Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Originally Posted by ronbo

That's not what I meant. Susy usually doesn't post something unless she feels strongly about it being factual. But then we have Iraqi papers giving a different value. That is what has me confused, which by the way is not hard to do!

By the way, I am the one on the right!!!!

The real problem here is mixing rumours with facts. The information from someone claiming to receive an e-mail should not be forced or jammed into the discussion of an Iraqi loan program or 10,000 Dinar handout. Each should stand on it's own merit. By introducing a rumour into a real article you pollute the calculations. Keep them separate and then you don't have to worry about fitting a square peg into a round hole.

Originally Posted by danny51

I stopped in my local Bank of America branch today to make a credit card payment and when I was finished with the teller the manager flagged me down on my way out the door. He invited me into his office and he closed the door. I have discussed the dinars with him and have looked them up in his currency exchange book more than once over the last few months. He said to me "Assuming you will be exchanging your dinars with us soon, I would like to review some of our financial services that are available in addition to the savings and checking accounts you already have with us"!! I about fell out of the chair!! He disclosed to me that the extent of his knowledge was that Bank of America was "gearing up" to exchange the dinars both ways and SOON. He also told me that he had purchased dinars from SafeD after I had given him the website URL during one of our discussions in the past. According to the manager, I am the only person in town that has approached him on the subject of dinars and that he had never even heard of buying them before talking to me. Previously there was a female assistant manager that I had looked up the dinars with in their currency book but she is gone now. This is really good news coming from Bank of America in my view. Wells Fargo has been more elusive with me and only states that they will exchange when it is traded on the 4x. Anyway, the manager had a big shiite eating grin on his face when I left after he peddled his financial wares to me for 30 minutes or so. I have never felt better about dinars than I do at this very moment in time!!

This is big and I mean BIG!!! I have worked in the past in the sales industry and if you want to "get the sale" you throw all your best at him/her in order to capture that client. To have the bank manager go over financial services like that in hopes of keeping the money in house says something........somethings comin' and it's BIG!!!!!

can i get a WOOT???!!!!!

By FRANK JORDANS

GENEVA Dec 15, 2006 (AP)— Harassment from U.S. forces is a greater threat to the work of the Iraqi Red Crescent than insurgent attacks, a senior official of the Red Cross-linked humanitarian organization said Friday.

Dr. Jamal Al-Karbouli, vice president of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said some U.S. forces appeared not to realize that the society, which uses as its symbol the Muslim red crescent instead of the red cross, was part of the international humanitarian movement.

"The main problem we are facing is the American forces more than the other forces," Al-Karbouli told reporters in Geneva. "We are spending a lot of time to explain about the Red Crescent."

Al-Karbouli said insurgent groups in Iraq did not pose as great a problem for the organization.

"The insurgents, they are Iraqis, a lot of them are Iraqis, and they respect the Iraqis. And they respect our (the Red Crescent's) identity, which is neutrality."

He also complained that Red Crescent offices in Baghdad, Anbar and Najaf provinces had been repeatedly "attacked" by U.S.-led multi-national forces searching for insurgents.

"We have flags, we have everything, we have (the) logo, so they (U.S. forces) know everything, but unfortunately they come again and attack us many times," Al-Karbouli said. He complained that U.S. forces broke doors and windows at the Red Crescent headquarters "and they didn't find anything, and they left."

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the U.S.-led coalition forces "strive to ensure they are respectful when they conduct interaction with the local population."

"When we conduct searches, we do not 'attack' the place we are searching," he said.

Al-Karbouli said insurgent groups had tried to enlist support from the Red Crescent, but the organization had refused.

"We always say no. We want to keep our neutrality," he said.

Doctors and other medical workers have been targeted by militants in bombings and shootings in Iraq's relentless violence. Hospitals also have become safe havens for insurgents or Shiite militiamen, who have sometimes holed up in them in battles with U.S. forces.

The Red Crescent, which is part of the international Red Cross movement, has around 1,000 staff and some 200,000 volunteers in the country. It works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross which visits detainees and tries to provide food, water and medicine to Iraqis.


Copyright 2006 The Associated Press

Governor and staff adopt Army unit in Iraq for holidays
December 15, 2006

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and her staff are sending some holiday cheer to U.S. troops in Iraq.

The governor's office is adopting a unit from Fort Hood, Texas, for the holidays. Bravo Company of the 15th Sustainment Brigade has been in Iraq since August.

One of its members is First Sergeant Robert Knight, a 1989 graduate of Washburn Rural High School in Topeka.

Knight's family sent the governor's office his letter that included a list of needs by the 60-member company, including toothpaste, coffee pots and fruit snacks.

A spokeswoman for the governor says a list went out to the governor's staff shortly after Thanksgiving, and the items will be sent to the unit in late December.

Students from Washburn Rural Middle School will help pack the donated items.

The adjutant general's website includes details on what items are needed and how to mail packages to Iraq.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Latvia extends Iraq mission for 1 year
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15/12/2006 16:49

The Latvian parliament approved yesterday to extend the peacekeeping mission in Iraq for an extra year to Dec. 31, 2007.
Defense Minister Atis Slakteris said that would be the last extension of the Iraq mission.
A defense ministry report said that given the fact the security situation on the ground still depends on foreign forces, Latvia will keep its 125 troops staying in Iraq for one more year to complete the mission in cooperation with contingents from other countries.
The deployment started in Aug. 2003 and was extended in November 2005.




Xinhua

Iraqi-owned real estate development firm, Empire Holdings, recently revealed that it was undertaking a $350 million real estate project in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil.



Representatives of Empire Holdings explained that opportunities in the province were very good, especially in real estate, according to Khaleej Times.

"Kuwaitis are already participating," he said, "and the Emiratis are also very interested," said Empire's co-founder and president, Shwan Al-Mulla at a recent press conference in Dubai.

"That's why we chose Dubai for the Press conference. We are inspired by Dubai and the UAE, that's why we are here."



Citing the results of a 2006 feasibility study carried out by consultants, Ernst & Young, Empire's CEO Michel Hebert said that it "indicated a positive and upwardly mobile environment in Kurdistan."



Anticipated equity IRR on a real estate project is around 20 per cent, according to the study.



"Erbil offers sound real estate investment opportunities and returns will be higher than industry averages," Herbert added, pointing out that Kurdistan was a safe and secure environment removed from the war in which Southern Iraq is immersed, and that demand for all types of real estate development was significant.



© 2006 Mena Report (albawaba.com middle east news information

UAE property developer Damac Properties recently attended an Iraqi real estate exhibition in Erbil, in the northern part of the nation where many believe there is a growing market for residential real estate developments.



Currently, there are 44 private tourist projects underway in Erbil, according to Kurdistan's General Authority on tourism, reported Khaleej Times.



As a result of relative political stability as compared to the southern part of Iraq, oil revenue investments boosting infrastructure and a move on the part of many Iraqis to return to the region after years abroad, demand for residential units is anticipated to reach one million over the next few years.



Furthermore, occupancy rate of hotels in the region is running at 84 per cent, while airport arrivals have also grown exponentially over the past two years.



© 2006 Mena Report (albawaba.com middle east news information

Originally Posted by MunnyBaggs

Keep in mind that rates from decades ago have very little relevance to today's economy. While historically they are mildly interesting you should not bank on those rates reviving today. The World economy today is far more complex and intricate than even 10 years ago much less 20 or 30. More likely Iraq has calculated all the factors of their neighbors financials, population, assets, etc and have come up with an optimum target rate for todays current situation. Most likely they are headed to the levels of their fellow neighbors and OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE. Great news for us all.

Well mildly interesting to you maybe, But I find it revealing. You say decades mean little how about four years back?

Folks read the parity figure Iraq equates the dinar value in US dollars (3.2169). The figure is found bottom lower left of the document page; it comes from the current CBI website. I find it a bit more than mildly interesting. This plus the Bank of Baghdad quote of .31 ID/ USD well its good enough for me to call it fact. It's a confimed number

http://www.cbiraq.org/Binder12.pdf

Analysis: Iraq's oil smuggling -- Part 2
Posted on : Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:38:01 GMT | Author : Energy Analysis Editor
News Category : Environment

New ( News Alerts by Email click here )


By BEN LANDO When a joint British and Danish force launched a security raid last week in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and home of the second-largest oil refinery, it also arrested alleged leaders linked to a petroleum smuggling ring.

Both smuggling and security are a growing problem in Iraq, not always mutually exclusive, but fueling the post-Saddam Iraq.


It all ties together, said Juan Cole, professor of Middle East and South Asian history at University of Michigan and an Iraq expert, who warns that if Basra spirals downward, the whole country will follow. An estimated 100,000 barrels of oil is smuggled from Iraq each day, according to Saad Rahim, manager of PFC Energy's Country Strategies Group, and an unknown amount of petroleum products, like gasoline, is lifted as well.

Controlled by Shiites experiencing an increase in power struggles, Basra is Iraq's main legal oil export and smuggling port.

The Basra Provincial Council is mostly comprised of members of three Shiite parties that also compete on the national level: al-Fadila, Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and the Sadr Movement.

And they face off with Marsh Arabs, a long disenfranchised and sidelined people, not to be overlooked in either the smuggling or the fighting.

Living on stilts in the marshes outside Basra, Marsh Arabs had key access to the Persian Gulf and Iran. A lot of their activity was smuggling, Cole said. But then a drought sucked much of their water at the turn of the century, and Saddam Hussein finished it off, expelling them into area shanty towns and into Basra. This created tensions with the local Shiite factions, which are still playing out.

The estimated 500,000 Marsh Arabs, previously a mostly isolated community, live by their own rules still, Cole said, acting like a mafia family in Basra ... competing with party militias who are also engaged in the same type of smuggling.Some Marsh Arab factions have aligned with the Mahdi Army, the militia of Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadr Movement.

The Los Angeles Times reports the operation last week in Basra netted five leaders of various tribes or factions. There are more than 7,000 British troops in the province, who are having an increasingly difficult time as smuggling turf wars intensify.

Although none of the detainees' names were released, Sadr's top Basra official said the head of a Marsh Arab tribe was among them and vowed revenge.

The parties are all jockeying for control of Basra and the country, as well as its oil reserves, and are reported to have begun infiltrating oil companies.

The oil infrastructure isn't being attacked, though, like in the north, where militias of the Sunnis, who have little to no oil, are bent on hurting Kurds who have oil resources and are pushing for autonomy. They sabotage the main pipeline to Turkey as well as smuggle petroleum headed to cities like Baghdad.

Iraq produces about 2 million barrels per day and exports 1.7 million of that.

The competition in Basra has furthered security issues, either directly or indirectly. Oil revenues fund more than 96 percent of Iraq's budget; smuggling -- a $700 million monthly toll, the Oil Ministry estimates -- weakens the central government and prevents it from funding both security and reconstruction projects.

You can't do anything unless you get the security, Cole said. He said security can be maintained by strengthening the central government.

Unless that happens nothing good is going to happen in Iraq, he said. And you can't strengthen the central government if it's being denied petroleum, he said. It's a political centrifugal force. It's chaos.It's a situation pegged on both political and economic developments, and the reactions of armed leaders alternately empowered or backed against a wall.

Seemingly no one knows where it will end up, John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, told UPI.

Anybody who thinks they do is in for a rude surprise along the way, he said. All of the organizations there, all of the institutions are fragile because they are new.He said there are a mix of interests engaged in Basra that will play out in its future: militia factions and criminals -- and the interface between those two; an eye on the outcome by both Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia; the city, provincial and central governments; and the coalition troops on guard. All this operates under the umbrella of shifting allegiances and uncertain alliances ... intensely competitive and playing for keeps in the power vacuum created since 2003, after the system of violence that had been created under Saddam, Pike said. Then it fell apart.The fight over oil -- between regions and the central government; among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds; between rival smugglers -- highlights the insecurities that are ingrained in Iraqi society after decades of corruption and oppression, Qubad Talabany, the Kurdistan Regional Government ' s representative to the United States, told UPI. Every community is insecure, he said. Every community is mistrustful of each other.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15

Originally Posted by wciappetta

Well mildly interesting to you maybe, But I find it revealing. You say decades mean little how about four years back?

Folks read the parity figure Iraq equates the dinar value in US dollars (3.2169). The figure is found bottom lower left of the document page; it comes from the current CBI website. I find it a bit more than mildly interesting. This plus the Bank of Baghdad quote of .31 ID/ USD well its good enough for me to call it fact. It's a confimed number

http://www.cbiraq.org/Binder12.pdf

4 years back would be more relevant than 10, 20, or 30 years back indeed. But it does not guarantee 110% done deal that the same level will be achieved or is the actual target level. We need to process the most recent information including that from the CBI, IMF, and articles such as we've seen recently from Iraqi Government, financial, and oil ministries. CBI/IMF most recent projections are towards 1345 and will be accomplished in a gradual manner. Also we've seen recent reports of IQD increase of 8%, 13%, and 100%. We've also got the FIL that needs further implementation and the HCL that needs to be finalized. Don't forget the security plan President Bush intends to introduce in January. We also have indications that this trial gradual appreciation will last until March of 07. March is the next target date of Stand by Agreement with the IMF. The 10,000 Dinar = $6,600 article is great news indeed. But we most likely won't see that handout or loan until March. Expect gradual increases until March and then let's continue to dig up new recent more relevant information. Don't hang your dreams on old dated info, use the good news we currently have and enjoy the ride.