The Dinaradmin is doing a great job with this new pad every month. The old one wasn't even getting slow yet. I love it!
Keep up the good work.
Go Iraq, go dinar!
We have had a couple of years of bad news from Iraq, and now we have had about a half a year of good news, but good or bad, no movement of any significance have happened so far.
Eventually the whole thing will break lose, but as we are sitting today, there is not much difference in the economy in Iraq compared with one or two years back, it is quite a difference when it comes to the security scene, and the political landscape, the alliances have shifted and there is a shift in who is winning the war ( we do) and all that, but looking at it from a pure economic viewpoint, not much have happened.
We are getting daily news of contracts signed, new companies, new oil investments, new industry investments, big budgets, big oil revenue surplus and all that.
This will make a difference, but nothing have effectively kicked in, in any significant form.
A good indication of that is the ISX, it is moving slowly upwards, but it is not moving upwards in a dramatic form, more of a very shalow rise. This is not indicative of a country that have billions in oil revenue, and are sitting on one of the largest oil reserves in the world.
The way ISX is behaving right now is more indicative of a "normal country".
The ISX is a mirror of how much the industry is worth, and if Iraq would be in the "boom" condition that we all wish it to be, the ISX growth curve would have been raising much more rapidly.
A boom economy is when the value of the industry is shooting straight up, but as long as the ISX is lingering in the level it is now, and have not gone up significantly from the past, this is a pretty good indicator of how things are going in Iraq as we speak right now.
Good news are good, no question about that, but as usually in that part of the world, a decision not taken is good policy, so things have a tendency to be dragged on forever.
This even when the "good news" are in, it is indecision's, and non action.
Possibly this last battles with the Shiite, AlSadr clans, will be the very last of the major offensives, before all the militias, groups and different factions have come to rest.
Either way, on top political level in Iraq, it's ministries and it's spokes men, and on international level, it looks really good, and I keep hearing daily about new contracts and all that, but from that, to see a real change, that still has to materialize.
We're in a far better position now, than last year with this thing, and it is possible now to say that it is just a matter of time, but still ...nothing.
The value of the Dinar doesn't necessarily show the condition of Iraq, as it is a manipulated currency, but the movement of the stock exchange shows pretty much the actual economical condition.
If you are not speculating in stocks in Iraq, you could still just check out the ISX statistics as time goes by, and you will have a pretty day to day pulse over the Iraqi economy.
I wasn't sure where to place this...in the news section or speculation (please move if needed).
I found this and thought it was curious. It was in a Jordanian newspaper.
Iraq in the Arab press
Iraqi affair in Jordanian newspapers on Sunday April 27
4th paragraph down..
She says Arabs today that Royal Jordanian has succeeded last month in the completion of the tender new Iraqi currency transfers from London to the Central Bank of Iraq in Baghdad. Informed sources reported '"behind" the bid for ownership tender for the transfer of new Iraqi currency, will be declared the winner of the tender soon.
Thursday, March 13 / Baghdad / The General Company for banking services currency transfer and achieved sixteen trips to transport currency treasury Rafidain Bank and Rasheed Bank treasury as well as the charter of civil banks and government departments.
Those trips came under (7) and the duties of public quoted company for banking services which amounted to $ (150, 949, 502, 57) dinars (Fifty-seven billion, five hundred and two million nine hundred and forty-nine thousand, one hundred and fifty Iraqi dinars) and the total amount transferred for all banks and Chambers governmental foreign currency (000, 700, $ 3) three million, seven hundred thousand dollars and the number of cars used to transport the currency (and accompanying vulnerable) (24) car http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...language_tools
The good news is that neither the Jordanian airline or their airforce probably have a fleet large enough to accomodate an entire currency swap, like the one in 2003 that required, what, 27 Boeing 747's. At least they would not be able to handle a transport of that magnitude all in one fell swoop and still have planes in service at home. Maybe over a two year period though
Of course, there might be other tenders offered up for the currency transport. Royal Jordanian just happened to win this one.
I would like to get the boards opinion about a statement made by the CBI concerning the 25000 dinar note. Paraphrasing, it said the CBI has no intention to remove from circulation 25000 note.
What do you make of this? Without a doubt statements are made from inside the country that are ignored by Western news outlets. I am interested in knowing why the CBI had to make such a statement.
A statement like this may hurry my decision to open an Al-Warka account.
Roger - Thanks for the update, appreciate the post and your insights, as always. :) Good food for thought.
Cornish_boy - Interesting links and articles, thank you. :)
Rob N - I think there are a lot of holdings out there denominated in that 25000 Dinar note and the CBI is just assuring everyone holding that denomination of their currency that - no matter what happens in the near term future with any lower denoms being brought into circulation - the CBI is not removing the 25000 note from being legal tender currency and having worth.
Iran dumps U.S. dollar for oil trades Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's President, has called the dollar a 'worthless piece of paper.'
April 30, 2008
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer, has stopped conducting oil transactions in U.S. dollars, a top Oil Ministry official said Wednesday, in a concerted attempt to reduce reliance on Washington at a time of tension over Tehran's nuclear program and suspected involvement in Iraq.
Iran has dramatically reduced dependence on the dollar over the past year in the face of increasing U.S. pressure on its financial system and the fall in the value of the American currency.
Oil is priced in dollars on the world market, and the currency's depreciation has concerned producers because it has contributed to rising crude prices and eroded the value of their dollar reserves.
"The dollar has totally been removed from Iran's oil transactions," Oil Ministry official Hojjatollah Ghanimifard told state-run television Wednesday. "We have agreed with all of our crude oil customers to do our transactions in non-dollar currencies."
Iranian oil officials have said previously that they were shifting oil sales out of the dollar into other currencies, but Ghanimifard indicated Wednesday that all of Iran's oil transactions were now conducted in either the euro or yen.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the depreciating dollar a "worthless piece of paper" at a rare summit last year in Saudi Arabia attended by state leaders from OPEC countries.
Iran put pressure on other OPEC countries at the meeting to price oil in a basket of currencies, but it has not been able to generate support from fellow members -- many of whom, including Saudi Arabia, are staunch U.S. allies.
Iranian analysts say Tehran can withstand U.S. pressure as long as it can continue its oil and gas sales, which constitute most of the country's $80 billion in exports.
Central Bank Denies Cancelling 25000 IDs Note
PUKmedia 2008/05/01
Central Bank of Iraq denied the news of cancelling the 25000 IDs local note.
An official source in the bank said “some Medias published on their websites that there is an intention to cancel the 25000 IDs note to strength the local currency. The news is incorrect and baseless.”
“Iraqi dinar value was refreshed in front of dollar in the past two years. The operation that the Central Bank carried out proves the success of the fund policy in raising the local currency value. News like this aimed to effect on the local economy situation”, the source added.
Rob i seem to remember a while back talk of keeping the 25.000 note mainly four large transactions like real estate. It would be a shame to get rid of this note after all it is a work of art.
Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says
Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says (Update4)
By Fiona MacDonald and Matthew Brown
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency's decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said.
``Yes, there are some'' Gulf Cooperation Council states considering dropping their pegs to the dollar, which has fallen 13 percent against the euro in the last 12 months, al-Shimali said in an interview in Kuwait late yesterday without naming the countries. ``Some countries will do what we are doing.''
Al-Shimali's comments may restoke speculation of a change in Middle East currency systems that eased after the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last month ruled out any revaluation or dropping the dollar peg in the short term. The issue will remain a key issue as long as inflation remains high.
``Inflation is rising in the Gulf to a great extent because of loose monetary policy,'' said Marios Maratheftis, head of research for Standard Chartered Plc in the Middle East in a telephone interview from Dubai. ``Tightening monetary policy can only happen if they drop their currency pegs or strengthen the currency, preferably both.''
The U.A.E., Bahrain and Qatar lowered their benchmark interest rates today by a quarter point, matching a cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve a day earlier. The move is needed to maintain the dollar pegs. Saudi Arabia is on its weekend while Oman moves its interest rates in line with the London Inter Bank Offered Rate.
Gulf Inflation
Inflation is running close to 10 percent in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., while Qatar's consumer prices rose 14 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Kuwaiti dinar has appreciated 7.9 percent against the dollar since the nation in May became the only Gulf Arab state to drop its peg to the U.S. currency. Contracts to buy U.A.E. dirhams in 12 months time are trading at a 2 percent premium and Saudi riyal forwards are trading at a 1.3 percent premium to the spot price, suggesting that some traders are betting that those countries will follow Kuwait in revaluing. The link to the dollar meant that imports in euros and other currencies that have strengthened against the dollar became more expensive.
The idea of dropping the peg ``has been started by other Gulf countries and they are partially going this way because the dollar has been going down for some time,'' al-Shimali said yesterday.
Forum meeting
``This news has already been in newspapers,'' al-Shimali told reporters at a meeting of the Fourth World Economic Forum in Kuwait today.
Reuters reported today that al-Shimali said he was citing newspaper reports and not expressing his own opinion when commenting to Bloomberg on the future of the Gulf dollar pegs.
When asked at the forum about Gulf states considering dropping their pegs, al-Shimali told reporters that he would not comment on behalf of Gulf states.
Officials at the Qatari, Omani and U.A.E. central banks were not immediately available. The Bahraini and Saudi central banks were closed today.
Revaluation speculation peaked in November after U.A.E. central bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said he was considering dropping the dirham's peg to the dollar, and a Saudi Arabia central bank official said that Gulf states may revalue their currencies together.
All the GCC states, apart from Oman, are planning to form a single Gulf currency by 2010. The group's central bank governors will meet in June in an attempt to get the project back on schedule.
``The case for currency reform is strong,'' Simon Williams, chief Middle East economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said in a telephone interview from Dubai. ``The inflationary pressures the Gulf faces not only demand a stronger currency, they also require an independent monetary policy. The issue is not going to go away, but I don't believe that change is close.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait fmacdonald4@bloomberg.net; Matthew Brown in Dubai at mbrown42@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 1, 2008 10:21 EDT
Iraq PM sends team to Iran to discuss militias
By Khalid al-Ansary and Waleed Ibrahim
May 1, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sent a delegation to tell Iran to stop backing Shi'ite militias, officials said on Thursday, underscoring Iraq's unease over the influence of its powerful neighbor.
The delegation from Maliki's ruling United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) left for Tehran on Wednesday amid further accusations from U.S. military officials that large amounts of Iranian weapons have been found in Iraq.
"The UIA has decided to send a delegation to press the Iranian government to stop financing and supporting the armed groups," said Sami al-Askari, a senior legislator in the Shi'ite party and a close confidante of Maliki.
In London, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said "very, very significant" amounts of Iranian weapons had been found since Maliki launched an offensive against militias in late March.
Petraeus told the BBC after meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown this included more than 1,000 mortar and artillery rounds, hundreds of rockets and dozens of amour-piercing bombs. The number found in Baghdad was even greater, said Petraeus.
Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of arming, training and funding rogue elements of the Mehdi Army militia of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Iran denies the charges.
"It's a very important step (to send the delegation)," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Texas.
"I think that the Iranians do care about what the shape of their future relationship with Iraq will be .... Do they want to work with the government of Iraq or are they going to subvert the government of Iraq?" said Gates.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the delegation had taken questions to Tehran that needed answering.
U.S. military officials had planned to put on display some of the recently captured Iranian weapons but decided to let the Iraqis make their own case to Iran first.
Maliki, a Shi'ite himself, is having to tread a fine line between Tehran and Washington -- two bitter foes that are also at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear program.
But Maliki has also sought to show his independence.
At a news conference on Wednesday, he said: "I am not Iran's man in Iraq." And he launched his offensive in the southern city of Basra without giving the U.S. military much notice.
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih this week described Baghdad's ties with Tehran as among the most complex it had.
"We cannot afford to have a precarious relationship that could degenerate and go back to a state of conflict that we have had in a previous era," Salih told Reuters.
"The time has come for this relationship to be put on a real sound footing, state to state."
Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s in which hundreds of thousands were killed. Ties have improved since Sunni Arab strongman Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion and a Shi'ite-led government came to power in Baghdad.
Iraq Kurdistan Region said ready to export 100,000 barrels of oil per day
Nechirvan Barzani has announced that the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) will soon export 100,000 barrels of oil and [Iraq] oil experts warn that the Kurds should not produce more than the rate of production allocated to Iraq as a whole.
(www.noozz.com)
Maliki targets "outlaws" not political factions, says Talabani 01/05/2008 17:17:00
Baghdad (NINA)- President Jalal Talabani said that Premier Nouri al-Maliki has targeted "outlaws and not any political power as some might want it to appear." In an opening speech on the inauguration of the sixth "al-Mada" cultural week Thursday
(www.ninanews.com)
Government seeks crisis solution in Iran, says Ubaydi 01/05/2008 15:52:00
Baghdad (NINA)- Salah al-Ubaydi, spokesman for cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said that the government is seeking Iran's mediation to resolve the crisis with Sadrists, who are already negotiating with the president and parliament's speaker to solve the problem.
(www.ninanews.com)
Salah al-Din, 01 May 2008 (Voices of Iraq)
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The Criminal Court in Tikrit on Wednesday sentenced a senior commander of an al-Qaeda-linked group to death, a Salah al-Din police source said.
“The Criminal Court handed down a death sentence on Adnan Faraj, the military commander of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq in Salah al-Din,” a police source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
The source pointed out “the ruling was based on item four of counter-terrorism law after the suspect pleaded guilty to killing an Iraqi army officer in Dhuluyia town during the summer of 2005.”
“The suspect will be also tried in a number of cases after admitting involvement in several operations which were documented by judicial authorities,” he added.
Adnan Faraj, a Dhuluyia resident, was arrested in late 2007 in Mosul while trying to travel abroad with a forged passport.
(www.iraqupdates.com)
Strike Kills al-Qaida in Somalia Leader
May 01, 2008
Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia - The U.S. military killed a man believed to be the head of al-Qaida in Somalia and 10 others in an airstrike overnight, an Islamic insurgent group said Thursday.
The U.S. military confirmed an attack on a suspected al-Qaida target but did not identify the target.
Aden Hashi Ayro was killed when the airstrike struck his house in the central Somali town of Dusamareeb, about 300 miles north of Mogadishu, said Sheik Muqtar Robow, a spokesman for the Islamic al-Shabab militia.
Another commander and seven others were also killed, Robow said. Six more people were wounded, two of whom later died, said resident Abdullahi Nor.
"Our brother martyr Aden Hashi, has received what he was looking for - death for the sake of Allah - at the hands of the United States," Robow told The Associated Press by phone.
Capt. Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, confirmed there was a U.S. airstrike early Thursday in the vicinity of Dusamareeb. Another U.S. military spokesman, Bob Prucha, said the attack was against a "known al-Qaida target and militia leader in Somalia." Both declined to provide further details.
But another U.S. defense official confirmed that the military launched a missile strike targeting Ayro at about 3 a.m. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The attack comes just before U.N.-sponsored peace talks are due to begin in Djibouti on May 10.
Analysts say the strike is likely to harden extremists and make it more difficult to appeal to moderate elements in the Islamist movement, which contains many clan members, businessmen and members of the Somali Diaspora.
Iise Ali Geedi, an analyst at the Somali University, says the attacks will increase anti-American sentiment. The attack may also weaken the position of the prime minister, who wishes to bring more militant elements into the talks against the wishes of the president.
Over the past year, the U.S. military has attacked several suspected extremists in Somalia, most recently in March when the U.S. Navy fired at least one missile into a southern Somali town.
Somali government officials have said Ayro trained in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and is the head of al-Qaida's cell in Somalia.
He was a key figure in the al-Shabab movement, which aims to impose Islamic law and launches daily attacks on the shaky Somali government and their Ethiopian allies. Ayro also recently called for attacks on African peacekeepers in Somalia in a recording on an Islamic Web site.
Sheik Muhidin Mohamud Omar, who Robow described as "a top commander" in the Al-Shabab, was also killed in Thursday's attack.
"We heard a huge explosion and when we ran out of our house we saw a ball of smoke and flames coming out of the house where one of the leaders of al-Shabab Aden Hashi Ayro was staying," said local resident Nur Geele.
Another resident, Nur Farah, said, "the bodies were beyond recognition, some them cut into pieces, and those wounded have been severely burnt."
Al-Shabab is the armed wing of the Council of Islamic Courts movement. The State Department considers al-Shabab a terrorist organization.
The Council of Islamic Courts seized control of much of southern Somalia, including the capital, Mogadishu, in 2006. But troops loyal to the U.N.-backed interim Somali government and the allied Ethiopian army drove the group from power that December.
Ethiopia's archenemy, Eritrea, has offered assistance to the group, and it is re-emerging. In recent months it has briefly taken several towns, freeing prisoners and seizing weapons from government forces. The insurgents usually withdraw after a few hours but continue to target Ethiopian and Somali forces in an Iraq-style insurgency.
The United States has repeatedly accused the Islamic group of harboring international terrorists linked to al-Qaida, which is allegedly responsible for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people.
Over the past year, the U.S. military has attacked several suspected extremists in Somalia, most recently in March, when the U.S. Navy fired at least one missile into a southern town targeting Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan suspected in the embassy bombings.
America is concerned Somalia is a breeding ground for terrorist groups, particularly after the Islamic militants briefly gained control of the south and Osama bin Laden declared his support for them.
"As I have said before, we will pursue terrorists worldwide," Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington. "The U.S. is committed to identifying, locating, capturing and if necessary killing terrorist wherever they operate, train, plan their operations or seek safe harbor."
Fighting between government troops and the insurgents claimed thousands of lives last year and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.
(www.military.com)
Iraqi dinar will see the high value of 2008
Experts Iraqi economy was likely to continue to rise in the value of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar during the year 2008, in the event of continued policy of the Central Bank of Iraq in the activation of open auctions and withdraw liquidity.
These experts agreed that the gap between the financial and political cash is the motivation behind Ascending careful of the value of the Iraqi currency, and warned of the danger of inflation on the real value of the Iraqi dinar, and the need to find radical solutions to reduce the impact. The financial and economic expert Dr Majid picture, that "the adoption of Iraq to cover the need for goods and services through imports, led to the resort monetary policy to support the Iraqi dinar exchange rate even reached 1216 dinars to the dollar."
He told the Independent News (Voices of Iraq) that "it is expected to continue to support Pacific Iraqi dinar value as long as inflation factors were continuing." He added that "the basis of the weakness of harmony between monetary and fiscal policy in general, is the absence of clear economic policy, it is trying to hand monetary policy pressure on the money supply in circulation and supporting monetary unit, while fiscal policy to encourage ongoing expenditure policy."
It was that "the presence of the clear economic policy will lead to harmony between policies and all other factors relevant economic development."
Image stressed the need for "economic policy is the promotion of productive expenditure at the expense of consumer spending being." However, he said, "regrettably the budget in 2008 to removed emphasizes the ongoing non-productive expenditure, which represents 72.7% of total spending, while investment spending 27.3%, this is in addition to the fact that most investment spending for projects and service projects Aantegeh not."
Economic Iraqi scientist Abdul Jabbar Alafi, finds that "the high value of the Iraqi currency would continue year 2008, and that this increase stems from the policy of the Central Bank, which he described as flexible policy since in 2004" saying that the explanation that "Iraq is a dollar put incorrect, and that the bank amendment because the Iraqi currency is a national symbol, and it must be achieved real value, a policy of the Central Bank managed to correct the exchange value of the dinar to the dollar, which was dominant to the price of the dinar since 91 almost, and I think it succeeded calendar policy prevailing price of the dollar over the long years, the dollar's worth a thousand Dinar soon, God willing. "
Iraqi businessman, J. Aradi, speaking l (Voices of Iraq) on the pros and cons of the policy of financial support to the Central Bank of ERA selling the dollar and the currency was withdrawn from the market by granting private banks profits estimated proportion (20-25) percent said "the Central Bank of Iraq currently supporting Iraqi currency largely through the sale and purchase of the dollar auction of hand, and the withdrawal of currency from the market by granting profits 20% of the fixed deposits which contributed to withdraw a large part of the cash from the Iraqi market."
But he pointed to the seriousness of this situation that the "banks prefer to transfer all assets of cash to the Central Bank instead diverted to the labor market and Iraqi production because profits content between 10% and 12%, which led to the suspension of the role of these banks in the domestic investment."
Aradi noted that "disruption of the investment that led to the weakness of Iraqi products and the adoption of Iraq to foreign products led to the strengthening of the currency in digital and not real," and said "the prices of goods and services despite the depreciation of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar, which calls for measures economic and financial consolidation and strengthening of local and foreign investment to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar, which measured the quantity of real goods and services obtained by the citizen and not a numerical value of the currency and curb inflation. " Commenting Iraqi economic thinker Dr. Ismail Obeid that the warning of increasing interest rates, which leads to lack of investment, considering that this misguided policy action at all, pointing out that raising the price leads to the result of falling into the so-called Bfaj liquidity, which is the way of risk economically.
He added: "We need a constitutional amendment, so it can build an economy subject to development without a clear and transparent laws determine the course of economic changes, and can only deal with inflation dismissed commodities markets, or increase the supply of goods produced, but that we address inflation through trap this means stopping liquidity increased production capacities and foreign investment, which is also affected."
He said that "the lesson is not strongly Iraqi dinar officially, but strength against other currencies" noting that it is not "only to find the so-called Silhouette prices that presupposes the existence of an information base on imported goods as a kind of border prices and compares them once domestic prices."
Economic researcher Hossam Acommok sent from the anticipated decrease the value of the dollar against the Iraqi currency, but it explained to (vote for Iraq) that this reduction "will be the well-being of the Iraqi citizen, contrary to what was expected, due to increased inflation rate derived from the great imbalance in the economic structure of Iraq.
The lack of coordination between sectors of the government and the Central Bank in its policies, which has made great sacrifices in order to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar, but it failed to achieve tangible results because of indiscriminate actions contradict one another." He added Acommok "at the time the withdrawal of the Central Bank liquidity despite our reservations on the measure, rose Oil Ministry prices of oil derivatives by reached (2150) double what it was before 2003 and put forward this two hundred billion dollars rising inflation."
He concluded his speech by saying "what the monetary policy in Iraq is good, but it is inconsistent with the reality of the situation is correct structure of the Iraqi economy to serve the Iraqi people who have not benefited from reduced practically the dollar."
The Minister of Finance, the Iraqi statement said Zubaidi Jabr told media recently that the Iraqi dinar today much better than some global currency, because behind large amounts of gold and hard currency, noting that the proposal to delete the three zeroes of the Iraqi currency after assuming office in the Ministry of the Week and presentation this proposal to officials in the monetary policy of the Central Bank. He said that the Central Bank at the time was reluctant to accept this idea, but it became a strong dinar, the idea will be discussed by the Central Bank, and that there is a positive atmosphere to the idea.
For his part, the bank denied the existence of such intentions currently, and will remain current currency is adopted in local dealings, but in the faith of all coins withdrawn from circulation and replaced but the same categories of paper and include categories of (25,50,100) dinars.
Thanks and Regards,
Ken Kuhn
(630)-631-6407
902 S. Randall Rd. Suite C337
St. Charles, Illinois 60174
United States
www. dealorbuydinar.com
I read your post. You seem a bit frustrated. It's understandable. Just don't lose hope! I had a thought about what might happen if the dinar suddenly took off. I think it might spiral out of control, upwards. The world is looking for somewhere to park its money, and stop it from declining in value. I think a lot of charlatans would spring up with bogus investment opportunities sort of like the Nigerian boiler room scams, urging people not to miss out. I think the currency may go high if a mania (bubble) occurs, when everyone turns to Iraq as a safe haven for their cash, even with the genuine investment opportunities. So, getting in now while the costs are relatively low, and cashing out when it reaches a high that makes us feel uncomfortable in case the bubble bursts, could be a strategy. Everyone has their threshold - 1 dinar = $0.10, $1, $3, $5, more?
Israeli forces kill Islamic Jihad chief, sources say
April 30, 2008
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- One person was killed and three were wounded Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a metal shop in Rafah, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.
Israel Defense Forces confirmed the airstrike.
The person killed was the deputy commander of the Islamic Jihad military wing, according to the Palestinian sources, who said he also served as a school headmaster at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunnes said he could not immediately confirm that the person was employed by the United Nations.
About that Presidential race.. (since it affects our Dinar investment who is elected)..
It looks like Hillary has ample reason to remain in the race..
The rise and fall of circumstances - including Jeremiah Wright and how those" clinging to God and guns" in Penn and Ohio - (and voting that way) are interesting to note.
===
CNN Poll: Obama losing support
May 1, 2008 A new CNN poll shows Obama losing ground.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll suggests the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is a virtual tie.
Forty-six percent (46%) of registered Democratic voters questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday support Obama as their party’s nominee and 45 percent (45%) back Clinton, a statistical dead heat when taking into account the poll’s 4.5 percent sampling error on that specific question.
“In mid-March, Obama had a 52 percent to 45 percent edge over Clinton, but his support has dropped six points while she has not gained any ground,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. He adds that “six percent now volunteer that they want neither one to be the nominee; no Democrats in the March poll felt that way.”
So why is Obama losing support?
“Obama has lost his edge. Is it because of the controversy over his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright? While most Democrats have an unfavorable opinion of Wright, only 19 percent say Wright's statements have made them less favorable to Obama. More than two thirds say they've had no effect at all,” says CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider.
“The bigger problem appears to be Obama's string of losses to Clinton in big states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. Those losses have not driven up Clinton's support. But they may have created doubts about Obama's ability to win,” says Schneider.
But the poll suggests that Wright certainly doesn't help the Illinois senator.
“Among all Americans, Wright gets a 59 percent unfavorable rating; only 9 percent of the public has a favorable view and a third are unfamiliar with him. Among Democrats, the figures are virtually the same,” says Holland.
Of note also is the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll for today... since it says that there has been a TEN POINT change away from Obama to Hillary since the Wright press conference:
In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, the Wright impact is especially evident. Clinton now has a statistically insignificant two-point edge over Obama, 46% to 44%. However, that represents a ten-point swing since Wright’s press conference. Before Pastor Wright appeared at the National Press Club, Obama led Clinton by eight points (see recent Democratic Nomination results).
===
Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that Barack Obama’s former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, has had a significant impact on the race for the White House. The news is not good for Obama.
In general election polling John McCain now attracts 46% of the vote while Barack Obama earns 43%. Just before Wright had his press conference on Monday, McCain and Obama were even. A week ago, Obama had a two-point edge. McCain is now tied with Hillary Clinton at 44%. A week ago, McCain had a two-point edge over the former First Lady.
Those figures mean that Clinton now outperforms Obama by three points. A week ago, Obama outperformed Clinton by four. New polling in New Hampshire shows that Clinton has gained ground on McCain in the Granite State while Obama is heading in the opposite direction. That poll also found significant voter concerns about Obama and his former Pastor.
In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, the Wright impact is especially evident. Clinton now has a statistically insignificant two-point edge over Obama, 46% to 44%. However, that represents a ten-point swing since Wright’s press conference. Before Pastor Wright appeared at the National Press Club, Obama led Clinton by eight points (see recent Democratic Nomination results).
Among all voters nationwide, McCain is viewed favorably by 51% and unfavorably by 45%. (see recent daily favorable ratings). Obama is now viewed favorably by 49% and unfavorably by 48%. For Clinton, the reviews are 44% favorable, 54% unfavorable. At noon Eastern today, Rasmussen Reports will release the President's Job Approval ratings for April.
The Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator shows Democrats leading in states with 200 Electoral Votes. The GOP has the advantage in states with 189.
About that Al-Qaeda leader and the other senior terrorist who had killed so many - including foreign aid workers:
==
US air strike kills Al-Qaeda leader in Somalia: officials
by Mustafa Haji Abdinur
Thu May 1, 2008
MOGADISHU (AFP) - A US air strike in Somalia killed at least 12 people on Thursday, including a man said to be Al-Qaeda's military leader in the war-torn country, Ethiopian officials and rebels said.
The militant leader was named as Moalim Aden Hashi Ayro who trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and had been linked to the deaths of foreign aid workers in Somalia. He had been a target of a US air strike in 2007.
Ayro was military leader of the Shabab, a group on the US government's terrorist list. Another senior Islamist was among the dead, the militant group said.
Shabab spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow said Ayro and another senior Islamist, Sheikh Muhyadin Omar, were among the dead from the air strike.
Ayro is said to have overseen the desecration of an Italian cemetery in Mogadishu, exhuming and throwing into the sea the remains of hundreds of corpses. He reportedly ordered a makeshift mosque erected there.
In addition to leading operations against Somali and Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers, Ayro has also been linked to the murders of foreign aid workers in Somalia.
Since the Islamists were ousted from Mogadishu in early 2007, they have carried out attacks against government officials, Ethiopian forces backing the Somali government and African Union peacekeepers.
Western intelligence has accused Somali Islamists of having links to Al-Qaeda, which is believed to want to use war-shattered Somalia as a haven.
A little interesting perspective for you to ponder in light of the sudden TEN POINT move in the opinion polls lately that I just documented (above):
===
Obama's Fantastic Flip Flop Won't Help
By Michael J. Gaynor
MichNews.com
Apr 30, 2008
People are finding out that Rev. Wright privately prayed with Obama before Obama publicly announced his presidential campaign, but was "disinvited" from appearing on stage because his sermons were "rough."
Fittingly, rookie United States Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. used a tactic of Senator John Kerry, the man who gave him a national stage in 2004 by inviting him, then a state senator, to give the keynote address at the Democrat national convention: flip flopping.
After the national media called attention to some of the incendiary comments of Rev. Jeremiah A. "God damn America" Wright, Jr. and Obama took a hit in the polls, Obama chose to deal with the political problem posed by his twenty-year relationship with Rev. Wright by taking about race in America, disassociating himself from Rev. Wright's incendiary statements but refusing to "disown" Rev. Wright, equating that with disowning the Black community or his white grandmother.
In that speech, Obama threw his white grandmother under the bus, telling the world that she had made him cringe by saying that she was concerned about her physical safety when she encountered black men whom she did not know.
Obama did not explain WHY he equated that private grandmother-grandson confidence with Rev. Wright's incendiary statements from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, including his call for God to damn America, his claim that America invented the AIDS virus to destroy black people, his claim that the terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001 was explainable as "the chickens coming home to roost and his claim that America is using drugs to incarcerate blacks.
Obama was NOT willing to throw Rev. Wright under the bus that night.
On the morning of April 29, 2008, however, Obama flip flopped bigtime and denounced Rev. Wright, as a matter of political necessity.
Rev. Wright had been on his own campaign explaining himself, beginning with a very friendly interview by Bill Moyers broadcast on April 25, 2008.
During that interview Rev. Wright unambiguously asserted that to the extent Obama had publicly distanced himself from Rev. Wright, he had done so for political purposes, because he is a politician.
Stated otherwise, Rev. Wright essentially said Obama really was with him on the same page and publicly pretending otherwise on the political stage.
Obama did not respond.
Last weekend Rev. Wright addressed an NAACP meeting in Detroit, defending himself
Obama did not respond.
On Monday morning, April 28, 2008, Rev. Wright answered questions before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.. and received the media's full attention. He explained that the United States is capable of anything, including inventing the AIDS virus to exterminate blacks, reiterated that Obama was a politician who had publicly distanced himself from Rev. Wright to placate the public.
That night Obama responded, mildly.
The next day, however, Obama angrily condemned Rev. Wright.
Rev. Wright had not said anything new on his current "tour" or anything public since Obama's mild response, so Obama'a anger the next morning seemed to be attributable to the grievous political damage to him that resulted from much greater public attention being paid to the same old Rev. Wright.
To be sure, Obama did NOT own up to flip flopping.
Instead he said that Rev. Wright is not the same man he met twenty years ago.
But Rev. Wright's religious and political views did not change significantly over that score of years.
Of course, it was politically necessary for Obama to finally did, but now Obama has two more problems: (1) if he needed twenty years to realize what sort of man the pastor who brought him to Christ, performed his wedding ceremony, baptized his two daughters and gave the sermon from which Obama took the title of his second book (The Audacity of Hope, he's much too oblivious to be President of the United States; and (2) since Obama is generally regarded as very intelligent and perceptive, people are going to conclude that he joined Rev. Wright's church for political advantage, stayed quiet about Rev. Wright's incendiary statement to avoid offending Rev. Wright and finally broke with Rev. Wright for political purposes.
Bottom line: Obama is not a "new" politician who transcends race, but a typical politician who put opportunism before principle and has been the net beneficiary of both race and gender in his race with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination, as 1984 Democrat vice presidential nominee Geraldine A. Ferraro honestly said (for which she promptly was vilified by outraged Obamaites who pretend otherwise).
Pundit Dick Morris, (defending Obama):
"...if Wright has come to be the poster child for what America fears in a black public figure, he gives Obama an opportunity to be the opposite."
"By playing off Wright, by attacking his views in depth and detail, Obama can define himself as the un-Wright, reassuring Americans and carving out his identity in opposition to the reverend’s rantings."
The big problems with that analysis are that it presumes a clean slate and if and as Obama does what Mr. Morris suggests, it will become more and more obvious to more and more people that he's doing it as a typical political opportunist who finally HAD to do it.
Mr. Morris: "The key to surviving the Wright challenge does not lie in the history of Obama’s 20-year involvement with his church. That story is a quagmire from which he will have difficulty extricating himself. The answer is, rather, to speak out in the here and now against Wright’s weekend comments in Washington and, thereby, tell us who he is and in what he believes."
That would be true if the Wright challenge was survivable; it's not. People are finding out that Rev. Wright privately prayed with Obama before Obama publicly announced his presidential campaign, but was "disinvited" from appearing on stage because his sermons were "rough."
People will realize that they were fooled and not be fooled again.
Earlier Obama appeared to be a stronger general election candidate than Hillary.
Now the reverse is true, thanks to the national focus on the long-term Obama-Rev. Wright relationship and Obama being caught on tape disdaining Americans who believe in God and exercise their Second Amendment rights as bitter people who "cling" to "religion" and "guns" because they don't have more money.
Mr. Morris: "If Obama continued to base his defense on history, he [would] just wade into deeper trouble. The 'I wasn’t there; I didn’t hear him' defense just invites journalists to interview thousands of members of the congregation to find one who sat next to Obama during one of Wright’s racist and anti-American sermons."
That defense is not comforting to voters either. If the Obamas never learned that there pastor was asking God to damn America and saying other hateful things, how disconnected were they?
Mr. Morris: "Nor will Obama solve his Wright problem by subtly distancing himself from his pastor and condemning his views, in general, as 'offensive' or 'not representative of my campaign.' Rather, he needs to seize the opportunity Wright presents and rebut the pastor’s views, point by point — as he began to do Tuesday — and, in the process, define himself and his candidacy. He needs to rebut all of the spurious points Wright raised in his now-famous 'chickens coming home to roost' sermon and speak up for America, our record and our values. He needs to explain why we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — to save millions of American and Japanese lives, which would have been lost in an invasion. He should defend our support of Israel and take issue with Wright’s characterization of our backing for its efforts to protect itself as 'terrorism.' He needs to speak out about America’s moral role in the world and differ sharply and publicly with Wright’s worldview. By playing off Wright, he can recapture his identity as the personification of white hopes for a color-blind politics rather than white fears of anti-American and anti-white public figures."
Now it would be too little, and much too late.
It's obvious that such laudable white hopes were misplaced when placed in Obama.
These "Ten Simple Truths About Oil" show us EXACTLY why our investment in the Iraqi Dinar is 'spot on' a great investment.. (the US, as well as the rest of the world, will continue to need the Iraqi oil).
Well worth reading. :)
===
Ten Simple Truths About Oil
By Alan Caruba
MichNews.com
Apr 30, 2008
Having written about the energy industry and issues now for a long time, I hope I can be forgiven for being enraged by the comments by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in response to President Bush’s press conference Tuesday morning. There is simply no way to describe them other than false.
The Democrat Party has long made “Big Oil” their favorite punching bag, confident that the public has no idea what influences the price and supply of oil. Saying anything favorable to Big Oil is immediately deemed evidence that one is in their pay and whatever facts are offered are therefore invalid.
There are, however, some simple truths about Big Oil that cannot and should not be ignored. To do so leaves everyone at the mercy of energy policies that have created the situation in which the United States finds itself today.
Fact #1. The combined ownership of oil reserves by the independent, investor-owned oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Conoco-Phillips, BP, Chevron and others is barely 4% of the total known oil reserves in the world. By itself, ExxonMobil’s share is 1.08%.
Fact #2. Oil is a global commodity sold on mercantile exchanges for whatever price it can command. Speculation in oil prices is the primary reason they have been driven to utterly insane costs per barrel. It has nothing to do with actual supply and demand.
Fact #3. No nation on Earth is or can be “energy independent.” The geopolitics of oil is complex, but as nations such as China and India have seen their economies grow, their need for oil grows with it and thus they compete with long established industrialized nations for existing oil supplies. This competition has an impact on prices.
Fact #4. The OPEC nations, those in the Middle East and including Venezuela, control 77% of the world’s known oil reserves. Like Russia and Mexico, where the oil industry is controlled by the state, it is generally poorly managed. Several Big Oil companies that were induced to undertake exploration and development in Russia and Venezuela actually had their assets nationalized or stolen at prices well below their investment and value.
Fact #5. Energy is the master resource. All nations with any hope of growing their economies require it, mostly in the form of electricity, but also for oil’s role in transportation. The failure to have a national long-range energy policy that is based in reality can severely impact energy prices.
Fact #6. The United States has, for years, pursued an energy policy based on environmental myths such as “biofuels” in which corn is turned into ethanol to reduce the import of oil, but it costs as much to produce ethanol as to refine oil and it provides less mileage per gallon, thus negating any reason for this additive. Likewise, suggesting that wind or solar energy can generate anything more than its current 1% of the nation’s electricity needs ignores their unreliability and the fact they are heavily subsidized, a form of hidden consumer tax.
Fact #7. It costs billions to explore, discover, extract and transport oil. It takes lots of lead-time as well. The United States Congress has, for decades, refused to permit the extraction of vast oil reserves in ANWR despite the fact it would have little or no impact on the Alaskan wildlife reserve. In addition, Congress has declared 85% percent of the nation’s coastal, offshore areas off-limits to any exploration for oil or natural gas.
Fact #8. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the mandate of Congress, requires Big Oil to refine oil into some seventeen different formulations in the name of clean air. With three grades of gasoline, that means that refiners must produce some 45 different blends. The quality of air in America is excellent, but the cost of gasoline at the pump continues to rise as the result of these mandates.
Fact #9. America imports two-thirds of the oil it uses. All of its transportation runs on oil. The population continues to grow. Failure to encourage the construction of a single new refinery since the 1970s puts a further strain on the ability of Big Oil to provide the nation’s oil and diesel fuel needs.
Fact #10. Democrats continue to demand that Big Oil’s profits be confiscated in some fashion and some of the inducements offered to explore for more oil be ended. Because the costs of exploration, extraction, refining, and transporting of oil represents billions, the actual profit margin of a company like ExxonMobil is about 10%, well below what industries such as pharmaceuticals and banking enjoy.
For these and many other reasons, Americans are being impoverished at the gas pump because Congress has dithered and failed in one of its most important responsibilities.
WASHINGTON - A Senate panel has agreed unanimously to block the Defense Department from funding Iraq reconstruction projects worth more than $2 million and to begin to force Baghdad to cover the costs of training and equipping its security forces.
Democrats and many Republicans say it is unfair that Iraq is looking at pulling in as much as $70 billion in oil revenues this year while Americans grapple with soaring fuel prices at the pump.
Oh yes I am frustrated, no doubt on that point, but I have been pretty frustrated for about two and a half years now, so nothing new on that front.
By holding out this long at least I can show, that despite my frustration I am ready for the long haul, and have practicing it, since day one in this game. At the time I didn't know it, but thought this would be a quick affair, but as realities set it, things changed, I have much more understanding of why it is taking this long, and even though I don't agree with it, or dislike it or wish for other economical solutions in Iraq, it will after all be a long haul experience.
I am very frustrated of this endless slow go, slower than watching paint dry, but have come to grips with the pace of thing over there.
There is news coverage, that will try to zoom in on blood and gore, then there is a US "official" version, then there is an Iraq "official" version.
Discarding all the MSM news related to Iraq, and concentrating only on the US and Iraqi "official" version, you feel better about the enterprise. However, the "official" version is also there to sell Iraq, as a success.
I can buy that, but the real status of that country is very well mirrored in their own economics. The "official" news are giving all kinds of good and uplifting news, in all kind o areas of life in Iraq, and that is the kind of news that we rather see.
The reality though, is despite all the good news, nothing significantly has moved yet.
I am bringing this point up especially to point out that the good news that we want to hear, will not in itself do any good, unless they are acted upon.
When it comes to act upon things in Iraq, it is a different story.
From the people I have been in contact with over there, it seems like a decision not made is good policy. It's not only me, that are frustrated with the slow progress. It's probably a long line of US representatives from the President of the US, to the US ambassador to Iraq, to the attaches, to technical support teams, to organizers, to....you name it.....
What I really wanted to point out is that we all like good news, that is what the Iraqis need, the US needs, the troops being there, and even us as investors. I don't want to bring down the "good news" trend, because this is a good trend.
I merely wanted to open the eyes for the fact that "good news" is what we are getting at this point in time, but we are not getting any movement in any significant form. So far, not a big hill of beans, despite the fact that this insignificant hill of beans are praised very much on "official" channels.
So from feeling good about Iraq, to Iraq's actual economical standing in present time, is two worlds.
The bla bla bulletins doesn't mean much, it will make us feel good, but the real barometer, or thermometer if you wish of Iraq's economical situation is seen very much in the value of Iraq's industry. And a straight index of that, is the graph that shows the daily trading.
If it is not highly valued, it will not bring a good price.
At the peak of the insurgency, the index fall to it's bottom level, and I had the idea that ok, now everything will kick in, they have had years of planning, and as soon as the fighting is over, the bulldozer's and excavators will be busy.
The ISX bottomed out pretty much just where I bought most of my stocks, but then the recovery was abysmal. It is a lingering up and down trend, with a slight increase overall, but any significant rise, it is not.
So despite all the good news, the recovery have not even started yet.
It will, but as no decision is a good decision over there, things will take some time before it is into what we can call (and are awaiting for) a boom economy.
I'm sure this year will be a good year for us, but have given up hope to see Iraq come into it's boom condition for this year. Face it, almost the half of the year have passed and not much have happened up until now, so in the last months of the year, it will most probably go a bit better, and that's about it, but no Iraqi wonder boom economy ...sorry I just don't believe that is possible.
The future of the Dinar value will also go hand in hand with the Iraqi economy.
cornishboy,
CBI is up to something.
RobN,
Fun article, AlSad'r wants to have Iran as a mediator, in his affairs with the Iraq government. I am sure he wants Iran to decide, to bring it up in some sort of court, and call it "international" and I am sure he wants all jurors to be Islamic conservatives.
There's a lot of things that AlSadr wants, too bad he doesn't realise that ..... he IS the problem.
Sara,
How does it look if we were to vote right now, would it be Clinton vs McCain??? ...Obama on the slipping and sliding???
I have been looking at it, and this may not mean more than just a reprint of currency, paper currency don't hold up, and have to repeatedly be replaced.
What makes me think that is the small (well it is a big shipment, but still) amount of currency compared with the existing currency.
If this as to be a prelude to a zero lop action, this is far too small of an operation, becuase ALL the bills in circulation have to be replaced in that case, you can not choose to stay with overlapping currency, because the value of all bills have to follow.
So lets say that you will do a 1000 to 1 zero lop for example. You don't get away with printing 1000 times less currency, just because the currency changes value. You must for each and every piece that is out there, replace it with something that is a new substitute.
If they withdrew the coins, and have a lot of curency denominations under the value of 1000 Dinars, they will have a problem, and that's exactly what they have. If they replace the currency with a 1000 to 1 unit, well come in with a 500 Dinar note and ask for something in return and they wont have it. -"Here's a 0.5 Dinar note....".
If they do a 1000 to 1 zero lop then they need to fill the void from the new 1 Dinar note, and the fractions thereof.
Otherwise the Iraqi man will find himself with a Dinar that is worth about a Dollar, and have no change.
Paper money in circulatin don't last too long, and to me this seems like just another infusion of newly printed Dinars of the NID.
We have about a 10 year turnaround on our paper money , and seldom do we see older than that (coins excepted).
This despite the fact that we live in an almost cashless society, we use cards, we do online banking, we order stuff and have it sent home, and we pay the bills for it, we fuel and we do all kinds of stuff without touching physical currency.
Iraq must have a much much higer wear and tear on their currency than we have. They are a cash society, they have very little banking, and very litte credit cards, and have to haul around that bunch of paper for everything they do. Once that piece of paper have hit the streets, it will be repeatedly folded and unfolded, counted and restacked over and over.
I would say that the lifespan of a NID in Iraq is compared with the US, very low, and the replacement of currency in Iraq is in high demand.
Roger - You asked me my opinion concerning the Presidential election and IF WE WERE TO VOTE RIGHT NOW.. how it would look when you said, "How does it look if we were to vote right now, would it be Clinton vs McCain??? ...Obama on the slipping and sliding???" (end quote)
The statistics I quoted say that if we were only dealing with the popular vote right now then McCain would win the Whitehouse against Obama who has the greater portion of the nationwide general popular vote.
Among all voters nationwide, McCain is viewed favorably by 51% and unfavorably by 45%. (see recent daily favorable ratings). Obama is now viewed favorably by 49% and unfavorably by 48%. For Clinton, the reviews are 44% favorable, 54% unfavorable. The Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator shows Democrats leading in states with 200 Electoral Votes. The GOP has the advantage in states with 189.
So McCain would win the greatest vote of the general populace and win the Whitehouse today according to this poll. Next in popular vote is Obama, so if there were an election today and Obama were running against him, McCain would squeak by a win against Obama. If it was Hillary in opposition to McCain for the Whitehouse, the lead for McCain is even larger, and note she has a 54% unfavorable review from the general public. So the stronger candidate appears to be Obama for the general election by this polling data.
But that is the data for nationwide voting of all people, not the voting within the party as to who should be the candidate for the Democrats - Hillary or Obama. And that is the race they are now working on. In that race, from the polling numbers, we saw that Obama's ten point drop has proven he has lost a lot of support among his fellow Democrats, but this does not sew up the Democrat nomination for Hillary, in spite of how it looks. The two candidates are truly neck and neck for the Dem popular vote for the Democrat candidacy. I pointed out before concerning the Democrat nomination vote that this appears to be going NOT to the popular vote, but to the superdelegates to decide. So this means that even though Hillary is more popular among Democrat voters, she may not end up with the nomination. This was the very thing the Democrats railed against as being "selected not elected" when it went to the electoral college with the vote concerning President Bush. Now they get to wear the shoe on their own foot.. and look the part of hypocrites to their own people who believed in them when they said it was "wrong" to "select not elect" a leader. They are about to do the same thing..
Many say Obama will still win in such a scenerio because he has more superdelegates, even if he is not the most popular among the Democrat people. This is because he looks better in a matchup against McCain as those statistics say, so the superdelegates will want the stronger candidate against McCain to win the nomination process, not just the most popular one in their party. How the Democrat nomination process will finish - for Hillary or McCain - I just don't know.
But whichever of the two faces off against McCain will not win, that I do know (and the polling data suggests). You can see the arguments which will prevail against Obama if Obama wins the nomination all over the press.. and you can also see the way it will go if Hillary wins the nomination. Note again that the Rasmussen poll said:
Among all voters nationwide, McCain is viewed favorably by 51% and unfavorably by 45%. (see recent daily favorable ratings). Obama is now viewed favorably by 49% and unfavorably by 48%. For Clinton, the reviews are 44% favorable, 54% unfavorable.
Hillary already has more than half unfavorable toward her among voters nationwide, and Obama is behind McCain in the nationwide vote as well. Since it is that vote which determines the Whitehouse, it would be squeaky, but McCain would win the Whitehouse if the election were called and people voted the way they feel today, no matter which of the two Democrats McCain faced off against.
Again, circumstances will play a large role in who gets elected. No one predicted the debacle which has just happened to the Obama campaign due to his pastor Wright and his comments and views reflecting back on Obama. But because God is behind the circumstances, it will happen that the public will be moved by their faculty of reason (in spite of a pro-Dem press) to the point where people will vote in large enough numbers for McCain to be in. Simply because, of course, God's will prevails in the end over the machinations (and pouring of money into campaigns) of men. What we are seeing now is just a prelude to what is to come.
I posted an article (above) which said that the VOTING public won't be fooled again. Remember that those who vote are more keen on politics and follow things more closely than those who do not have much to do with politics or voting. I suggest that the assessment that the public who votes won't be fooled and taken in again is correct and as time goes by we will see a further strengthening of McCain against Obama, (and if it is Hillary, she is already facing an uphill battle since 54% see her unfavorably).
While it is not quite a cakewalk or shoe-in for the Whitehouse for McCain, he is going to be seen as the only viable candidate to vote for in the end analysis, and bashing his age or trying to equate him unfavorably to President Bush is not likely to fly as a strong negative in comparison to electing a man who is racist, anti-patriotic, a disloyal flip-flopper, untried politically or militarily during a time when the country is at war, and a friend of a known and convicted domestic terrorist. The "God and Gun clinging" and VOTING American public do have pretty fair powers of recall, and their memories tend to be married to a shred of common sense.. in spite of the fact that many of them intereact with the MSM and follow its biases far too closely.
Iraq presents proof of Iranian meddling: official
By Khalid al-Ansary
May 2, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi delegation in Iran has confronted Iranian security officials with evidence that Tehran is providing support for Shi'ite militias battling Iraqi government forces, an Iraqi official said on Friday.
"They presented a list of names, training camps and cells linked to Iran," Haidar al-Ibadi, a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, told Reuters.
"The Iranians did not confess or admit anything. They claim they are not intervening in Iraq and they feel they are being unfairly blamed for everything going on Iraq," he said of the talks, which took place on Thursday.
Ibadi said he had been in contact with the delegation.
Washington has long accused Tehran of backing Shi'ite militias, particularly fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, providing them with weapons, funding and training. It has displayed some of the weapons, including rockets and mortars.
The Shi'ite-led Iraqi government, however, has generally been more restrained in its criticism of its Shi'ite majority neighbor, which denies the charges and says it supports the government.
Maliki launched a crackdown on the Mehdi Army in the southern oil hub of Basra in late March, provoking a furious response by the militia in southern Iraq and Baghdad, including relentless volleys of Iranian-made rockets against the Green Zone government and diplomatic compound in the capital.
The U.S. military said this week that "very, very significant" amounts of Iranian weaponry had been found in Basra and Baghdad during the offensive. Some of those arms were made in 2008, a senior U.S. military official said on Friday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there had been a "sea change" in Baghdad's view of Iranian activity in Iraq since the discovery of the weapons.
"Basra changed it for the Iraqis. I'm not sure they believed it before. But they went to Basra and saw it first hand," he said.
Maliki's ruling United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shi'ite Islamist parties, sent the delegation to Tehran to tell Iranian officials to stop backing the militias.
Ibadi said the delegation had presented evidence showing that Mehdi Army leaders in Basra had escaped to Iran to avoid the assault by government troops.
"The delegation also carried evidence of the smuggling of weapons and training of individuals in Iran to enter later into Iraq," he said.
The senior U.S. military official said the delegation had taken with them photographs of the recently seized weapons with markings showing they originated in Iran, as well as testimony from detained militants who had received Iranian training.
In the talks, the delegation stressed Iran should have contacts only with the Iraqi government and not with other groups, Ibadi said.
"The Iranian side confirmed their support for the Iraqi government and the political process in Iraq and their readiness to ... help the government control outlaws," he said.
Roger - It now looks like Obama is being damaged quite badly as today's gallup poll says McCain is up 6 points over Obama.. and Hillary now leads Obama in the popular vote of the DNC nomination process:
===
Gallup Daily: McCain Moves to 6-Point Lead Over Obama
May 2, 2008 Clinton 48%, Obama 46% in national Democratic nomination preferences
PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain has moved to a six percentage point, 48% to 42%, lead over Barack Obama in Gallup Poll Daily tracking of the general election, while he edges out Hillary Clinton by only one point, 46% to 45%.
This is according to Gallup Poll Daily tracking from April 27-May 1 with 4,381 national registered voters.
Although both Clinton and Obama have lost ground to McCain over the past week, the current results may be particularly troubling for Obama in trying to combat Clinton's assertion to superdelegates that she would be the more electable of the two candidates in November.
The current six-point margin for McCain over Obama is the largest lead McCain has had over either candidate since Gallup began tracking general election preferences in early March. The gap between Obama and Clinton's percentage of the vote when both are pitted against McCain is also the largest since the general election tracking began.
The Nomination
Today's results from the Gallup Poll Daily tracking of the Democratic race, based on interviews conducted April 29-May 1, mark the ninth straight day that Clinton and Obama have been statistically tied in the preferences of national Democratic voters. With 48% of Democrats nationwide backing Clinton for the presidential nomination and 46% favoring Obama, neither candidate can currently claim superiority in popular Democratic support. -- Lydia Saad
I just don't think they are going to put one by the American public on this one, Roger.
QUOTE:
Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s at least somewhat likely that Obama “shares some of Pastor Wright’s controversial views about the United States.”
How does that fit into his chances in the General election against McCain? Exactly how will people vote in the general election if this is what they believe?
===
58% Say Obama Denounced Wright for Political Convenience, not Outrage
Friday, May 02, 2008
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 30% of the nation’s Likely Voters believe Barack Obama denounced his former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, because he was outraged. Most—58%--say he denounced the Pastor for political convenience. The survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday night. Obama made his statements about Wright on Tuesday.
Wright held a mini-media tour last weekend capped by a press conference at the National Press Club on Monday. Only 33% of voters believe that Obama was surprised by the views Wright expressed at Monday’s press conference. Fifty-two percent (52%) say he was not surprised.
Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s at least somewhat likely that Obama “shares some of Pastor Wright’s controversial views about the United States.” That figure includes 26% who say it’s Very Likely Obama holds such views. At the other end of the spectrum 24% say it’s Not Very Likely that Obama shares such views. Just 11% say it’s Not at All Likely.
Just 7% of the nation’s voters agree with Wright’s views of the United States. As you would expect, there are strong partisan differences on these questions.
Just 36% of Democrats believe outrage was the motivation for Obama to denounce his former Pastor. That view is shared by 38% of unaffiliated voters and 16% of Republicans.
Free economic handouts and political benefits, the development of nuclear power including with state-of-the-art technology.. and isn't it amazing Iran said YES to being given all these goodies?
Think that means they will go peaceful and stop trying to aquire weapons?
Or is this the reality:
Anthony Cordesman of Washington's CSIS think-tank said he doubted this would change Iran's mind. "Iran is not proliferating as a hobby, it sees the development of missiles and nuclear weapons as a critical national interest," he said.
===
Major powers agree new incentives offer to Iran
By Adrian Croft and Arshad Mohammed
May 2, 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - Major powers agreed on Friday to make a new offer of incentives to Iran to halt its sensitive nuclear work and a European diplomat said helping Tehran develop civil atomic power remained at the heart of the proposal.
The offer, whose details have not been made public, is based on a package of economic and political benefits laid out by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany in June 2006 but so far spurned by Iran.
"I am glad to say that we have got agreement on an offer that will be made to the government of Iran," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, flanked by senior officials from China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
"We very much hope that they will recognize the seriousness and the sincerity with which we have approached this issue and that they will respond in a timely manner to the suggestions that we are making," he added.
The United States and other Western nations suspect Iran of using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is to generate electricity so that it can export more of its oil and gas.
The 2006 proposal included recognition of Iran's right to develop civil nuclear energy, a promise to support the building of new, proliferation-resistant light water reactors and guarantees that Iran would have access to fuel.
Russia has been the main country to promote the idea of refreshing the June 2006 offer while the United States has made no secret of its skepticism, with U.S. officials saying they saw little reason to expect Iran to change course.
The European diplomat said the heart of the previous offer -- helping Iran develop civil nuclear power, including with state-of-the-art technology -- remained.
"The central part is maintained. It also contains a series of elements that can make the core more attractive," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named. "It relates to economic issues," the diplomat added, declining to elaborate.
Anthony Cordesman of Washington's CSIS think-tank said he doubted this would change Iran's mind. "Iran is not proliferating as a hobby, it sees the development of missiles and nuclear weapons as a critical national interest," he said.
Can the politics be set aside and can we acknowledge the empirical evidence in an apolitical manner?
===
Yes, Iraq Had Unsettling al Qaida Connections
Nicholas M. Guariglia - 5/3/2008
The proposition that Iraq, prior to our intervention, never had a connection to al Qaida, or to any jihadist movement in a broader sense, has prematurely congealed into conventional wisdom. Nevertheless, this exemption of the Hussein family is fallacious and untrue. It would be appropriate if we can look at the history and information we have — the known knowns, let’s say — in an empirical and apolitical manner, separating this discussion from the debate as to whether or not any of this merited war.
Firstly, it should be noted that it was always unclear whether or not al Qaida’s relationship with the Ba’athist government (which it distrusted immensely) had reached a collaborative level; secondly, it should be noted that al Qaida is unique amongst the world’s terrorist networks in that it has few, if not zero, “collaborative” and “operational” relationships with other states and regimes (including their long-time patrons and ideological clones, the Islamists in Sudan and the Salafist Taliban guerrillas); and thirdly, the entire premise behind preemptive/preventative intervention is to prevent such collaboration.
Yet what does the 9/11 Commission report say about the relationship?
Some cite this testimony and are acute in washing their hands of the issue. “Iraq never attacked us, never worked with al Qaida, end of story,” the reasoning goes. But there is more to it than meets the eye. In the same 9/11 Commission report which discounts a collaborative link, there is recognition of long-held attempts by both parties to cooperate against common opponents.
During his time in Sudan, we know that bin Laden himself “met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994… (bin Laden) is said to have asked for space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but there is no evidence that Iraq responded to the request,” the report reads. The next few years saw “additional efforts to establish connections,” as bin Laden and Dr. Zawahiri sent out “a number of feelers to the Iraqi regime, offering some cooperation.”
The investigation continues, stating “Hussein’s efforts at this time to rebuild relations with the Saudis… led him to stay clear of bin Laden.” But in mid-1998, “the situation reversed; it was Iraq that reportedly took the initiative.” The report goes on, detailing how in March and July of that year al Qaida operatives met with Iraqi intelligence agents. In 1999, during a period of “strains” with the Taliban, “Iraqi officials offered bin Laden a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Laden declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative.” Two years later, Kurdish Islamists in Iraq “with bin Laden’s help… reformed into an organization called Ansar al Islam.” Intelligence suggested at the time, and suggests today, that the “Iraqi regime tolerated and may even have helped Ansar al Islam against the common Kurdish enemy,” namely, the other secular Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani, who were despised equally by the Islamists and the Ba’athists.
What does this all mean?
The point is not that there was any provable impending doomsday on the horizon, or that the Iraqi Ba’athists and the al Qaida chaps were fond of each other. They were not fond of each other, and were ideologically in disagreement, inasmuch as the Ba’athists in Damascus and their Hezbollah surrogates in Beirut, or the Shi’a mullahs in Tehran and their Sunni beneficiaries in Gaza, conjure up diametrical opposition.
The point is simply that those who discount any unsettling link — or worse, and even more irresponsible, discount the possibility that the two entities might curtail their pride, hold their noses, and collude against innocents — ought to be challenged. And they ought to be challenged by sources and references they themselves cite when they assert there was no reason ever to be concerned.
So, there we have it: requests for basing privileges and offers of asylum, each of which were turned down not due to hostility but due to the unfavorable logistics of the moment. One looks at Hussein’s history of offering safe haven to the world’s most wanted men (Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas, etc.), and Iraq’s preponderance to support jihadist groups, affiliated with al Qaida, as far away as Algeria (the GSPC) and the Philippines (the Abu Sayyaf Group), and it should be acknowledged that it was not entirely unreasonable for a statesman to look at Iraq and al Qaida’s unclear relationship and say, “This is as far as it is ever going to get.”
- Nicholas M. Guariglia writes on the issues of national defense and counterterrorism, specifically regarding Middle East geopolitics. He is a student at the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, where he is studying American foreign policy. Mr. Guariglia also contributes to WorldThreats.com.
Thanks for the in depth coverage of the Presidential elections, it is indeed one of the cornerstones for the future US/Iraq policies.
This presidential pre nomination, campaign, have been an all out Democratic affair, as the Republicans had it done in no time, so it has been Democrats on the floor almost all the time.
An election is always hard to tell, ideas and support swings. One reporter finds that one of the delegates chopped a head off a frog, and tossed it down the blouse behind a girls neck as a six year old, and will dwell on that story for ten weeks, including animal rights advocates that will do daily testimonies.
The story will not end until that candidate have to do a public apology for his mischiefs with the frog, and he will for the occasion find and invite the girl that was the victim of his prank, and have a big photo op when they are either hugging, or shaking hands with the White House as a backdrop. In the meanwhile as the story was running, his points dropped.
One candidate say something, someone gets offended, and starts a campaign against the candidate. The candidate may very well have been spot on, and very frank, but in pre election times, you better keep your mouth shut, other than saying the generic political phrases commonly accepted.
Close to some point in the election, where the points are hanging in balance, the rival opponents team will usually "leak" some mishaps with a bartender in 1969.
So it is pretty much a thing in the air, candidates have been even stronger in the past and lost at the goal rope.
The mechanisms of swaying voters is usually not logic and reason from the candidate, but scandals and cover ups, leaked from the opposite side.
McCain seems right no to be the strongest one, on the Republican side, he have won all the points needed to get nominated, Clinton and Obama have still to fight it out, but it is right now in a position where none of the candidates actually have got the nomination.
Obama seems to be sliding, and Clinton will probably have a better shot at it because of that, but the internal split in the Democrats seems to be much bigger than I first anticipated, and there is a kind of "new age" Democrats, with Obama, and "Classic" Democrats with Clinton. The two factions , once they have battled out whom to nominate, will probably not unite in the same way as the Republican party.
I bet you, mark my words, that at the Democratic Nomination Congress, there will be some upsets, some that will scream and be taken out by security guards. Some kind of demonstration, some kind of non planned thing that will take place, that will bring the attraction of hordes of photographers. Inside or outside, I don't know, but the Democrats are not as homogeneous as in the past.
If you or I are a Republican or Democrat is of less importance, as the effect of the next presidency will heavily weigh in on future Iraqi policies.
If worse come to worse, and the next president would consider scrapping the whole Iraqi deal, bring the troops back, the Iraqi investment would not collapse, but it for sure would make it very hard on Iraq to get trough for a couple of years, as it would leave Iraq very vulnerable from outside sources.
Probably they would live through it, and as I can understand it, as we speak, the Iraqi Government is already strong enough right now to deal with it's own internal affairs (militias), They still have some shaky legs, and are supported with US expertise, but all in all, the strength is increasing by the day.
The US withdrawal have in fact started already, but it will not be a quick one, and by the time of the next year there will be a completely different scene. Even the most hard nose president that have promised withdrawals as soon as possible, will by the time the presidential post is to be occupied, be in the midst of a withdrawal anyway.
The harder part is if the new president will order a withdrawal that is not in par with the need in Iraq, and is too hastily.
The last battles with a militia is probably what we are seeing now, with the Al Sadr and his criminals, but as with all the other battles, he will be defeated, and the people formerly supporting him, will also say, -"enough is enough".
With that, probably the whole Iraq will be pacified, ( except from rouge elements, probably some elements of Al qaeda, and some freelancing rebels might very well pledge fighting to their death, but as organized big militias are concerned, this is the last of the groups to be subdued). I don't think that more than a month or two is needed in order for the whole thing to start settling down.
That's still far away from any new president.
The new president will actually face a lot more pleasant issues, like the reconstruction of Iraq.
As for security poicies, our interntional politics, and our war on terrorism, things might or might not change with our new president, but as far as the investment and the danger that it might not pan out...naa..Iraq will have a good grip on things by the time this presidential election is over. They actually already have.
You are absolutely right. It amazes me how stupid we can be.....or are we??? Is there some effect that we are being baited for? I sure hope so.
What also amazes me is how upside down journalists ( even conservatives) research their issues.
Wouldn't you have thought that 30 seconds after Rev.Wright announced that he was a strong promoter of Black Liberation Theology, SOMEONE would have researched what that meant and made it public? (I couldn't googles it fast enough)
As Wright was announcing his devotion to Black Liberation Theology, within the same day Obama publicly declared Wright one of the top most gifted and learned Theologians of our time.
So,.....#1. Are we to believe that he had no clue of what WRIGHT really brought to the pulpit.....and #2. WHY DID JOURNALISTS,(ESPECIALLY CONSERVATIVES) not pick up on this?
These revelations, alone would have stopped all of the insanity that is taking place now on the air waves. And more than likely, Obama would not be ahead in anyway as far as delegate votes.
This election year presents a paradox of choices. I guess, the least of the evils,is Mc Cain. But I see him as a dangerous man, soley because his agenda is to be something to everybody. The spin on his legacy as a war hero has grown rusty, and in my opinion, he's looking for a new identity. He is wishy washy, flows with the way the wind blows, terminally looking for away to appear to be a peacemaker and pacifier. DEFINITELY NOT WHAT THIS WORLD NEEDS IN A UNITED STATES PRESIDENT.
Regardless, of what BLACK POLITICIANS, would have the masses believe, we have made phenmonenal strides against destructive racist practices in this country.
As we have made great strides in equality of women. WE THE POEPLE, have done it!
I believe, WE are ready, more than ever, to have a Black President or Woman President......just not Obama, who is not only liberal but under it all anti-foundational and traditional America, or Hiliary, who has had a socialist marxist agenda most all of her adult life.
What a slap in the face to Americans, by presenting these pitiful candidates for us to chose from, especially when so much is at stake globally.
Roger, you doubt the good intentions of Iran? You don't believe they will stop all development of weapons and take the nice incentives they are offered instead? What on earth could have led you to that conclusion? LOL
That is PRECISELY the kind of logic and reasoning I expect to prevail in the upcoming election. No one can pull the wool over your eyes (feed you a falsehood which you will receive as truth), and I believe the American people are intelligent like you. There is a limit to how much false information can make inroads into the public mindset when there is freedom of information. The soundbytes of "God damn America" from Obama's pastor now have a place in history and in the collective conciousness of the voting public. Just as you arrived at the conclusion that Iran is LYING to take the incentives and will not stop developing nuclear weapons, so the people of America will permanently make up their minds that Obama shares some anti-America opinions and cannot be trusted with the state secrets of the country. They will decide that the power position of the most powerful nation on earth should not be held by someone who may (knowingly or unknowingly) help some anti-Americans by his sympathizing with their viewpoint (not understanding, sympathizing - holding the same viewpoint toward America).
Obama is like these people who are negotiating with Iran - you disagree that they are obtaining their objectives of disarming Iran and stopping its development of nuclear weapons. As you know, such negotiating with Iran is a top priority with Obama.. and he has said he will invite Ahmadinejad to the Whitehouse to "negotiate" just as this group has.. and likely give Ahmadinejad all kinds of concessions as this group just did, once he is President. You don't think that will work?
As I see it, you don't think that negotiating with Iran went very far to resolve the question of them arming themselves with nuclear weaponry, and I am willing to bet you think that the same strategy won't work at the Whitehouse level with Ahmadinejad directly. That view is one that appears to me to be far more rational and necessary to the security of the American homeland. I believe that Americans will "get it" and their mindset will take into account such positions as Obama and these negotiators hold and their irrationality.. since American lives are indeed at stake here. The lives they save may be their own.
As for Obama's comments about religion - which have continued to bother me - he tried to downplay and rephrase his remarks in a May 1 "Today" interview to be aired today by saying he made the comment when tired at the end of a long day. But he did not retract the words and even his "clarification" shows what he thinks. The context for his remarks about people "clinging to God" were that when people go through tough and troubled times economically, it causes them to rely on God instead of money. The thing that bothers me is this.. he appears to feel it is right to rely on money instead. You see, Jesus said you cannot serve two masters.. you cannot serve God and money. Obama is saying that when people are poor or bad economic times come, they "cling to God".. that means instead of something else.. instead of money. But when they are rich and all is going well, then things are "normal" and they don't need God anymore. See if that is not what he is implying here for yourself.
Here is his context, taken from an article on it:
QUOTE:
BARACK: The comments I made in San Francisco at the end of a long day . . .were very poorly phrased. I should have said "angry and frustrated."
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Instead of "bitter."
BARACK: I should have said "people rely on" their religious faith during these times of trouble.(Note that is bad, not good, according to Barack - Sara.)
VIEIRA: Instead of "cling to."
BARACK: As opposed to "cling to."
But Obama conveniently focuses only on the reference he made in San Franciso to religion. Here is the entire sentence:
QUOTE:
[I]t's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. (end quote)
The point is, Obama is saying that when tough times come, people "get bitter" (or angry and frustrated) and INCORRECTLY "cling to" or "rely on" religion.. instead of ??? what? Money. Because money is the only other thing people CAN cling to according to Jesus. In troubled times people either cling to money or God.. they cannot go serve something else. There are only two masters to choose from. So Obama is saying, by my reading of it, that he relies on money, not God (what ELSE could he be referring to as the "right" thing to rely upon?) For Christians, relying on money instead of God disqualifies him for office as strongly as if he had said he is an atheist. In times of trouble for the country, Obama will not rely on God for help - he thinks that is a response of "bitterness" and wrong. If he can glibly speak of God and relying on Him with that amount of irreverence, he does not know Him. He does not rely on Him. Can Americans approve of such a sentiment and allow such a person to hold the ultimate concentration of power in the US government - the office of the President of the United States?
Considering his stand against God and for money as what to "cling to" in times of trouble and frustration, along with his penchant for negotiating with and sympathizing with anti-American sentiment and his desire to "negotiate" with terrorists and terrorist countries like Iran - the choice placed before the American public as to who leads the country during this time of war, trouble and frustration is very serious indeed.
Sara.
PS Someone should have asked Obama point blank.. "Then in times of trouble what SHOULD people who get "frustrated and angry" rely upon?" THAT is the telling question.
To be independent during a time of trouble.. is to rely only and completely on God.
In every situation in the Bible where the people relied on God during troubled times,
they were given victory.
By "clinging" to God during trouble.. they WON.
Obama says "clinging" or relying on God in troubled times is wrong..
what does that say about his brand of religion - (Black Liberation "Christianity")?
(Christianity in brackets because I am having trouble finding Christ in Black Liberation "Christianity.")
Obviously, sermons about relying on God during difficult times were not preached by his pastor Wright.
NAJAF: Shi'ite radical leader Moqtada Al Sadr yesterday refused to hold talks with Iraqi MPs who had gone to Iran to try to end clashes between his fighters and troops.
"He did not permit his leaders to meet the Iraqi delegation," said Sheikh Salah Al Obeidi, the cleric's spokesman in Najaf.
"Al Sadr insists that the crisis can be solved only through an initiative from parliament which has been backed by President Jalal Talabani and speaker Mahmud Mashhadani."
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirmed the presence of the Iraqi delegation in Tehran but declined to say where Al Sadr was.
The trial of one of the best known figures from the Government of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been adjourned shortly after it opened in Baghdad.
Saddam's former spokesman Tariq Aziz is one of eight people accused of involvement in the summary execution of a group of businessmen in 1992.
The prosecution alleges the men were killed for hiking food prices when Iraq was under tight UN economic sanctions.
If found guilty Aziz could be sentenced to death.
The trial was adjourned until next month because another defendant is ill.
The ill man is Ali Hassan Al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, who has already been sentenced to death in another case.
Iraqi Citizens Capture Criminal Responsible for Detonating Bomb
Saturday, 03 May 2008
By Multi-National Division – Baghdad
BAGHDAD — Iraqi citizens, who witnessed a vehicle borne improvised explosive device that killed one Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier, turned over a criminal to the Iraqi National Police, May 1.
The citizens observed a man parking a vehicle and walking a significant distance away from it. They saw the man using a cell phone before the detonation. After the blast, Iraqi citizens chased the criminal and made a citizen’s arrest. The criminal was turned over to the Iraqi National Police, where he tested positive for explosive compounds.
Two other criminals were also apprehended after they were observed and identified watching the area when the blast occurred. They also tested positive for explosives.
“An American Soldier paid the ultimate price on behalf of his country, his family and the citizens of Iraq,” said Col. Allen Batschelet, the chief of staff for MND-B and the 4th Infantry Division. “We will not relent in our efforts to rid Baghdad of these criminal elements, and today, as many times before, we were aided in that struggle by the people of Iraq.
“The citizens of Iraq have repeatedly shown their displeasure for these criminals operating in their neighborhoods and are continuing to assist American forces to rid these criminals off the streets in Baghdad,” Batschelet said.
Six al-Qaeda suspects detained in central Iraq
Saturday, 03 May 2008
BAGHDAD – Coalition forces detained six suspected terrorists during operations targeting al-Qaeda in central Iraq Saturday.
During a precision operation in Baghdad, Coalition forces captured a suspected would-be suicide bomber believed to be targeting an area near Baghdad International Airport.
Two operations targeted AQI in Salah ad-Din province. Coalition forces disrupted the network by capturing a suspected terrorist liaison and three additional suspects 70 miles northwest of Baghdad. Using information from an operation April 23, Coalition forces detained one suspected terrorist believed to be part of the AQI network in the province during a mission 80 miles north of Baghdad.
“We will not allow al-Qaeda in Iraq’s tactics to derail the government elected by the Iraqi people,” said Lt. Col. Maura Gillen, MNF-I spokesperson. “The indiscriminate attacks of these terrorists are contrary to the ideals of peaceful Iraqis and will not be tolerated.”
U.S. Strike in Baghdad Takes Out Militant Command Center
Saturday, May 03, 2008
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military fired guided missiles into the heart of Baghdad's teeming Sadr City slum on Saturday, leveling a building 55 yards away from a hospital and wounding nearly two dozen people. AP Television News footage showed several ambulances destroyed and on fire, thick black smoke rising from them as firefighters worked to put out the flames.
The strike, made from a ground launcher, took out a militant command-control center, the U.S. military said. The center was located in the heart of the eight-square-mile neighborhood that is home to about 2.5 million people. Iraqi officials said at least 23 people were wounded, though none of them were patients in the hospital.
The U.S. military blamed the militants for using Iraqi civilians as human shields. "This is a circumstance where these criminal groups are operating directly out of civilian neighborhoods," military spokeswoman Spc. Megan Burmeister told The Associated Press in an e-mail.
She said it presents a "complex and very difficult" challenge for U.S. forces to strike the militants when they are "putting themselves next to municipal buildings."
Dr. Ali Bustan al-Fartusee, director general of Baghdad's health directorate, told the AP that no patients in the hospital were hurt, but that some of the wounded included civilians outside on their way to visit patients in the hospital. He also said 17 ambulances were damaged or destroyed. There did not appear to be any damage to the hospital itself.
Shiite extremists are known to have operated in a building next to the hospital, local reporters said.
Carole, Valerio and the others who are Christians on the board, is the left trying to take the evangelical vote? See -
AP: ‘Conservative’ Christian's ‘Manifesto’ Has Few Conservatives Involved
By Warner Todd Huston
May 3, 2008
On May 2, the Associated Press uncritically reported that an effort to clarify where "evangelicals" stand in the culture/political war in America is soon to be released. It is to be called "An Evangelical Manifesto" and is touted by the AP as a statement by "evangelicals" that "faith is now too political." That isn't all. The AP is claiming that it isn't just Christian leaders in general that are saying this but that it is "conservative Christian leaders" who are standing up and denouncing politics in religion. But a little investigation proves that "conservative leaders" is not a very good description of those who have signed onto this "manifesto." In fact, many of the most well-known conservative Christian leaders in the country have decided not to sign onto the "manifesto" and many more weren't even consulted or included in the creation of this highly political document that pretends it stands against politics.
Sadly, this "manifesto" that is claiming to want to take religion back from its political involvement is itself a political statement, one that was created by people that refused to include Christian leaders from the right side of the political spectrum. This so-called "manifesto" seems to be just another attempt by the political left to undermine the devotion of Christians to the political right.
This so-called "manifesto" has not been released, so we do not have a full list of all those who have signed onto the letter. But many details about the contents and those who have signed onto the thing have been reported. And what we find is that a large number of those Christian leaders who are associated with powerful right leaning organizations were refused a place at the table of the creation of this document.
This raises a lot of questions. For instance, if known conservative leaders weren't involved or haven't signed onto this thing, how can it be claimed to be apolitical much less a product of "conservative Christian leaders"?
This project is beginning to look more like a group of Christians with ant-conservative views attempting to steal the mantle of leadership away from those who are now associated with Christianity in America. But to what end? We know that over the last year the political left has made major attempts to claim Christianity for themselves.
The left has made a concerted campaign to take over Christianity and use it for the purposes of the Democrat Party and the cultural left in America today. People like Dr. Tony Campolo, and Jim Wallis have been known to work closely with the Democrat Party. The failed presidential bid by John Edwards also made attempts to work with the Christian left. Various organizations have sprung up since the late 1990s to further the leftist agenda in politics.
Is this "Evangelical Manifesto" just another attempt by the far left in America to co-opt Christianity in America? It's a bit hard to believe otherwise since the people that put this project together studiously excluded so many prominent conservative Christians.
But one thing is for sure, the MSM will present them as "conservative Christian leaders" even as hardly any known and real conservative leaders are involved in this project.
God so loved the world that He did not send a committee. :)
Trying to influence the Evangelical vote by saying their peers don't agree with them concerning the point of being active in politics - while untrue according to this article, it should not work even if it WAS true. Because Christians are supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit and so they should have prayed and had discernment from the Lord on it.
However, one wonders at the state of the church today..
==
Calif. Man Accused of Targeting Christians in $25M Nationwide Ponzi Scheme
Friday, May 02, 2008
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Federal investigators arrested a man Friday on a charge of wire fraud and alleged he ran a Ponzi scheme that netted more than $25 million by targeting Christian investors nationwide.
According to the criminal complaint, Jon G. Ervin, 61, of Mission Viejo used Safevest to persuade victims to invest in a fake commodity futures trading program. Investors were told Safevest would use no more than 13 percent of their deposit in hundreds of commodity trades a day on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, with a guarantee of up to 1 percent in returns each day.
Investors could check their returns on a password-protected Web site that was run exclusively by Ervin. The program attracted about 550 investors, officials said.
Investigators alleged, however, that Ervin didn't invest any of the money in commodities trading and instead spent $1 million of the money to invest in a Georgia golf course. He also bought a sport utility vehicle and spent lavishly on air travel, gourmet meals and shopping, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Up to 80 percent of investors were churchgoing Christians and many joined the program after being approached by fellow worshippers through a referral system, according to court papers.
Those who referred others in their church would receive a 10 percent "referral fee" from the profits of the new members they solicited; pastors were required to make an initial investment of $5,000, while non-pastors had to put down $25,000, according to federal documents.
So maybe these people who are sponsoring this "initiative" saying it represents the evangelical church think they CAN hoodwink the evangelical Christian Church into believing them and voting the way the Left wishes them to do.
If there wasn't a shepherd.. and I looked only at the sheeple.. I would worry we were sunk, too.
BAGHDAD: Abdel Aziz announced Hassoun, Executive Director of the Association of Iraqi banks that own the banking sector in Iraq needs to activate its activity, especially at the level of his dealings and relations with banks outside Iraq, considering increasing the capital of Iraqi banks and mergers among themselves in a priority sector in the current phases And future.
He told Hassoun in his "life" of London that it was during the ASEAN meeting this week to discuss the banks to perform banking work and ways of development, and most research in which the idea of combining an Iraqi bank to be able to pay large banking transactions and management, seeking to strengthen its course according to international standards .
Hassoun felt that the size of the assets of private Iraqi banks total is still small, compared to assets of any Arab or foreign bank, at 3079.4 billion Iraqi dinars, or about 2.5 billion dollars
President confirms Iraq's desire to develop relations with China
The President Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi leadership's resolve to expand and develop relations with the People's Republic of China at all levels.
This came during a reception excellencies noon today, Saturday, 3/5/2008 at his residence in Baghdad Chinese Ambassador to Iraq Chen Xiao Dong occasion of the end of his service in Iraq.
At the meeting which was attended by a number of Iraqi officials in addition to the crew of the Chinese Embassy, President Talabani stressed that Iraqi and Chinese peoples are associated with strong historical ties and to strengthen these relations will be reflected positively on the common interests of both countries, again emphasized that the Council presidency and the government are looking forward to expanding Frameworks of cooperation and joint action with China in political, economic, oil, including goodness and mutual benefit to both sides.
Excellencies and touched on developments and achievements and political security, economic and physical throughout Iraq, pointing out that there is ample room for Chinese companies to work in safe areas dependent Kurdistan and the southern provinces and western parts of the country and then throughout Iraq with security and Stability better, valuing the role of Chinese Ambassador to expand and strengthen bilateral relations between Iraq and the People's Republic of China and wished him every success in his work and the conciliator next.
On his part, Chinese Ambassador through its appreciation higher for the efforts made by President Talabani and efforts to strengthen the course of bilateral relations between the two countries and said this regard: not for your interest and your auspices large as the relations between the two countries evolving in this format and solid, and we are proud pioneering role in bridging this Relations necessary for both sides.
Chinese Ambassador also pointed out that there are broader prospects for cooperation and the development of this historic relationship provides a better atmosphere for joint action in all fields, stressing that the Chinese government and people will continue to support the Iraqi government and the political process and always stands with Iraq, and added: We in China have great sympathy with the Iraqi people and we do not want people to this great, but good stability, peace and prosperity.
And stressed that he will continue to support Iraq and its legitimate aspirations and struggle hard wherever it is to strengthen relations between the two friendly countries.
Excellencies grateful for the generous hospitality and expressed his appreciation for the support he received from President Talabani during his service in Iraq. http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl...-US:unofficial
Either before
Are left (opponents) from deteriorating?
24/04/2008
After a more than 15 centuries is still a question Antara ibn Shaddad Al-Absi commentators in the famous (Will left the poets of the deteriorating) valid for re-floatation again. Today we have the right after 15 centuries to put the question to read .. Do we have the politicians left opponents of Mitrdmanm? If Antara remained busy kissing his sword, blood-blood (p N. emerging gang law) in his time because that glint like the sword (the gaps) Abla his sweetheart, we busy and N. more than file and the issue of where love is no longer a pristine (safe haven) for one of the lovers so Who are like (General) Four Stars specifications Antara.
Every day we keep political opponents new provisions. . With the large number of their tales of tragic dimension but some of the prejudice of humour and entertainment. While differences among themselves to elevate the degree of conspiracies and mutual mistrust, or the ruling party or the other. And sometimes landing to the point of diminishing differences and certainly in a wave of mutual love mysticSmile footage shown by their own television show every leader of the opponents of the corner smiling, which is skilled at dealing with his own photographer photographer who is the repository of the party or sect or denomination Awalachireh and does not necessarily have to be repatriated. These eternal smiles suitable to be encrypted messages to the Baghdad market for securities dealings to open until tomorrow to the sound of those smiles that melted away with an iceberg, even if it is part of frost Siberia. Mahoney messages for the Central Bank to employ those smiles to reduce the demand for the dollar and raise the value of Iraqi dinar at least morally. These letters have gone away to the Wall Street Stock Exchange and exchanges in New York in June next oil delivery.
The next day, where Iraqis wakes to the sound of the dreams of a rosy smile reflected in private channels and not those tendentious and suspicious last night in clashes with everyone rising sun that everything stopped at the last Snapshot smile. .. And between dream and nightmare forcing citizens (Karim usually) a description given him Hatmi generosity of the same channels to restore (Stare) those smiles again .. And not to him or allowed him within the rules of the democratic game only counts teeth Gentlemen officials matrix like the teeth of a comb in recent Snapshot of fixed and movable on the website of the party Awaltaevh because it can count the amount by which the promises that they unleashed since the first smile until the last smile, provided that each fall, which seems to Altkotaibat Their faces because it was such that it can be .. For limited circulation
Iraq and China, well doesn't seem to be to odd of a pair after all, China is getting mighty thirsty for Iraqi oil, so China better come up with good smiles.
How that will fit into the right now up and created new energy hub, where Turkey, Israel, India is the key partners, is a bit of a mystery.
India and China have not too good of a relationship and have even had full fledged firefights in border skirmishes.
Both Inda and China are well on the way of getting their masses of people into motorized vehicles. They are both in the very beginning of the process, but each year the "need for speed" increases sharply both in India and China. They are the two powers that will make the oil have a purchaser in the future, and they will make sure that there are no surplus oil on the market.
India and China have been living with each other for many thousands of years, and very oittle cutural contact have even been possible between the two as the Himalayas are the big divider, but in modern times, their presence, and what this means for each of the two have been moved into awareness more and more.
India and China will be the two competing blocks, that will need the oil, rest of the world will have increasingly bigger need as well, but in general there are well established consumer blocks for petroleum since long time back, and the two gigants, that are now emerging, will therefore see each other as competitors.
I doubt that there will be any earlier type conflicts, when they shoot at each other for three days, and each side then declare victory. Both India and China have developed a deep industrial and business type atmpsphere since, and the pull on the oil will be more like what we are seing here, China will promise Iraq, this and that, India will counter with a proposal of a new refinery if India get this or that.
They will sign treaties, and they will claim that the treaty with the other part is not fair.
Either way, the BS China is now pulling is just that. China and Russia have categorically been against any US involvement in the Middle East, and have acted openly in any UN resolution to that effect about it.
If China would have had it their way, there would still be a Saddam Hussein there.
Here the Chineese are standing, smiling, saying that they're with, and support the Iraqi people and .....bla bla...
As business partner though, Iraq would looooove to have India AND China, nothing is better than a leverage.
Either before,
Are left (opponents) are deteriorating?
Read it , didnt understand it, read it again, didnt get it, read it the third time, gave up.
Iraq participates in preparatory meeting for Arab economic summit
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 04 /05 /2008 Time 5:12:28
Baghdad, May 1, (VOI) – Head of the economic relations council in the Arab League said on Thursday that Iraq takes part in the Cairo-based preparatory meetings for the upcoming Arab economic summit, scheduled for early 2009.
"One of the goals of the upcoming economic summit, which is due to be held in Kuwait at the beginning of next year, is to fulfill the requirements for an Arab economic integration," Thamir al-Aani told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
The statements were made on the sidelines of a two-day meeting at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, with the participation of representatives from all Arab states.
Al-Aani attended the meeting in his capacity as the head of the economic relations council and as a representative for his country, Iraq.
"We are currently in a bridging period between an Arab free trade zone and the establishment of a customs federation, which is the second crucial stage for an Arab economic integration. In the coming stage, we will be focusing on the customs federation and the common Arab market…," al-Aani noted.
"The meeting also tackles issues of common concern to the Arab world, economic development in relation to human development, and suggestions to activate Arab economic cooperation and to free up trade between Arab countries…," al-Aani added.
Al-Aani explained that the problems facing Iraq, mainly the misuse of human and industrial resources, and agricultural land, are more or less the problems of the entire Arab world.
(www.aswataliraq.info)
First Lady escapes assassination in Baghdad 04/05/2008 14:40:00
Baghdad (NINA)- The First Lady Hero Talabani –Hero Ibrahim Ahmed- escaped Sunday before noon an assassination attempt in Baghdad when a roadside targeted her motorcade near the National Theatre in central Baghdad.
White House admits Mission Unaccomplished in Iraq
Five years after Bush’s 'Mission Accomplished' statement, White House says 'paid price' for wrong impression.
Washington, 02 May 2008 (Middle East Online)
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Source: Middle East Online
Now denying 'Mission Accomplished'
The White House said Wednesday that it had "paid a price" for the "Mission Accomplished" backdrop to US President George W. Bush's May 1, 2003 Iraq speech, saying it left the wrong impression.
"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific, and said, 'Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission,'" said spokeswoman Dana Perino.
"We have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year," she said.
The "Mission Accomplished" banner hanging behind Bush on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has become a powerful symbol to his critics of how badly he underestimated the difficulties ahead in Iraq, where more than 4,000 US soldiers have paid the ultimate price.
What has become an annual act of political contrition, mixed with defiance, had special import because of November US presidential elections shaped by the war and its architect -- both hugely unpopular with the US public.
The White House's explanation for the banner repeatedly changed as the insurgency in Iraq revved up, though aides have steadfastly pointed out that Bush never said "mission accomplished" in his speech.
Bush said "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" and declared that "the battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on."
But even that has drawn pointed questions, with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying he had fought to have the White House remove the phrase from the remarks. The White House denies Rumsfeld's account.
And one week later, on June 5, 2003, Bush told US troops at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar: "America sent you on a mission to remove a grave threat and to liberate an oppressed people, and that mission has been accomplished."
The White House says that Bush was plainly referring to the goal of ousting Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the chief aim of the March 2003 US-led invasion.
And the official answer to "who put up the banner" has changed -- as the death toll rose, the White House and Bush himself said the sailors had put it up on their own, even though aides had initially boasted of their stagecraft.
Then Bush aides admitted that the White House designed and built it, but insisted they did so at the sailors' request, and that it celebrated the ship and its crew -- not victory in Iraq.
(www.iraqupdates.com)
God's hand is over all circumstances.
Sometimes He takes a direct hand, sometimes it is only His permissible will.
Was this a direct implication of His will for those watching the Democrat nomination process for the Presidential race?
===
Hillary’s Derby Pick Finishes 2nd, Is Put Down
From the Associated Press:
Filly Eight Belles breaks down after 2nd-place Derby finish
By BETH HARRIS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Filly Eight Belles finished second behind favorite Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, then collapsed with two broken front ankles and was euthanized after crossing the wire.
The field of 20 horses was galloping out around the first turn at Churchill Downs when Eight Belles suddenly went down on both front legs and jockey Gabriel Saez slid off.
An equine ambulance reached her on the track and put Eight Belles down.
“There was no possible way to save her,” on-call veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage said. “She broke both front ankles. That’s a bad injury.”
===end quote===
Not to make everything political, but isn’t it ominous that Hillary’s pick for the Kentucky Derby — the only filly in the race — broke her two front ankles crossing the finish line in second place and had to be put down?
And she lost to “Big Brown”?
Still, what a senseless tragedy. Something has got to be done about running these poor dumb animals to death.
And I don’t mean our politicians.
Comments:
1) DEZ
And Big Brown takes 1st place.
2) Perdido
Before you guys start getting any ideas you better re-check Hillary’s ankles.
3) HNAV
A really sad moment and a painful loss.
We in this fine Nation treasure life.
So sad others do not.
But I am sorry to wonder, about the Clinton Curse.
It seems almost everyone in contact with these unethical Clintons, has some tragic loss, massive failure, painful memory, or troubling indictment.
Hillary Clinton went out of her way to politicize this poor FILLY in the Race, and now the loss of this incredible Horse, is simply a bizarre irony at this time.
Hillary Clinton is a part of one of the most unethical teams we have seen in modern US Political Memory.
The Clintons not only lied about the genocide in Rwanda, peddled top secrets to the Chinese, appeased the killer named Arafat, gave mindless Loan Guarantees to the corruption at Enron, but they failed to address the growing threats of the Radical Muslim Militants - actually making the USA more vulnerable to attack - even after the first bombing of the WTC in 1993.
It amazes to see the Liberals continue to empower the Clinton Malfeasance.
And after all the deceit, it wouldn’t surprise me, to believe in the existence of some kind of curse…
4) GetBackJack
So, Big Brown wins it and the only girl in that horse race falls down and is shot.
Sweet babbling buddha if that ain’t as prophetic as the co-piot on Flight 800 being named Kervorkian.
Zubaidi ... Receive the delegation of the card company's global smart card
Received in his office Baqir Jabr Al-Zubaidi, Minister of Finance delegation of the company's global smart card company Iraqi contribute to establishing a
system of smart cards for banking Rafidain and Rashid.
He reviewed Mr. director of the company Mr. Bahaa Abdel Hussein stages of achievement and service to be provided by the citizen, especially the "slice and retired state employees covered by the social welfare system.
The Minister said, "our goal is to seek to develop the performance of Iraqi banks for the purpose of keeping pace with developments witnessed by global banks, notably" that Iraq is on the verge of implementation of major investment projects contribute to these banks much effort in providing service to companies and citizens.
He reviewed Mr. Abdul-Hussein Yasiri, General Director of the Rafidain Bank and Fuad Solicitor General Manager Rasheed Bank stages of completing the project, which will contribute advancement at work in Iraq, as the bank will contribute in providing sophisticated service to customers.
Roger (and board) - Are the American people stupid enough to accept outright lies and misrepresentations of John McCain's positions? It looks to me like the DNC are grasping at straws here. What do you think? (Clip is of Howard Dean interviewed by Chris Wallace on the distortion ads the DNC is running)
Ed Morrissey commented: It’s a remarkably dishonest effort from a remarkably dishonest man. Pay attention to how Dean never actually answers Wallace’s accusations of distortion, changing the subject back to the DNC’s talking points each time. Dean never defends his ads directly, and for good reason; they’re indefensible. Dean found himself overmatched against Wallace.
Possibly 85 to 90 % of career politicians are leaches, (My own opinion) and the population are trying to sort out whom to trust. They're loking for that personality, that will set them apart from the slime, and are looking for that Karisma or that person they can identify with.
Then there's the big cadre, that never will be presidents, that never make it so big that they are everyday names, but high enough that they can have a say on occasion, that is the general slime of the career politicians.
Mayors that was caught in some criminal activity, A Governor in some state that was uncovered to cheat on his wife, with a boy. Coruption, political missuse and not representing the post they are elected to, is the common theme.
These are the higups, that are not that high that they are seen all the time, but high enough, that they will have a very comfortable wage, and retirement, and they are protecting that part of their life with any means.
Their loyalty (not all of course) is with themselves and to maintain the lifestyle they have created for themselves, and try to make themselves important, and look brave, and look like they are concerned, look like they care, and in the interest of the common good, will disclose or uncover truths, (in general, about their opponents) , may they be the actual truth or not.
The act of getting up on the stage and pointing to something, is the real act here.
On occasion they have to show themselves, so their voters don't forget about them..... that they are indeed concerned citizens.
Work has been completed on a contract to manufacture and assemble ten surveillance and security towers at several oil facilities operated by the state owned Central Refineries Company, according statement issued by the cabinet’s national media center.
(www.noozz.com)
Iraq Tones Down Anti-Iran Rhetoric
May 05, 2008
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran May 4, saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq.
As the government appeared to back down from its hardening stance against Iran, in Anbar, four Marines were killed in the deadliest attack in the Sunni province in months.
The government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters May 4 that a committee was formed to find "tangible information" about foreign intervention, specifically Iran's role in Iraq rather than "information based on speculation."
"We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran. What happened before is enough. We paid a lot," Dabbagh said, referring to the eight years war between the two nations in which an estimated 1 million people died.
While the Iraqi government has long said they would not be used for a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran at odds over Iran's nuclear aspirations, the statement came as the Iraqi government had taken tough stances towards Iran in the past week. This included sending a delegation last week to Iran to urge them to stop the flow of weapons and to refrain from funding to Shiite militias battling Iraqi Security Forces.
U.S. official in Baghdad rejected allegations made May 3 by a senior Iranian official who, according to Iranian state media, accused the United States of attacking Iraqi civilians.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Armand Cucciniello said that the remarks by an unnamed Iranian official "align the Iranian government with these very extremists and criminal elements and against the Iraqi government and people.
"The only appropriate response...to the concerns raised by the government of Iraq is for Iran to immediately cease providing funding, training and arms to extremist militias in Iraq."
In Sadr City, the battle continued with overnight U.S. airstrikes in the northeast Shiite slum and stronghold of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
While al-Maliki said he would not stand for enemy "gangs" in Iraq, al-Sadr officials said they were open to negotiation.
Baha al-Araji, a Sadrist lawmaker, condemned attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone where the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices are located and said that disbanding the Mahdi Army was a legitimate request. The Green Zone has come under heavy rocket fire for over a month.
"There are actions that Islam does not accept including random strikes coming out of Sadr City and into the Green Zone," al-Araji said. "The government requested the disbanding of the Mahdi Army and this is a legitimate request to establish a state of law. But the law should be implemented upon all parties including the militias that entered the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior and still take their orders from their parties."
Al-Araji refers to the military wing of their Shiite rival the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the Badr Organization along with other party militias. The Badr Organization was largely absorbed into the National Police but is known to still take orders from their party.
But he added that the Iraqi government provoked the Mahdi Army after nearly a year of peaceful overtures from al-Sadr, including twice freezing armed activity by his militia. He said he realized during visits to the slum of Sadr City, estimated to have more than 2 million people, how unpopular all political parties, including the Sadrists, had become.
"I believe (al-Sadr) had the idea that he wanted to create a situation in which to disband the Mahdi Army in the southern provinces," al-Araji said. "But what's happened lately caused a mixing of the cards and we returned to square one."
In Sadr City, a day after a U.S. missile strike landed near a major hospital, officials said that the main water supply was badly damaged and the hospital may have to close if it isn't repaired within days.
Sadr Hospital is operating on a backup water supply that wasn't expected to last longer than 48 hours. On May 4, a main street outside the hospital was flooded as workmen tried to repair a series of underground pipes that ruptured when the missiles targeted what U.S. military officials described as a militia outpost a few yards from the hospital.
"If there are no more attacks, we might be able to fix it. We don't know," said a hospital security official who gave his name as Abu Sajjad. "Otherwise, in two days we will run out of water and the hospital can't go on."
The official said that the U.S. strike also damaged 15 ambulances and forced many hospital staff to flee. Not everyone returned to work May 4, leaving a Spartan emergency ward nearly empty of doctors.
The U.S. military said they were unsure when the more than monthlong battle in Sadr City would end. U.S. soldiers are living in abandoned buildings on the edge of the Baghdad district, attempting to build a wall to stem the flow of rockets but are being slowed by sniper fire. Ministry of Interior officials said that 321 persons were killed in Sadr City in April alone, and 834 were injured.
"They are firing at us every single day," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for the Baghdad command. "When it ends is up to the Special Groups," he said referring to Shiite militias.
Also May 4 Iraq's first lady Hiro Talabani survived a roadside bomb attack as she traveled to the National Theatre in Baghdad. Across the capital, mortar and rocket attacks continued. In Mosul, Sarwa Abdul Wahab, a journalist and lawyer, was assassinated.
(www.military.com)
Most USS Cole Plotters Are Now Free
May 05, 2008
Virginia Pilot
ADEN, Yemen -- Almost eight years after al-Qaida nearly sank the Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.
Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni who helped organize the plot to bomb the Norfolk-based Cole as it refueled in this Yemeni port on Oct. 12, 2000, has broken out of prison twice. He was recaptured both times but then secretly released by the government last fall. Yemeni authorities jailed him again after receiving complaints from Washington, but U.S. officials have so little faith that he's still in his cell that they have demanded the right to perform random inspections.
Two suspects, described as the key organizers, were captured outside Yemen and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Many details of their alleged involvement remain classified. It is unclear when or if they will be tried by the military.
A week after the Cole bombing, President Clinton vowed to hunt down the plotters and promised, "Justice will prevail." In March 2002, President Bush said his administration was cooperating with Yemen to prevent it from becoming "a haven for terrorists." He added, "Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind and not even a safe place to sleep."
Since then, Yemen has refused to extradite al-Badawi and an accomplice to the United States, where they have been indicted on murder charges. Other Cole conspirators have been freed after short prison terms. At least two went on to commit suicide attacks in Iraq.
"After we worked day and night to bring justice to the victims and prove that these Qaida operatives were responsible, we're back to square one," said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and a lead investigator into the bombing. "Do they have laws over there or not? It's really frustrating what's happening."
Al-Qaida trumpets the attack on the Cole as one of its greatest military victories. It remains an improbable story: how two suicide bombers smiled and waved to unsuspecting U.S. sailors in Aden's harbor as they pulled their tiny fishing boat alongside the $1 billion destroyer and blew a gaping hole in its side.
Despite the initial promises of accountability, only limited public inquiries took place in Washington, unlike the extensive investigations that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Basic questions remain about which individuals and countries played a role in the assault on the Cole.
Some officials acknowledged that pursuing the Cole investigation became less of a political priority with the passage of time. A new administration took power three months after the bombing. Then came Sept. 11.
"During the first part of the Bush administration, no one was willing to take ownership of this," said Roger Cressey, a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations who helped oversee the White House's response to the Cole attack. "It didn't happen on their watch. It was the forgotten attack."
After a long trial, a Yemeni court condemned al-Badawi, the organizer, to death in 2004, though his sentence was reduced on appeal to 15 years in prison. Four other conspirators were given prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years.
The convicts were sent to a maximum security prison in Sanaa, Yemen's capital. They didn't stay there long.
On Feb. 3, 2006, prison officials announced that 23 al-Qaida members, including most of the Cole defendants, had vanished. They escaped by digging a tunnel that snaked 300 feet to a nearby mosque.
It was al-Badawi's second successful jailbreak. Three years earlier, he had wormed out of another maximum security prison in Aden; Yemeni officials said he had picked a hole through the bathroom wall.
Al-Badawi surrendered about 20 months after his second escape. But Yemeni authorities cut him a deal. They said they would let him remain free if he would help them search for the other al-Qaida fugitives.
The arrangement was kept secret until Yemeni newspapers reported shortly afterward that al-Badawi had been spotted at his home in Aden.
U.S. officials said they were stunned. After his first escape, al- Badawi had been indicted in U.S. District Court in New York for the Cole killings, and the United States had posted a $5 million bounty for his capture. But U.S. officials couldn't get their hands on him.
"This was someone who was implicated in the Cole bombing," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at the time. "He needs to be in jail."
U.S. officials withheld $20 million in aid to Yemen and canceled a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Yemeni officials said they quickly put al-Badawi back behind bars, but reports persist that his incarceration remains a day-to-day affair.
In December, a Yemeni newspaper reported that al-Badawi had again been seen roaming free in public. One source close to the Cole investigation said there is evidence that al-Badawi is allowed to come and go, despite the periodic requests by U.S. officials to inspect his prison cell.
Diplomatic relations soured further in February, when the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa learned that Fahd al-Quso, another Cole conspirator, had been secretly freed nine months before. Like al- Badawi, al-Quso faces U.S. charges in the Cole case and has a $5 million bounty on his head.
U.S. officials have renewed their demands that al-Badawi and al- Quso be extradited so they can stand trial in New York. FBI Director Robert Mueller flew to Sanaa last month to deliver the message personally to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen has refused, citing a constitutional ban on extraditing its citizens.
"Unfortunately, we now have a stalemate," said Foreign Minister Abubaker al-Qirbi.
Al-Qirbi said the dispute was a politically sensitive one, with many Yemenis opposed to helping the Bush administration. He defended the tactic of allowing the Cole plotters to go free in exchange for help in tracking down other terrorist suspects.
"This is a normal practice," he said. "Everybody makes deals with anybody who cooperates, not just in Yemen, but in the United States."
Yemen's interior minister, Rashad al-Alimi, said the deal- cutting was necessary because al-Qaida has rebuilt its networks in Yemen and is targeting the government.
"Our battle with al-Qaida is a long one," he said. "It isn't our battle only. Our tragedy - and what makes things worse - is that al- Qaida is united. And our coalition is divided, even though we have a common enemy."
Some Yemenis have questioned whether their government has other motives. One senior Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Badawi and other al-Qaida members have a long relationship with Yemen's intelligence agencies and were recruited in the past to target political opponents.
Khaled al-Anesi, an attorney for some of the Cole defendants, said Yemen had rushed to convict them. But he said he is still mystified by the government's subsequent handling of the case.
"There's something that doesn't smell right," he said. "It was all very strange. After these people were convicted in unfair trials, all of a sudden it was announced that they had escaped. And then the government announced they had surrendered, but we still don't know how they escaped or if they had help."
Relatives of the 17 sailors who died on the Cole said they are furious at Yemen for releasing the plotters. But they expressed equal disdain for their own government.
The families have fought for years to obtain information from the State, Defense and Justice departments about their inquiries into the attack. "We never really got anyplace," said Andrew Hall, an attorney for the relatives.
With few other options, family members filed a civil lawsuit in 2004 against the government of Sudan, alleging that it had provided support for al-Qaida over the years and therefore was also liable for the Cole attack. In July, a federal judge in Norfolk ruled in their favor and ordered Sudan to pay $7.96 million in damages.
Yemen could not be sued because, unlike Sudan, it is not listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the State Department.
John Clodtfelter Jr. of Mechanicsville , whose son Kenneth died on the Cole, said the families have tried to meet with President Bush to press for more action.
"I was just flat told that he wouldn't meet with us," Clodtfelter said. "Before him, President Clinton promised we'd go out and get these people, and of course we never did. I'm sorry, but it's just like the lives of American servicemen aren't that important."
Basic questions still remain about which individuals and countries played a role in the 2000 attack.
(www.military.com)
Most USS Cole Plotters Are Now Free
May 05, 2008
Virginia Pilot
ADEN, Yemen -- Almost eight years after al-Qaida nearly sank the Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.
Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni who helped organize the plot to bomb the Norfolk-based Cole as it refueled in this Yemeni port on Oct. 12, 2000, has broken out of prison twice. He was recaptured both times but then secretly released by the government last fall. Yemeni authorities jailed him again after receiving complaints from Washington, but U.S. officials have so little faith that he's still in his cell that they have demanded the right to perform random inspections.
Two suspects, described as the key organizers, were captured outside Yemen and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Many details of their alleged involvement remain classified. It is unclear when or if they will be tried by the military.
A week after the Cole bombing, President Clinton vowed to hunt down the plotters and promised, "Justice will prevail." In March 2002, President Bush said his administration was cooperating with Yemen to prevent it from becoming "a haven for terrorists." He added, "Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind and not even a safe place to sleep."
Since then, Yemen has refused to extradite al-Badawi and an accomplice to the United States, where they have been indicted on murder charges. Other Cole conspirators have been freed after short prison terms. At least two went on to commit suicide attacks in Iraq.
"After we worked day and night to bring justice to the victims and prove that these Qaida operatives were responsible, we're back to square one," said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and a lead investigator into the bombing. "Do they have laws over there or not? It's really frustrating what's happening."
Al-Qaida trumpets the attack on the Cole as one of its greatest military victories. It remains an improbable story: how two suicide bombers smiled and waved to unsuspecting U.S. sailors in Aden's harbor as they pulled their tiny fishing boat alongside the $1 billion destroyer and blew a gaping hole in its side.
Despite the initial promises of accountability, only limited public inquiries took place in Washington, unlike the extensive investigations that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Basic questions remain about which individuals and countries played a role in the assault on the Cole.
Some officials acknowledged that pursuing the Cole investigation became less of a political priority with the passage of time. A new administration took power three months after the bombing. Then came Sept. 11.
"During the first part of the Bush administration, no one was willing to take ownership of this," said Roger Cressey, a former counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations who helped oversee the White House's response to the Cole attack. "It didn't happen on their watch. It was the forgotten attack."
After a long trial, a Yemeni court condemned al-Badawi, the organizer, to death in 2004, though his sentence was reduced on appeal to 15 years in prison. Four other conspirators were given prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years.
The convicts were sent to a maximum security prison in Sanaa, Yemen's capital. They didn't stay there long.
On Feb. 3, 2006, prison officials announced that 23 al-Qaida members, including most of the Cole defendants, had vanished. They escaped by digging a tunnel that snaked 300 feet to a nearby mosque.
It was al-Badawi's second successful jailbreak. Three years earlier, he had wormed out of another maximum security prison in Aden; Yemeni officials said he had picked a hole through the bathroom wall.
Al-Badawi surrendered about 20 months after his second escape. But Yemeni authorities cut him a deal. They said they would let him remain free if he would help them search for the other al-Qaida fugitives.
The arrangement was kept secret until Yemeni newspapers reported shortly afterward that al-Badawi had been spotted at his home in Aden.
U.S. officials said they were stunned. After his first escape, al- Badawi had been indicted in U.S. District Court in New York for the Cole killings, and the United States had posted a $5 million bounty for his capture. But U.S. officials couldn't get their hands on him.
"This was someone who was implicated in the Cole bombing," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at the time. "He needs to be in jail."
U.S. officials withheld $20 million in aid to Yemen and canceled a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Yemeni officials said they quickly put al-Badawi back behind bars, but reports persist that his incarceration remains a day-to-day affair.
In December, a Yemeni newspaper reported that al-Badawi had again been seen roaming free in public. One source close to the Cole investigation said there is evidence that al-Badawi is allowed to come and go, despite the periodic requests by U.S. officials to inspect his prison cell.
Diplomatic relations soured further in February, when the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa learned that Fahd al-Quso, another Cole conspirator, had been secretly freed nine months before. Like al- Badawi, al-Quso faces U.S. charges in the Cole case and has a $5 million bounty on his head.
U.S. officials have renewed their demands that al-Badawi and al- Quso be extradited so they can stand trial in New York. FBI Director Robert Mueller flew to Sanaa last month to deliver the message personally to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen has refused, citing a constitutional ban on extraditing its citizens.
"Unfortunately, we now have a stalemate," said Foreign Minister Abubaker al-Qirbi.
Al-Qirbi said the dispute was a politically sensitive one, with many Yemenis opposed to helping the Bush administration. He defended the tactic of allowing the Cole plotters to go free in exchange for help in tracking down other terrorist suspects.
"This is a normal practice," he said. "Everybody makes deals with anybody who cooperates, not just in Yemen, but in the United States."
Yemen's interior minister, Rashad al-Alimi, said the deal- cutting was necessary because al-Qaida has rebuilt its networks in Yemen and is targeting the government.
"Our battle with al-Qaida is a long one," he said. "It isn't our battle only. Our tragedy - and what makes things worse - is that al- Qaida is united. And our coalition is divided, even though we have a common enemy."
Some Yemenis have questioned whether their government has other motives. One senior Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Badawi and other al-Qaida members have a long relationship with Yemen's intelligence agencies and were recruited in the past to target political opponents.
Khaled al-Anesi, an attorney for some of the Cole defendants, said Yemen had rushed to convict them. But he said he is still mystified by the government's subsequent handling of the case.
"There's something that doesn't smell right," he said. "It was all very strange. After these people were convicted in unfair trials, all of a sudden it was announced that they had escaped. And then the government announced they had surrendered, but we still don't know how they escaped or if they had help."
Relatives of the 17 sailors who died on the Cole said they are furious at Yemen for releasing the plotters. But they expressed equal disdain for their own government.
The families have fought for years to obtain information from the State, Defense and Justice departments about their inquiries into the attack. "We never really got anyplace," said Andrew Hall, an attorney for the relatives.
With few other options, family members filed a civil lawsuit in 2004 against the government of Sudan, alleging that it had provided support for al-Qaida over the years and therefore was also liable for the Cole attack. In July, a federal judge in Norfolk ruled in their favor and ordered Sudan to pay $7.96 million in damages.
Yemen could not be sued because, unlike Sudan, it is not listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the State Department.
John Clodtfelter Jr. of Mechanicsville , whose son Kenneth died on the Cole, said the families have tried to meet with President Bush to press for more action.
"I was just flat told that he wouldn't meet with us," Clodtfelter said. "Before him, President Clinton promised we'd go out and get these people, and of course we never did. I'm sorry, but it's just like the lives of American servicemen aren't that important."
Basic questions still remain about which individuals and countries played a role in the 2000 attack.
(www.military.com)
05 May 2008 (Azzaman)
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The government is massing troops for an imminent attack on the northern city of Mosul, the interior minister said.
The minister Jawad al-Bolani said the government has deployed “elite units” in the city, home to nearly three million people and currently one of the most violent places in the country.
U.S. troops will assist with aerial bombardment, logistics and artillery. U.S. marines will intervene if necessary.
The battle to overtake Mosul is billed as the ‘last’ major offensive Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intends to launch to bring the country under control.
Mosul is now a bastion of al-Qaeda whose fighters have been under extreme pressure from the so-called Sahwa (Awakening) Council, a newly formed militia of Sunni tribesmen financed by the U.S., in other Sunni-dominated areas.
Bolani said the troops sent to calm down Basra were being redeployed in Mosul.
Analysts say the battle for Mosul is expected to be one of the bloodiest since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Mosul is a mixed city. Though predominantly Sunni Arab, it holds sizeable communities of Kurds, Christians, Shebeks and Yezidis.
“The battles in Basra are over. The armed forces and police have completed their preparedness for the battle of Mosul. The Qaeda gangs and criminals face dark future there,” the minister warned.
He predicted the attack to be swift with minimum damage and casualties.
But the analysts expected a long and difficult ‘street-to-street and house-to-house’ fight as the city is almost completely under the Qaeda and other forces resisting U.S. occupation.
(www.iraqupdates.com)
Iraqi Sadr bloc adopts law cases against Iraqi gov''t
Politics 5/5/2008 12:05:00 AM
BAGHDAD, May 4 (KUNA) -- Sadr bloc party adopted on Sunday a set of legal cases against the Iraqi government for victims of military confrontation in Sadr city in Baghdad.
Saleh Al-Okaili, a spokesman for the bloc in the Iraqi parliament, told KUNA "the Iraqi government rejected all peaceful solutions and adopted a military confrontation solution." "The government is also attempting to pressure citizens in Sadr city to depart and is currently settling refugee camps amid a continuous air strikes campaign," Al-Okaili added.
The spokesman also noted that there are tribal figures from Al-Ramadi, Faluja, Baqouba and other places who will attempt to reach Sadr city next Monday to start a ceasefire initiative against military operations here. (end) mhg.mb KUNA 050005 May 08NNNN
(www.kuna.net.kw)
I must confess that I have caught some of Rogers pessimism regarding the movement in Iraq. This morning I saw where the offical exchange rate has dropped to 1201. This may not be enough to shake the doldrums.
I also read a piece concerning real estate development inside the green zone. The artist renderings shows a thriving metropolis. I heard the talk of this type of development has began to increase real estate prices in Baghdad.
While the CBI continues its managed rate a pip here and a pip there the big picture for Iraq continues to look bright. I believe the HCLs passage will begin to move us in the direction we are all hoping for.
Instead of focusing on the slow movement, we have to keep our eyes on long term outlook for the country. A peaceful and prosperous Iraq can only mean we reap a great reward.
D. Ibrahim Bahr Al-Aloom: Oil reserves occupy half the area of Iraq
Dependent characters accuse the ministries of favoritism and factionalism in the selection of Iraqi embassies Supplements
Five billion dollars to build the city of casinos and resorts in the Green Zone
Citizen - and agencies - Secretary Amar
Dr. Ibrahim Bahr Al-Aloom, former oil minister said that about 230 - 250 billion barrels of oil reserves is uncertain in Iraq and comprehensive look at this huge storage it gives an indication that occupies half the area of the country. He agreed with the introduction of Dr. Barham Salih, Deputy Prime Minister on reservists Expected from Iraqi oil, but that there is high confidence the possibility of future expansion of the Qinghai especially in the areas of the Western Sahara from Anbar province of Basra to the south and the island from Anbar to Mosul in the north area includes 65 exploratory constitute a vast area Say counterparts in other States. Conveying that Patches of these processes require intensive exploration and large movements in order to transform this reserve-proven to be uncertain. He continued that the strength of Sea Sciences commensurate with the country's power reserve of energy, especially oil and actual market commensurate with the productive power of that problem in Iraq, we are focused on the possession of surplus production as In the case of Saudi Arabia, which owns 1.5 million barrels of production. He called on relevant agencies to seek to achieve the important steps and re-investment company and develop national oil production capacity so that it can reach the ambitious scheme has produced 5 - 6 million barrels per day in addition to lifting The level of production of natural gas. He stressed that this ambition needs to be cadres of technical and engineering of new and administrative procedures faster.
He noted the Sea of Sciences to the need for Iraq to escalate its production through the drilling of wells and the rehabilitation and the system of export and create the infrastructure damaged during the past three decades and had no landing In refining and energy shortages 30 thousand barrels a descending in total production since the past few years for reasons specific to the processing of crude oil refineries and oil stock issues and administrative matters, all need to pause for a serious upgrade energy.
For his part, accused the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries in the government, how favoritism in the selection of attachments commercial, cultural, military or others, explaining that the Foreign Ministry is not concerned with appointments made in Almlhkiet abroad. He said Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, dependent characters, "that" Almlhkiet Whatever kind, are needed according to the state, and the ministry concerned, to facilitate their work and their links with the State where the Protocols, "noting that" Almlhkiet trade with countries that need our commercial relations with the sophisticated side of the embassy and its activities. "He pointed out that" the choice of these Protocols Trading must be done according to criteria and bases far from favoritism, and kinship, and sectarianism. "Dependent characters and stressed that" at the opening Supplement commercial, military or healthy looking with the Ministry of Foreign embassies abroad, and the State concerned on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, the need for the actual existence of such These Almlhkiet, "adding that" the problem lies in the fact that the Foreign Ministry is not concerned with the appointment thereto, but appointed by other ministries of higher education, trade, health, culture, defence and others. "'s Deputy Foreign Ministry, said" these appointments are not dependent On the basis of objective criteria, or professional, "noting it was" linked to the actual current reality in Iraq, what has caused many complaints because, the Foreign Ministry tried to solve but to no avail. "Revealed dependent characters," on "requests from the Ministry of Commerce to open business in five Mlhkiet A number of States did not identify, in addition to requests for cultural Mlhkiet in other countries.
"But he pointed out that" every ministry is working as if the State Government itself, there is no center manages this process to see the need, and form these appointments, and choices, and the connection Status of state until the completion of the institutional problems to deal with this in turn sources said American and international sources that had been developing a plan at a cost of five billion dollars aimed at converting the Green Zone, which is currently stationed where most U.S. and Iraqi facilities in Baghdad, surrounded by fencing under the protection of heavily armed soldiers, to Investment and trade center will be the future backbone of the Iraqi economy. The sources revealed that hotel groups such as the "Marriott" and investment companies such as Saudi Arabia is planning to MBI projects in the region currently, but the informed views stated that the Iraqi government views with concern the file, and look towards a reduction of American influence it. Sources said the plan has the support of the U.S. Department of Defense will bring to the region finest resorts, best brands, including away from the mind pictures of missiles pouring down on the region almost daily, making it an oasis for the Advancement of Baghdad along the lines of cities boomed after the war, such as Sarajevo and Beirut.
معات House of Representatives is expected to refer decisions (5 April) to activate the form of legislation
بغح BAGHDAD - Al Sabah
يعمقبل، Before the House this week a number of important laws to be discussed and voted upon, most notably the discussion of the election law and ideas that were raised when in order to facilitate the holding of provincial assemblies early next October,
واقرارل ايام. The adoption of amendments agreed between the political forces of law dismissed politicians, is awaiting the law of oil and gas blocs of political talks ended after the government make adjustments and access to the Parliament a few days ago.
في (اتفاقتشريعات. Meanwhile, parliamentary sources said the coming period will witness the activation of the political decisions of the Council for National Security (agreement on April 5), in the House of Representatives by translating the recommendations into laws and legislation.
قاي . The decision of the House of Representatives Mohammed Mahdi Al-Bayati told of the "morning" that the Parliament had "acknowledged that the law dismissed by the politicians, but there are some amendments put forward by some committees because of its great importance to the important segment of the Iraqi people suffered in a time The first expulsion of marginalization and exclusion, "pointing to the existence of an agreement on some amendments, the law will be introduced Tuesday or Wednesday next, after several amendments related to the interests of separated in order to undermine each separated his right hand or the appointment of monthly earned result of the government Years of detention or expulsion.
ت Oil and gas legislation
وب . He said there are some important laws ready and awaiting the House of Representatives to vote or discussion, agreement was made by the Cabinet and Parliament, especially as some delayed more than the time required, explaining that "the law of oil and gas after it was returned to the Cabinet because of some differences in By the leaders of the bloc have been many changes from the government and is now in the possession of the Parliament for discussion, it is legally important for Iraq and its economy and its future ", indicating that it would undoubtedly soon after the first and second reading to him, but he did not specify a date for discussion hidden and certainly that the law Arrived in the House of Representatives.
وكاالعفود. The parliament has approved last February three important laws in one go, namely: the state general budget and a law of amnesty and elections for provincial assemblies and then returned this step a major achievement that opens a new page of reconstruction and the political consensus in the new Iraq.
مبا . The statement pointed out that the electoral law will be raised at a meeting the day after tomorrow, Tuesday, and discussed by the competent committees and members of the House, especially as the law of provincial assemblies identified the first of October, the date for the holding of provincial assemblies, since it without a law can not hold elections.
وكان ودي. The Council of Ministers has issued last month, a draft law on election of provincial and district councils and respects according to the latest amendments, and that the draft law aims to organize elections in a fair and impartial to all provincial and district councils and wards so that these elections will be democratic and transparent, as revealed by government spokesman Dr. Ali Skinner, that the bill will open the existing method that allows voters to choose a candidate from within the electoral lists, according to the individual nomination.
ورمقبلة . He explained that the decision of the House of Representatives tabled in Parliament contains no discussion of the delegation's visit to Iran since the coalition issue with the coalition, particularly after the transfer of some files delegation to Tehran on the security situation and the nature of the events taking place in Iraq from security operations against armed and law-breakers, but it However: "If asked members of parliament to discuss the matter could be discussed in parliament," adding that the committee set up by Parliament and private Sadr City still exist and exercise their role is scheduled to submit its report to the House of Representatives to discuss topics related to some hot topics, as they -- Committee - raised some questions about her visit to Sadr City and Basra and other matters will be discussed during the coming days.
تفعيل مقررت. In the meantime Hassan al-Shamri said Deputy Prime bloc in parliament Virtue: The coming period will witness a referral decisions of the political council of national security to the House of Representatives to convert them into legislation and laws, and confer legitimacy on these recommendations.
وكيع. The Political Council for National Security has issued a recent statement from the 15-item nationally, in the forefront, calling for solution of all militias and disarming and restructuring of the Government of National Unity, the elimination of all judicial organizations illegal, and quickly amend the constitution and condemning outside interference. ـ . He told Al Shammari "Sabah" that the Council's work focuses on the political situation Strutejiat national, as the country's politicians and heads of parliamentary blocs are Shapers him, noting that the Council's decisions will be transferred to parliament for consideration and approval in the form of legislation and laws. For his part, said the Kurdistan Alliance member Mohsen Al - : The decisions of the political council was positive, and endorsed by most of the parliamentary blocs and acceptance. Sadoun stressed in a statement to "Al Sabah" was important to make those decisions through laws making it to be voted upon within the House of Representatives, to be bound by execution, calling the presidency of the political council to send recommendations In the form of a draft law to be legislation in parliament and work out.http://www.google.com/translate?u=ht...&hl=en&ie=UTF8
Published: May 5, 2008 at 1:39 PM
By HIBA DAWOOD
UPI Correspondent
In its editorial, the daily Al Sabah newspaper highlighted Monday the role neighboring counties should play in improving Iraq's security, leading to an economic, social and political revival.
With the title "The significant role Iraq's neighbors can play," the editorial said the conference in Kuwait -- attended by major international powers, ministries of 23 countries, foreign ministers of neighboring countries, five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and six Gulf countries -- was the first of its kind.
"In spite of the improvement of the security in Baghdad and other cities, the government's attempt to force the law using Iraqi security and intelligence forces, and its control over the borders, the conference's final statement focused on old issues unrelated to the current security situation," it said.
The paper said that after the successful "march for democracy" in Iraq, there is no need for statements as much as there is a need for real action on opening embassies of, specifically, Arab countries in Iraq.
"Iraq is being accused of being open only to Iran as the latter opened its embassy and consulates in Iraq, but the fact is none of the other countries has made an effort to be present in Iraq," it said.
Al Sabah said it is of importance Arab countries, especially Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, realize it is in their interest to open embassies and offices of representation in Iraq.
The editorial also urged neighboring countries to stop all financial and media support to terrorists, gangs and former Saddamists who want to destabilize Iraq and accuse the Iraqi government of being loyal to Iran.
The editorial also encouraged neighboring countries to support the Iraqi government's efforts in enforcing the law to dissolve Sunnis and Shiite militias, and ensure weapons are in the hands of the state only.
"When clashes in Basra took place, the neighboring countries … gave the media a role to express their view, which contradicted the Iraqi government's goals," it said.
Al Sabah criticized Kuwaiti authorities as they, at the conference, focused on the 5 percent of oil revenue to be given as compensation for the Saddam Hussein-led invasion of Kuwait.
"When that agreement was signed with the old Iraqi government, oil was $50 a barrel whereas now oil has exceeded double that price, a fact that gives Iraq the right to demand a review of the agreement," it said.
The fact Iraq focuses on one aspect of the situation while other countries demand different aspects makes such meetings predictable, it said. The paper said Iraq needs solidarity from Arab countries, Turkey and Iran as Iraq realizes the positive role these countries can play in stabilizing the entire region.http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Emerging_Threats/Analysis/2008/05/05/iraq_press_roundup/8278/
In Iraq, a storm before the calm By Michael Yon
Monday, May 5th 2008
April saw 49 U.S. casualties in Iraq, the highest total in seven months. Does this mean, as some insist, that the enormous progress we have made since the start of the military surge is being lost?
As one who has spent nearly two years with American soldiers and Marines and British Army troops in Iraq - having returned from my last trip a month ago - here's my short answer: no.
We are taking more casualties now, just as we did in the first part of 2007, because we have taken up the next crucial challenge of this war: confronting the Shia militias.
In early 2007, under the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, we began to wage an effective counterinsurgency campaign against the reign of terror Al Qaeda in Iraq had established over much of the midsection of the country. That campaign, which moved many of our troops off of big centralized bases and out into small neighborhood outposts, carried real risks.
In every one of the first eight months of 2007, we lost more soldiers than we had the previous year. Only as the campaign bore fruit - in the form of Iraqi citizens working with American soldiers on a daily basis, helping uncover terrorist hideouts together - did the casualty numbers begin to improve.
Now we are helping the Iraqis deal with a much different problem: the Shia militias, the most well-known of which is "Jaysh al-Mahdi," known as JAM, largely controlled by Moqtada al-Sadr.
To comprehend our strategy here, we need to understand the goals of these militias, which pundits, politicians and the press all too often gloss over. Al Qaeda's aim was to destroy Iraq in civil war. Allegedly devout Muslims, the terrorist savages were willing to rape, murder and pillage their own people just as long as they could catch America in the middle. One reason Al Qaeda in Iraq can regenerate so quickly, despite being hated by most Iraqis, is that, armed with generous funding from outside Iraq, they mostly recruit young men and boys from Iraqi street gangs, giving them money, guns and drugs.
In contrast, JAM and the other Shia militias do not want to destroy Iraq; they want power in the new Iraq. They did not, for the most part, start out as criminal gangs, but as self-defense organizations protecting Shia neighborhoods from the chaos of post-invasion Iraq, including Al Qaeda.
Because the militias are strong, well-organized and long had deep support among the population, and because their goal is political power, not random destruction, some have argued that we should have nothing to do with taking them on. They predict a bloody and futile campaign that would make us once again enemies of the Iraqi people rather than their defenders.
These critics miss a crucial on-the-ground reality: Virtually all insurgencies, however noble their original purpose, eventually degenerate into criminal organizations, classic Mafia-like protection rackets, especially as they achieve their original goals.
With Al Qaeda mostly wiped out of Baghdad, the militias that once defended Shia neighborhoods now prey on them. In Basra to the south, where al Qaeda always feared to tread, the situation is even worse. Practically speaking, that city has been ruled by an uneasy coalition of rival Shia gangs for years.
The great victory of the past year and a half has been the decision of Sunni citizens to turn against Sunni outlaws. Now, neither we nor the Iraqi government can maintain our credibility with the Sunni if the Shia militias are allowed to remain outside the law.
The militias, unlike Al Qaeda, are not insane; we can negotiate with them. But we and the Iraqi government can only capitalize on the shifting sentiments of the Shia neighborhoods if we first demonstrate that we and the government - not the gangs - control the streets.
That means, for the next few months, expect more blood, casualties and grim images of war. This may lead to a shift in the political debate inside the United States and more calls for rapid withdrawal. But on the ground in Iraq, it's a sign of progress.
- Yon is an independent reporter and blogger (michaelyon-online.com). His new book is "Moment of Truth in Iraq."By Michael Yon
Comments:
1) philmon
Wow... so 49 casualties in a month, up from anywhere from 23-40 ... this constitutes "spiraling" casualties. One wonders how people would have described single-day body counts during WWII? According to this guy, when Al-Sadr calls off a cease-fire, they up the body count rate by about one person every two days. Wow, that Sadr guy' just unstoppable! Better tuck tail and head home!
2) saha
(Some comments) make a disgusting attempt to make the US sound like a ruthless warmonger with callous disregard for human life. The U.S. does not carpet bomb cities in Iraq. Was the US in position to employ a counterinsurgency in Dresden? Do you understand the concept of "total war" that was employed by all sides in WWII? It sounds like you agree with Reverend Wright's version of "history".
Baghdad - At least ten people were killed in overnight fighting between American forces and Shi'a militiamen in Baghdad, six of them in Sadr City, the US military said on Monday.
The US military said six Shi'a militiamen were killed in Sadr City and four in Mansur, a mainly Sunni district of west Baghdad.
Iraq Says It Has Proof Of Iranian Meddling Tehran Funneling Weapons, Officials Say
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 5, 2008; Page A10
BAGHDAD, May 4 -- The Iraqi government said Sunday that it has "concrete evidence" Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq and that a high-level panel had been formed to document the proof.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh called reporters late Sunday night to clarify remarks he made at a news conference earlier in the day, when he appeared to say that there was no hard evidence that Iran was allowing weapons to come into Iraq. Dabbagh said his comments had been misinterpreted.
"There is an interference and evidence that they have interfered in Iraqi affairs," Dabbagh said in an interview arranged by a U.S. official. When asked how he would characterize the proof that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq, he said: "It is a concrete evidence."
The U.S. government has long accused Iran of providing the powerful roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators to Shiite militiamen who attack American troops. Iran has denied any such role.
Dabbagh said that after Maliki launched an offensive last month in the southern city of Basra, weapons were found that were clearly produced in Iran.
"The truth came out; there is evidence of Iranian weapons in Iraq," he said. "Now we need to document who sent them."
Dabbagh said the high-level committee was formed three days ago and includes officials from the Interior and Defense Ministries.
There is a huge blogswarm going on about this photo, from Chicago Magazine, of Obama's unrepentant terrorist associate, Bill Ayers stomping on the American flag. The photo was taken in 2001, the same time Barack Obama served on the Woods Fund Board with Ayers. This was also the same time that Ayers donated to Obama's campaign.
Marathon Pundit has similar photo, and many political bloggers are saying it long past due for Obama to disown his association with this controversial radical.
The question that remains is, will the media pick this up or will they write it off as old news? Its worthy of recycling this to further probe into Obama's judgement, the one thing he says he should be measured by.
Photo credit: Jeff Sciortino for Chicago Magazine.
Comments
1) He stomps on the flag by mjg
He stomps on the flag and hates America. He sounds a lot like the reverend.
2) However, by DEVILDOCMOM
However, the "smart, educated pool of voters" (see NB story above) referred to by the nbc reporterette will probably not care. After all, it really does not mean bho has poor judgement...! He is for change.
3) I'm sure if we knuckle by Chris Norman
I'm sure if we knuckle dragging conservatives took the time to give this nuanced thought, if we read between the lines, and delved into the complex intricacies of Ayers, we would fully understand and respect his stomping the American flag. I, for one, am going to heed the moderate and sage advise of Bill Moyers, and give this one some sophisticated thought...hmmm...no, Ayers is still an anti-American terrorist.
4) America! by okiehawk44
Ayers, get off my flag.
5) Yes, a true patriot he is by SickofLibs
Yes, a true patriot he is. How could you and I could ever care as much as him?
6) There implodes another Obama by ahusser
There implodes another Obama nominee for a cabinet position. Ayers probably was up for Sec. Defense, Dohrn for State and Wright for HUD
In seeking to understand this man Obama..
This is the BEST explanation for his viewpoints I have ever encountered.
Worth a look!
QUOTE:
Obama is a typical passive-aggressive personality who pretends to be a nice guy by using fuzzy language and a let’s-all-get-together mantra to seduce his acolytes, but who relies on his surrogates – wifey, minister, terrorist endorsements, et al – to express his real agenda..
===
Obama's Psyche
By Joan Swirsky
MichNews.com
May 5, 2008
We all know of people who make strange choices, but what about those who make self-defeating choices over and over and over again, so magnetized are they by spouses (and others) who are bad for them? The woman who marries a drunk, then a gambler, then a philanderer – the man who marries a gold digger, then a nag, then an iceberg.
Time after time, this type ends up with a variation on an off-note theme, while friends and colleagues shake their heads and remark, “But he’s so smart…she’s so experienced.”
That seems to be the universal reaction to last week’s near-implosion of Sen. Barack Obama presidential campaign, which left him the daunting challenge of explaining to a mystified electorate why his soft-spoken, non-combative, let’s-get-beyond-race-and-anger agenda has been threatened-cum-sabotaged by the people he is most attracted to.
His archrival Hillary doesn’t have this problem. After decades in the public eye, the electorate is never surprised to learn about yet another unsavory character, shady deal, or questionable legality.
But the seemingly idealistic Obama – who says he stands for “hope” and “change” – has now run into a firewall of opposition. Why?
WHO HATES OBAMA?
Not the American electorate, which in caucuses and primaries over the last many months has awarded him a majority of popular and electoral votes.
Not young people, ages 18 to 45, who have turned out in unprecedented numbers – into the multimillions – to register to vote and who have actually voted for him! This is remarkable given that in every election cycle Democrats have spent zillions to get out the youth vote, but always failed.
Not Independent voters who are turning out in record number to vote for the Illinois senator.
Not the leftwing media whose members have embraced his candidacy with both giddy enthusiasm and undisguised passion.
Not moneybags (like George Soros) and the Socialist and Marxist campus intellectuals who have jumped on the Obamessiah bandwagon.
SO WHO DOES HATE OBAMA?
Which people have so drastically derailed the Obama juggernaut over the past few weeks? We would never have known about any of them if the liberal media had been successful in concealing what they’ve known for years. Thanks only to conservative journalists and pundits were these liberal shills dragged kicking and screaming out of their closets and forced to expose the other “close” relationships Obama has had in both his personal and political life.
Exhibit No. 2 (No. 1 to follow): None other than Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the man Obama has considered for over 20 years his trusted and valued “friend” and “spiritual” inspiration.
As Ben Wallace-Wells reminds us in Rolling Stone, Obama chose this minister and his church very carefully. He “could have picked any church – the spare, spiritual places in Hyde Park, the awesome pomp and procession of the cathedrals downtown. He could have picked a mosque, for that matter, or even a synagogue. Obama chose Trinity United. He picked Jeremiah Wright. Obama writes in his autobiography that on the day he chose this church, he felt the spirit of black memory and history moving through Wright, and `felt for the first time how that spirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility of moving beyond our narrow dreams.’"
That was then. Last week, Rev. Wright – bristling at the young upstart’s audacity to go public in distancing himself from his pastor’s egregious anti-American, anti-Semitic, and blatantly racist pronouncements – seized the moment of Obama’s upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina to speak his mind to PBS’s Bill Moyers and the National Press Club. As Daniel Henninger noted in the Wall St. Journal, “the angry and antic prophet Jeremiah rose to smite him.”
The result: effectively to implant Obama’s feet in concrete, the better to deep-six his chance to win the presidency.
The day after Wright’s sabotage, Newt Gingrich told an interviewer that the recently- retired leader of Chicago’s Trinity Church "went out of his way to weaken Obama...I think Reverend Wright has a greater interest in his self-importance."
But Geoffrey P. Hunt of The American Thinker thought otherwise. It was “for a more cynical reason than ego-preservation…[but for] keeping the pledge payments flowing and collection plates full. Wright's root agenda, in perfect alignment with the far-left Democratic Party politics of indignation, has been to capitalize on the misfortunes of others, to stoke both race and class resentment, offer a platform and voice pipe for the permanently aggrieved all to fill his own coffers.”
The reverend’s “worst nightmare,” Hunt adds, “would be Barack Obama as president…because [Wright’s] raison d'etre would evaporate.”
Now for Exhibit No. 1: Obama’s wifey Michelle, who told a crowd in Milwaukee, “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.” Michelle also poured out how “bitter” she was toward America in her Princeton thesis. And proving that an acid nature doesn’t sweeten over time, she told one interviewer that Obama “had bad breath in the morning,” and informed the crowd at a fundraiser in Feb. 2007: "I have some difficulty reconciling the two images I have of Barack Obama. There's the phenomenon…and then there's the Barack Obama that lives with me in my house, and that guy's a little less impressive."
I think it’s safe to say that Exhibit No. 1 and Exhibit 2 – the two most powerfully influential people in Obama’s life – are not on his side!
Okay, you may say, everyone has a few bad apples in their “circles.” A few maybe, but not a bushel!
We have also learned of Obama’s not-so-casual relationship with the indicted Chicago “fixer” Tony Rezko, and a laundry list of associates who openly hate America, among them domestic terrorist William Ayers, and the official blogger of his campaign, Sam Graham-Felsen.
Then there are the America-hating groups and people who endorsed him: Hamas, the Black Panther Party, and the Marxist president of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega, as well as Obama fundraiser Rashid Khalidi, a “confessed domestic terrorist,” according to Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily.
Why is it that the mild-mannered, seemingly non-combative Obama is attracted to such a large number of America haters? And why does he inspire them to give him their passionate allegiance, their enthusiastic endorsements, and their barrels full of money?
INSIDE OBAMA’S PSYCHE
A caller to a radio show recently theorized that mixed-race "mulattos" like Obama are resentful that while they're half-white, they always come out black. They can never take advantage of their white half because while the black community accepts them, the white community doesn’t.
I’d say this is a legitimate reason for anger, probably the same rage that fuels Rev. Wright, given that he is clearly of “mixed” parentage.
The result, others theorize, is anger at the white parent (or grandparent) – or their symbols, like big bad America – which is probably why Obama wrote in his book “Dreams of My Father: “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, which I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”
When he was questioned about Rev. Wright’s racist statements, Obama initially replied: “I can no more disown [him] than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.”
Asked to explain this totally weird comparison – 20 years of hearing his pastor’s racist rants vs. his grandmother’s one-time confession – Obama replied that his grandmother was a “typical white person.”
Conclusion: Obama defends the indefensible, embraces those who say the indefensible, and trashes the people who love him.
Why? Because the indefensible crowd speaks for him! It is not in Obama’s nature to be aggressive and confrontational, insulting or hurtful, vicious or adversarial. But all of these traits are clearly in his heart and soul and psyche! Why else would he defend them?
Obama is a typical passive-aggressive personality who pretends to be a nice guy by using fuzzy language and a let’s-all-get-together mantra to seduce his acolytes, but who relies on his surrogates – wifey, minister, terrorist endorsements, et al – to express his real agenda, i.e., getting back! But getting back at whom?
My theory is that Obama wants to “get back” at all those evil capitalists and racist entities that robbed his Marxist mother, father, and stepfather of the respect he thought they deserved. According to the writer Spengler in a riveting L.A. Times article, both his wife and mother “reveal his secret: he hates America.”
HE HATES AMERICA?
That’s crazy, you may say. But it does raise the question of how anyone could love this country and want what both Obama and Hillary – with few variations – have promised:
- A white-flag surrender in Iraq and de facto capitulation to the radical Islamists intent on destroying our way of life. Obama even told the AP that, “preventing genocide is not a sufficient reason to keep American troops in Iraq.”
- The nomination of federal, appellate, and Supreme Court judges who will legislate from the bench and are in line with his stated philosophy that the U.S. Constitution is a “living document” that must be interpreted in the context of the times.
- Weakening America’s military, including, among other things, making defense cuts during war time, cutting spending on national missile defense, refusing to weaponize space, slowing development of future combat systems, and seeking a "world without nuclear weapons.”
- Maintaining his 100-percent approval rating from NARAL by supporting abortion on demand with the same vigor he opposed notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions and the ban on partial birth abortions.
- Handing $845 billion of U.S. taxpayer money to other nations to realize his Global Poverty Act.
- Pushing for sky-high taxes.
- Adding nearly $900 billion to the budget of new, big-government programs over his first term in office.
- Supporting de facto amnesty for illegal aliens, as well as awarding them drivers’ licenses, welfare, Medicaid and participation in Social Security.
- Continued opposition to making English our national language.
- Across-the-board gun control.
- Spending billions on the colossal hoax known as man-made global warming.
Come to think of it, the political philosophies of both Obama and Hillary echo those of all lefties. But where were all these like-minded people when Obama was flailing last week, desperately trying to stanch his fast-ebbing support in Indiana and North Carolina?
In an ominous report, Daniel Henninger remarked: “At Barack Obama's darkest hour, not one prominent ally came forward to support him. Everyone abandoned Everyman.”
“No prominent black clergyman came forth…[but] Rev. Wright, now written off as a virtual nut case, got more support from black clergymen than did Obama.”
His famous endorsers vanished from the scene. Henninger lists them: Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Oprah, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Tom Daschle, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, Jay Rockefeller, John Lewis, Toni Morrison, Roger Wilkins, Eric Holder, Robert Reich, Ted Sorenson, Alice Walker, David Wilhelm, Cornel West, Clifford Alexander, Donald McHenry, Patricia Wald, Newton Minow/
No big-city mayors in Obama’s camp spoke out in his defense: Chicago's Richard Daley, Cleveland's Frank Reynolds, Atlanta's Shirley Franklin, Washington's Adrian Fenty, Newark's Cory Booker, Baltimore's Sheila Dixon.
“Any major op-ed page would have stopped the presses to print a statement of support from Ted Kennedy or such for the senator,” Henninger says. “None appeared.”
Henninger explains that, “Everyone has become used to watching celebrity stars and athletes take it in the neck on their own. Even someone running for the nation's presidency looks like just another personal crack-up.”
But To The Point’s Dr. Jack Wheeler explains it better. “If you could bring the playwrights of Ancient Greece – Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes – from 5th century Athens to watch the Democrat primary race of today, they would recognize it instantly. It is a perfect Greek tragedy...nothing could be more blindingly obvious…any possible hope of Obama being elected president of the United States has been obliterated by his madman pastor.”
I still think that Obama will win the nomination. And I still hope America is smart enough not to elect him. This ambitious young man needs a few more years to plumb and purge his rage-infested psyche, get rid of the people-baggage who continue to sabotage him, read up on American history, and move to the middle.
Sorry, America is not done yet. The Amero will not see the light of day. I do not believe even with an American and Canadian alliance that these countries can absorb the wretched Mexican economy.
I mentioned earlier a plan to make Baghdad a thriving metropolis. This metropolis includes a skate park scheduled to open in July of 2008 and a Disney type park. Folks, hold on to those Dinars. The revaluation, reversion, or free floating of the currency may not happen tomorrow or even next week. I believe the Iraqi Security Forces with American help will gain control of the country. Iraq cannot be built into a nation state by force. The Hydro Carbon Law is set to be discussed this week. Another piece of the puzzle complete if parliment passes the four pieces of legislation making up the HCL.
We are in the right investment at the right time. In the past I've read that every dollar invested in Iraq could yeild a return of $10.00. If this is true. Those invested in the Dinar stand to potentially make a lot of money. To those doubters get in now waiting until later could cost you. If you can increase your position it may be a wise decision to so.
The new law aims to protect investors
BAGHDAD - Hussein Star
The head of the Securities Abdulrazzaq Al-Saadi need to investor protection and the application of the principle of transparency in the work of the Commission, the market and companies working with it.
He said in an interview with "morning" during the conference convened by the Commission and attended by representatives of companies operating in the area of capital and a number of experts and concerned with this area to discuss the new law
Said: "The draft law was in conformity with the principles set by the World Organization of financial markets, law and went to identify bodies and the regulatory and administrative organization of the body and determine the mechanisms of financial, investment and operating companies working in the area of money in Iraq. The draft aimed at investor protection and market for securities Iraq of any possible hazards or crises .. The draft called on to disclose important principle of transparency via the reports issued by the body, the market and companies working with it.
He stressed We aim to form a body away from politics. He added that the draft allows freedom of action trophy in the market for companies operating in it.
He added that the adoption of its budget on central funding for public benefit, and called the draft law to that conflict resolution is in accordance with Iraqi law and corporate law .. Etc. from other law firms.
The president set the goal of the law that calls for action to encourage capital according to fair competition.
In conclusion, he said that this law will serve to support the company shares and holds data subscription and contributes to the legislation and subsequent market players to Iraq for securities through action to deal with cases of fraud, exploitation and contributes to reducing financial risks in Iraq.
Then reopen for the present and participating in the conference, Mohamed Chandler "financial expert" The draft is still vague in terms of identifying a cadre of law and ignoring the role of banks and the Central Bank in the body and senior management on the grounds that the cash based on the central bank and banks operating it, so Must be taken into consideration, said that version is still a language is incomplete and needed to define the terms of the law.
He stressed that reports annual profit realistic we have to take Bnzeralaattabar for the issuance of an annual report clearly defined and noted that their current draft calls for protecting older investors, not younger ones or even the participation of the citizen, yes, that the law allows for some companies operating in Iraq market for securities not disclosed in Some cases, this is contrary to the transparency advocated by the law, but Chandler praised the law by identifying a period of the account by providing companies operating 120 days instead of 150 days as in the old law.
With Mr. Osama Mohammed Ali "financial expert" There are some concepts used is not clear word rackets, it means people work in securities on his own, but for that particular paragraph in the third page of the law did not specify the middleman working or not.
He called for clarification of what is replaced with the term subscription offer, and added that he did not have to add a major in law and clarify the role of the potential participation in economic decision-Iraqi industry, raised the important point about the establishment of joint stock companies especially after the draft defined that the proportion of shareholders not less than 20 % But this point is not clear but not pursued by the founding shareholders and the greed that they now control the company's capital is 100%.
He called for the identification of a specific percentage does not exceed 40% and the rest invites the public to subscribe and to achieve this will protect the small investor.
Professor Ghazi we "journalist and financial expert" opinion that the use of the term "best efforts" in the second page of the draft law is not possible because the word amazement legal terminology in Iraq.
He called for the use of the word mediator allowance trading rackets and stressed that he could not use the term "legal personality" which has no place in Iraqi legislation.
Dr. Magid Image "Expert Aksadi" said the draft needed to be reconsidered in terms of language and questioned the vagueness of the definition of financial paper in Article 4, paragraph c that there are bonds issued by the Iraqi government or on behalf of, and this makes us before the problematic relationship of the Centre Region.
He praised Dr. Magid law adopting the idea of hiring pension funds because of its role in investment and active and fruitful experiments there could be cited as happened in Jordan.
Magid called for reconsidering the law firms in the light of the Iraqi draft law the General Authority for Securities Commission of the need for broader powers under that law not to mention the importance of the Iraqi capital markets.
Asked Professor Nadim Al-Salihi, when reading the draft did not know that the planned legislation and market a new law has market or association or body urged the company to be open to the public from small investors in order to entrench the concept of real savings and pointed out that there are many funds now we treasure without the benefit of remembrance and noted In the case of recruitment of these funds will come within the GNP of Iraq, said Professor Nadim played funds retirees and pointed to the experience of Britain not to give cash payments to families of martyrs, but they founded the company and shares in the company of those who had achieved profits of the task and had projects in Iraq such as the helm of Kut and building Mill house in Camp Sara.
He called for reconsidering the subscription banks, especially a farewell at the Central Bank of Iraq, and stressed that it is essential that there would be easy to dispose of the property rackets .. He called for the development of the market for securities Iraq .. He praised Iraq that race in the stock market and laws, pointing to the Stock Exchange year 1936 "Grain Exchange" Please Hashem representative of the Central Bank of Iraq said we call for commitment to company law is the law and a good catalyst for action in Iraq. http://www.alsabaah.com/paper.php?so...page&sid=61418
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So I am labelled the pessimist here, oh well, I guess that the color of my clothes that I am wearing nowadays. I am not a downer on Iraq, with no means, but the overnight suspension to look for the daily exchange rate, that is made early morning our time, is gone.
Iraq will do good no doubt, the ingredience I am objecting to, and that is so energy sucking in this affair, is the issue of time.
Cornisboy,
I agree with RobN on the Amero issue, if it is instated, a common currency for Mexico, the US, and Canada, then Canada and the US will in fact buy Mexicos rehabilitation.
Any pull up for Mexico, will be a pull down for the US and Canada.
No can do, but if we get a "global president" that thinks along these lines that the priorities are not what is good for the US, but what is good for corrupt banana republics, and by that in his naivity thinks he is helping the US (or Canada), we might very well get a push for the idea.
If THAT happens, THEN it is time to be loud against it.
This idea didn't come from economists, for them it is a dead issue from the beginning. I am pretty sure if some detective work would be put into it, to trace where the Amero idea comes from, I would not be surprised a bit if they find that it originated in George Soros, camp.
A Simple Guide to Creating MoneyBy Mike Norman June 22, 2006
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I often hear people say that the Fed, or the government, or just the ever-present "they," are "printing too much money." This conjures up an image of rows and rows of printing and stamping presses running wild in the basement of the U.S. Treasury, spewing out endless stacks of worthless paper notes and coins with a metal value less than their face value. Well, this may come as a shock, but that image is wrong.Reality check
True, the Government does create hard currency. However, the money that is printed and minted represents just a tiny -- but important -- fraction of what we call money in our economy. Along with bank reserves, paper notes and coins compose what's known as the monetary base.
But the vast majority of what we call money is "credit money," and it's created in the banking system. It comprises checking or demand deposits, loans, and other forms of credit. Each time a bank makes a loan or extends credit, a deposit is created in the borrower's account, adding to the money supply. Through the miracle of "fractional reserve banking," this can add up very quickly, because the Fed requires banks to hold only 10 percent of their deposits as reserves. For every one dollar that a bank takes in as a deposit or creates by crediting someone's account, it can lend out ten more.
Not even the amount of reserves on hand can hold back a bank's ability to lend; after all, reserves can always be borrowed. There's an actively traded inter-bank market for reserves, with an interest rate matching the Fed funds rate (which I'll get to in a minute). The only limit on the amount of loans or new deposits that a bank can create is its capital, which equals its assets minus its liabilities. (The capital adequacy rule requires that the ratio of a bank's capital to its risk-weighted assets be at least 8%.)
Banks, therefore, have the ability to create huge amounts of money in our economy virtually out of thin air -- and they do. Most of what we call "money" comes from the banking system. Total bank credit in the U.S. is around $8 trillion, while the monetary base -- all those notes, coins, and reserves -- is $837 billion. In accordance with that 10-to-1 reserve ratio, bank credit is 10 times greater than the amount of money the Government prints, mints, or credits.
The Fed
No discussion of money would be complete without looking at the Fed's vital role. By buying and selling Treasury securities for its own account, it controls the level of reserves in the banking system -- and the cost of those reserves.
For example, when the Fed buys Treasury securities, it creates a deposit at the Federal Reserve Bank for the seller's own commercial bank. This tends to add to the overall level of reserves pushing down the cost of those reserves -- also known as the overnight lending rate or the Fed funds rate. When the Fed wants to raise the overnight lending rate, it sells Treasury securities from its own portfolio (usually to big banks and primary dealers). This debits the buyer's account, reducing reserves and leading to a higher Fed funds rate.
The banking system always needs an adequate level of reserves; otherwise, a payments crisis could develop. Depositors might want to withdraw funds, and if the bank does not have enough cash on hand, it could suffer a "run" on the bank. This has happened many times in U.S. history, most notably in 1933. To avoid this possibility, the Fed always acts to maintain the integrity of the banking system.
However, the Fed also wants to avoid injecting too much money; that could cause the economy to overheat, prompting inflation. Rather than trying to guess the proper level of reserves in an ever-fluctuating economy, the Fed only seeks to control the cost of those reserves via the Fed funds rate. By gently adding and subtracting just the right amounts of reserves, the Fed can maintain its target interest rate.
The deflation danger
As I mentioned earlier, the amount of money created in the economy is not determined by the Fed, but by the demand for cash and credit from businesses and the public. The Fed can certainly influence credit conditions, but it cannot force banks to lend, nor borrowers to borrow. If economic conditions provide for few business opportunities, the Fed can exert little influence over monetary growth.
Japan suffered just such a state toward the end of the 1990s, when the economy fell into a serious deflation. Because prices of goods, services, and assets were falling, there was little business opportunity, and therefore little demand for credit. Moreover, the Japanese banking system was getting crushed under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in bad loans. The Bank of Japan tried to combat this by pushing interest rates all the way to zero in an effort to stimulate lending, consumption, and money creation. It didn't work. In the end, only massive deficit spending by the Japanese government turned the economy around.
Here in the U.S., many people have been saying that the Fed has been "adding too much liquidity." But although real interest rates were pushed to negative levels from 2002 to 2004, monetary growth rates remain below their five-year average. In other words, despite the Fed's best efforts to print money, it couldn't.
So, next time you hear someone saying, "They're printing money like crazy," don't believe them. Better yet, ask them exactly who is doing the printing, how much is being printed, and how it's being done. Chances are, they'll have no clue. Then you can give them a lesson.
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Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 06 /05 /2008 Time 3:18:46
Baghdad, May 6, (VOI) - Demand for the dollar was slightly down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Tuesday, reaching $127.170 million compared to $133.510 million on Monday.
"The demand hit $6.885 million in cash and $120.285 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,201 Iraqi dinars per dollar, same as yesterday," according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
The 17 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell $1.200 million, which the bank bought at an exchange rate of 1,199 dinars per dollar.
In an exclusive statement to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the overall demand for the dollar is above average, following a sharp drop last week.
The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.
(www.aswataliraq.com)
Shell says in talks to export Iraqi gas via Turkey
Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in talks with Turkiye Petrolleri AO, Turkey's state oil company, to build a pipeline to export Iraqi natural gas via Turkey.
(www.noozz.com)
Baghdad, 06 May 2008 (Associated Press)
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Iraqi Shiite extremists are being trained by members of Hezbollah in camps near Tehran, a US military spokesman said yesterday.
Iraqis are receiving the training at camps operated by the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps that has been accused of training and funnelling weapons to Shiite extremists in Iraq.
The group is also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force, or IRGC-QF.
"We have multiple detainees who state Lebanese Hezbollah are providing training to Iraqis in Iranian IRGC-QF training camps near Tehran," Air Force Col. Donald Bacon, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said.
'Massacre of people'
Meanwhile, Iran dismissed any prospect of new talks with the United States on Iraq, accusing US-led forces of a "massacre" of the Iraqi people.
The two foes last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades, but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has failed to get off the ground.
"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hussaini told a news conference.
"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless."
US forces have been fighting daily battles with militiamen loyal to Moqtada Al Sadr in Baghdad.
(www.iraqupdates.com)
JERUSALEM, 06 May 2008 (Reuters)
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U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq would make it difficult to mount any attack on Iran, the Pentagon's top officer said in remarks broadcast on Monday, adding that he would prefer to avoid a new regional war.
"I actually am very hopeful that we don't get into a position where we have to get into a conflict," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Israel's Channel Ten television when asked if he might recommend that U.S. forces strike Iranian nuclear facilities preemptively.
"It would be a very significant challenge for the United States right now to get into a third conflict in that part of the world," Mullen added, referring to the Bush administration's long-running military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Washington is leading efforts to curb Iran's nuclear plans through U.N. Security Council sanctions, but has also hinted that war could be a last resort for denying Tehran -- which insists it seeks atomic energy only -- the means to make a bomb.
Jittery since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 2005 call for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map," Israeli officials have been lobbying for a tougher global stand against their arch-foe.
"I certainly share the concern about Iran and about the leadership, and I think it is very important that we increase as much as possible the financial pressure, the diplomatic pressure, the political pressure, and at the same time keep all the military options on the table," Mullen said.
Believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. Israeli war planes also destroyed a site in Syria last September which U.S. officials said was that of a secret nuclear program, though Damascus denied having any such facility.
"Certainly the situation with Syria is a troubling one and the development of this nuclear reactor was a troubling one indeed, and it is also indicative of what can be done out of the sight of people," Mullen said.
"You just can't be sure whether someone isn't developing one somewhere else."
Speculation that Israel could attack Iranian nuclear sites alone has been offset by assessments that its armed forces are too limited for the task. Iran is widely expected to retaliate for any such strike by targeting Israel and U.S. assets in the Gulf.
(www.iraqupdates.com)
Roger - I don't see you as pessimistic, just going by the current news, which is as slow as a camel in plodding through the hot Arabian desert. That can change in the blink of an eye. The RV of the Dinar is based on a decision which has to be made and a "bullet' which has to be bitten upon - in other words, the recognition that monetizing their asset (oil) is in the best interest of the country and its people. I tend to think that Rob N is right that they will have to do so because it is truly the wisest choice for them to make for their own good, and to address inflation. That makes a sudden shift in the Dinar's value a probable near-term reality, in spite of how far-fetched it may seem to those who look at things as they are now and see only that continuing as a steady growth potential in the vacinity of years. Of course, the proof is in the pudding, and we haven't seen the sudden shift in its value into anything near normal or true value for the Dinar, even with the talk about wishing the Dinar to be like the past rate of the Dinar OR the monetization of their currency. But that doesn't mean we will not see a sudden shift in value, particularly once the HCL gets into place to protect investors. With assurances to those investing in Iraq that they won't get bilked for doing so, the investment climate changes, and the inflation scenerio Rob N brought out begins to appear. I am very sure the Iraqis and money people have looked at all their options, and I remain hopeful that they will choose to RV to offset the inflation and make their currency worth more so their country can move forward and prosper. There are rumors of RV currently out there which are plausible and they keep a smile on my face. :)
As for the Amero - I think the US could absorb Canada into its orbit without any harm to its economy. Indeed, it may just make for a much easier way to defend that long border between the two (the longest undefended border in the world) and make for ease of monitoring not only for commerce, but also concerning the terrorist problem both nations face. But I do not see that the Mexico addition is likely to be anything very positive for the US. I, too, see Mexico dragging the US down. If the Canadians would agree to a union which allows the US and Canadians to better integrate for the benefit of them both.. WITHOUT any harm to the US Constitution or any of its founding values or documents, it would secure for the Canadians a continued good relationship with their largest trading partner, and give the US security on every border which touches ocean for North America. I see no problems there, only win-win benefits.
Borders, ports and movement of cargo/goods/people across those boundaries must be secured for the US to be properly protected during the GWOT. That benefit is not as apparent with a Mexico merger and I do not see the Canadians pouring over the border and living on US taxpayer expense as is the case with Mexico. The illegal immigration and demographic political/economic changes are not with Canada, but with Mexico. I see no reason for including Mexico in any merger from the point of view of US security. The southern border needs to be enforced, and if they took ALL the border problems away from the northern border with Canada and put the efforts being used there to work on the southern border with Mexico, it could help tremendously. I see Canada and the US managing a currency together for the benefit of them both.. but why on earth include Mexico if it is only going to pull the US down in a spiral of economic and political disaster? Unless the target is to destroy the US economy and its current values as upheld by those who currently have the vote? By making the Mexicans all into voters in the US, it would enrich the left very strongly with their agenda to tax and spend. It would change the political climate radically, disenfrancising the current political power holders and giving power to another block with different values than are currently held. This is not the case with Canada, even if the US ended up morphing into being one country with them. Canadians won't come and take US jobs, nor live on US taxpayer expense. The ONLY reason I can see for allowing Mexican illegals into the US (or merging with the US) in large numbers is to GIVE to them lots of US taxpayer money in exchange for their votes. There are other ways to secure that US border with Mexico that MOST Americans would prefer rather than giving away the country to third world Latin America/Mexico.
From my own viewpoint.. I believe that the Canadian/US merger will have to happen to secure North America's borders from future peril. I also believe that it is God's will and cannot be stopped.. FOR AMERICA'S GOOD. But the southern merger with Mexico I have not seen to be a wise way to go.. and I have no discernment in the question as to whether it is God's will or not. It is a humbling thing that God is not "on tap" in that way. I know it is His will for the US and Canada to merge for their mutual protection.. but the Mexico merger is fraught with difficulties and insurmountable obstacles which could bring harm to the US.. and so I do not see it as wise or desirable. It appears to me that the two proposals have been paired together to try and force the good and bad into one.. much like many bills in Congress have things attached to them which ruin the deals. I think if the US were to consider the US/Canada merger for the benefit of both (without any immigration influx of unskilled personnel or people suddenly living on the US taxpayer dole), it would fly even among Americans considering it for the mutual protection of both. But Mexico?? I am very skeptical it has the plan or blessing of God upon it for any good. These proposals need to be unhitched from one another, and each considered on their own merit. Once the GWOT has another seminal event happen like 911 (which I believe is only a matter of time), the merger logic for the mutual benefit and protection of the US and Canada will appear forcefully. At that time, the two must be unhitched from each other, so that it isn't ruining the US economy and political dynamics with the unsound judgement of uniting Mexico to the inevitable merger of US/Canada. At a time when the US is again feeling vulnerable (after another 911 attack), there will need to be caution so we don't go too far and give away the farm to a third world country while securing our own existence and prosperity.
Thinking toward the endgame of what happens to the US in the aftermath of another attack scenerio unfolding, what possible interpretation could be put upon the words "widespread health disaster" in your mind.. besides the flu, I mean? In the following article, note the reference to those who are badly "burned" (large numbers.. from what?) and have "critical" and "severe trauma" injuries in the recommendations.. what kind of "WIDESPREAD" and "mass casualty critical care event" would take into account burns, critical injuries and severe trauma vitims, then categorize them by age and survivability? Isn't it interesting that this could apply.. not just to the Flu.. but to any "widespread mass casualty critical care event".. including terrorism on US soil? Prudent to prepare for such an event because, "members believe it's just a matter of time before such a health care disaster hits"? Maybe they don't see it as useful in case of terrorism.. but it will be even if they haven't that intent:
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Government Report Answers Who Lives, Who Dies in Flu Pandemic
Monday, May 05, 2008
Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won't get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.
Who will die? The very old, seriously hurt, severely burned and those with severe dementia, according to an influential group of physicians.
The group has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn't be treated.
The proposed guidelines are designed to be a blueprint for hospitals "so that everybody will be thinking in the same way" when pandemic flu or another widespread health care disaster hits, said Dr. Asha Devereaux. She is a critical care specialist in San Diego and lead writer of the task force report.
The idea is to try to make sure that scarce resources — including ventilators, medicine and doctors and nurses — are used in a uniform, objective way, task force members said.
Their recommendations appear in a report appearing Monday in the May edition of Chest, the medical journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.
"If a mass casualty critical care event were to occur tomorrow, many people with clinical conditions that are survivable under usual health care system conditions may have to forgo life-sustaining interventions owing to deficiencies in supply or staffing," the report states.
To prepare, hospitals should designate a triage team with the Godlike task of deciding who will and who won't get lifesaving care, the task force wrote. Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:
— People older than 85.
— Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.
— Severely burned patients older than 60.
— Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.
— Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.
James Bentley, a senior vice president at American Hospital Association, said the report will give guidance to hospitals in shaping their own preparedness plans even if they don't follow all the suggestions.
He said the proposals resemble a battlefield approach in which limited health care resources are reserved for those most likely to survive.
While the notion of rationing health care is unpleasant, the report could help the public understand that it will be necessary, Bentley said.
Devereaux said compiling the list "was emotionally difficult for everyone."
That's partly because members believe it's just a matter of time before such a health care disaster hits, she said.
"You never know," Devereaux said. "SARS took a lot of folks by surprise. We didn't even know it existed."
As Obama's supporters in the media try to downplay the Wright controversy, the statistics they are ignoring play into the election:
==
Will Media Ignore Bad Wright News in the Exit Polls?
By Tim Graham
May 7, 2008
At this point before the Wednesday morning shows, Matt Drudge is highlighting an MSNBC clip where Tim Russert says we know the nominee will be Obama, and Hillary will be the last to realize it. But will the networks' post-election coverage identify the sour notes for Obama in the exit polls? AP reporter Alan Fram found the Jeremiah Wright connection continues to hurt Obama with white voters (and this is Democratic primary voters)
QUOTE:
Obama, the Illinois senator battling to become the first black president, again failed to gain ground with a crucial voting bloc that has consistently eluded him — working-class whites. But he was piecing together a coalition that besides blacks included the young, first-time primary voters, the very liberal and college graduates, plus sizable minorities of whites....
Wright was a looming factor in the voting, with nearly half in each state saying he was important in choosing a candidate. Of that group, seven in 10 in Indiana and six in 10 in North Carolina backed Clinton.
Those saying Wright did not influence them heavily favored Obama. In North Carolina, Obama got more votes from people saying they discounted the Wright episode than Clinton got from those affected by it, while in Indiana the two groups were about equal in size.
Among whites, eight in 10 in both states who said Wright affected their choice went with Clinton. That was well above the six in 10 whites overall who supported her.
In both states, two-thirds of Clinton's white voters said Wright was important. That compared to eight in 10 white Obama supporters who said Wright was not a factor.
In the latest evidence of bitter feelings between the two camps, just under half of each candidate's supporters in both states said they would support the other against McCain in November.
Fram watered down the most controversial Wright remarks, that the government "may have" invented AIDS, and it "invited" 9/11.
QUOTE:
Wright has said the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect blacks and that the U.S. invited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Obama denounced the remarks last week.
— Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
Comments:
Will they ignore it? by motherbelt
Will they ignore it?
I don't think so. But they will spin it that about half who said it factored into their voting had a favorable view of the way he handled it.
And as usual, come November, the Democrats will revert to the pack and punch the "D" circle.
Why is the white vote so important.. the one Obama lost big time as a result of the Wright affair according to these polling statistics?
As I stated before here: http://truckandbarter.com/mt/archives/2008/03/dinar_discussio.html#134034
Those in the know say the white vote is the swing vote as to who gets into the Whitehouse. (That is why the MSM spends so much time telling whites to "not be racist" and vote for Obama - in spite of any disqualifications or legitimate questioning of his character/discernment/alliances/allegiances as a person and potential leader of the most powerful nation on earth.)
QUOTE:
Voters known as Reagan Democrats (are the) swing voters who have been courted by both parties ever since they tipped the balance for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.
"The Obama campaign has not been very successful in connecting with middle-aged, older, white working-class voters," said Geoffrey Garin, a Democratic pollster who has done work for the AFL-CIO and is not affiliated with any candidate. "It is very important for them to understand why that is so because those are the kinds of voters who have been swing voters in the last two general elections."
Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign, said, "Reagan Democrats support low taxes and less regulation, which Sen. McCain's record has consistently supported."
===end quote==
The point is.. Obama has lost the swing vote and the MSM may be using smoke and mirrors to cover it up, but in a matchup with McCain, over HALF the Democrats are now saying they will support McCain over their rival candidate. Quote, "In the latest evidence of bitter feelings between the two camps, just under half of each candidate's supporters in both states said they would support the other against McCain in November."
That means OVER HALF of these Democrat swing voters WILL support McCain in November (and rising). If these people are as good as their word, you can see clearly that McCain will win the Whitehouse in spite of all the bellyaching and smoke and mirrors of the MSM press trying to recover from and downplay the Wright controversy and how it has influenced how people view Obama. Note that the "win" for Obama was because he held onto 90% of the black vote, and they are not the swing voters concerning the Whitehouse:
CBS News: Hillary Wins Indiana, Obama NC
At least according to CBS News:
Clinton Wins Indiana, Obama Takes N.C.
EVANSVILLE, Ind., May 6, 2008
Clinton pulled off an Indiana win in what was a virtual must-win Midwestern state.
Obama’s win mirrored earlier triumphs in Southern states with large black populations: Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina among them.
Late deciders backed Clinton in Indiana by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent for Obama. In North Carolina, Obama won late deciders by a much smaller margin of 49 percent to 48 percent.
==end quote==
Pretty much as expected.
Of course good to see that our first Post-Racial Candidate ® still has a lock on more than 90% of the black vote.
So the beast/beat goes on.
This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008.
"Fram watered down the most controversial Wright remarks, that the government "may have" invented AIDS, and it "invited" 9/11."
I think swing voters will remember that Wright said the US government made AIDS (not "may have") and that the United States of America deserved attack (not "invited"), and like those Democrats expressing their support of McCain in this poll, these swing voters will support McCain over someone tainted with close anti-American friends - in spite of whatever distortions the media tries to throw at the McCain campaign. There just isn't much the Obama fawning MSM crowd can do to offset Obama being linked in character to those he chose to be closest to (including his being inspired by Wright's sermon to write his book which was named after a part of a Wright sermon) - he is linked to them in the mind of the swing voters - who are white voters and of whom the article said, "In both states, two-thirds of Clinton's white voters said Wright was important."I don't see that changing over time, in spite of the crooning, minimizing and seducing influences the press hopes to use to soften those views before election time.
As for strong elements which will figure into the vote for McCain, that article I previously posted said,
QUOTE:
McCain is seen as frank, a good leader, strong on defense and opposed to tax increases. McCain's appeal is based on his status as a war hero and his reputation as a political moderate.
The winning hand will yet be played. But if you look closely now, you can see how it will turn out. And from our investment's point of view (as well as our care and concern for the Iraqi people) IRAQ WINS with no hasty pullout happening and their not being left in the lurch.. because circumstances were so moved to bring about that effect. It almost looks like Divine Intervention because God cares about not only the US but about the Iraqi people and the future of their nation, doesn't it?
Iraq orders 30 Boeing 737-800 planes
Baghdad: Tue, 6 May 2008
Iraq has ordered 30 Boeing 737-800 commercial airplanes, the first step in re-establishing the country’s scheduled commercial aviation operations.
Iraq has also contracted options for 10 additional 737s, an announcement by Boeing and the Government of Iraq said.
Valued at $2.2 billion at current list prices, the order was previously accounted for on Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries Web site attributed to an unidentified customer, the announcement said.
In addition, Iraq and Boeing are finalising an agreement for 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which will allow an Iraqi national airline to provide longer-range commercial service. The 787s will be added to Boeing’s order book when the contract is completed.
“Today is truly a milestone event for Boeing and for Iraq,” Carson said. “The operational characteristics of the Boeing Next-Generation 737 and 787 Dreamliner are unbeatable and, as we work together in support of Iraq’s plan to build a national carrier, we envision the day when a modern and efficient fleet of airplanes will directly support Iraq’s economic development and growth.”
Canada renews support for Iraq in trade and economy
BAGHDAD / long
Canada renewed its ambassador in Iraq to support her country's keenness and durable to meet the needs of the Iraqi people and stressed Margaret Hiossir during her meeting with Trade Minister Abdul Hassan Sudanese farmer on her desire to increase bilateral cooperation and sign agreements aimed at activating the joint relations and agree on common points serve the two friendly nations as a common vision allowing benefit from the experience Held by the Canadian side in the fields of economy and trade.
For his part, the Sudanese During the meeting the importance of the role played by Canada in assisting Iraq in addition to the large role in providing some basic material in the ration card through contracts entered into by the ministry with Canadian companies to provide material wheat characterized by good quality.
He added that there is a common vision between the two countries to develop economic and trade relations in addition to the possibility of benefiting from the Canadian experience in the field of exchanging information and developing the agricultural sector and rehabilitate Iraqi capabilities through the development and increase their expertise.
Report: Al-Qaida in Iraq leader identified with photograph
Wed May 7, 2008/ AP
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Arabiya television reports it has identified the leader of "al-Qaida in Iraq" and the network broadcast his photograph.
The Dubai-based network, citing an Iraqi police official, said the real name of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who allegedly heads the Islamic State of Iraq, is Hamid Dawoud al-Zawi.
Originally from Haditha, al-Baghdadi served in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein, then joined al-Qaida in 2003, the police official told Al-Arabiya.
Iraq Sunnis urge Arabs to act against Iranian occupation
Wed May 7, 2008
CAIRO (AFP) - An Iraqi Sunni delegation on a visit to Cairo on Wednesday urged Arab countries to act against the Iranian occupation of Iraq.
"We would like a common Arab position to save Iraq and its people ...(in the face of) the Iranian occupation," Sheikh Majid Abdel Razzak al-Ali Suleiman said after a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
"Such an Arab position, led by Egypt, is necessary to weaken Iran's role in Iraq, because if Tehran occupies this country, it will occupy other Arab countries too," said the head of the Dulaim tribe, which is concentrated mainly in Anbar province, west of Baghdad.
The delegation also called on Arab countries to re-open their missions in Baghdad "so that the territory is not left to Iran."
Suleiman said that all Iraqis, whether from north or south, "are ready to guarantee Arab diplomats' security."
For his part, Abul Gheit said his country was seriously considering sending a security mission to Iraq in order to assess conditions for re-opening an embassy in Iraq, according to his spokesman Hossam Zaki.
Iraq ready to pay back some of the money the U.S. has invested
(RTTNews) - Boosted by record oil production and control over its own finances, Iraq has hinted on Wednesday that it is ready to return the United States at least some of the billions of dollars spent for reconstructing the country.
Addressing a press conference with Paul Brinkley, the U.S. undersecretary of Defense for Business Transformation in Iraq, Iraqi Industry minister Fawzi Hariri spoke hopefully of more than doubling the country’s oil production within two to three years with the technical support from the U.S.http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080507\ACQRTT200805071407RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0816.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.nasd
Asked what he thought of the Democratic proposal for a ban on providing U.S. aid to rebuild towns or equip security forces unless Iraq matches every dollar spent by the United States, Hariri noted that Iraq has only been able to control its own finances since 2006 and said, "the government of Iraq is doing its best to support industry and housing reconstruction."
Banking on estimated oil revenue of $70 billion this year because of record-high fuel prices, Hariri sounded optimistic in "paying the money back." However, on spending on the security front, he said it is "completely a U.S. decision."
Iraq, which currently produces 2 million to 2.4 million barrels of oil a day, aims to increase the output to 3 million barrels by the end of 2008, Hariri said. Depending on the extent of foreign technology it receives, Iraq can reach an output capacity of 5 million barrels in another two to three years, according to the industry minister.
Samaha met Mr. Amar al-Hakim Tuesday 6/5/2008 Dr. Sinan Alshabibi Iraqi Central Bank Governor
Mr. Amar al-Hakim receives Iraqi Central Bank Governor
07/05/2008م - 9:54 ص | مرات القراءة: 22 07/05/2008 m - 9:54 AM | times reading: 22
ام الثلاثاء 6/5/2008 ي Samaha met Mr. Amar al-Hakim Tuesday 6/5/2008 Dr. Sinan Alshabibi Iraqi Central Bank Governor
.
القدولية . At the meeting studied the financial and banking conditions in the country and vast prospects for their development, thus contributing to the welfare and recovery of the purchasing power of people and supports Iraq's international standing.
للاد . As in the meeting to exchange views and to stress the importance of absorption capacity and the development of youth because of the positive impact on the banking and economic situation in the country.
ن . For his part, the discourse on the need to make efforts to upgrade our financial and banking service for the national interest and improve the pension conditions for citizens. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=ar%7Cen&u=http://alforattv.net/index.php%3Fshow%3Dnews%26action%3Darticle%26id%3D22123
NC-IN Primary Data the Media Won't Emphasize
By Tom Blumer
May 7, 2008
There can be little doubt now that Old Media is applying full-court pressure to anoint Barack Obama with the Democratic nomination, and on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race.
The New York Times's stories for tomorrow's print edition ("Support for Clinton Wanes as Obama Sees Finish Line" and "Pundits Declare the Race Over") clearly point in those directions. The first describes North Carolina as "a decisive loss" for Mrs. Clinton. The second shows how determined the Times appears to be to come up with evidence that Obama has the nomination in the bag, as it actually notes the despised Matt Drudge's headline link earier today to Tim Russert's "The Nominee" video.
Wait a minute.
Jim Geraghty at National Review online appears to be about the only person to have caught the obvious: Barack Obama's overwhelming support from African-Americans means that he performed miserably with the rest of the voters.
(Sources: ABC for vote totals (as of post time); Geraghty below for Obama's percentages of the African-American vote; the 40% and 16.8% estimates for NC's and IN's African-American percentage of total are consistent proportionally with the turnout in South Carolina.)
I contend that if this were almost any other candidate, the press would be asking him how he can possibly win the general election if he could get only 35% of the non-African-American vote in North Carolina, and just 41% of it in the state just east of his home state of Illinois.
But this isn't any other candidate, Geraghty notes, as he also goes to the selective questioning of the motivations of certain voting blocs
QUOTE :
African-Americans are free to vote for whoever they like, obviously. But as the primary stretches on, and it becomes clear that overwhelming and monolithic support among African-Americans is putting Obama over the top, I wonder how other voter demographics will react.
Obama carried 91 percent of the African-American vote in North Carolina and 90 percent of the African-American vote in Indiana. No other demographic was anywhere near so lopsided in their support; the closest were non-college whites who split 71-26 for Hillary in North Carolina; 65-35 for Hillary in Indiana.
..... African-Americans are voting overwhelmingly for a candidate who shares their skin color, but it's being repeatedly suggested that white working-class voters are motivated by racism. Is this the "national conversation on race" that Obama had in mind in his Philly speech?
==
The other question the press isn't asking is how Obama went from sweeping virutally every demographic group except white females in January's South Carolina primary to losing just about every one except African-Americans less than four months later. The deterioration is striking, as is the press's failure to note it.
Adapted and updated from entries (here, here, and here) originally posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters.
BAGHDAD - Al Sabah
The Central Bank of Iraq adviser Dr Mazhar favour the continuation of monetary policy aimed at reducing the size of inflation in the national economy, leading to a stable environment for growth
The reduced benefit in a press statement from the influences that can be shown economic recession which is expected to occur in the U.S. economy in the coming term, as economic reports pointed to this. Within the dollar, which linked the economic impacts in the United States, but clarified that the relationship between the decline in the dollar and high oil prices will contribute to modify the impact on Iraqi economy. He expected the emergence of economic power in favour of the third world within the next 20 years, to establish a state of economic balance in addition to the two American and European, which will be the emergence of a special currency to Asian countries growing economically, or as it was dubbed the benefit of "World Chinese currency." Saleh added that Iraq And its trading partners are working http://www.alsabaah.com/paper.php?so...page&sid=61638
The 3rd U.S.-Arab Economic Forum will take place on May 7-9, 2008 in Washington, D.C. These three days of dialogue, will provide a powerful opportunity for leaders from the United States and the Arab world to reinforce existing partnerships and forge new alliances and collaborations between the two regions.
The Forum will unite over 1,000 participants from more than 35 countries including top Fortune 500 executives and over 150 global leaders, in the fields of government, business, technology, academics and policy.
The U.S.-Arab Economic Forum works to secure a future rich with economic growth, cultural discourse, and bold innovation, by engaging the public and private sectors in building knowledge-based societies. The strategic impact of the USAEF is significant. In the past the Forum has had considerable audiences across the U.S. and Arab world. Close to 50 million people accessed coverage of the Forum through extensive media coverage that included CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Al-Jazeera, BBC, LBC, and Al Arabiya. http://usaef.ameeac.org/
Click on SPEAKERS at the top to see the impressive guest list.
Barzani's Kurdistan province confirms that all Iraqis and is open for investments
. President of Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani in the resort of Salahuddin town of Arbil yesterday, Wednesday, with a large delegation of businessmen, traders and Iraqis living abroad and who are currently on a visit to the territory of ways to invest their money in the Kurdistan region.
. He stressed that during the meeting, Barzani's Kurdistan province for all Iraqis and Iraq is open to investments and there is no difference between Basra and Arbil or Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk Baghdad Awalanbar and they are all Iraqi cities.
. And Businessmen Association Chairman reviewed the work of Iraqis Thamer exclusive Shaykhli obstacles facing investors Iraqis living abroad contending step territorial Government invitation traders and Iraqi businessmen to invest capital in the Kurdistan region that they are in advancing investment forward.
ا . , Praising the role of the prime minister in the government of the Territory Mosques Barzani of the facilities provided by the merchants of Iraqis also reviewed the President of the Assembly of Iraqi businessmen and a number of traders and their views and issues and problems and offered to Barzani, a number of proposals and observations in this regard with a view to finding solutions to them http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=ar%7Cen&u=http://www.radiodijla.com/cgi-bin/news/item.pl%3Fid%3D1210236008%26d%3D20080508%26w%3D4%26h%3D12%26m%3D40
Banks eligibility demanding release of the Central Bank the value of bank credits
بم 2003 . Banks appealed to the civil Iraqi government the Iraqi Central Bank by opening the value of their financial allocations and not identified as a certain amount of world countries in order to allow them to move according to market economics and modern to serve the economic transformation plans adopted by the government since 2003.
ة. They asked the Central Bank of Iraq not to determine the ceiling material to their financial allocations, since it represents a hindrance to the expansion of infrastructure bank has successively and thus freezing business dealings, whether external Awaldakhalih.
وال. In this context, the Commissioner said Deputy Director of the Bank Alorca of investment and finance, Mohamed Hassan Said in an interview with "Sabah" that the banks need the support of civil government representative of the Iraqi Central Bank through the opening credits without adherence to a certain ceiling and submitted it to revitalize the national economy, taking into consideration The efficiency of the bank and the package of services provided by the bank and the development processes of restructuring as well as lifting his head like those achieved by the bank to introduce Sovietizing the banking dealings to facilitate services to customers for the first time in Iraq as well as put up a new interest rate on deposits of three types and amount to 12 percent for three months And 13 percent for six months and 14 percent for one year.
. He added that the bank grants in the same context, the smart card serve its customers and ATM and the issuance of guarantees and opening credits low through the Internet service bank "e-bank" and using a password containing the account number and name.
The “protect the population” benefits of the surge tactics continue to be felt by ordinary Iraqis:
Baghdad - There is big excitement on al-Marifah Street. City workers are installing a new transformer to bring power to a part of the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Saidiyah that hasn’t been on the city’s electrical grid for more than a year. “A year ago, dead bodies lay on this street for days; no one dared to pick them up. But now we are getting lights and shops have opened back up,” says Mahdi Jabbar Falah, a 40-year resident who has just moved himself and his family of nine back to their house.
….
“Last year, this was a ghost town,” he says, “but now I feel we are alive again.”
…
“You can’t say there’s perfect safety here now, but it’s much better than before when you didn’t dare go out on the street,” says Ali Latif, a young Shiite who returned to Saidiyah in January after leaving for six months. “There are still terrorists here, but now they stay more hidden,”
…
Back on al-Marifah Street, grocery merchant Ibrahim says the people – and the Iraqi Army – are not ready for the Americans to go. “The Americans are testing the Iraqi troops, and our sense of security is still very new so the people would be very nervous if the Americans left,” he says. “No, their presence is still 100 percent necessary.”
I hope Obama is listening. It would be a tragic irony if he was the second Hussein to ruin Iraq.
Former Gitmo prisoner carried out Iraq attack
By Ben Fox - The Associated Press
May 8, 2008
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Kuwaiti freed from Guantanamo Bay carried out a suicide car bombing recently in Iraq, the U.S. military said Wednesday, confirming what is believed to be the first such attack by a former detainee at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba.
Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi took part in one of three suicide bomb attacks last month that targeted Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul, said Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a military spokesman in Baghdad. At least seven people were killed in the attacks.
Al-Ajmi’s American lawyer said incarceration at Guantanamo may have turned the Kuwaiti into a terrorist. But the U.S. military says he was already an enemy combatant when he was brought to Guantanamo in 2002 after being captured in Afghanistan.
Up to 36 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed hostilities against the U.S., including some who have been taken back into custody or killed, the Pentagon says. Al-Ajmi is apparently the first to have become a suicide bomber, said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.
“There is an implied future risk to U.S. and allied interests with every detainee who is released or transferred from Guantanamo,” Gordon told The Associated Press.
Military documents show al-Ajmi, 29, had a history of discipline problems at Guantanamo Bay. Despite his problems at Guantanamo, in 2005 al-Ajmi was transferred to Kuwait, which was supposed to ensure he would no longer pose a threat.
But in May 2006, a Kuwaiti court acquitted him of being a member of al-Qaida and raising money for the terror organization. The court also acquitted four other former Guantanamo prisoners.
Dubai-based al-Arabiya television last week reported al-Ajmi had carried out a suicide attack, but the U.S. military could not confirm it until Wednesday. Rye said authorities determined he entered Iraq through Syria and that al-Ajmi’s family confirmed his death.
The three suicide car bombings last month killed at least seven people and wounded 28, Mosul officials said. It was not yet known which one al-Ajmi allegedly carried out.
Dramatic increase in the demand for the dollar
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 08 /05 /2008
Baghdad, May 8, (VOI) - Demand for the dollar was dramatically up in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, reaching $164.635 million compared to $54.635 million on Wednesday.
In an exclusive statement to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that cash demands rose as expected on Thursday, on which traders pay their bills. However, the drop in the exchange rate was a surprise that urged traders to increase their foreign remittances, driving up the overall demand for the dollar to three times that of yesterday.
The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.
ISX closes with 500,000-share contract
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 08 /05 /2008
Baghdad, May 8, (VOI) - The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) closed its session on Thursday with a 500,000-share contract at a value of 1,050 Iraqi dinars (1 U.S. dollar = 1,222 Iraqi dinars) per share.
The stock market opened its session this morning with two 2-million-share contracts. The first contract was concluded by an Iraqi company, which bought 1.3 million shares from an oil products transport company at a value of 1,500 Iraqi dinars per share; while the second was concluded by a foreign company, which bought 565,160 shares from the real estate al-Mamoura company at a value of 1,750 Iraqi dinars per share.
The Iraqi Stock Exchange holds three sessions a week: Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Technicians are working on a power station of Dana Gas Company in Kurdistan Region. PRESS PHOTO
The Globe- Erbil
37.7% of Kurdistan budget allocated for investment.
KRG Minister of Planning, Othman Shwani, says the KRG and Kurdistan Parliament have decided to allocate 37.7% of Kurdistan's total budget to investment projects.
Shwani said the amount is classified into 24.2% for Municipality Ministry projects, 21.3% for Ministry of Electricity projects, 14.6% for the projects of the Ministry of Reconstruction, 5.4% for the Ministry of Health, 4.3% for the Ministry of Education, and 5.5% for the Ministry of Agriculture.
Kurdistan Region gets 17% of the Iraqi budget, which is $7 billion (USD); this amount should increase as the price of oil rises.
Shwani added that this amount, 37.7%, is divided into three parts. The first part will be spent on unfinished projects already started; there are 766 unfinished projects and the KRG has allocated $1 trillion, 84 million dinars to finish them.
The second part of the amount will be spent on 688 new projects proposed by the ministries, for which the KRG has allocated $1 trillion, 299 billion, and 816 million dinars.
The third and last part will be spent on developing the three provinces of Kurdistan: Erbil, Sulaimaniya, and Duhok. The KRG has allocated 495 billion dinars for 677 projects proposed by the three governorates: 180 billion dinars for Erbil province; 200 billion dinars for Sulaimaniya province; and 115 billion dinars for Duhok.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region Parliament passed the distribution of the budgets allocated to the presidencies and a number of ministries. The budget for the presidency of Kurdistan Region is 45 billion, 222 million dinars; presidency of KRG budget is 54 billion, 16 million dinars; and presidency of Parliament budget is 54 billion, 908 million dinars. The Ministry of Education budget is 79 billion, 430 million dinars; the Ministry of Higher Education budget is 191 billion, 619 million dinars; 62 billion, 95 million dinars is allocated to the Ministry of Reconstruction and Housing budget and 353 billion, 728 billion dinars is from the capital of public services. For the Ministry of Agriculture, 116 billion, 212 million dinars is allocated from the expense budget, additionally 48 billion, 624 million dinars is allocated from the capital of the public services. The Ministry of Water Resources could get $13 billion, 488 billion dinars from the budget of works and dinars from the budget and 83 billion, 885 billion dinars as extra from the capital of the projects. The Ministries of Interior and Region received 627 billion, 59 billion dinars, while 21 billion, 450 million dinars was provided to the Ministry of Region alone; 11 billion, 165 million dinars is added to the Ministry of Interior from the capital of the projects.
It is expected that the allocated budgets to the remaining ministries will be set by vote and revealed in the coming sessions.
(www.kurdishglobe.net)
Did not mean to offend by using the word pessimistic. I understand being a little impatient at the slow movement inside Iraq. Believe me, I to am impatient.
In the long term I know we are both bullish on Iraq, especially the Dinar. If we were not we would not be invested in it.
Comments