ferrying fellow Iraqis around Baghdad, $18 of that -- 23,000 Iraqi dinars -- will go for gas.

"If God provides," he said, "I might have some petrol left for my generator."

In a nation with some of the world's greatest oil reserves, people have little sympathy for Americans cringing at gasoline that costs $3 a gallon or more. They're too occupied trying to find their own gasoline and too worried about whether they can afford it.

At a licensed station, a gallon of gasoline -- probably watered down -- goes for $1.22, but that's 10 times what it cost before the war, and Iraqis make far less money than Americans do. The price will certainly climb as summer sets in.

In neighboring Iran, where the government subsidizes gas prices, the cost of a gallon of gas went up last week from 30 cents to 38 cents, still cheaper than drinking water.

For Iraqis unwilling or unable to endure the all-day lines in blistering heat, the black market offers a quicker fill-up -- for three times the price.

The result overwhelms a bus system ferrying cash-strapped commuters and prompts the assessment of each trip around the bomb-and-bullet-riddled city, not just in terms of safety but also affordability.

A schoolteacher, for instance, might fork out half her $130 monthly salary at the fuel pump. That gets her just enough gas for short trips around town and some fuel for the family generator, which provides a few extra hours of electricity a night.

Plenty of oil, but some is missing

The situation is especially maddening to Iraqis because they know they live in an oil-rich country.

Oil and Gas Journal estimates Iraq's oil reserves at about 115 billion barrels, third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Canada. Because much of the country remains unexplored for its petroleum potential, some analysts said another 100 billion barrels might be pumped from the Iraqi landscape eventually.

Production peaked in 1979, at 3.7 million barrels a day. That dropped dramatically over the next several decades as Iraq became a pariah on the world stage: the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the Persian Gulf War, the subsequent United Nations sanctions and the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Today, Iraq's oil output hovers at around 2 million barrels a day.

A Government Accountability Office report recently estimated that 100,000 to 300,000 barrels a day have been unaccounted for over the last four years, translating to a daily loss of as much as $15 million. The losses were blamed on corruption and smuggling.

Iraqis make do

To save fuel and ease traffic jams, which make easy targets for bombings, the government has imposed odd-even regulations on the days a car can be on the street, depending on its license plate number.

For a cabdriver such as Mohammed, that can mean profits wiped out in an instant if a cop spots him working on the wrong day.

When Mazin Mehdi cruises the boulevards looking for fares, particularly in the morning, he said, he's doing something to keep people safer.

"The streets are really empty then," said the 33-year-old father of two. "That can make people who are out easy targets" for kidnappers.

He keeps an eye trained on the gas stations, too, hoping to find a spot where the wait might be only five hours.

Talib Hassan owns a BMW and a Buick, but he drives them only to the gas station, to fetch fuel for his generators. Because gas cans are prohibited -- to head off chaos caused by people filling their cars, then multiple cans -- he has to siphon the fuel from his cars once he returns home, where he has four children.

"They all need electricity for comfort and a quiet atmosphere to study," said the 52-year-old engineer.

"Their final examinations are coming. And with the hot weather and the shortage of power, we have no choice but to use the generators all the time."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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"The situation in Iraq" prevents its accession to WTO as yet

"The situation in Iraq" prevents its accession to WTO as yet Translated by IRAQdirecotry.com - [30/05/2007]


An Iraqi government delegation is participating in the World Trade Organization “WTO”


negotiations, currently being held in Geneva, to discuss requirements for Iraqi membership.

Iraqi Trade Minister, Abdul Falah Al-Sudani, said on the sidelines of the meeting held on Friday that "Iraq's accession to the organization represents an important step on the road to integration into the global trading system."

The official added that accession to the organization would revive its prestige in the international community after decades of isolation during the rule of Saddam Hussein, and that Iraq is on a path of economic development.

Iraq had submitted a request to join the organization three years ago, and the special group for negotiating its request was formed in December 2004 but is not expected to win membership in the next few years.

On his part, the representative of the United States in the WTO, which includes 150 countries, said he is "looking forward to working with the (Iraqis) for the success of this process."

Representatives of the European Union, Japan, and other countries participating in the meeting questioned Iraqi officials who provided a report on the process of amending the Iraqi trade laws to conform to international standards.

International organization officials said that the current security situation and lack of political stability mean it is premature to talk about a timetable for approval of accession to the Organization. The officials said that the first meeting focused on the political support of the Iraqi government rather than strictly on the reforms to be carried out.

The Iraqi minister said, "there is much to be done" in this regard, but he added that since the overthrow of Saddam's regime in 2003 Iraq had taken "swift steps" to develop a market rather than State-directed economy, including promotion of the private sector, economic freedom, free trade, and employment.

Al-Sudani added that Iraq hopes to obtain the help of the WTO in the ongoing process of economic transformation in the country, ravaged by war for more than four years.


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Iraq to Set Up National Oil Firm

Iraq to Set Up National Oil Firm Al Alam News - [30/05/2007]


The Iraqi parliament will vote in weeks on founding the state-owned National Iraqi Oil
Company, former Iraqi Oil Minister said on Tuesday.

"The main goal of the new Iraqi oil and gas bill is founding a National Iraqi Oil Company which can regulate the oil and gas sectors which suffer from lack of coordination between several decision maker and administrative units" Ebrahim Bahr Al Uloum said in remarks to alalam TV.

He added that several Iraqi political groups see the oil and gas bill as a plan to distribute the income of oil exports, but insisted that the bill has 4 goals including reviving the National Iraqi Oil Company, setting a structure for the Oil Ministry, coordinating the government and oil producing provinces and specifying the position of foreign investors.

Bahr Al Uloum described the oil as the main income of Iraqi nation and emphasized that giving the exclusive managment right of the National Iraqi Oil Company as well as controlling foreign investments could ensure a just sharing of wealth from Iraq's oil reserves between the whole Iraqi nation.

Regarding to existing protests over the bill, the former minister said that the parliament can reform or even change the bill as needs necessitate.


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