Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 15/04/08 - 26/08/08

The agricultural sector is the most attractive environment for foreign investment

Dr. Jamil Mohammed Jamil, an economist in the Ministry of Agriculture that the strategic agricultural development in the new Iraq opened for private investment in the agricultural sector, whether locally or Arab or foreign

In order to acquire this sector productive capacities is plenty of potential natural and human resources of agricultural unused when ... To increase the value added and capital accumulation necessary for agricultural development of comprehensive and sustainable.

He added that the elements of investment in agriculture Iraqi available and economically feasible for investors so as to the direction of the state's crucial economic philosophy of opening all areas of investment credit terms soft and unhindered government ... As well as provide elements of agricultural production and cheaply compared with neighbouring countries, especially fertile agricultural land, coupled with the availability of irrigation water with the presence of rural employment and wide where more than seven million people in rural Iraq.

In addition to providing diversified agricultural environment in terms of climate and weather, nature and different geographical valid for all types of agricultural investment ... He pointed to the availability of large numbers of scientific and technical cadres of agricultural and veterinary capable of using modern technology. And capable of providing services to investors cheap wages if Makornt neighboring countries.

He explained that the desire to attract Arab and foreign investments in joint agricultural projects that have existed for decades but the central administration for planning the Iraqi economy prevented the release of the previous full freedom for Arab and foreign investors to engage in agricultural investment during the previous regime. But after a 2003 change changed economic philosophy of the State towards a market economy and abolish all laws and investment restrictions prelude to a process of transition towards a free market economy and linking the global market as soon as possible.

He pointed out that Resolution No. 39 in 2003 remains in force, where permits to individuals and foreign companies invest vast agricultural land alone or with the Iraqi private sector investment facilities according to agricultural and large-scale (Marconi. Tax. Banking), except that the current security situation is the main constraint to the achievement of investments Ground.

ÌÑíÏÉ ÇáÕÈÇÍ - ÇáÞØÇÚ ÇáÒÑÇÚí åæ ÇáÈíÆÉ ÇáÃßËÑ ÌÐÈÇð ááÇÓÊËãÇÑ ÇáÎÇÑÌí

Demand for dollar sets record in daily auction

Demand for the dollar set a record in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Monday, reaching $240.075 million compared to $113.900 million on Sunday.

"The demand hit $38.535 million in cash and $201.530 million in foreign transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,192 Iraqi dinars per dollar, one tick lower than yesterday," according to the central bank's daily bulletin, which was received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

None of the 15 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell dollars.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

The Iraqi National Investment is flooded with investor’s new proposals

Ahmed Redha the head of the Iraqi National Investment clarified that the new agency set up by the Government is flooded with proposals worth tens of billions of dollars due to the decline of violence in recent months to its lowest level in four years.

He added in an interview this week with Reuters and a Lebanese magazine; that that who comes early will get cheap labour, support and many privileges because Iraq needs investors now and opportunities for them will be less later.

Iraq needs huge investments for reconstruction after decades of wars and sanctions.

The statistics of the United Nations show that foreign direct investment in Iraq in 2006 did not exceed 272 million dollars.

Redha said that the proposals have been made to include huge housing and tourism projects from Gulf investors in the city of Najaf, sacred to Shiites.

He added that the security situation improved more than 90 percent this year, which encouraged Iraq to invite investors.

The body which was founded in December to grant licenses of investment and set rules for the implementation of projects in Iraq. It covers all sectors from the oil and gas to insurance and banks.

Redha said that the Authority so far granted licenses worth 418 million U.S. dollars, which is partly due to the need for further documentation with respect to certain projects and also because of difficulties in land allocation.

He continued by saying that the proposals presented by a mixture of Iraqis and foreign investors who some of them had cooperated in projects. He added that investors can overcome the Commission to conclude an agreement but that will deprive them from incentives such as tax cuts of up to ten years.

Recently many businessmen delegations visited Iraq from South Korea, Japan and Germany. Redha said that the Arab Gulf States are particularly interested in investment in Iraq.

He said that the scheme of Najaf was submitted by a Kuwaiti company named Al Aquila for investment, includes the setting up of 200 thousand new housing units, schools, medical facilities and industrial island in Lake of Najaf.

The representative of the company in Kuwait informed Reuters that Al Aqila submitted a proposal regarding the project would cost several billion dollars.

Redha added that companies such as Hyundai and Kia South Koreans considering building factories in Iraq.

He said that as long as there are no obstacles to the export from Iraq to any country, it is better to Iraq aimed to manufacture and export abroad.

The Ministry of Defense has promised to protect any project obtained a license to invest.

However, there is another source of concern is the legal and regulatory framework.

But Redha stated that the investment law approved in 2006 has a priority in the application of any other law is inconsistent with making it the main guide to potential investors.

He pointed out that the law granting Iraqi investors and others many privileges. He said that the Iraqi economy was a socialist for 50 years where the government buys and sells, imports and exports everything, but now Iraq has turned into a free economy.

The Iraqi National Investment is flooded with investor’s new proposals

Iraq asks oil majors to shorten service contracts

Iraq has asked international oil companies to revise proposals for technical service contracts worth about $3 billion that aim to boost the country's oil output by about a quarter.

The revisions could delay the signing of the six contracts -- worth around $500 million each -- until August or September, an ****utive at one oil company said on Monday.

Iraq's Oil Ministry said on June 24 it wanted the deals signed within a month. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has expressed frustration over delays in finalising the contracts.

But Baghdad has asked oil majors for revised proposals for contracts that will last just one year to 18 months, rather than the two years previously stipulated, ****utives at two of the oil companies said.

The short-term deals are being negotiated by Royal Dutch Shell; Shell in partnership with BHP Billiton; BP; Exxon Mobil; and Chevron in partnership with Total. A consortium of Vitol, Dome and Anadarko is negotiating the sixth contract.

The deals aim to boost oil output by 100,000 barrels per day at each of six of Iraq's largest producing oilfields, adding to current production of around 2.3 million bpd.

The contracts had called for the output boost within a year, although that target was not binding and was seen as ambitious by some of the companies negotiating.

The ****utives questioned how much work they could do in the shorter timeframe.

"A lot of the equipment we will need takes at least 12 months to deliver. So there is a limit to what we could do in a year," said one ****utive. "You have to ask the question as to how serious is the oil ministry really about these deals?"

Still, oil companies were making their revisions and preparing to resubmit proposals, ****utives said.

"There is a certain amount of work you can do," said one. "I think we'd rather get started than wait another year for the next round of contracts."

Iraq asked for the revisions in early July after Shahristani on June 30 laid out plans for a bidding round for longer-term development contracts at the same fields. Baghdad aims to finalise those long-term contracts in June 2009.

Iraq wants minimal overlap between the short-term and long-term deals.

FRUSTRATION

Shahristani initially wanted the short-term deals signed at the beginning of this year, and showed frustration with delays when the contracts were not signed by the last self-imposed deadline of June 30. Lawmakers said earlier this month that Shahristani had told them the deals may not get signed at all.

"The companies were supposed to put them (the contracts) forward at the beginning of the year, but it has been delayed until now," Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.

"The fundamental issue is that there are proposals to shorten the period (of the technical support contracts) so they will not interfere with the round of initial licences."

Jihad said the longer-term contracts may take a year and a half to finalise. In that scenario, the short-term contracts would last 18 months, he said.

Another sticking point for the contracts is how Iraq pays the oil companies, ****utives said. Iraq had planned to pay the fees in oil through the Iraq Development Fund but is now looking at cash payments, they said.

International oil firms hope the short-term contracts might give them a head start in the race for the long-term deals.

Big oil firms have jostled for position for years to take a role in developing Iraq's massive reserves.

Iraq's proven reserves, at 115 billion barrels, are the largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran. But decades of war and sanctions have hobbled production.

The short-term deals have attracted some criticism in Iraq due to lack of transparency on how the companies were chosen. There was no bidding round.

In most cases, the companies had been providing advice, technical assistance and field studies for free to Iraq's government on the same fields under agreements signed after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

UPDATE 1-Iraq asks oil majors to shorten service contracts | News | Breaking City News | Reuters

Oil industry eyes Iraq investment with caution

The oil industry is cautious about Iraq's decision to offer foreign companies long-term contracts to develop its largest producing fields, with any windfalls seen as distant and likely to go to a select few firms.
Earlier this month, Iraq said it would offer development contracts aimed at boosting output at six fields by a combined 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).

The plan is aimed at helping the country lift output to 4.5 million bpd by 2013 from about 2.3 million bpd now.

But Iraq's decision to pay companies a fee for extracting the oil, rather than sell them an interest in fields, dashed hopes of near-term windfalls and may delay big rises in crude production.

"The oil companies don't like service contracts. They prefer production sharing agreements because they are more lucrative, and also they can book the reserves," Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior energy economist at the Centre for Global Energy Studies said.

International oil companies (IOCs) such as Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell Plc usually operate by either owning a field and paying taxes on production or by having a production sharing agreement (PSA) under which they fund a project in return for a share of the oil.

Under such deals they can benefit when oil prices rise or when technology allows them to squeeze more barrels from the field or cut operating costs.

Also, these deals allow companies to add the field's reserves to their accounts, a key metric used by investors to assess the value of an oil company and its production prospects.

Service agreements cap profits and usually preclude companies from booking reserves.

"The scope for IOCs to turn a profit looks to be severely curtailed," said Samuel Ciszuk, Middle East energy analyst at Global Insight, of Iraq's plan.

BETTER THINGS TO COME?

Industry ****utives say the main reason oil companies are prepared to consider entering service agreements is because they hope it will position them well to secure better deals at a later stage.

"I think eventually they will go to PSAs but at the moment it's a difficult sell within Iraq to do anything other than service agreements," said Robin Allan, Director of Business Development, at Premier Oil, one of the 41 foreign firms Iraq has prequalified to bid.

If this happens, it would be a coup for the industry -- Iraq's proven reserves, at 115 billion barrels, are the world's largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran -- but many doubt it.

Like neighbors Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Iraq threw out the IOCs in 1970s and a deep hostility to foreign investment in oil endures in the region. Also, some Iraqis believe the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was launched to secure oil.

"I do not think there will be any rich pickings for the oil companies in Iraq. The delays will be long, the terms will be tough and the operating conditions will be tough," said John Mitchell, an energy specialist at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

The uncertainty over whether Iraq will ever offer attractive investment terms means many of the companies which qualified to bid for the contracts may not actually do so.

A spokesman for U.S.-based Hess Corp said the company would wait to see presentations from the oil ministry in August before deciding whether to bid for the contracts.

Despite qualifying to bid, UK gas producer BG Group has ruled out near term investment in the country.

"Iraq does not form part of BG Group's current strategy," spokeswoman Jo Thethi said.

DELAYS SEEN

Iraq's experience in negotiating short-term technical service contracts with western companies suggests agreement of the planned long-term deals could be protracted.

The short-term contracts have not yet been signed and oil industry ****utives said on Monday Iraq has asked the companies to revise their proposals.

The government said it wanted to sign long-term contracts in June 2009 but Christophe de Margerie, chief ****utive of France's Total, one of the largest companies qualified to bid said earlier this month he did not expect any deals in 2009.

Toby Chinn, Middle East specialist at consultants Control Risks said the security situation was improving.

However, the oil majors still do not think it is good enough to base staff there permanently, while Baghdad says companies must open offices in Iraq if they want to bid for contracts.

Iraq's leaders are still trying to secure parliamentary approval for a new draft oil law.

Allan said service agreements would be possible under the existing legal framework but Mitchell said companies would be wary of signing deals without the new law being in place.

Some in the industry fear that sweet deals may be offered to the largest companies, although Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said no company would get any "privilege" in bidding.

"Our worry is that there's a lot of pressure on the authorities to award the contracts to the giant multinationals such as Exxon, Shell, Total & BP and I don't think that's in the interests of the people of Iraq," Allan said, adding it would be better to force the majors to partner with smaller players.

Allan said the pressure to go with the supermajors was not overt but added: "It's there in the corridors".

http://www.reuters.com/article/reute...*****Channel=0

Cash from chaos from Baghdad to Basingstoke
Solomon Hughes details the activities of one of the private firms which has made a great deal of money from the occupation of Iraq

DEEP Throat, the whistleblower who unravelled President Richard Nixon’s corruption, told journalists to expose the Watergate conspiracy by “following the money”. Literally following the money, in the shape of Iraq’s new currency, has enabled British firms to profit from the “war on terror”. In common with their better-known American counterparts, these companies have access to the highest levels of government as they try to make money from the military and authoritarian policies launched after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

In 2003, more than a million people protested outside Whitehall against the forthcoming attack on Iraq. Around the same time, a group of lobbyists from a firm called De La Rue was inside Whitehall trying to make money from the war before it had even started.

De La Rue is a security printer. The company is a part-owner of the National Lottery, but most of its work involves printing banknotes. On March 18 2003, two days before the invasion of Iraq, De La Rue ****utives met Foreign Office and Treasury officials and “made a sales pitch” to print Iraq’s currency after Saddam Hussein’s removal from power.

De La Rue went on to both win the contract and then employ Britain’s most senior official in Iraq. Its ****utives now appear to be using similar strategies to win work on Britain’s main “homeland security” policy.

Official papers show that the Foreign Office was receptive to De La Rue’s arguments. Whitehall mandarins wrote: “In post-war Iraq, the largest threat will probably come from [US/Swedish firm] Crane/Tumba”. The fact that officials discussing a looming war could describe an American firm as “the largest threat” shows that they regarded Iraq as a commercial battleground as well as a military one.

De La Rue won its Iraq battle. In July 2003, a meeting of the “Ad Hoc Ministerial Group on Iraq Rehabilitation” – a group including then Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with the then Foreign and Defence Secretaries – were told that persistent Foreign Office lobbying had paid off in a “positive policy move developed in consultation with us” . The Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq commissioned new dinar notes “largely printed by the UK company De La Rue”. While the company insists that the size of the deal is confidential, according to official papers, there was a “$120-million contract to print the new Iraqi currency”.

Many of the post-war Iraq contracts awarded to Western firms were badly managed. Low electricity production, dirty water, jerry-building, poor accounting and plain corruption all marred the reconstruction effort. De La Rue, by contrast, made a success of printing the new banknotes. Iraq’s occupiers wanted a new currency to get Saddam’s face off the country’s banknotes and ensure that post-war Iraq wasn’t destabilised either by Baathists using stockpiles of Saddam dinars or criminals forging notes. As the Foreign Office noted before the war, Iraq’s Central Bank “prints on low-quality wood pulp paper (which reflects under UV light), with a watermark that can be forged by professionals with access to the same paper supply as the bank”.

There was one other crucial difference between the Baathist and allied approach to the dinar. Official papers show that, before the war, “Iraq has approached De La Rue frequently to attempt to source cotton watermark paper on which to print, but been declined”.

Saddam wanted De La Rue to help Iraq’s Central Bank print its own, more secure currency. Instead, under the occupation, the entire operation was outsourced from Baghdad to Basingstoke (where De La Rue has its offices).

De La Rue was paid from money raised by selling Iraqi oil. The $120 million it received came from the Development Fund for Iraq – an account filled with Iraqi oil money but administered by the occupiers.
The possibility of helping the Iraqis to print their own notes – through fresh supplies of high-quality paper or re-tooling the mint – was simply never considered. Instead De La Rue printed the banknotes in England and flew them to Iraq in 27 specially chartered 747 airplanes. While the contract swelled De La Rue’s coffers, it did little to rebuild Iraq as a sovereign nation. The new Iraqi government was weak, isolated and without independence from the occupiers. The fact that it couldn’t even print its own currency was part of this weakness.

One privatisation begat another. Not only was Iraq’s new money made in England, but the contract to distribute the cash was awarded to Western companies. Private contractors, including British firms such as Global Security, ferried the new notes around Iraq. The occupation may have removed Saddam’s likeness from Iraq’s banknotes, but the replacements were printed abroad and then shipped throughout the country by British firms employing Fijian and Nepalese mercenaries. The Iraqis’ involvement in their own money supply was kept to a minimum.

In June 2003 – one month before De La Rue was paid with Iraqi money to print Iraqi money – leading Foreign Office official Jeremy Greenstock was appointed as Tony Blair’s special envoy to Iraq. Greenstock became deputy to US viceroy Paul Bremer. Greenstock left the Coalition Provisional Authority in March 2004. He has since been a critic of some of the CPA’s failures, but judging by his career moves, did not regret all is decisions. In March 2005, Greenstock joined the board of De La Rue – the firm whose profits were bolstered by the Iraq occupation.

The “war on terror” involves both military adventures abroad and “homeland security” programmes. The new “anti-terrorist” bureaucracies, databases and systems have been a bonanza for American corporations. In Britain, the biggest business provided by the “war on terror” involves the proposed national identity card system.

After profiting from Iraq, De La Rue has now turned its corporate attention to this new business opportunity. The firm is lobbying for profitable ID card contracts and has again utilised people with links to the highest echelons of government. One such is David Landsman, De La Rue’s international affairs advisor and the firm’s main contact for “identity systems”. He has spoken at conferences promoting ID cards alongside Home Office minister Liam Byrne.

Normally, former civil servants must have their jobs inspected for potential conflicts of interest by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. However, this committee has not considered Landsman’s job, because he is actually still employed by the Government and works for De La Rue on secondment.

Landsman is not the only current Government employee on De La Rue’s books. Cabinet Office official Gill Rider also sits on De La Rue’s board. Rider is “director-general of leadership and people strategy” – effectively the civil service head of human resources – as well as a director of a firm looking for work on the ID card.

One special feature of the “war on terror” is that both the British and American states have seized new powers at home and abroad and then handed these powers over to commercial sub-contractors. Instead of policemen, soldiers or spies fighting the terrorists, private companies do much of the work.

During the Cold War, US President Dwight D Eisenhower warned of the “unwarranted influence” of the “military industrial complex”. He said: “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” As the example of De La Rue demonstrates, the growing security-industrial complex shows every sign of building its own power to profit from and encourage the foreign interventions and authoritarian twitches of America and its allies.

While ministers and their officials may have felt under pressure from anti-war demonstrators, that was counterbalanced by commercial lobbyists. Campaigners might argue that “homeland security” initiatives are both wasteful and illiberal, but ministers and officials can look forward to jobs with the firms that will run these schemes.

Tribune Blog Archive Cash from chaos from Baghdad to Basingstoke

Appointment of Richard Malcolm as Chief ****utive Officer

Gulfsands Petroleum plc, the oil and gas production, exploration and development company with activities in Syria, Iraq and the USA, is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Richard Malcolm as Chief ****utive Officer.

Richard (Ric) John Malcolm, 56, is currently the Managing Director of OMV (U.K.) Limited, the UK E&P subsidiary of OMV AG, Austria's largest listed company and one of Europe's leading oil and gas companies.

Mr. Malcolm is a professional petroleum geologist and has spent 29 years in the oil industry, serving the past 9 years at OMV in developing OMV's assets predominantly in the North Sea, Libya, Australia and New Zealand.

Mr. Malcolm's career in the oil industry started in 1980 as a petroleum geologist for Woodside Offshore Petroleum, the Australian independent oil and gas intermediate where his work focused on oil and gas exploration on the Northwest Shelf of Western Australia for over 7 years. Following Woodside, Mr. Malcolm joined Ampolex Limited, a listed oil and gas exploration and production company. His roles included senior geologist and Exploration Manager in Western Australia and later Exploration/ Team Leader for Northern and Eastern Australia. Following Mobil's takeover of Ampolex Limited in 1997, Mr. Malcolm assumed the role of Team Leader/ Country Manager for Mobil's interests in Papua New Guinea.

Mr. Malcolm joined OMV in 1999 as head of exploration in Australia and New Zealand and during his tenure at OMV oversaw OMV's entry into new licences through farm-ins and acquisitions in Australia, New Zealand and Norway as well as managing OMV's exploration interests in Libya.

Mr. Malcolm was then appointed as Managing Director of OMV (U.K.) Limited in July 2006 and has continued in that role until the present during which time he has overseen OMV (U.K.)'s growth and evolution in operated exploration activities in the Central North Sea (CNS) in addition to OMV (U.K.)'s participation in the appraisal of the Jackdaw gas/ condensate discovery in the CNS and appraisal of the Rosebank oil discovery, West of Shetland Islands.

The appointment of Mr. Malcolm is anticipated to take effect not later than end October of this year following the completion of formalities associated with his present employment arrangements.

Upon taking up his position and as a part of his compensation arrangements, Mr. Malcolm will be granted 1,500,000 options to subscribe for ordinary shares in the Company. In accordance with the Company's ****utive Share Option Scheme, the exercise price of the options will be 186 pence per share, being the average of the mid-market closing prices of the Company's shares over the five trading days prior to the date of this announcement. The options will vest in three tranches, being 750,000 on the date of his appointment and 375,000 on each of the first and second anniversaries of his appointment.

Gulfsands' Chairman, Andrew West, said: 'The Board welcomes Ric at a crucial moment in the evolution of Gulfsands Petroleum, just as we are about to commence commercial production in Syria. His appointment means that we now have a complete and eminently qualified senior management team to drive Gulfsands to the next stage of its development. I much look forward to working with Ric and the Company's other senior ****utives to build a substantial quoted independent oil and gas company.'

Appointment of Richard Malcolm as Chief Executive Officer | Iraq Updates

PM takes investment case to Europe

PM Noori Al-Maliki begins today new momentum towards develop Iraqi-European relations at all fields. PM's tour includes Germany, Italy and Vatican and contributes at strengthening diplomatic openness that witnesses unprecedented activity at Iraq's history after mutual visits between the country's and World's leaders.

These developments come with a visit of Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barac Obama, to Baghdad today and Parliament's determination to hold emergency session during its legislative holiday to vote on security agreement with Washington, if negotiations succeeded at solving outstanding issues, senior officials said.

Meanwhile, PM said at his opening to Najaf International Airport yesterday that this project provided another message to the World that new democratic Iraqi era will reconstruct the country by its sons' abilities and competence.

PM takes investment case to Europe | Iraq Updates

Germany to Open Consulate-General in Kurdish Part of Iraq

Germany is to open a consulate-general with a senior diplomat in charge in Arbil, part of the Kurdish region of Iraq. Officials in Berlin made the announcement on Monday, July 22, a day before Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki begins talks in the German capital.

Germany already has a small office in Arbil. A consulate-general is a full-scale mission outside a nation's capital. The mission would open at the start of 2009 once security issues had been settled, the foreign ministry said.

Boosting trade

Al-Maliki was set to meet on Tuesday in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel to press for more German investment in and trade with Iraq. German businesses are already operating in the relatively calm north.

Aides said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier set out the plans in a phone call Monday to his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshiyar Zebari.

Arbil is capital of a predominantly Kurdish province also called Arbil.
Germany's embassy in the capital Baghdad has been hampered by its location outside the most secure, US-guarded part of the city.

PUKmedia :: English - Germany to Open Consulate-General in Kurdish Part of Iraq

Iraq Wants Pullout in 2010

Maliki's Comments Appear to Match Obama's Timetable
Sen. Barack Obama received a fresh boost Monday to his troop withdrawal plan from the Iraqi government, which directly affirmed for the first time that it shares Obama's goal of pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of 2010.

At the start of a two-day visit to Iraq aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials, Obama was given a red-carpet reception by a newly assertive Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has only recently started calling for a troop withdrawal timetable—to the dismay of the White House, and potentially to the detriment of Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain.

Maliki told Obama he hopes the troops will go home "by the end of 2010," according to Maliki's spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, marking the first time the Iraqi government has specified a time limit on the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq.

One possibility is that Maliki is seeking to leverage Obama's withdrawal plan to extract concessions from the Bush administration in negotiations for a formal agreement governing the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.

But a statement issued by Obama's congressional delegation, including Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), said that Maliki is now serious about demanding a time frame for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"Iraqis want an aspirational timeline, with a clear date, for the redeployment of American combat forces," the statement said. "Prime Minister Maliki told us that while the Iraqi people deeply appreciate the sacrifices of American soldiers, they do not want an open-ended presence of U.S. combat forces."

Dabbagh had on Sunday denied that Maliki had endorsed Obama's withdrawal proposal in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel. But his remarks Monday indicate that Iraq's position on a withdrawal time frame does at least closely coincide with Obama's.

Under Obama's proposal, U.S. combat troops would be gone by May 2010.

Dabbagh cautioned, however, that any timetable should be flexible enough to accommodate changing conditions, "to ensure that we won't be attacked by any enemy inside or outside Iraq."

That the Iraqi government is now specifying a preferred withdrawal date could create problems on the campaign trail for McCain, who has slammed any talk of a timetable as tantamount to an admission of defeat.

"You can't choose to lose a war in Iraq in order to win in Afghanistan," McCain said on NBC's "Today" show Monday, in reference to his Democratic rival's proposal to move combat brigades from Iraq to fight a resurgent Al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan.

But at a news conference in Maine on Monday, McCain appeared to embrace the possibility of withdrawing most troops from Iraq by 2010.

Appearing Irked
The White House appeared irked by the Iraqi statements, saying that its negotiations would not be helped by publicly airing dates.

"We don't think that talking about specific negotiating tactics or your negotiating position in the press is the best way to negotiate a deal," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Already, it is clear Iraq has succeeded in putting some form of timetable on the agenda, after the Bush administration acknowledged Friday that it is discussing a "time horizon" for the drawdown of U.S. forces, though not, it stressed, a withdrawal date.

It now seems unlikely Thursday's deadline for a final agreement will be met, but the administration has said it hopes to finalize a full status of forces agreement by the end of this year.

However, some Iraqi officials have said they may scale back the talks and reach only a temporary arrangement with the Bush administration, leaving it up to the next president to negotiate a permanent deal with Iraq.

If Obama is elected, the Iraqis will be able to negotiate a deal that fits their goal of seeing the troops gone by the end of 2010.

But McCain favors a more open-ended commitment to Iraq than Obama, with a withdrawal to be determined only when conditions are right. The Arizona senator criticized much of the Iraq War's prosecution, but he has been a major proponent of the U.S. troop "surge."

At the same time, the Iraqi government has grown in confidence in recent weeks, buoyed by security gains on the streets and by political progress, marked Monday by the formal return of the Sunni bloc to Maliki's government after a nearly yearlong boycott. These successes appear to have convinced Maliki the government will soon be capable of standing alone.

Red-Carpet Treatment
According to an account of their meeting released by Maliki's office, the prime minister told Obama that Iraq has "defeated Al Qaeda and is moving toward economic success, on top of the security improvements we have achieved recently."

The account, written in Arabic, said that Obama praised Maliki for his "courage" and promised "to maintain the gains the Iraqi government achieved under your leadership."

Though joined by Reed and Hagel, it was clear at every stop that Obama was the real star of the show. He walked ahead of his congressional colleagues into the meetings with Maliki and with President Jalal Talabani, who greeted him warmly as a visiting statesman.

In both meetings, Obama was seated to the right of his Iraqi host in the chair reserved for visiting dignitaries, while Reed and Hagel sat to the side with aides.

The delegation scheduled no media appearances, and advance details of the visit have been kept secret—for security reasons.

Obama flew into an Iraq much changed since his only other visit, in January 2006. Then, the violence was building toward what many believe was a mini-civil war, with Sunni extremists relentlessly bombing Shiite targets and Shiites retaliating by striking Sunnis.

These days, Baghdad again has crowded streets, traffic jams and restaurants that open until late in the evening. Major bombings have become a rarity, and well-equipped police and soldiers control the streets with stern efficiency.

McCain, who has visited Baghdad eight times and routinely criticizes Obama for having visited only once, said he was glad the Illinois lawmaker had gone to Iraq to see for himself the effects of the surge of 30,000 troops, which Obama opposed.

"This is the same strategy that he voted against, railed against," McCain said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "He was wrong about the surge. It is succeeding, and we are winning."

Fragile Conditions
But the extra troops were only one factor in a broader convergence of events, that included the revolt by Iraq's Sunnis against Al Qaeda in Iraq and the cease-fire declared by the Shiite Mahdi Army militia, the two main protagonists to the violence.

Either of those groups could change their positions, and the military has repeatedly warned security gains are "fragile and reversible," an argument Obama was likely to hear from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, at a working dinner Monday night.

In Baghdad, the senators also met with Iraqi vice presidents Tariq al-Hashimi and Adel Abdel-Mahdi and consulted with Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

"I don't think that there are deep concerns about the notion of a pullout per se," Obama told ABC News in an interview. "There are deep concerns about, from their perspective, of a timetable that doesn't take into account what they anticipate might be some sort of change in conditions."

Obama is spending the night in Baghdad and is expected to visit "other locations" in Iraq on Tuesday, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesman. He will then leave for Jordan, before embarking to Israel, Germany, France and Britain.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraq Wants Pullout in 2010