Iraq sets out a pitch for major foreign investment
Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:25pm BST
By Luke Baker
LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Iraq tried to sell itself as a trade and investment hotspot at a London conference on Thursday, but while 300 businessmen and financiers came to listen, their broad response was "let's wait and see".
Iraq's prime minister, oil minister and several dozen senior officials involved in business, banking, finance and trade came to tell the story that the worst is over in Iraq after six years of conflict and the country ripe for major investment.
With a well-educated population approaching 30 million, the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and a burgeoning, entrepreneurial middle-class, Iraq had the potential to become an economic powerhouse in the Middle East, they said.
While that may be true, and while available data point to growth of nearly 10 percent this year, with $10 billion of British projects already in the pipeline, there remains too much legal and security uncertainty for many long-term investors.
More than 200 people have been killed in the past eight days in a series of suicide attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere.
"There's still quite a lot to be sorted out, especially in the oil industry," said Mike Major, the chief executive of the Energy Industries Council, an oil trade association focused on the oil services industry.
"The conditions are getting better in Iraq, but I don't think we're there yet. Security is improving, but it's not on a straight line. I think it's going to happen -- investment is going to boom -- but we're not there yet."
Money is beginning to flow into the country, especially from the private sector, particularly expatriate Iraqis based in the region, in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
PRIVATE EQUITY FLOWS
U.S.- and British-based private equity funds are also eyeing up investment opportunities in Iraq. Sectors like pharmaceuticals, agriculture, fertilisers and grains and construction are all on the hunt for risk-hungry capital.
The Trade Bank of Iraq, a state-run project finance and investment bank set up in July 2003, has seen business soar, with profits up more than 40 percent last year and total assets rising to $10 billion, from just $2.8 billion in 2006.
So confident is the bank in Iraq's prospects that it plans to set up its own $250 million private equity fund to invest in mid-size Iraqi-operated ventures. Ashur, an Iraqi-owned investment bank, is also investing heavily in the country.
But while Iraqi investors may feel confident about opportunities and the legal lay of the land, foreign investors still need convincing.
Iraqi officials spent much of Thursday's conference propounding the benefits of Iraq's recently redrafted investment law. But judging from some of the questions from investors, work still needs to be done to make the framework reassuring.
And a hydrocarbons law, which will govern Iraq's oil assets and how the proceeds are distributed, is still some way from being finalised. Major oil companies, such as Shell (RDSa.L), BP (BP.L) and Exxon (XOM.N) want to see the details in the law before they proceed with multi-billion-dollar investments.
Fawzi al-Hariri, Iraq's minerals minister, told Reuters the law would be finalised by September this year, but other officials played down that forecast, and privately some concede that it could be well into 2010 before parliament approves it.
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told the conference that if the law wasn't passed in time, any contracts riding on it would just be ratified by the cabinet, but that reassurance was not sufficient to placate some of the major oil investors.
"We don't want to rush anything and we'll just have to let the Iraqi process take its course. But at the moment it's an obstacle for us," a representative of one of the major oil companies looking to invest in Iraq said. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Source: Reuters uk
UK plc 'risks missing out' on riches from Iraq
Patrick Hosking, Financial Editor
War-torn Iraq represents the most exciting investment opportunity since the Asian tiger economies in the 1970s, according to an adviser to the Iraqi Government, who warned that British companies and investors were in danger of missing out.
Sir Claude Hankes said that Iraq would turn out to be “the economic dynamo for the entire Gulf region” because of its large and growing population, educated middle class and industrious trading culture.
His comments came ahead of a London conference on Thursday supported by the Government and attended by Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, and Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary.
“Not since the Far East in the 1970s have I seen a market that has the economic potential that Iraq has today,” said Sir Claude, who helped to set up the first Western investment fund for Singapore and Hong Kong when he was a director of Robert Fleming, the investment bank, three decades ago.
“I remember Singapore in the 1970s, when people had nothing, not even water,” said Sir Claude, who believes that Iraq could follow a similarly spectacular economic growth path after years of underinvestment.
Iraq, he said, had a reputation for industriousness and trading that made it stand out in the region, which could not be said of Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Egypt. British companies, however, seemed less alert to the potential opportunities than competitors from other countries, he said. “People will soon lose out in a major way unless they get their act together. We've been slow, that's my perception.”
Sir Claude also hit out at the Government for blocking visa applications from educated Iraqis seeking bona fide training opportunities in the UK. “This has to be addressed,” he said.
Sir Claude is advising the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq, which he said was attempting to raise a $250 million (£170 million) fund to invest in local Iraqi businesses. TBI, which was set up soon after American tanks rolled into Iraq in 2003, reported a 41 per cent increase in net profits to $359 million on Wednesday with total assets up 64 per cent to $10 billion.
The bank began by issuing letters of credit to facilitate Iraqi trade but is pushing deeper into other areas, such as infrastructure finance, backing projects such as the new Erbil electricity plant, which keeps the lights on in Kurdistani Iraq 24 hours a day. Previously, the Kurds made do with only four hours.
Iraq boasts the world's third-largest oil reserves and is desperate for investment in virtually every sector — from transport and power infrastructure to schools, hospitals, housebuilding and tourism. “There has been no major investment in Iraq since 1990,” Hussein al-Uzri, chairman of TBI, said.
Security, however, remains a major concern for foreign investors. Although suicide bombings are down from the heights of two years ago, parts of the country remain highly dangerous. At least 41 people were killed and more than 70 wounded on Wednesday when car bombs exploded in a busy market of Baghdad's Sadr City slum. Last week 150 people died in two days of bombings amid fears that widespread sectarian violence could return.
“You think it's all chaos,” Sir Claude said. “But the fact is that if you go to Baghdad, which I have done many times, life goes on quite normally.”
Source: Times online uk
Heavyweights moving into Baghdad
Patrick Hosking: Analysis
Golden hopes for Iraq as a business opportunity are nothing new. A week after the American-led invasion in 2003, Paul Wolfowitz, the US Deputy Secretary of Defence at the time, told Congress that the country would be earning $50 billion to $100 billion a year in oil revenues within three years and would therefore be able to finance its own reconstruction. He was hopelessly optimistic. Six years on, oil earnings are a tiny fraction of that sum and reconstruction has barely begun.
Violence, bureaucracy, difficult regional politics, a lack of basic infrastructure and, more latterly, corruption have all stifled any sort of business renaissance.
But some British groups are managing to clinch deals. In February Mesopotamia Petroleum Co signed a £277 million joint venture deal with the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Maritime & Underwater Security Consultants has won a contract to map the sea bed off the Al-Faw peninsula. B-Plan Information, a British computer software company, is working for Rafidain, the biggest Iraqi bank.
Heavweight blue chips are interested, too. Rolls-Royce, HSBC, BP, Shell and Wood Group were among the 23 UK companies that accompanied Lord Mandelson to Baghdad this month.
Related Links
Thirty foreign companies are said to have bid for licences for important oilfields and the contracts are scheduled to be awarded in June.
Source: Times online uk
This site has a lot of information on the Mixed Sector Companies
This gives you the companies products, what year the company started and what the %percentage is of the public is, so I think these comps are a must have, if the State keeps a %percentage in the companies, they are going to be pushing some contracts to them no doubt about it
This is a list of Iraq banks with %percentage in other countries
Al-Ahli (national bank of Iraq) owned by Export & Finance Bank of Jordan
Bank of Baghdad is 49% owend by United Gulf Bank of Bahrain
Credit Bank of Iraq is 75% owend by National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)
Commercial Bank is owend by Al-Ahli Bank of Bahrain (through an Iraqi Holding CO)
Dae Es Salaam is owned 70% by HSBC
Economy Bank is 49% owned by A'ayan company of Kuwait
Mansour Bank is owned by National Bank of Qatar
We here would like to offer you our apologies because our e-banking services will be stopped temporarily till Sunday morning in order to update our core banking system.
The Turks are good business people. They have a winning combination of nice looking receptionists,good managers, good Turkish coffee, good prices and very good logistics for quick delivery of their goods.
===============================================================================================================
Turkey's trade in Iraq amounted to 6 billion USD in 2008
Hello dinar train.I just figured out how to post here, I was here for the beginning and things changed so being new to computers did not understand howw they worked.Glad to see some of the old dinar train gang still here.Gang still waiting for that pig roast on a beach in Hawaii,good luck to all and keep the train moving.
It's good see you posting again. I keep thinking about venturing into the ISX but am a bit weary. From your postings it seems like everything listed makes money. Surely this can't be true? Besides the stock listings is there enough data to do research on the companies to make an informed decision?
David. I'm still in because I can't afford not to. I got in years ago holding some physical notes and a bank account. I haven't ventured into stocks .. yet. If it doesn't pan out, then the committment won't break me, but if it does .. well! Imagine how you would feel if you'd been hearing about this for years but didn't get in, and then it hits? The sleepless nights, the should've, could've. You'd should all over yourself!
I'm still hangin' on to my dinars in the form of cash, bank account,ISX and a trust. These days, while I wait for the RV, I'm hangin' out in the dining car of our little dinar train. At least, in that car, I can get some good food and a shot of Jim Beam now and then....aint life grand!!
Can someone please educate me.. I have a friend in Iraq( I'm in US ) and we have some Dinar we aquired and someone( In Iraq allegidly ) recently said the Dinar was bieng replaced with a new printed currency Quote: " Iraqi Gov't. issued NEW dinar , old stuff isn't worth anything unless it's in a bank. This goes back to Feb-Mar 09 "
I have not seen anything anywhere to verify this and I am new to this site as of today and am very glad I found it ! Would appreciate any info and would anyone still consider buying more today ? I looked at the pictures of the currency at the CBI web site today and it looks the same as what I have. Regards,twolincs....hopefull investor.
Welcome to the forum! Your dinar matches the CBI notes so it's current and legal anywhere in the world. When we get a possible RV (revaluation) of the dinar, your dinars in an Iraqi bank will be converted automatically. Any dinar being held in the US can be, we assume, converted at a US bank such as Chase.
Tsalagi, thank you very much for putting my mind at ease. I was sure hopeing I didn't miss something....Whew!!!! Again I am very glad I found this site, I havent been paying much attention to the news over there but with current events happening faster that the speed of sound,thought I'd better start investigating and have found a wealth of information here. Thanks Again !! Regards, Twolincs
ERBIL, Iraq, May 7 (UPI) -- Exports from an oil field in the Kurdish region of Iraq may proceed despite contract disputes between the regional government and Baghdad, executives say.
Heritage Oil said it has discovered oil at the Miran field in Sulaimaniya province, with expected yields passing 4 billion barrels of oil.
Ashti Hawrami, the Kurdistan Regional Government oil minister, called the find "excellent news, and we look forward to the Miran field exporting oil later this year," the Financial Times reports.
Heritage said it expects Miran to produce additional oil in associated structures.
Oil deals with the KRG are a point of contention with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad, which views unilateral Kurdish oil deals as a violation of the Iraqi Constitution.
Those disputes have delayed several projects in the Kurdish regions, though Paul Atherton, chief financial officer at Heritage, said he thinks progress in talks between both governments will bring exports online soon.
"We are confident we will be able to export oil," he said.
Iraq Kurds say to start Tawke crude exports June 1
Fri May 8, 2009 2:09pm BST
BAGHDAD, May 8 (Reuters) - Oil exports from the Tawke field in Iraq's Kurdish north will begin on June 1, the largely autonomous region said on Friday, suggesting the start of official foreign sales from the promising Kurdish fields.
Exports will begin at an initial rate of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), the Kurdistan Regional Government said.
Its natural resources minister, Ashti Hawrami, said in a statement that 40,000 bpd will be sent in June by truck from a second field, Taq Taq, ultimately going through an Iraq-Turkey export pipeline.
But a spokesman of the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad denied there had been any deal to allow Kurdish oil exports via a national pipeline. The ministry has long denied permission for this. "So far no deal has been concluded between the two parties," spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.
Shares in DNO International (DNO.OL), the Oslo listed company that is developing the Tawke field, surged on news of the export plans and they were up more than 15 percent by 1256 GMT.
DNO Chief Financial Officer Haakon Sandborg pointed to the Kurdish statement as the reason behind the jump. [nL8999870]
The tangle over contracts and the oil pipeline are part of a larger dispute between the Shi'ite Arab-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Kurds, one that has blocked passage of national oil and gas legislation.
IRAQ STATE MARKETING BODY
Hawrami said, however, that Iraq's state marketing body would handle the oil sales.
"The exported crude oil from both fields will be marketed by [the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation] and the revenue will be deposited to the federal Iraq account for the benefit of all Iraqi people," Hawrami said.
Baghdad's position on the pipeline has meant that oil from Kurdistan, which has had a large degree of autonomy under international protection since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, has gone only to supply a small Kurdish market, with small amounts being smuggled abroad.
Kurdistan has also struck deals with firms including Addax Petroleum (AXC.TO) and Turkey's General Enerji.
Oil contracts signed by the Kurdish government have been a thorn in relations between Arbil, the Kurdish capital, and the central government in Baghdad. The Oil Ministry deems those contracts to be illegal.
Hawrami says that members of the Kurdish minority only want their fair share of Iraq's oil wealth.
Growing Kurd-Arab tensions have raised doubts about whether the divide over energy resources could feed renewed conflict even as overall violence in Iraq subsides after more than six years of war.
Arabs reject Kurdish ambitions to absorb the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, home to Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, into Kurdistan.
Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves, but it desperately needs investment to boost production and repair infrastructure damage caused by decades of sanctions, war and neglect.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani is now seeking long-term development contracts with the world's largest oil firms. Shahristani hopes those contracts will help Iraq at least double daily output from around 2.4 million bpd now.
British oil explorer Heritage Oil (HOIL.L) recently announced it had found up to 4.2 billion barrels of oil in Kurdistan, adding to pressure to unblock the Kurdish-Arab impasse.
Iraq, which relies on oil imports for more than 95 percent of its state revenues, is facing a budget crisis after the collapse of oil prices from their all-time high last summer.
Heritage said this week it hopes to be producing 10,000 to 15,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the year, using trucks to move the crude to a pipeline in Kirkuk for export.
It gives me great pleasure to inform you with our growing success we have increased our share capital to IQD 75 billion and will be issuing 47.058% free shares to our highly distinguished investors whom have all contributed to our success further developing our bank enhancing our operations.
It is a true delight to have such esteemed investors being part of the largest private financial enterprise in the country.
Yea I bought into the ISX about 18 months ago when every stock was well low, some others that got into it two or three years ago got burned as the share prices went down a lot, most of these guys are still in the red with their shares, and some are just about where they were when they started
If you go onto the ISX home page then bulletins & reports, go for old ones back a few years to see what was what then, and to maybe get an Idea of what may be the shares to go for, but as most of them are still very cheap I dont think you can go far wrong with buying up any companies shares that are under three dinars a go, your only down side is the new 200,000 share min buy in on any comp, I did Email MR I. at Warka to ask if they was any way they could take smaller orders then buy when there was enough, but he said they were busy as is, and he thinks the ISX will up the min buy in soon, so best get your best thinking trousers on and get busy
As we have the last tradeing day to make a pic list from, its sods law that when you get an Email from Warka telling you when your list will be done, most of the comps you want are not playing that day, so thats when on my list I was adding on 6 to 10 other comps just so I was picking up some and that is how I ended up with 19 Banks, and 23 comps in, Services sector, Hotel sector, Industry sector, Investment sector and Agriculture, or, Transport, Real Estate,Hotel, Food, Soft drinks, Paint, Chemical Products, Veterinary vaccines, Pharmaceuticals, Metal, Carton manufactures, Constrution materials, Electronic industries, Rog I forgot I had these and only 800,000 shares so you can see how easy it was to lose them
So yea everything I have has gone up, some by not a lot but then its all up, as is the 47.5% free shares in Warka Bank, so thats 941,000 free shares at 2.4 = 2,258,400 IQD so its not been a bad day has it
So I think you and anyone who has not got into the Iraqi bank and ISX are going to lose out big time
There are people on this site that are sat on a huge pile of the 25,000 dinar notes, that is doing naff all when it could be earning good interest in a Iraqi bank
I have cash dinars nice, dinars in the Iraqi bank, and dinars in the ISX, I think that is about all you can do with them, Im keeping a wedge in the dinar account as Im sure there is going to be some very good comps to have that are not yet on the ISX
Hey gang, most of the originals are gone now. The forum has changed in tone in a major way. I must say it's not nearly as entertaining as it once was. I personally don't give a hoot about the specifics of daily buisness activities in Iraq. Yeah sure I know it might mean a little sompin' sompin', but really now, come on, who has time for that crap. I've been here 4 years now I think, and thats long enough to realize that all this meant nothing, except the people I got to know. Lance, Sara, Corol, Roger, Timbitts, Panhandler, and many more. The fights, the stories, the rumors, the RV prdictions, the religious disputes and discussions, the science lessons, those were the things worth reading. You guys who are left finally got what you wanted, and it sucks in my opinion, but not just on your own accord. Those things faded with our hope that the dinar was our ticket to overnight wealth. The reality is the dinar wasn't that at all. It turned into the unlikely chance most economist said it was. They were right! Sure we know it's still possible that the dinar will gain value. It has gained some, but for most, not as much as the dealer fees we paid when we bought our dinars. Without the colorfull commentaries, the personalities, and the mix of discussion that came from that, this site is dead. People said over and over "this is a dinar discussion", "I come here for dinar info not commentary". Like I said before, what does it do for you? The only info we really need to know is when it's time to cash in for USD's. I think of all the work Rob N. has put into the research for this site, no offense but it was a waste of time Rob. You would have been better off taking the kids fishing with that time. Now Mattuk has taken over much of that recently. Get real Mattuk and Tsalagi, who gives a crap about that stuff? It's like reading the Wallstreet Jurnal. I think it should be forbidden to paste onto this blog, that would take real good care of this bullshit. If it's news worth writing, then by all mean share it, but if I wanted to read that crap I would read the ste you cut it from. Get a life people.
I think I know what you mean. You miss the community of people who have written on this blog for some time. It takes a lot of committment, time and energy to research and write to this blog all the time. I can assure you that I still check this blog on a regular basis...however, as of late, I have not found anything that would be interest to this site on the topic.
Valerio, don't lose heart. The people you are talking about are still around. I am sure of it. Sometimes, the topic of the RV moves like a snail or maybe not at all. I suspect, when something happens, the old timers will pop in again and let everyone know. Pray for Roger and others that are now in Iraq. I think everyone who has written are still planning a party in the Keys.
Don't take Valerio's comments to heart. He's just frustrated that some of the old names he's use to seeing haven't been writing as of late. I suspect, that maybe many of them are getting busy with their families and possibly doing what Valerio suggested to Rob N. to go fishing and spending more time with their families. It takes a lot of energy to keep writing to this blog. I'm sure that many of them will return in time.
In the meantime, others will need to fill in on the dinar train. Tsalagi, you like Roger have a unique outlook on Iraq as you too are in Iraq. Keep sharing your insights into what is happening in Iraq. Mattuk, your contributions are also appreciated. The news from Iraq is very slow and at times can seem unentertaining/boring. I think this is what Valerio is trying to say. And, Valerio, are you giving up on the dinar? Or, is it just frustration are feeling like you have lost all the friends you have had on this site?. I suspect, it is the later.
Again, I encourage you to hang in there as the old timers on this site (I believe) have not gone far.
Laura,
I'm not fustrated that most of the old timers are gone. I'm more fustrated that the writers are gone, that the opinions are gone, the debates are gone, the speculation, interpetation and predictions, all those things are pretty much gone. Now what we have is something like the US congressional channel, it can be interesting for a moment when there is a meaningful topic, but the rest is just filler, and about as exciting as paying the bills.
I appreciate, as you do, the insight of Tsalagi by his presence in Iraq. Yes that is good info, and a true indicator of how things are going, and interesting too. Info on how to get an AWARKA acct, and the ISX, yeah thats good stuff, anyone can appreciate meaningful info. When the posters put their fingers to the keys it's all good. It's like fresh air when Roger checks in.
I haven't given up hope that the dinar will someday make a significant gain. That would still be nice. I'm not going to get out, no no no. That would be like burning my lotto ticket before the drawing.
I, like you, would appreciate some diversity on this forum. I found Truck & Barter several years ago and liked the Iraq dinar forum because it gave me my daily fix on the dinar and at the same time had a few other conversations going. It was like being at a family reunion and going from one group to another getting your two bits into the conversation.
However, I was raised in the Bible belt land of hard shelled Baptists and learned at an early age you didn’t discuss religion or politics at the family reunion. It was a known fact that you kept these conversations in their own circle of conversation because they tended to get very heated, especially if your intent was to “save” someone. I once saw my father punch his brother in the mouth because he told my father he was going to hell because we went to a different church. I must have learned that lesson well because years later a guy I didn’t know showed up at my house one evening and spoke loudly in my face, “you’ve sinned and come short of the glory of God…..you’re going to burn in hell”. I popped him in the mouth, told him I had talked to God in the morning and hell wasn’t mentioned, then led him to the end of my driveway. The guy simply didn’t realize that the relationship between an individual and God is very personal and everybody should respect that right. I know for a fact he didn’t add me to his list of “saved sinners”. Over the years I’ve learned to appreciate people who can discuss politics and religion without being dogmatic and offending the beliefs of other people in their circle of discussion.
I’ve worked most of my life as a Project Manager and realized long ago that “bitching” about something you would like to change won’t get the job done….you simply have to “just do it”!
So, the podium is open to you and others, to post any thoughts on any subject. I believe we can improve the content of the forum if everybody keeps an open mind and positive attitude.
Hello
For some reason I thought after many months to pop in and see if anybody had some significant news about the Dinar, and read the message about the old gang! :) Don't know where every one else is but I have been somewhere between an homicidal and suicidal state ! This Obama, anti-American, who has committed multiple acts of treason, fraud and who has thumbed his nose at the Constitution time and time again has changed the exterior face of the US. BUT THERE ARE MANY OF US GOOD OLE AMERICANS THAT ARE BEHIND THE SCENES, UNDERGROUND AND BUILDING OUR DEFENSE AGAINST THE TYRANNY PF THIS ADMINISTRATION.
IT TAKES ALOT OF TIME, COMMITMENT AND,YES, MONEY. But I can't think of a better place to spend it. Soooo, my T&B time almost doesn't exist anymore. But it is ice to see some of the old ones still well and here.
I hear briefly from Sara in e-mails. I think she is okay. I can assure you she spends alot of her time on her knees praying or this country.
If you want to stay on solid ground....follow Glen Beck. There are many others but he is the most accessible. If you wat to support legitimate efforts to save this nation , follow Jay Sekulow ACLJ.
I am done with the Republican Party. At best they are masquerading as such behind the masks of Libertarians. There are 3 good reasons tye election was essentially handed to Obama. #1 GOP gave up the strong right base by giving us Mc Cain, as well as those in office who have sold out to true conservatism, for something we now call a moderate. #2. Those evangelicals who millions follow and belong to some organization called The Arlington Group turned on Huckabee.....who could have and would have brought out the millions who were just waiting for a "HARD CORE" CONSERVATIVE to be supported. That is why Sara got such an overwhelming response as did Joe the plummer!
I realize that we all have the Dinar in common, BUT more than that ow we must do all we can to save this country. We must FIGHT BACK, AND TALK LOUD AND STRONG AS NEVER BEFORE IN OUR LIFETIME OR HISTORY. To shy away from the fight we are in is to concede to a life from which most won't survive.
The fools that said "don't ever discuss religion or politics" is digging ditches in the old Soviet Union or selling pencils in Cuba!
Most people from my neck of the woods, Texas and Oklahoma, share your thoughts about Obama and his Chicago style of Government. He even had the audicity to make fun of the recent tea parties across the nation. We certainly need another political party that will downsize the Government and spend more time with "We The People". As a last resort, to protect ourselves against tyranny and despotic leaders, our founding fathers gave us the right to keep and bear arms. Facts are clear that gun and ammunition sales are at a record level in our nation. I believe we can get our country back via the ballot box but still have deep concerns that Obama will not realize how concerned the citizens are and will continue to make the same mistakes.
If we all stay in "kick ass" mode we will get leaders that do as we say. Remember...they work for us! Join the next tea party!
Recently, Warka Bank, had taken their system down for up-grades. I logged on today, to make some minor changes to my accounts, and found they no longer offer the "E-Remittance" feature. This feature allowed the customer to make money transfers from Warka to an external bank of their choice. The information I had in their system regarding my external Bank choices was still in their system with no changes. I'm assuming they're still working on their system to bring it up to international standards and regulations. The other part of my brain tells me they're getting ready for an RV of the Dinar and numerous transfers of money. Then again, that's the part of my brain I dream in!
Tsalagi. Warka informed me that they are updating the E-Remittance feature soon as they are just doing more updates. I believe to add more security features.
I generally check this site from time to time though I am not posting much anymore. Although Dinar has not progressed as we would have liked; I still believe the Dinar still has the potential to produce a good profit.
Long ago in one of my discussions with Carol we talked of the flavor of this site. In those days a variety of topics were posted and those I wanted to read and participated in I did so those I did not I skipped.
This site has become static as has the Dinar itself. Iraq itself has become mired in sectarian and ethnic strife marked by an infantile governnment incapable of providing basic services for its people. A government that has miserably failed at national reconcilation. A government with no clear direction regarding an attainable and sustainable economic or monetary policy for its people.
In some sense I think we as investors or speculators have been asking the wrong questions. These wrong questions are "when will the currency rv" or when will the currency lop"?
I am guilty of asking these questions myself.
The journey of a nation state is a long one and although I am critical of Al-Malaki and the GoI the potential is there for a great nation to rise from the ashes of war. This is why I still believe that the dinar will deliever a proft. What form this profit takes is anyone's guess.
Laura, I would like to say it is good to see you post. Please convey my well wishes to Sara and tell her I would like to see her post.
Carol, if you are lurking about please pop in and say hello. Although we got off on the wrong foot in the past I miss your wit and your ability to speak your mind.
To those of you that continue to post thanks for keeping it going; I plan to check in more often than in the past.
Always good to read your posts and update this site with your view of the matter. There could not be a better time for this currency to adjust for hardship has hit me all too well. God bless us all and this nation as well. Thank you for your contribution.
When the American Army leaves Iraq, it's Showtime....then the Iraqis put up, or shut up.....no more excuses, no one to blame. Then, they can fight to the death, or get rich. It really is their choice. At that point, Iraq should settle pretty quick. Iraq will then either revert to a brutal dictatorship, within a year, or work out their disagreements and live in peace. It's their choice. In every Arab country, the government eventually brings order. Every time. Corrupt, incompetant government, but government nontheless,.....enough order to pump oil. Iraq will be no exception. The only question is, will order be imposed brutally, or through cooperation? That choice is the Iraqis to make, not America. If they chose to kill each other, we must let them.
After the killing stops, and when there is order, and the American Army is out, there will be no excuse not to RV. Right now, any hydro carbon law is suspect, because no one would trust it, because it would seem like it was written under a gun, of the American occupation. Once the American Army leaves, the hydrocarbon law will be passed. The Iraqi government will be free to impose order on the country, without being accused of being American stooges and puppets. Then, the really heavy hand comes out. Then, the independent Kurdistan Army will have to decide if it wants to fight the Shiite Army, in a bloody civil war. Then, the Iraqis will decide if it is to be peace, or civil war. Either way, America wins. Order will be imposed. The oil will flow. The RV will follow, as day follows night. Whoever wins, order will be restored. Then, the gold rush is on. The oil business will then develop very, very fast, and the RV will happen very quickly.
So, don't give up. Dinar holders will all be rich.
Like a pilot light on a gas stove, this site may not burn bright, but the light will never go out. There are people on this site who will NEVER give up. You know who you are. People will go on with their lives, but check back on this site, from time to time,.....and some day, a great flame will burst, on RV day.
Thank you to the faithful people who keep the pilot light going.
God bless you.
A big hello to all the old regulars, like Rob N, Sara, Carole, Roger, Laura, and anyone who's name I can't think of right now.
I remember you all.
I am doing other things, obviously, but will check in to this site from time to time, for as long as it takes.
There is much more to be concerned with right now than the status of the dinar investment. Right now the USA is going down the tubes. Our people have elected "the one" who will lead us down. Please start paying as much attention to whats going on right under our noses as you do about whats going on in Iraq. We could be a 3rd world country in no time at all. Does anyone think we can really borrow 50% of what we're spending, kill millions in the wombs of our women, except pervertion in our society, allow righteousness to be scoffed at like a detestible thing, and get away with it without judgement? The great consumer of all the worlds goods will no longer have the money to buy, and the kings of the earth will certainly mourn. America must be destroyed in order for the new world order to come, and my friends they are getting it done, and we let them do it. Be watching.
In my career, I’ve been lucky enough to live and work in the US, SE Asia, Europe and the Middle East. I’ve seen the good, bad and ugly styles of government from different styles of democracy to despotic kings.
Our founding fathers gave us a style of government that could protect itself from bad government by allowing the many rights we have under the constitution and we are still a work in progress. Obama has ushered in a strong central government style of politics that sends up alarm bells around the country. Our constitution calls for a small central government and strong powers retained by “we the people” within the various states.
Normally a government that’s moving in the wrong direction is corrected via the ballot box. But it seems, when we replace one party with another, things continue to go bad. I think we have such a large group of liars, crooks and queers in our elected officials we need to take another course of action.
If the ballot box doesn’t remove these characters then we need to use that same ballot box to starve them away from the public trough. We need to send our tax dollars to the States and only allow the central government enough money, with strong watchdogs, to run the areas of common interest such as defense, etc.
Politicians, at the state level are just as crooked as those in Washington but at least we would be close enough to ride them out of town on a rail if necessary.
I do not think that other members of this blog are unconcerned about what is happening in the United States of America. We all can see it. It will take time for other americans to see it too and band together to find a solution to the problem. I think that entry to the next to last entry had it right. States rights to repeal the 16 amendment to the constituion would do it. It would send all tax money to the state government and then the states can decide what amount to send to the central government for national defense.
All,
I continue to appreciate all of you who post and continue the dinar train.
Rob N.,
I have not heard from Sara lately. Maybe, she will read the blog and post. I certainly hope so.
TimBitts and Carole,
It's nice to hear from you two. Don't be strangers. Let us know what you are up to from time to time.
Panhandler,
I know from last report, you moved back with your sons in Oregon after medical treatment in Florida. Drop us a note and let us know how you are.
Roger,
Keep us informed about your whereabouts in Iraq and how you are doing.
Parliament will not ratify Iraqi-Turkish Agreement, decrees to include article securing Iraq's water share
The parliament voted on a resolution mandating non-signing of the Iraqi-Turkish Agreement as it now stands and the inclusion in it of an article which secures Iraq's share of the waters of both the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.
(www.noozz.com)
Musawi calls for dismissing Oil Minister 16/05/2009 12:36:00
Baghdad (NINA) –Member of the Finance Committee in Parliament MP Shatha al-Musawi called to dismiss Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani due to his "major role in deteriorated oil production and deteriorated Iraqi economy."
Musawi calls for dismissing Oil Minister 16/05/2009 12:36:00
Baghdad (NINA) –Member of the Finance Committee in Parliament MP Shatha al-Musawi called to dismiss Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani due to his "major role in deteriorated oil production and deteriorated Iraqi economy."
My work in the Middle East allowed me to see and observe Iraq before and during both gulf wars. I’ve always known the country was in good shape due to the natural resources they had. The people are also hard working and industrious. They’ve suffered due to some bad leadership in their government but I have no doubt they will overcome that obstacle.
So, when the new Iraqi Dinar started showing up in the markets, I started buying and accumulating them at a steady pace. I knew then, and I know now, the Dinar will eventually appreciate to a good value. My position is a starting value of at least 28 US Cents in order to be worth a little more than the Saudi Riyal. Right now a Saudi Riyal is worth .27USD and the Iraqis will do a small one-upmanship on their Sunni neighbors to the South. I believe the initial RV will be pegged to a small basket of currencies and the Central Bank of Iraq will attempt to keep it to a slow, steady growth on the FOREX market.
The first merchant I bought Dinar from was a very likeable and honest man. Every day he traveled from Baghdad to the boonies, where the Americans stayed, and sold dinar, fake Rolex watches, etc. so he could take care of his family. He never kept records or gave us a receipt for the dinars we purchased because he feared the terrorists would kill him if they found out he was doing business with Americans. Ironically they killed him one day just to get his money and goods he had with him. We sent a collection of money to his family, via his brother. It was a sad day for everyone.
Which reminds me…..Why is Nancy Pelosi still trying to find a home on US soil for the terrorists? This woman is dangerous to our country! I hope the rumor is true that Obama is going to throw her under the bus.
SNAP ANALYSIS-Iraqi Kurdistan to export gas to Europe, TurkeyReuters, Sunday May 17 2009 By Simon Webb
DUBAI, May 17 (Reuters) - A consortium of companies from the United Arab Emirates and Europe plan to export enough gas from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to supply the first phase of the Nabucco pipeline to Europe.
The exports would help Europe in its quest to diversify energy supplies away from Russia. Following are some of the potential consequences of the plan:
EUROPE, RUSSIA AND ENERGY SECURITY
* Iraqi Kurdistan gas would give Europe a source from Iraq through Turkey, away from Russia and its immediate sphere of influence. Europe relies on Russia for a quarter of its natural gas supplies. A cut-off in Russian supplies to Europe last winter due to a dispute with Ukraine left thousands without heating and added urgency to Europe's search for more sources.
* Russia opposes the Nabucco pipeline plan and is developing the rival South Stream project. It signed deals with partners on Friday to accelerate the scheme. Moscow has rebuked the United States and former Soviet satellite nations for backing the rival Nabucco plan.
* Russia is Turkey's largest trade partner. Turkey is Russia's third-largest gas consumer. A 26-year gas supply deal between the two expires in 2012 and both agreed to work on extending the deal on Saturday.
TURKEY, EUROPE AND IRAQ'S KURDISTAN REGION
* Turkey would gain bargaining power in its quest to become a member of the European Union as a transit country and facilitator of gas exports from Iraq. Due to its geographical position straddling the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe, Turkey sees its potential for being a strategic energy partner as one of its strongest arguments for accession to Europe.
* The pipeline would increase interdependence between the Iraqi Kurdistan region and Turkey. This may have implications for the 25-year Kurdish separatist conflict in the largely Kurdish area of southeastern Turkey, long a source of regional instability and a hindrance to Ankara's EU membership quest.
* As the transit country for gas supplies to Europe, Turkey would also gain leverage over Iraq's Kurdistan region.
* Gas exports from the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq to the Turkish market would make Turkey dependent on energy supplied by the Iraqi Kurds.
* Exports from Iraq's Kurdistan region could help meet Turkey's gas needs and remove a potential obstacle to Nabucco. Around 1 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) could go to the Turkish market from the consortium project in Kurdistan. That is more than the 15 percent of Nabucco's 3 billion cfd that Turkey wanted for its own market.
IRAQ'S KURDISTAN REGION, NABUCCO
* Gas exports would thrust the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq onto the international energy supply stage. The region plans to make its first foray into the world energy market with exports of crude through Iraq's northern oil export pipeline to Turkey in June.
* The project could pave the way to future, larger exports from northern Iraq to Europe, Turkey and other nearby states with gas needs.
* The region's oil and gas reserves were little explored under Saddam Hussein and are potentially larger than estimated. The UAE's Crescent Petroleum is confident it can pump over 3 billion cfd for many years. Around half of that would be available for the Nabucco project, enough to fill the first phase of the pipeline.
BAGHDAD, OIL FIRMS
* Baghdad's oil ministry declined to comment on the Kurdistan gas plan on Sunday. Iraq's oil ministry has clashed repeatedly with the Kurdish Regional Government over control of the country's oil and gas reserves and could oppose the deal, which has no federal approval. The oil ministry has criticised oil and gas contracts the KRG has signed with international oil companies, calling them illegal. The disagreement goes to the heart of political differences in Iraq over central versus regional control over the world's third largest oil reserves.
* Baghdad has blacklisted firms that have signed deals with the KRG. This has kept the world's biggest energy firms away from the Kurdistan region but left opportunities for those less concerned about Baghdad's opprobrium.
IRAN
* Iran has long expressed its desire to become a major player in the world gas export market and has said it wanted to be a supplier to the Nabucco project. The pipeline would still need more gas, so Iran could join the Kurdistan region in the future.
* But European buyers do not see Iran as a reliable potential source of gas. European companies have halted investment plans there due to political pressure and sanctions from the United States and the United Nations over Iran's nuclear programme. (Reporting by Simon Webb; Editing by Thomas Atkins and Alex Richardson) Printable version larger | smaller Business
"The astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar does not end in 2012 at all, that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle, so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer - the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over again".
Long time no see, being busy doing long hours in Iraq.
I read through the blog, and found that there are some oldtimers that have popped in again, Hi to you all.
Me, I am very remote from any politics, or Dinar info, as the job I have is on a military base, and we are in all essence doing military jobs.(Except the pulling of the trigger, part)
The Iraq attitude is a mixture of culture, clan, society, religion and Islamic faction belonging ( Shiite , Sunni).
The most irritating for a westerner is the lack of belonging, an Iraqi man has.
I think we all, as one, naively thought that after the invasion they would stand up and say -"Hurrah, we are free" and then build up the society again.
That's what we westerners would do, and we had no clue what we had opened up.
When passing by ( totally ineffective) checkpoints manned by the former insurgents, "Son of Iraq" they put on a very visible display, or a theater act pointing to thir mouth, wanting water, and food.
So drivers toss out an MRE ( Meals Ready to Eat) or a waterbottle. Well if there is two Iraqis there, and you toss out two MRE's, and one manage to pick up both of them, he will not share.
The one that wasn't quick enough will just resign ad accept the fact that he will not eat today.
Throw a bunch of lightsticks (chemsticks, used to mark the way in the dark) to kids, and if one kid was very quick, he will proudly display four or five sticks, but he will not share them with other kids.
An Iraqi man loudly display his opinion in any matter, but he will never maneuver himself into a position where he actually has to take a decision.
By culture religion and clanlife, they have evolved into small small islands, where they don't belong to Iraq, but are a member of a family (clan) religion or sect, and it was not made by their own decision, but by birth, and therefore it was fate.
The way Islam is displayed here, it is everywhere, it is on loudspeakers five times a day from the minaretes. The predominant view is that Allah have everything written down in a book, all past and future happenings, so any decision is pretty meaningless, as it is already decided by Allah how things will work out.
Besides, if Allah already have decided about it, it can be dangerous to go about and make any contrary decisions.
I saw a pretty good example of this the other day. We were hauling those ugly concrete slabs that are erected all over Baghdad and Iraq as barriers, and came to an off loading point.
The crane company that was to off load it was an Iraqi company.
Ok, here is a group of people, all assocciated with the crane, the company owner, ( or the company representative), the crane driver, the crane operator, and a couple of crane handlers.
They were all standing and discussing how to do the job, it was a very heated debate, with all of them in a group, waiving their hands in the face of each other, and loudly giving all their opinions about how this should be done.
Ok we are waiting a little bit, (the convoy, and the military) for them to sort this out, but the discussion was endless.
We have time schedules to meet, and this could not continue to go on forever, so one military commander, and a convoy commander walked over, and basically told them to shut up, ...do this , this and this....ok start now.
All in the group immediately went to work. Happily aware that "The Americans" had made the decision. Something that they themselves will have a very hard time doing.
Ad to this scenario that a very high percentage of the population can not read or write.
A population that is illiterate is very very easily controlled. They have to be told what to do, and as long as the powers that are holding the Iraqi society , the Mullahs and the Clanchief (the Sheik), they have to carefully consider what they are telling their followers, as not to lose their power.
Women in Baghdad, can dress like a women, and follow fashion, as they do, but outside Baghdad, you see them with a black bag over their head.
Kids frequently raid trucks waiting to get in to bases, they rip up any boxes, and steal chains, straps, or whatever is in the boxes. They know that the drivers can not and will not get out, and in the trafficjam the military gun trucks are pretty inefficient to stop them.
In a western society, kids would not get away with that for long, there would be a Sheriff knocking on someones door, or a School Principal that would call in the offender, but here kids run around in packs unsupervised.
The best that could happen if you're lucky, is that a person from the "Son of Iraq" check point will MAAAYYYBE walk away from his check point no more than 30 yards, and shine a flashlight "to check out what's going on" ....but he will never actually do police work, he is far to busy eating MRE's.
His job is to FILL the uniform, the conceptual understading that this is his own land, and he is responsible for his land, is not in his world of thinking.
So if you wonder why anything goes so slow in this country, well their competence that once was here have fled to other countries, and the only competence they now can hope to have, has to be imported from companies from outside Iraq, and they will not come in as long as the Iraqis are running around in pyamas shooting each other, or planting bombs.
The shooting and planting of bombs have decreased very much. I still get military intelligence that they have tried this or that, and that there have been a bomb here or there, but it is getting fewer and fewer inbetween. Lately though, it has picked up a bit, but that is mostly due to the summer weather, they don't like to have war in wintertime.
When I came here last summer, I came at the very tail end of the "official" insurgency, and in my job I saw a lot of action, but have personally not seen anything for a very long time now.
I can see small small differences in the society for the better, but they have still a very very long way to go before this place can be called, at least, in a halfway decent shape.
Eventually it will turn around, and once that snowball gains more and more momentum it will be a boom.
It has definitely started to roll, I can say that, but are a bit disappointed with the overall slow progress in most any area here in Iraq.
One of the biggest drawbacks in the development of this country, is our own idea of how we want to present ourselves.
Basically we have in this moment of time, a presence of around 140.000 troops, and about twice the population in support personell.
Ok the first thing we did was to build for ourself forts and bases all along the country. Some with a population over 20.000 people.
The city (cities) we build up are all behind a wire, it has a big concrete barrier high enough that you can not see over it from the outside. We have guard towers, and Constantine ( barb) wire all around it. In order to get in or out, you have to have a military convoy, unless you fly in with helio or airplane.
That is all nice and ducky for a pure military operation, but our own influence is very limited, the only thing the Iraqis see, is military vehicles, neatly organized convoys, airplanes, helicopters, and a lot of flares shot out by us from either helios, guntrucks or artillery ( I have artillery shooting not too far from my sleeping quarters, they shoot at any time, and they are loud)
You will with an operation like this do a perfect military set up, but the countrys, electrical system sewer system, water system, etc, will not benefit anything.
Very few in selected posts are mingling with the Iraqis, but the vast vast majority of personell going to Iraq, will have very little or no contact with an Iraqi person. They will all sit in modern cities build up by contractors, on the bases, where they are enjoying food, movies, computers, gym,s and shopping sprees in the on base shopping centers, connected by a fully developed bus system with regular scedules.
For the Iraqis, we are just a massive amount of machines driving or flying around.
There is no human face to it.
The military part is something that we can do to perfection, but the missing link here is the human development resource.
For heavens sake, we had the invasion as far back as in 2003, and still, no one have taken any significant step in developing this country in a way that will make any significant difference for the Iraqis.
Knowing that Iraqis, by culture, religion and past political indoctrination ( you better not say or do anything that will go against Saddams wishes),will not stick out their neck themselves in order to make anything happen, the Iraqis need a boost, need a kick in the butt, and need a helping hand in getting the snowball rolling.
All these contracts I am reading about, is the slow way to go, but I assume that this is the way it has to go.
I strongly think that we gave back the coutry to the Iraqis far far too quick.
And I also strongly believe that if we would have actually done a "second invasion" in resources allocated for really really building up this country as to infrastructure, while we had it in our hands, we would have had a far far different and much better situation right now.
I sincerely hope that we have learned a very strong lesson this time, when we seem to build up the forces in Afghanistan.
We can not again just build forts for ourselves, drive around or fly around war machines, and when we are done for the day go back to our own privately built up "city" and watch a movie while eating a steak, having no intention to build up Afghanistans infra structure.
However I have a feeling that we will still have a problem with our memory chip capacity.
Good comments....spoken like a true Western expat. It truly is sad that their local mullah can lead them around like a bunch of sheep. The GOI will only improve when they finally figure out how to split the golden goose of oil and they fill their greedy little hands.
I just checked my account at Warka bank and noted that the "E-Remittance" feature was active again after being down for up-dating. The procedure appeared the same so the changes must have been for security to their core banking system.
I did a test run on this feature about a year ago and it worked just great. It cost $50 and took about three business days to transfer money to my US account.
Last Updated: April 24. 2009 3:03PM UAE / April 24. 2009 11:03AM GMT
An Awakening fighter mans a checkpoint in Dora in September 2008, shortly before authority over the Awakening groups was transferred from the US to the Iraqi government. Ahmad al Rubaye / AFP
The Sunni militiamen of the Awakening movement have outlived their usefulness to American forces and the Iraqi government. Some worry these unemployed fighters will relaunch the insurgency they left behind – but they don't stand a chance. Nir Rosen reports.
On March 28, clashes erupted in Baghdad’s Fadhil district after Iraqi troops arrested the leader of the local Awakening Council, Adil al Mashhadani, one of many former Sunni insurgents who had allied with American forces in the fight against al Qaeda-inspired Salafi militants in Iraq. Mashhadani’s men staged a two-day uprising, which was put down by Iraqis with considerable help from American troops fighting against their former allies.
In Baghdad Mashhadani was a notorious figure, one of many Awakenings men suspected of serious crimes before he went on the American payroll and of continuing them afterwards. I had heard complaints about him since 2007 from Shiites, and especially from supporters of Muqtada al Sadr, who were outraged that a man they accused of the indiscriminate slaughter of Shiite civilians had been empowered by the Americans. An American intelligence officer in Washington told me that the US had possessed incriminating information on Mashhadani for several years – but that he had been one of the first insurgents to see which way the wind was blowing and sign on with the Americans.
Mashhadani’s men and their allies complained that the Americans had betrayed them, and threatened to renew their insurgency unless their leader was released; the clashes in Fadhil provoked new speculation that the failure to integrate the Awakenings into the Iraqi security forces would lead to renewed sectarian strife, if not a return to full-scale civil war. But the brief uprising was quickly put down, and Mashhadani’s arrest demonstrated quite clearly that the civil war is over: there is no organised force in Iraq today capable of challenging, or attempting to overthrow, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
In early April, Maliki appeared on Iraqi state television to say that the fighting in Fadhil was not against the Awakening but against remnants of the outlawed Baath Party: what happened in Fadhil, he said, was a message to other Awakening leaders in contact with the Baath Party that they would be next. The Awakening, Maliki said, was over, and its men would now serve the state or hang up their guns.
The arrest of Mashhadani and other Awakening leaders – and Maliki’s remarks – would seem to mark the beginning of the end for what was a controversial and potentially dangerous component of the American strategy in Iraq, the creation and funding of Sunni militias outside the authority of the state. By 2005 there was no doubt that Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites were engaged in a bloody civil war, and the increasingly aggressive, Shiite-dominated Iraqi Security Forces began to punish Sunni civilians for attacks conducted by al Qa’eda and other Sunni radicals against Shiites. The bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 triggered a wave of retaliatory violence and escalated attacks by Shiite militias like the Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade, who served as the storm troopers of the increasingly powerful Shiite bloc. They effectively depopulated Baghdad of its Sunnis, who fled to Jordan, Syria or Anbar province. When I met with Sunni resistance leaders in Amman and Damascus in 2006, they openly admitted defeat.
The cleansing of Sunnis from much of Baghdad deprived Sunni insurgents of sanctuary among the population as they were losing battles with al Qa’eda, the Americans and Shiite militias. The Shiite bloc had numerical superiority, backed by the force of the Iraqi state and its security forces. And so, one by one, groups of Sunni resistance fighters struck ceasefire agreements with the Americans and joined the fight against al Qa’eda and other radical elements.
The “surge” of American forces allowed Maliki to strengthen the authority of the state and its security forces, while the establishment of the Awakening groups neutralised anti-government Sunni militias (in some cases simply by paying them salaries not to fight the state). The decline in sectarian violence gave Maliki space to weaken competing Shiite militias, who had been integral to cleansing Sunnis from mixed areas and establishing Shiite dominance but whose presence prevented his fully consolidating control.
The prevailing order in Iraq today is a Shiite-dominated one, but the balance of power is not divided along exclusively sectarian lines: it is between those close to the state and those without its backing – as some wags put it, between the “powers that be” and the “powers that aren’t”. Maliki has pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy among Sunnis, rewarding some local leaders with prestige and privileges while arresting or crushing others. Many Sunnis are more than willing to accept an authoritarian prime minister in exchange for a reduction in violence.
What has not followed the drop in violence is a political settlement: for the past year analysts have worried that the failure to disarm or integrate the Sunni Awakening groups into the state risked sowing the seeds of a new insurgency. But the tepid response to the arrest of Mashhadani and other Awakening men suggests that a political reconciliation may not have been necessary. The burgeoning Iraqi state, embodied by Maliki himself, can simply continue to expand its power and crush any rivals. One US Army Iraq expert, who worked closely with General David Petraeus to plan and implement the surge, told me in 2008 that the civil war would end when the Shiites realised they had won and the Sunnis realised they had lost. Based on the conversations I had during a trip through Iraq last month, both sides seem to accept that this is the case.
A market in Adhamiya, the last remaining Sunni enclave in east Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein made his final public appearance on April 8, 2003. Ali Yussef / AFP
In September 2008 Maliki – in a concession to the Americans – issued an order calling for the integration of 20 per cent of the eligible Awakening men into the ministries of defence and interior. The following month the government of Iraq began to assume responsibility (financial and otherwise) over the Awakening groups. But as of today less than five per cent have joined the Iraqi Security Forces. At the same time, senior Awakening leaders and many of their men have been arrested, while others have been relieved of their duties (and their pay) and told to go home. It is a quiet and slow process, but one that continues to emasculate one of the last groups that rivalled the authority of the Iraqi state.
There is nothing the Awakening groups can do. As guerrillas and insurgents they were only effective when they operated covertly, underground, blending in among a Sunni population that has now mostly been dispersed. Now the former resistance fighters-turned-paid guards are publicly known, and their names, addresses and biometric data are in the hands of American and Iraqi forces. They cannot return to an underground that has been cleared, and they still face the wrath of radical Sunnis who view them as traitors. They have failed to unite and as their stories demonstrate, they are on the run.
********************************
In December 2007 I met a 30-year-old man named Osama who had a contract with the US Army to provide 300 Iraqi Security Volunteers, as the Americans called the Awakening men. (They were also known, less formally, as the “Sons of Iraq”.) Osama’s men guarded a sector in the Mekanik area of south Baghdad’s volatile Dora district. He wore jeans, a sweater and baseball cap and had a slight baby face concealed by stubble.
“People loved al Qa’eda at first,” Osama said, “they protected the neighbourhood from the Mahdi Army and the Iraqi police, but they got more powerful and they kidnapped Sunnis and Christians.” Most of his fighters had belonged to Sunni insurgent groups like the Army of the Mujahideen, the Islamic Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades. These men began to turn against al Qa’eda after IEDs placed in civilian areas began to kill Iraqis as well. Together with men called Abu Yasser (formerly of the Army of the Mujahideen) and Abu Salih (of the 1920 Revolution Brigades), Osama began to tip off the Americans about the location of IEDs. Soon they were calling the Americans for assistance when Shiite militias attacked the neighbourhood and passing on information about the whereabouts of suspected al Qa’eda militants.
Abu Yasser told me then that he decided to work with the Americans and the Awakening “because of Iranians getting more power in Iraq,” he told me. “They are occupying Sunni areas. They are the bigger enemy.” He admitted that Sunnis made a strategic blunder by boycotting the Iraqi political process in the early days of the occupation, and Sunni clerics made a mistake by issuing fatwas prohibiting Sunnis from joining the nascent security forces the Americans were creating. “This is the result now. Because we didn’t join the police and army, they got full of the Mahdi Army and Badr.” Abu Yasser hoped to join the police one day, but added, “if the government doesn’t let us join we’ll stay here protecting our area”.
But the Awakening groups never had a chance against the centralised authority of the Iraqi state: from the beginning they were divided against one another, squabbling over the power they had previously been denied. In February 2008, I accompanied Abu Salih and his men to Ramadi, where they had been summoned to a meeting by the head of the Awakening Council, Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha. Osama was excited at the prospect of discussing the future of the movement – he wanted the Awakening groups to form a government for Sunnis with Abu Risha, he told me, “because the Iraqi government doesn’t do sh**”.
But in Ramadi the order of the day was seeing off several rivals from their own neighbourhood, who had appealed to the Sheikh in Ramadi to be recognised as movement’s official representatives in Dora in advance of the next elections. Abu Salih traded insults and accusations with the competition, with each faction accusing the other of al Qa’eda membership and claiming to have single-handedly protected the neighbourhood. After an hour of contentious argument, Abu Salih left, proudly carrying the Awakening Council flag: they were Dora’s new political bosses.
It did them little good: the following month Osama threatened to quit and withdraw all his men after an assault by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi National Police, who opened fire on the neighbourhood and beat some of Osama’s men with rifles. The Americans did nothing, Osama complained, and they were late with payments. “They are killing me,” he said, “like I’m begging money from them, every day the same bullsh**, people don’t believe that they’re late, they think I’m keeping money.”
In October 2008, two weeks after authority over Dora’s Awakening groups passed to the Iraqi government, Osama’s deputy Abu Yasser was arrested by the National Police. Osama told me he was taken to the police headquarters, hung by his arms, and tortured. He confessed to murders he hadn’t committed – but the victims he named were still alive. Still, he remains in prison. He has already paid $20,000 toward his release, Osama told me, but “they can’t release him without money, everything costs money.” Abu Yasser was worried that al Qa’eda men in prison with him would find out that he was with the Awakening and kill him.
After Abu Yasser’s arrest, Abu Salih arranged a lunch to celebrate Eid; he invited the local American army unit as well. In the meantime he had achieved a measure of fame, and even Abud Qanbar, the commander of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, came to Dora and shook his hand, accompanied by television cameras. “Abu Salih helped many Shiite families come back and protected them,” Osama told me, but said that not long after the lunch, a new American unit showed up in the area and arrested Abu Salih. He was taken to the serious crimes unit of the Iraqi police and accused of terrorism. Osama said that he too was tortured and hung by his arms, and now has trouble walking. Abu Salih also paid about $20,000, according to Osama, and his family expect him to be released when more money is paid. At least eight other men I knew from Osama’s group had been arrested since the Iraqi government took over.
When I met Osama in March, he was hiding in an apartment on the northern edge of Baghdad – there was a warrant out for his arrest as well, and he could not return to Dora to visit his parents. Osama felt betrayed. “The Americans were only with us when they needed us,” he said. When he called the Americans to complain that Abu Yassir had been arrested, they told him it was an Iraqi affair.
“The Sons of Iraq was never supposed to be an amnesty programme,” one American embassy official in Baghdad told me when I recounted this story to him. A Shiite Iraqi Army captain who fought both al Qa’eda and the Mahdi Army put it this way: “the Mahdi Army was taking over Sunni areas so the Americans came up with the Awakening to create a balance between Shiites and Sunnis. We knew the Awakening, we had their names, we knew that they were wanted men. The first time I heard about it I was against it – armed guys on the street. But the Americans said ‘cooperate with them, use them now and we’ll arrest them later.’”
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Many of the Awakening leaders I saw in Baghdad and its environs in March told similar stories. In the Mukhabarat area of Baghdad’s Jihad district, I visited Ibrahim Saleh, also known as Abu Abdallah Hamdani. The area was walled off, and the entrance was guarded by a tense Awakening man and some members of the National Police. Inside I drove by a large lake of sewage and rubbish alongside a dirt road that led to Saleh’s large house, still under construction at the top of a hill.
Saleh took charge of 160 Awakening men in August 2008, after the National Police arrested his brother Taher, the area’s previous leader. He said that he and his brother joined the Awakening because they wanted to protect the area, and because there were no other jobs. “The Friendly Forces,” as he called the Americans, “came to us and asked Taher my brother to protect the area and give information. The Awakening was established here in July 2007.” He claimed his brother had a good relationship with the National Police, but one day they came to patrol the area, and Taher invited them to lunch. “After they finished eating they arrested him,” Saleh told me. “They accused him of murder and stealing. In the beginning they beat him badly, he passed out for two days.”
Ibrahim claimed that both al Qa’eda and Shiite militias had tried to assassinate him. Two weeks before I met him one of his Awakening men was arrested and beaten until he confessed to murder. I asked him what he expected would come next. “This is the reality,” he said. “I will be arrested, 100 per cent. As soon as they finish with me they will arrest me.” He too felt betrayed. “We were with the government of Iraq and the Americans. The arrests can’t happen without the permission of the Americans.”
Ibrahim’s men get 345,000 Iraqi dinars (Dhs1093, or about $300) a month. Since the handover many of his men have not received their salaries. None of his men were integrated into the security forces, he said, and he claimed that at the nearby Furat Police Academy, any Sunni recruit was rejected.
Along the banks of the Tigris in south Baghdad is an idyllic rural area, called Arab Jubur, which was the scene of some of the worst al Qa’eda violence of the war. As I drove there from Dora with a local friend, past groves of palm trees, he pointed to empty fields where he said al Qa’eda used to dump bodies, many of them Shiites kidnapped on the nearby motorway. “They would take whole Kia buses full of people,” he said. We drove through numerous checkpoints where Awakening men stood alongside Iraqi soldiers. The road was scarred by IEDs and the holes were filled with dirt.
I stopped to chat with two Awakening men at a checkpoint outside Arab Jubur. My friend told me that both men had been with the Army of the Mujahideen, but joined the Awakening in 2007. Neither they nor their comrades had succeeded in joining the Iraqi Security Forces. “We all tried,” they said. “It was only promises.” They had also not been paid in two months. A 17-year-old boy from the neighbourhood hopped in our car to take us to the house of the local Awakening leader. “It became normal to see dead bodies here on the side of the road,” he said as we drove.
Iraqi soldiers patrol Baghdad’s Fadhil district a day after clashes erupted between Awakening men and Iraqi and American forces, following the arrest of Adel al Mashhadani, the head of the local Awakening Council. Hadi Mizban / AP Photo
Inside the house I met Tahsin Abdallah Khalal al Rabia, of the Jubur tribe. Only 25, he was one of the first men in the area to join the Awakening, which was led in the area by his brother Amer. He told me that three of his brothers had been killed by al Qa’eda even before they established an Awakening group, and one after. As we spoke, Amer showed up, wearing a loose fitting suit with a pistol tucked in his pants. A 24-year veteran of the Iraqi Army, Amer led the Awakening groups in the villages of Zunbaraniya, Uleimiya and Beijia. Under the Americans he led 629 men, but the Iraqis had been reducing his numbers, firing men every month, and he was down to only 490. He too said that none of his men had managed to join the Iraqi Security Forces.
A few months earlier, he said, two of his men captured two al Qa’eda fighters and brought them to Dora to hand them over to the National Police. But Amer’s men were arrested as well, and remained in prison in Dora.
“The Iraqi army pays us now,” he said, “and many negative things have happened. They reduced salaries: I used to get $600 a month, now I get $300 a month like my men. The Americans used to come here to pay us, now we have to go to Iraqi army battalion, wait on long lines, sometimes for two or three days. We are treated with disrespect. For the last two months there is no salary. It’s all fake promises.”
Iraqi soldiers, he complained, had beaten one of his men and insulted him because he did not salute them. “We are targeted by al Qa’eda and we have no protection,” he told me. He said that he had been falsely accused of murder, and there was now a warrant for his arrest in Baghdad. Sectarianism persisted in Iraq, but it was now covert, he told me. “Why did terrorism happen?” he asked. “Because of the vacuum. If they don’t put the Awakening groups in the Iraqi army or Iraqi police, problems will happen.”
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In Adhamiya, the last Sunni enclave in east Baghdad, I met Abu Omar, also known as Khalil Ibrahim, one of the Awakening leaders there. The neighbourhood is home to the important Abu Hanifa mosque, where Saddam Hussein made his last public appearance, surrounded by adoring supporters, on April 8, 2003. I sat with Abu Omar on some plastic chairs and drank tea in the main square, which was adorned with posters of slain Awakening fighters, including two of Abu Omar’s sons. I worried about suicide bombers, who had killed several of Adhamiya’s Awakening leaders inside the neighbourhood. As we sat, small boys ran around us. One of them, whose father was a slain Awakening fighter, played with a plastic pistol, shooting at us.
“If the Awakening wasn’t here,” he said proudly, “in 20 years the Iraqi army and US army wouldn’t be able to come in.” He bragged that it was the “third hottest area in Iraq” and noted that the neighbourhood held out against American troops for a day longer than much of the rest of Baghdad. Then Abu Omar was fighting the Americans as well, and I asked him how he could collaborate with his former enemies. “The Americans are leaving, but the Iranians are staying,” he told me.
In November 2007 he joined the Awakening with 13 other family members. He had been a non-commissioned intelligence officer in the Iraqi army, and claims that after the war he was jobless and sold gasoline on the black market.
At first Abu Omar’s men clashed with the Iraqi Army. “We don’t accept the Iraqi police here,” he told me, “they can only come with army. We don’t like them, they’re all militias.” Out of the hundreds of Awakening men in his area, only four had managed to join the police. “The government is sectarian,” he said. “They want to destroy the Awakening.”
Under the Americans, he said, his men were paid on time, and he was given gas, bullets and money for food. But when we spoke, the salaries were 52 days late, and 84 of his men had been relieved of their duties. When the Americans withdraw, he said, the civil war will resume. I asked him why he did not unite with other Awakening leaders to form a stronger front. “We tried in 2008,” he told me. “Awakening leaders couldn’t join together because they couldn’t agree among themselves.”
When they were first established, the Awakening groups were a formidable force. But it may seem now to many of the former insurgents that they miscalculated: their cooperation has not resulted in political power or even incorporation into the security forces. Awakening men are not the only people in Iraq today who can’t find work – that problem is widespread – but former Shiite militiamen, by comparison, have much less trouble joining the security forces.
Several Awakening men told me that some of their leaders were fleeing, out of fear of arrest, and that others were contemplating a return to violence in response to the increased pressure they faced from the government. In recent weeks scores of Awakening men have been arrested in Dora and Arab Jubur, and there were reports in April that an American air strike killed a group of Awakening fighters allegedly planting IEDs in north Baghdad.
The failed uprising in Fadhil at the end of March was a distinct sign, however, that no united Sunni front is likely to emerge. The deadly insurgency that followed the American invasion was spread across a wide swath of the country; resistance from isolated local Sunni groups poses no such problem for the strengthened Iraqi state, and the failure of other Awakening leaders to come to Mashhadani’s defence makes it clear there will be no widespread uprising.
At the beginning of April, a few days after Mashhadani was arrested, Thamir al Tamimi, also known as Abu Azzam, a senior Awakening Council leader from Anbar who is a liaison to the government, downplayed the significance of the arrest in an interview and said that joining the Awakening did not provide a person with immunity.
Hamid al Hayis, an early founder of the Awakening in Anbar, gave a similar interview to the Saudi-owned Asharq al Awsat, in which he defended the arrest of Mashhadani. The Awakening, he said, was now only a political organisation, and only Iraqi government forces should be armed; other men carrying weapons, he said, were nothing more than militias.
A spate of bombings followed the clashes in Fadhil, giving rise to more concern about a return to sectarian conflict. Shiite neighbourhoods in Baghdad were struck by coordinated car bombs, and attacks against American soldiers, Iraqi Security Forces and Awakening members also increased.
Some of these attacks may represent a warning by Awakening leaders that they can still obstruct American goals in Iraq; they are more likely an opportunistic attempt by al Qa’eda-like groups to take advantage of Sunni grievances and provoke further violence. But there is little prospect for another outbreak of war: today there is no area controlled by al Qa’eda in Iraq, and it does not appear likely the group can seize any territory.
The remaining Awakening men have burnt their bridges with their more radical former allies and are now hunted by them; the Iraqi Security Forces have improved their intelligence and strike capability and have little problem tracking those men they want to arrest. Sunni civilians have no interest in backing a new insurgency after their own bitter experience – and they no longer feel targeted by Shiite militias.
The occasional al Qa’eda suicide attack can still kill masses of innocent civilians, but it has no strategic impact; in fact it is difficult to understand what motivates such attacks today, since their effect is almost nil. It would be naive to say that Iraq’s future is certain, or even likely, to be a peaceful one, but the war between Sunnis and Shiites is now over.
Nir Rosen is a Fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security. He is finishing a book about the civil war in Iraq.
Hi everybody, I just purchased 250,000 Dinar. Does anyone know when they will set the value on the new Dinar and how much it will be set at? I am hearing June 1, 2009 they will announce to the public how much it will be worth and an inside source I have is saying it could be worth up to $5.31
Your recent post was, as always, highly informative and entertaining. I swear I get a better picture of what it is like to be over there from your posts than from a million news stories.
I think someone mentioned it many months ago that you 'should' write a book. My own thoughts are that this would be a very popular read. You have a talent for getting your unique insights across in a very concise and clear way, without being boring or purely factual.
Kudos to you for getting your butt over their and not only seeing what is going on over in the sand pit, but also making it happen.
All the best and play safe :o)
Hi Andy. Welcome aboard. Grab yourself a seat, sit back and enjoy the view. You could be in for a bit of a wait. If you hang on a few more weeks it might hit $5.40!
I do not mean to be a wet blanket but you may want to cast the date of 06/01/09 aside as well as the exchange rate of $5.31.
Iraq is still sometime away from altering its exchange rate in a significant manner. The GoI must still pass Hydro Carbon legislation prior to any change in the Dinars exchange rate. They must monetize its oil to back such a move cash reserves and gold alone would not support it.
Your source stating $5.31 per Dinar is in my opinion way off base. Is your source a dealer? I would venture a broad guess of $.33 to $1.00 and the dollar may be stretching it.
I concur with NellyB sit back and relax. Do not look for anything of significance until after the parlimentary elections to be held Jan 2010.
Today another team did the daily (nightly that is, in the Baghdad area we can not do convoys in day time) convoy, and I had a rare opportunity to be in the yard, doing some work, and at the wee hours compose a little bit on the "pjuter".
I would like to report a little bit as the "eye on the ground", and I have observed something that I don't know how to interpret.
I will just put it out there to you and you try to figure it out. Your guess will probably be as good as mine. No one will for sure tell us nohing here.
According to the news we are now in a three year ( close to two and a half year left) contract with the Iraqis to stay here, and after that we're suppose to leave, all of us, leave nothing left.
Ok, Obama wants to do this a little bit quicker, and are talking about a year and a half.
In order to dismantle this whole infrastructure and ship it back home, you have to put into it a loooot of effort, because if we are to tear this down in record time, all the bases we have been continously building on since we got here, we need to get really really busy doing that more or less yesterday.
Granted there are some material that will not be cost effective to bring back, and some are probably being considered to be left behind to the Iraqis, but the amount of stuff we have here is many fully functional bases.
I do know that some of the smaller bases ARE in fact shutting down, and I have observed some personell moving around because of that.
However, at least two very big bases that I am in contact with veery frequently, show no indication of folding up, instead, construction is ongoing, and I can see some pretty big projects being done as we speak. That to me does not indicate that we will leave, but the contrary, that we are here to stay.
Today we had a small, in base, convoy where we took a lot of empty containers to the shipping point. I happened to hear that they were going to Kuwait empty, to get loaded and shipped back.
I can imagine that if we are leaving, we would fill the containers with something we want to get out, but we are instead hauling stuff in here, in big volume.
The projects I have seen being done is something I would call "multi million dollar projects" with complex structures in ongoing constuction.
Taken into account a couple of data:
1. The three year contract .
2. Obamas wish to get it done quicker.
3. Suggestion from the Iraqis that they may not want us out in such a hurry after all...
... makes me believe that the public announcement of actual troop withdrawals and the "real" planning is two different animals.
We are suppose to be down to 35 to 50.000 troops by the middle of next year, and the remainaing troops are now re-named "advisors".
We are suppose to be out of every major city by the end of this June.
In effect, we are suppose to only be a force that are completely walled in in forts after June.
My take, and that has a little bit broader view, what is going on, and that we really need to "drag our feet" out of here, is the following.
On this I might be right or wrong, but I have a feeling that Iran is one of the reasons we are here in such a force.
Iran have already told the world that it will obliterate Israel, and in effect the situatin is pretty simple.
Israel is a country, it can't hide or run, it IS there.
If you can't run or hide, and someone would tell you: -"I hate your guts, and I am going to kill you, and now I am going to get a gun and do just that".
Would you let him go and get the gun, if you were armed and could stop him?
The choice is simple, let him get the gun and you will die, stop him from getting that gun, with whatever means you have, and you will live.
From all the discussions we have had earlier on this blog, nothing has changed, except that the time is getting shorter and shorter.
It is pretty much predictions that a fifth grader can do, Israel must hit, if no diplomatic solution is at hand.
I am really sure they are trying diplomatic solutions, but from the part of Iran, the negotiations are only means of buying time, in order to develop and produce their nuclear warheads.
Now, THAT scenario makes more sense to me, as a reason to hang around in Iraq as long as possible.
Who knows, if it comes to blows with Iran, any old contract with Iraq, will probably be renewed with the perspective from the new scenario in the aftermath of THAT conflict, and THAT may be a completely different ballgame.
All of this is specualtion of course, but it seems more real along any logical lines to me anyway.
I don't think, in case there will be a conflict with Iran, that Iraq will be involved in that conflict, it MAY if the Iranians are lobbing warheads into American bases here in Iraq, instead the gavanizing factor that will unite Iraq against an outside enemy.
Despite the fact that Iraq is 60 % Shiite, there is a difference between Iran and Iraq. They have already had a war between them so the idea is not far fetched. Iran and Iraq are trying very much to cooperate, but there is an international pressure, plus a national awareness already in Iraq.
As I described earlier, the common man is still much in the hands of his Mullah and Sheik, and his loyalty to Iraq is perhaps the third in line, after the Mullahs and Sheiks, but he is not aligned with Iran in any way or form other than on religious ground.
Ok it is a little bit much to dwell on, all in one package, so I think I better go and wrap up some caqins on some trucks we need to use tomorrow.
I do not think that what you are describing is at all in odds against American foreign policy for Iraq. I resently read or saw a documentary somewhere about how the Iraqis people cooperated with the USA military by turning in Al-qaida and Iranians due to their thought that the people in Iraq viewed the Iranians as the greater threat. I think that this view has been discussed probably by the Iraq Government privately with American officials.
-Your thoughts about the Israel possibly attacking Iran is a valid point.
-The Iraqis being concerned about possible attack from Iran is also a possibility--- even if this war is not recognized.
-The other possibility is that the military maybe planning on moving supplies to Afghanistan. We seem to be moving on military plans to help that population in winning the minds and hearts of the Afghanistan people. Given that this is the policy, some of these supplies could be slated for removal there.
-The other item we know is that the supplies moved to Iraq were for re-construction of Iraq. These supplies could and probably will be used for this purpose.
They still have times for both of these purposes to unfold. And, in the event that Iran decides to attack Israel or vise-versa or even the possibility to attack Iraq-- then the military has options.
Roger, let us know when the military start moving supplies. As I am sure, this is going to happen.
The other item is that American is not planning on moving some of these large bases at all. As you stated, 50,000 troops will be left behind in Iraq. It sounds to me like these bases maybe used strategically (as needed). This is not contendant on this 2 1/2 -3 year plan of Obama's.
-Also, northern Iraq has invited troops to stay on forever it seems. They want an American presence.
-The other thought I have is that america has never intended to leave due to the very large embassy. This embassy is the largest one that the USA government has ever built according to the state department. What does that suggest to you?.
Sounds like politics to me from both Iraq officials and the American political spheres.
-Oil is another issue. The USA wants to protect this as a vital USA interest. The Iraq's want to protect this right against Iran and any others who want to take it from Iraq. Therefore, Iraq will want the USA to stay.
Do you all remember us discussing the probablity of US troops moving into forts at the outskirts of all the cities into remote locations. Remember we discussed the possibility of the military placing an air force umbrella over the air space of Iraq.
It sort of sounds to me like this is what is happening. The Iraq's are taking on ground security of their country...with a little help from USA and the USA is taking on the air security for the country.
The below comments were made this week by General Casey. The four or five "super bases", such as Al-Asad, have been constructed over a several year period to house our troops and handle air operations. I knew the bases had reached "super" status when Popeyes Chicken and KFC opened for business.
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"WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday.
Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability operations in two wars. "Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction," Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works."
He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy analysts from Washington-based think-tanks. He said his planning envisions combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S. commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East."
Hi everyone, the rate has been set at $5.62 is what I am hearing and for everyone to say that it wont be that high where is your logic? They wont set it at 33 cents that is way too low it wouldnt do anything for their economy. When this happened to Kuwait in 1990 their currency was set at $7 so it is definetly possible.
The Kuwait Dinar is currently worth $3.48 and their oil curve is going down. Iraq could be $5.62 because their oil curve is going up. I still believe they will RV at less than $1.00 and let it find it's own level. The truth is....anything above 10 cents will set us all free and the party will go on for days!
I have run across some Deka articles from Israel that may shread some light on Roger's questions about what is happening in the Middle East.
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Netanyahu, Mubarak, Abbas meet Obama in Washington this month
12 May: President Hosni Mubarak is invited to talks with US President Barack Obama on May 26, eight days after the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's May 18 visit. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas follows on May 28.
DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report that the private one-and-a-half hour conversation Netanyahu and Mubarak held a at Sharm el-Sheikh Monday, May 11 focused on the urgency of a common Israeli-Arab strategy for dealing with Iran and its allies, which Egypt too has defined as a threat to its own and Middle East stability. Both are worried by the Obama administration's lenience toward Tehran.
Their brief statements later dealt only with their differing approaches on the Palestinian issue.
Mubarak stressed the vision of two states for two nations and the Arab peace initiative, calling on Israel to take up the peace dialogue with the Palestinians from the point it ran aground last year.
Netanyahu, while pledging to renew talks in a matter of weeks, omitted to support two states and emphasized the talks must start on a fresh basis, focusing on diplomatic, economic and security issues. Israel and its Palestinian neighbors can co-exist in peace, security and prosperity, he said.
13 May: Egypt has deployed 600 commandos in civilian garb in the northern Sinai town of El Arish and the divided Gaza town of Rafah for its first ever serious effort to cork up the hundreds of Hamas' arms smuggling mega-tunnels into the Gaza Strip.
Now, for the first time, chances are good for severing the subterranean lifeline feeding the Hamas arsenal which has blasted Israel for eight years, a high-ranking Israeli security officer commented. "If Cairo had done this three years ago," he said, "Iran might never have been able to move in on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and spread its wings across into Egypt territory.
Cairo has taken four significant steps:
1. It has closed off the sector between El Arish and Rafah as an off-limits military zone. Vehicles going in or out are searched by Egyptian commandos.
2. Roadblocks are posted 20 kilometers apart on Sinai road connections to the Suez Canal and Red Sea coasts.
3. The tunnel owners of the El Arish and Rafah were warned that gun-runners face years in an Egyptian jail with hard labor.
4. Sinai Bedouin chiefs were handed hefty cash grants to stop the arms smugglers from transiting their territories.
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Iranian sources: Obama to free four Iranian "diplomats" in swap for US journalist
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
13 May: Those sources reveal that US journalist Roxana Saberi was released Tuesday, May 12, as part of an exchange deal for Washington to free four senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers captured in Irbil, northern Iraq in January 2007. Defined as "diplomats" by Tehran, they ran terror operations and covert arms supplies from Iran then to al Qaeda and Sunni insurgent networks.
The Obama administration is also considering releasing to Tehran information on the fate of the Iranian diplomat who disappeared in Pakistan four months ago. The four Iranian agents have not yet been freed, but senior Iranian and Iraqi sources say it will happen soon. The date depends on Tehran satisfying Washington's demand for information on the former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who has never been heard of from the time he disappeared on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007.
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CIA chief visits Israel, mixed Washington assessments on Iran
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
14 May: CIA Director Leon Panetta visited Israel two weeks ago to explore Israel's intentions with regard to a raid on Iran's nuclear facilities and its alignment with Egypt and Saudi Arabia for this shared objective.
The agency's latest assessments - that Iran lacks adequate military resources to shield its nuclear sites from attack and would also pull its punches in responding to an Israeli strike - were not taken seriously by Israel or the Egyptian and Saudi leaders, who heard them from defense secretary Robert Gates at around the same time.
They suspected that Washington is trying to prevent Israel's link-up with Egypt and Saudi Arabia for sending its warplanes against Iran through the skies of its two Arab partners, without asking the United States.
Panetta and Gates alike returned home convinced that Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf emirates are far more fearful of a nuclear-armed Iran than of clashing with the Obama administration over its Iran policy. This has prompted a policy review in Washington, which is still going on, producing Obama's sudden decision to address the Muslim world from Egypt on June 4 and his renewal of sanctions against Syria. It bodes a smoother visit to Washington by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu next Monday, May 18.
More articles from Debka News.
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Sharp US reversal: From détente to new sanctions against Syria
09 May: An unnamed Syrian source described Washington's decision of Friday, May 8, to renew US sanctions because of the continuing threat Damascus posed to US interests "a routine measure." The source said the measure would not affect dialogue between the two countries.
After a major diplomatic offensive to thaw relations with Syrian president Bashar Assad, US president Barack Obama sent a letter to Congress accusing Damascus of "supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining US and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq."
DEBKAfile's Middle East sources explain Obama's change of heart by his disappointment with Assad's refusal to respond to the efforts of US envoys to persuade him to start moving away from Tehran and stop transferring arms to the Shiite terrorist Hizballah. He also refused to keep his hands of Lebanon's June elections, in which Hizballah and pro-Syrian factions are challenging the western-backed majority government.
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Pakistan hangs back from major Swat offensive, holds secret talks with Taliban
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
10 May: DEBKAfile's military sources report that accounts of a major Pakistan military offensive launched to flush Taliban out of their strongholds in the northern Swat Valley are inflated. This is not to say that hundreds of thousands of civilians are not fleeing the valley. Some half a million are on the move and will join the same number displaced since August, generating a large-scale humanitarian catastrophe.
The Pakistani army has so far not fought a single pitched battle with the Taliban, nor rooted them out of any cities and villages under their control. Instead, they are using long-range artillery against Taliban positions and warplane and helicopter strikes against small Taliban groups on the move. The 15,000 Pakistani troops poised in the Swat Valley are not about to launch a major offensive against the 5,000 Taliban fighters standing against them. For one thing, double the number of troops would be needed. For another, the Islamabad government and local insurgent chiefs are in secret negotiation to arrange for the army to move "victoriously" into the main Swat towns of Mingora and Kambar without facing resistance. Taliban would retreat to the countryside, undefeated and with minimal losses. Both sides would then revert to the original deal for the imposition of Sharia law in the province in return for a ceasefire.
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May 10 Briefs:
- Four knife-carrying Palestinians caught heading for Jerusalem and Hebro.
- Israeli security sources: Stabbing attempts orchestrated for Pope Benedict's visit Monday:
One would-be terrorist picked up in Gilo, Jerusalem.
Second heading for Jerusalem through the Tunnels Road.
Two more stopped outside the Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron ---
- New anti-tank missile armor, Windbreaker, fitted on first Israeli Chariot-4 tank unit.
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Gates demands resignation of US Afghanistan commander
DEBKAfile Special Report
11 May: US defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked for the top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan to resign and recommended he be replaced by a former Special Operations officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.
The incoming chief, currently the director of the joint staff, was forward commander of the US military's covert Joint Special Operations Command from 2006 to August 2008, which was responsible for tracking down and killing al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi in April 2006, as well as high-profile Sunni insurgents.
Gates seems to believe that McChrystal's special operations tactics may succeed better in breaking Talilban-al Qaeda resistance than the more traditional methods of the departing Gen. McKiernan.
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Pope Benedict's Yad Vashem speech disappoints Israel
11 May: The widely anticipated address by Pope Benedict XVI at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem was too general, theological and abstract to ease strains with the Jewish people.
The pontiff offered no apology; nor did he mention Germany and the Nazis, when he said: "Those who lost their lives must never lose their names or be forgotten" and "The atrocity which disgraced mankind must never happen again," without specifying its perpetrators.
"The Catholic Church feels deep compassion for all victims of persecution," said the German-born pontiff.
Benedict's five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinians began at Ben Gurion on arrival from Jordan, Monday, May 11, when he called for the establishment of a "Palestinian homeland," plunging deep in the most sensitive Middle East politics. He was greeted by a long line of welcoming dignitaries headed by Israel's president, prime minister and heads of the various faiths.
Around 30,000 police are on duty in Israel's largest security operation in years, involving also decoy helicopters for his carefully-balanced itinerary in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Wednesday, the pope visits the Palestinian refugee camp at Bethlehem and leads a mass at Manger Square. Thursday, he spends in Nazareth where he also meets Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
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Netanyahu-Mubarak Talks Aim for Arab-Israel Front against Iran
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
11 May: If successful, Binyamin Netanyahu's first talks as Israeli prime minister with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak at Sharm el Sheikh Monday, May 11, could mark the epic birth of Israel's first alliance with two key Arab nations, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in order to stop Iran. Netanyahu has bought the proposition that he may have to pay his two Arab partners in the coin of concessions to the Palestinians. But the Israeli leader believes it is worth price for the sake of a working partnership with Egypt and Saudi Arabia against Iran.
In strategic-historic terms, he believes that would be a more advantageous deal than succumbing to American arm-twisting. After all, Cairo and Riyadh are willing to stand up shoulder to shoulder with Israel against Iran – unlike the Obama administration.
The Israeli prime minister utterly rejects the tradeoff implied in US National adviser Gen. James Jones statement Sunday that a two state-solution would diminish Iran's existential threat to Israel, with no guarantee of the latter.
More articles on the middle east from another Debka newspaper. As we can't get this news from our own USA news service, I thought this might be enlightening to some.
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Washington threatens to evacuate three US bases over Qatar's pro-Iran policy
May 15: The Obama administration has secretly warned Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani that he risks losing the three big American bases located in the emirate if he persists in promoting Iran's radicalizing influence over Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians.
An American military withdrawal from the emirate, especially the big Al Odeid air base and Central Command headquarters, would be a crushing blow to Al Thani. It would leave Qatar and the rest of the Gulf unprotected in any military conflagration in the region over Iran's nuclear program.
It alarmed Emir al Thani enough for him to takes steps, one of which was to direct the news editors of al Jazeera TV station, which he owns, to moderate the anti-American line of its English and Arabic language broadcasts.
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May 15 briefs:
- Egyptian security officers uncover big arms cache near Israeli border in Sinai.
It contained 260 rockets, 40 mines, 50 mortar shells, anti-air missiles.
They were bound for Hamas in Gaza Strip.
- Pope winds up five-day visit to Israel, Palestinian territories Friday noon.
- Tony Blair to US Congress: Neither Israelis nor Palestinians want to resume peace talks.
They must be pushed.
Israel will never accept a Palestinian state without a stability guarantee.
- US Federal court refuses Palestinian Authority appeal against $116 m compensation for couple stabbed to death in 1996 terror attack.
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US upholds Israel's nuclear position as long as Iran enriches uranium
16 May: This statement by a senior American official in Vienna paves the way for an Israeli request to extend the 40-year old "ambiguity" arrangement approved by Obama's predecessors for its nuclear program.
The senior US official, addressing preparatory talks for a nuclear non-proliferation treaty review conference in 2010, made it clear that US arms control negotiator Rose Gottermoelle did not break new ground last week when she urged presumed atomic powers India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea to join the nuclear non-proliferation pact. He said: The four presumed nuclear nations were unlikely to join the NPT "until there is a change in the overall political and security context." He added: "In the particular case of the Middle East, Israeli adherence to the NPT is only going to be possible in the context of… full compliance with [the treaty in the region]."
Establishing a Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone "depends on Iran fully complying with its NPT obligations and suspending uranium enrichment."
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Jordan's Abdullah appoints his 9-year son crown prince, sacks Hazme
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
17 May: Jordan's King Abdullah II has been hyperactive on the Palestinian issue in the last few days to draw attention from a highly controversial decree which has taken Amman by storm: the appointment of his 9-year old son, Hussein, as crown prince, after summarily sacking from the post his 27-year old half-brother Prince Hazme, son of King Hussein and US-born Queen Noor, who lives in America.
This decision has aroused a major to-do in the royal court as well as opposition in Jordan's government and military elite. They fear Abdullah's his appointment of a young child as first in line to the throne will plunge the kingdom into a period of instability. They also accuse him of breaking a deathbed promise to his father.
When King Hussein knew he was dying of cancer in 1999, he pulled the post of crown prince from his brother, Prince Hassan, and passed it to his own son, Abdullah, against a pledge to appoint Prince Hamze next in line to the throne.
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May 17 briefs:
- Hatred of Jews intensifies among Israeli Arab community, according to a new poll.
Increased numbers - 40% - deny Holocaust and the Jews' right to a state.
- Israel registers 3.4 percent negative growth in first quarter.
Exports drop 48 percent as recession begins to bite.
- Netanyahu to visit Sarkozy in Paris in two weeks.
- Al-Shabab militia captures key Jowhar town north of Mogadishu from Somali government troops. - Netanyahu arrives in Washington for talks with Obama Monday.
He will also meet Gates, Clinton, Jones and national American-Jewish leaders.
- First women elected to Kuwait parliament.
Sunni parties lose 10 of 21 seats, Shiite minority doubles representation to nine.
- Egypt finds half-ton Hamas weapons cache near Gaza border – second Egyptian haul in a week.
- Peres meets Jordan's Abdullah in Amman.
- Arab League Secy Amr Musa: Main ME concern is nuclear Israel not Iran.
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US-Israel summit shadowed by Obama's soft stand on Iranian enrichment
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
18 May: DEBKAfile's Washington sources report that the gap between US president Barack Obama and Israel prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Iran was wider even than on the Palestinian issue.
Overshadowing their outwardly easy conversation was the US president's growing inclination to meet Iran halfway on uranium enrichment. He is seriously considering taking up the Anglo-German proposal for an international monitoring mechanism strict enough to preclude Iran's attainment of weapons-grade enriched uranium after being advised by US intelligence and nuclear experts that this is feasible.
Israeli intelligence and military experts take the opposite view. They believe the Anglo-German plan gives Iran the perfect cover for concealing its race for a nuclear bomb, a misgiving shared by the political and military establishments of the moderate Arab governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
It is their view that if Obama adopts this plan, Iran can be sure of arriving at a nuclear weapon capability by the end of 2010, after winning six clear months for moving forward.
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No agreement on Iran, Palestinians in Obama-Netanyahu talks
18 May: US president Barak Obama stood by his demand for a Palestinian state while Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu continued to avoid this formula in their talks at the White House Monday, May 18, their first since both took office.
They agreed that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat not only to Israel and the US but a destabilizing factor for the world and the region. However, Obama said he is in the process of reaching out to Iran and is confident he can persuade its leaders that a nuclear bomb is not in their interest either. These talks can't go on forever," he said: "At the end of the year we'll see where we stand."
Netanyahu was less sanguine: "A nuclear-armed Iran which calls for Israel's destruction is unacceptable and would give terrorists a nuclear umbrella."
The US president called on Israel to stick to the road map as "ratified at Annapolis" (which Netanyahu has rejected) and stop settlement activity. The Palestinians must fight terror. Obama pledged US involvement in peace talks as a strong partner.
Netanyahu said he was ready to start talks with the Palestinians immediately. He wanted the Palestinians to rule themselves, but peace means they must recognize Israel as a Jewish state with the right to defend itself and live in security.
Both agreed that Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia should be constructively involved in the Israel-Palestinian peace track and do more to develop relations with Israel at the outset.
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Nasrallah places his Hizballah on war preparedness
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
18 May: During a videotaped speech haranguing Israel for staging threatening military maneuvers, Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah Monday night, May 18, ordered a call-up of reserves and placed his terrorist militia on war preparedness.
Our military sources reported that Hizballah was exploiting the alleged flight of suspected Israeli spies from Lebanon across the border into Israel to wind up border tension.
On May 18, Elie al-Hayek, 49, a mathematics professor from Qleia, who walks on crutches, fled to Israel with his wife and three children after being accused of spying for Israel along with 13 other Lebanese nationals. Hizballah's Al Manar TV claimed that two more suspected spies escaped Monday and several last week. Beirut has lodged a complaint with UNIFIL headquarters at Naqoura and demanded the escapees' extradition.
The spy mania gripping Beirut is exploited by the different parties campaigning for election on June 7.
Hizballah is it and the escape of suspects to inflame border tension, and lift its image as the true custodian for the south after government and UNIFIL forces proved incapable of guarding the Lebanese-Israeli border.
More articles from Debka (Israeli News).
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US Treasury targets Syria-based al Qaeda facilitator for Iraq
DEBKAfile Special Report
18 May: Damascus has ordered Syrian intelligence to permit Saad Uwayyid Ubayd Mujil al Shammari aka Abu Khalaf - named by Washington as the senior leader of al Qaeda's Syria-based support network – to step up the flow of suicide bombers into Iraq to 20-30 a month.
Abu Khalaf is a threat to "the safety of Coalition forces and the stability of Iraq," said Stuart Levey, US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial intelligence.
In the early stages of its diplomatic exchanges with Washington, Syrian president Bashar Assad ordered the al Qaeda facilitator to slow down the traffic of foreign al Qaeda terrorists into Iraq. But when US presidential envoys started visiting Damascus on a regular footing, he lifted these restraints. As a result, al Qaeda reactivated its smuggling route for suicide bombers, weapons and explosives through the Euphrates River into Iraq's Anbar province.
In April, therefore, the US military death toll in Iraq shot up to 18 - double the March figure.
Special US Marine forces patrol the river by boat to intercept them. On May 1, a patrol was ambushed in Anbar by al Qaeda suicide killers, who left two US marines and a seaman dead after a firefight.
Assad is not expected to heed the renewed US sanctions over his backing for terrorists. Since last year, Abu Khalaf has also been recruiting North Africans for al Qaeda's Iraq networks.
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Diskin: Hamas will not give Mid East peace a chance, can be toppled
19 May: US president Barack Obama's planned Middle East initiative is a non-starter as long as the extremist Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, said Shin Bet (internal security agency) director Yuval Diskin Tuesday, May 19.
Israel must decide once and for all whether to topple the Hamas regime, which can be done without conquering the Gaza Strip, in his view. Hamas will not let go of the Gaza Strip or its fundamentalist ideology, Diskin warned, while the Palestinian Authority is equally determined to hold on to the West Bank. But if elections were held on the West Bank today, Hamas would win.
Until Egyptian special forces clamped down on smuggling through Sinai, Hamas had managed in four months to smuggle 46 anti-air missiles, 330 mortars, 37 short-range ground missiles and 17 tons of explosives into Gaza. It is aiming for missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv, 63 kilometers away, although there is no evidence it has succeeded."
In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum forbade the Palestinian Authority to resume negotiations with the "Zionist enemy."
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May 19 briefs:
- US denies training "terrorists in Iraq's Kurdish region" as charged by Iran, accuses Tehran of meddling in Iraq.
- Abbas forms new Palestinian cabinet in Ramallah headed by Salam Fayyad.
It is recognized by foreign governments but not by most of Abbas' own Fatah party or Hamas.
- Brown unveils major UK parliamentary reform in light of scandal over MPs' income, allowances.
UK Commons speaker Michael Martin forced to resign.
- Ethiopian troops return to Somalia after Islamists seize towns from transitional government ---
- Israel's High Court orders government to extend equal support to orthodox and non-orthodox Jewish religious bodies ---
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Israeli air force hits Hamas-Gaza hard amid Lebanon border tensions
DEBKAfile Special Report
20 May: In response to a twin Qassam missile attack from Gaza Tuesday, May 19, the Israeli Air Force went into action early Wednesday against a range of Hamas positions in Rafah, Khan Younes, Zeitun and Tufah suburbs of Gaza city and, Deir Balakh.
DEBKAfile's military sources also that several Sinai-Gaza smuggling tunnels, missile foundries and three Hamas command posts in Gaza City were struck in Israel's most extensive Gaza raid since its major offensive ended in January. The Palestinians reported casualties.
Tuesday night, the Palestinians fired a twin Qassam volley at Sderot. One missile injured a man and damaged his home.
That morning, Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin told the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee that Hamas has cut back on its attacks because it needed a respite for rearming and regrouping after the Israeli offensive. Hamas loosed the missiles to prove him wrong and show US president Barack Obama and the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu in Washington who really called the shots in the Gaza Strip.
After Sderot was hit, defense minister Ehud Barak and Netanyahu decided on powerful aerial retaliation.
This was all the more necessary as Hamas was deemed to be testing the new Israeli government's military reflexes and resolve. Another factor was the Hizballah leader's decision of May 18 to raise border tension with Israel ahead of Lebanon's June 7 election.
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US Vice President Biden consigned urgently to Beirut
20 May: The White House has urgently consigned vice president Joseph Biden to Beirut. He arrives May 22 to back the pro-Western government parties' bid for re-election against Iran's Hizballah and pro-Syrian factions, led by Gen. Michel Aoun. Lebanon's fall into Iranian-Syrian hands would be a damaging setback for Washington.
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Senators call on Obama to take into account the risks Israel runs from a peace accord
20 May: Seventy-six US senators have called on President Barack Obama to continue to support Israel and "take into account the risks it will face in any peace agreement," Tuesday, May 19, after meeting Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
In a letter signed by 76 of 100 senators, Obama is told that "without a doubt, our two governments will agree on some issues and disagree on others, but the United States' friendship with Israel requires that we work closely together as we recommit ourselves to our historic role of a trusted friend and active mediator.
"We must also continue to insist on the absolute Palestinian commitment to ending terrorist violence and to building the institutions necessary for a viable Palestinian state living side-by-side, in peace with the Jewish state of Israel," they wrote.
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Israel has no adequate interceptor for Iran's new long-range missile
DEBKAfile Special Report
20 May: DEBKAfile's military sources report that Israel, the US and Europe were floored by Iran's successful launch Wednesday, May 20, of a two-stage, solid-fueled 2,000-kilometer range missile, but most of all by the accuracy of its aim in destroying its target, as proudly claimed by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
US missile tracking systems confirmed the Iranian President's boast of Sejil-2's precision. Sounds of concern came from the Obama administration.
Western military sources say Iran is at least two or three years ahead of Israel's missile defenses.
The Arrow 2 anti-missile missile system is no match for the Sejil, while Arrow 3 which would be, is still under development. Until now, the Americans and Israelis were confident that any incoming Iranian missile would veer off target and be easily intercepted. This assumption was nullified by the Sejil-2 launch.
Iran's feat comes at a critical time for its efforts to build a nuclear arsenal of at least 10-12 nuclear warheads. It obviates the strategic value of any understandings reached by President Obama and prime minister Netanyahu on Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
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Israel marks annual Jerusalem Day
21 May: At a national ceremony for the soldiers who died in the Battle for Jerusalem in 1967, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared at the Ammunition Hill Memorial site: "I say here what I said in the United States this week: Jerusalem will never be divided and it will remain forever under Israeli sovereignty."
President Shimon Peres said: "Jerusalem has never been the capital of any other nation except for the Jewish people."
Under foreign rule, Jews were denied access to their holy places. Today, members of all faiths are free to worship at their shrines in Israel's capital.
More articles from Debka. At least from Israeli news, we seem to be getting the straight upshot of what is happening in the middle east....unlike the news spins we get in USA.
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Lebanon's election at center of US-Russian tug of war
DEBKAfile Special report
22 May: Shortly after visiting US Vice President Joseph Biden stated in Beirut Friday, May 22, that his government would "evaluate the shape of its assistance program based on the policies of the new government," elected on June 7, Moscow announced that foreign minister Sergei Lavrov would visit Damascus and Beirut on May 23-25. He would be meeting Syrian president Bashar Assad as well as the Lebanese president Michel Suleiman.
Biden urged "those who think about standing with the spoilers of peace not to miss this opportunity to walk away." This was an apparent reference to Hizballah and its pro-Syrian allies, who are fighting to displace the pro-Western coalition. DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report that Lavrov's trip is mean to convey that, unlike Washington, Moscow is well-connected on both sides of Lebanon's political spectrum, the pro-Western majority March 14 bloc fighting for survival as well as its challenger, the pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian Hizballah-led March 8 alliance.
Since the race between them is close, Biden was sent to Beirut to try and tip the scales with a promise of tanks, helicopters, drones and artillery.
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DEBKAfile lifts fog from the Obama-Netanyahu balance sheet
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
23 May: For the sake of warding off a surprise Israel attack on Iran, US president Barack Obama accepted a six-month deadline for testing Tehran by diplomacy - without pressing Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to endorse a Palestinian state. Both gave ground in their first ice-breaking encounter.
Three days later, the White House rebuffed claims that Obama would use his June 4 speech to launch a new Middle East initiative? That tale was planted by Jordan's Abdullah II's advisers and picked up by Israel's often anti-Netanyahu media, although its source was dubious.
Once that misapprehension was removed, some of the real subjects of discussed emerged.
For instance, Obama did not demand the repartition of Jerusalem; neither was he keen to pursue the Palestinian issue at all at this time. Most of all, he was after space to engage in negotiation with Tehran without the threat of a surprise Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear sites hanging over the talks.
Obama and Netanyahu set up two working groups for continuous discussion between them:
One, headed by US national security adviser James Jones, will track of progress in the bilateral US-Iranian negotiations and report back to the White House and Jerusalem.
The second team, headed by Middle East envoy George Mitchell, will be in charge of the Palestinian issue.
Netanyahu may find it hard to explain at home why he promised no Israeli surprise attacks against Iran for six months – even though major disruptions loom: Lebanon's pro-Western government may be overthrown by its June 7 election or thereafter, Iranian long-range missiles introduced to the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Abbas' new Palestinian government in Ramallah collapse, and Tehran will continue its shock tactics.
To shift the focus, Netanyahu spoke passionately about Jerusalem, although its status was not under assault in his White House talks.
"The flag that flies over the Kotel is the Israeli flag... Our holy places, the Temple Mount -- will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever,” he told yeshiva students.
And “Jerusalem was always ours, will always be ours, and will never again be divided,” he vowed at the annual Jerusalem Day state ceremony on Ammunition Hill, Jerusalem, honoring the soldiers who fell in the Six-Day War in 1967.
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US army chief: Narrow space left for dialogue to stop Iran attaining nuke
24 May: Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued his most serious warning yet about the approach of a nuclear-armed Iran: "Most of us believe that "Iran is one to three years" from developing a nuclear weapon…depending on where they are right now. But they are moving closer, clearly, and they continue to do that." He told ABC's "This Week" Sunday, May 24. He indicated that an Iran could develop a nuke at any time from one to three years hence.
At the same time, Mullen said a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities could have grave consequences – but so too would a nuclear-armed Iran.
In talks with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on May 18, US president Barack Obama said the talks with Iran he is seeking cannot "go on forever" and agreed that at the end of the year, progress would be evaluated.
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May 24 Briefs
• Presidents of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan hold first summit in Tehran on ways to end Pak/Afghan wars.
• Lavrov says Hamas should be part of Middle East peace process.
He calls on Assad, Meshaal in Damascus.
• Iranian presidential hopeful Rezai: I would stop Israel with "one strike."
• Lieberman: Israel's withdrawal to pre-1967 borders would not end conflict but transfer it to Israeli heartland.
• Demolition of outposts must be part of comprehensive approach.
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Israel to drill missile attack from many directions
25 May: Deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai outlined the nationwide civil defense exercise to be staged next week in a briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee Monday, May 25. Next Tuesday, he said, sirens would send the entire population heading for the nearest shelters or protected sites.
Vilnai explained the exercise was configured on the presumption of a missile assault from three or four directions synchronized with large-scale terrorist attacks up and down the country. He stressed that this was no fantastic scenario divorced from reality but highly credible in the event of a war.
Drills conducted in the last two years and the lessons of the 2006 Lebanon war and 209 Gaza conflict had been factored into the coming exercise, said the deputy minister. In both, Israel's population had come under heavy missile bombardment.
Upgraded "gas masks" would be redistributed to the population later this year.
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North Korea test-fires two more short-range missiles amid escalating NE Asian tensions
26 May: Seoul reports North Korea test fired two short-range missiles Tuesday, May 26, its fourth and fifth since carrying out an underground nuclear test Monday. The test was unanimously condemned by the UN Security Council Monday night.
DEBKAfile's military sources note that North Korea and Iran are closely and secretly coordinated on their military nuclear and missile programs. Most of the guidance technology which gave the long-range Seijl 2 surface missile tested by Iran Wednesday, May 20, its bull's-eye accuracy came from Pyongyang. Iran's long-range missile test was carried out less than a month after North Korea's own internationally condemned missile test launch on April 5. Tehran may also be expected to be not far behind its nuclear partner in conducting its own first nuclear test.
Not surprisingly, therefore, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference Monday, May 25, that while all international issues are open for discussion, "Iran's nuclear issue is closed."
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Netanyahu's backing for outpost removals unrelated to his Iran deal with Obama
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
26 May: A high-ranking Israeli delegation is to meet US officials in London with a defense ministry plan for evacuating some 24 unauthorized outposts on the West Bank. This plan was prepared ahead of defense minister Ehud Barak's visit to Washington next week and backed solidly by prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The first 10 warnings of impending demolitions were distributed Monday, May 25. They dropped Netanyahu in hot water in his own Likud faction.
To persuade the critics, Netanyahu implied without saying so outright that he had won US backing or cooperation for an Israeli offensive against Iran and that the price tag was the removal of West Bank outposts.
He stressed the importance of "our relations with the United States" for "the future of the state."
This implied link was disingenuous since DEBKAfile's Washington sources contradict Netanyahu's interpretation of his understanding with US president Barack Obama about the need to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear capability. This understanding, they say, was confined purely to diplomatic efforts (for which the two leaders set a six-month limit). A unilateral military attack by Israel was no part of it. In fact, an Israeli strike would spark a serious crisis between Jerusalem and Washington.
The bottom line here, say DEBKAfile's military sources, is that however many outposts are evacuated, whether authorized or not, it will not bring the Obama administration around to backing an Israeli strike against Iran.
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First Russian warships enter Persian Gulf ports
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
26 May: Russian warships are due to call Wednesday, May 27, at the Bahrain port of Manama, seat of the US Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, DEBKAfile's military sources reveal. They will be following in the wake of the Russian vessels docked at the Omani port of Salalah, the first to avail themselves of facilities at Gulf ports.
Their arrival is fully coordinated between the Russian and Iranian naval commands.
According to our sources, this is the first time a Russian flotilla will have taken on provisions and fuel at the same Gulf ports which services the US Navy. Moscow has thus gained its first maritime foothold in the Persian Gulf.
Our military analysts find Russia and Iran seizing the moment to take advantage of two developments:
1. President Obama quietly reduced the number of US warships maintained in the Gulf to its lowest level in two years to generate a positive atmosphere for the coming US dialogue with Tehran. Not a single US aircraft carrier is anywhere in the Gulf region.
2. Monday, May 25, President Nicolas Sarkozy inaugurated France's first naval facility in the Gulf in Abu Dhabi. Russian and Iranian policy-makers see no reason why if Paris can set up a military presence, Moscow can't.
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North Korea warns South of military strike, no longer bound by 1953 Truce
27 May: Pyongyang announced early Wednesday, May 27, that its withdrawal from the truce that ended the Korean War in 1953 means that "the Korean peninsulas will go back to a state of war." Thousands of US troops are deployed in the buffer zone since the war ended.
US spy planes reported that the plutonium separation plant at Yongbyon had been reactivated.
North Korea repeated that Seoul's decision to joint the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative was tantamount to a declaration of war. "Any hostile acts against our republic, including the stopping and searching of our peaceful vessels... will face an immediate and strong military strike in response," the North Korean statement said.
Firing another short-range missile in Japan's direction, its sixth since conducting a nuclear test Monday, May 25, Pyongyang said it could not guarantee the safety of shipping off its west coast. The test was unanimously condemned by the UN Security Council.
The White House then announced that US president Barack Obama and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak and Japanese prime minister Taro Aso had agreed to work together to support the Security Council resolution with concrete measures to curtail North Korea's nuclear and missile activities.
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May 27 Briefs:
• West Bank rabbis call on Israeli soldiers and police to defy orders to evacuate settlements.
• Police question FM Lieberman again on suspicion of money laundering and obstructing their inquiry.
• French Egyptian Culture Minister appointed head of UNESCO apologizes for anti-Israel remarks.
• Israel's unemployed figure rises to 228,000 – 7.6 pc.
• Moscow announces undefined "preventive measures" after North Korean nuclear test.
• High terror alert declared in Islamabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi after massive bomb blast kills at least 40 in Lahore, e. Pakistan.
Pakistan claims capture of two assailants.
Interior minister said attack reprisal for Pakistani military Swat operation.
Suicide bomber flattened 15 buildings, damaging ISI and police station in city center.
Attackers opened fire on police from wrecked station.
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Abbas will find Obama puts Syrian peace track ahead of Palestinians
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
28 May: Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas will put before US president Barack Obama when they meet at the White House Thursday, May 28 a thick sheaf of pre-conditions for talks with Israel, primarily heavy US pressure to force the Netanyahu government to stop all construction activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem and remove 200 West Bank roadblocks.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has come forward to declare that the president objects to any form of Israeli settlement activity whether for "natural growth" or any other purpose.
But for now, the administration is more interested in advancing the Syrian than the Palestinian peace track.
In any case, Obama is advised by his Middle East envoy George Mitchell that focusing on the Palestinian issue in its present strife-ridden state would be a waste of time and better go for the Syrian track. He and his aides are planning an early visit to Damascus to test the ground for resumed peace talks.
I think Debka's news articles are very informative. Now we know what is happening diplomaticly between USA, Israel, Syria, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Moscow, France. About the only ones not mentioned is England.
I actually wondered why the Iranian-American news journalist had been freed. Now we know the stiff price America had to agree to pay to get her back. What I am wondering is why 4 to 1 in being freed. Hostages for Hostages...
Moscow had now placed their navy in the Pervian Gulf. Make no mistake about this, they are acting in coordination with Iran. The fact that USA does not have as single aircraft carrier in the Gulf is unbelievable.
Add to this that Obama has just gotten an education on Syria and their support of terrorism to undermine Iraq and Lebanon is also unsettling.
Then there is Obama's policy to place pressure on Israel to keep them from attacking Iran....so much so, that Israel has to make deals with Saudia Arabia and Egypt to get military backing is also interesting.
Then, of course we have the situation with North Korea. Do any of us believe that North Korea's actions have nothing to do with Iran?
I am starting to question Obama's gullibility??. Before, (without facts) I only wondered about it. These items are incredible. Most of these news stories have not made their way into mainstream USA press at all. The news media is unbelievable.
An article from the Washington Post that I thought I would share with you about our Secretary of Defense: Mr. Gates. I found it interesting. I think you might too.
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A Single-Minded Focus on Dual Wars
Defense Secretary Is Reorienting the Military to Meet U.S. Troops' Needs Now
By Greg JaffeWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 15, 2009
On a rainy night in March, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness the military's ritual for welcoming home its war dead.
In a small building next to the tarmac, an officer briefed the defense secretary on the four deceased troops arriving that evening. They had been driving along a rutted road near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, when their Humvee hit a powerful roadside bomb.
Gates flashed with anger, according to people with him that day. He had spent most of his tenure in the Pentagon pushing to replace Humvees in Afghanistan and Iraq with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, built to withstand such blasts. "Find out why they hadn't gotten their goddamn MRAPs yet," he snapped at his staff.
Clad in the black suit he had worn to work that morning in the Pentagon, Gates climbed into the cargo hold of the white 747 bearing the remains. From the ground, troops could see the defense secretary as he knelt, alone, by the flag-draped transfer cases. Five minutes passed.
Then Gates, a small man with white hair neatly combed across his head, appeared in the plane's door and summoned the chaplain and the honor guard to begin the 17-minute welcome-home ritual.
A few days later, he was asked at a Pentagon news conference if he would talk about his visit. He started to answer the question but stopped. "Actually, no," he said. "I will tell you it was very difficult."
Gates's experience at Dover offers a window into what is driving him as he seeks to remake Washington's biggest and most ponderous bureaucracy. For decades, the Pentagon's focus has been on building expensive, high-tech weapons programs for conventional wars. Gates has embarked on an ambitious effort to force the department to focus more of its energy on developing arms and equipment that can help troops on the ground as they battle insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
His push to refocus the department comes as the war in Afghanistan appears in stalemate and violence against U.S. troops and Afghan forces is on the rise. In neighboring Pakistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaeda have carved out a haven from which they can launch attacks on U.S. troops, the government's hold on power throughout the country has grown shakier.
Last week, Gates fired the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. The new commanders will be responsible for fighting the war and implementing President Obama's new strategy. Gates sees his job as making sure they have the tools they need.
An Emphasis on Now
The deteriorating conditions in the two countries seem to have sharpened the secretary's sense of urgency. His 2010 defense budget, introduced this month, proposes to cut or curtail a spate of large-scale weapons programs.
"Listening to our troops and commanders, unvarnished and unscripted, has from the moment I took this job been the greatest single source of ideas on what the department needs to do," he told lawmakers Wednesday. When some lawmakers questioned whether he had done the rigorous analysis to justify his budget cuts, Gates responded in his flat Kansas twang that the Pentagon is "drowning in analysis." Most of the changes he'd made were "kind of no-brainers," he said. Gates declined to be interviewed for this article.
A Single-Minded Focus on Dual Wars
Gates's critics, including some active-duty generals and many of the senior officials he has fired, say his intense focus on Afghanistan and Iraq threatens to turn the vaunted U.S. military into an army of occupiers and nation-builders. "I am sure the North Koreans fear the MRAP and the Iranians are cringing in their boots about the threat from our stability forces," former Air Force secretary Michael W. Wynne, who was dismissed last year, wrote in an online column. "Our national interests are being reduced to becoming the armed custodians in two nations, Afghanistan and Iraq."
Last year, the four-star generals who run the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps formally "non-concurred" with the classified version of Gates's National Defense Strategy, which called for "taking additional, acceptable risk" in the area of conventional war so that the military could improve its ability to fight irregular wars. Gates met with all of the chiefs to listen to their objections. He then concluded that their concerns were "not compelling," said a senior Pentagon official involved in the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The defense secretary has since described the strategy document as the foundation for the shift he's making in the Pentagon.
When He Arrived
Gates, who is 65, didn't come to the Pentagon to make major changes. With only two years left in George W. Bush's presidency, his mandate was a narrow one: fix the war in Iraq. Arriving from the presidency of Texas A&M University, Gates brought no aides with him, choosing to retain even the confidential assistant and chief of staff to his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Even Gates's detractors concede that he is a ruthlessly effective manager of the Pentagon bureaucracy. He demands that all briefing slides from his staff and military commanders reach his office the day before the meeting in which they will be discussed. With the slides in hand, he plots how he wants to drive the discussion. If slides arrive after the deadline, the meeting will be canceled or postponed, Pentagon officials said.
In contrast with Rumsfeld, who allowed debates over weapons programs to drag on for months or years, Gates sets deadlines of weeks or even days. Meetings with top generals rarely run more than 45 minutes. "The natural propensity of a bureaucracy is not to decide," he has often said. "It will just chew the cud until there is no taste at all."
Gates also has moved quickly to demand accountability for mistakes from his senior leadership. Just three months into his tenure, he fired Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey after articles in The Washington Post exposed appalling living conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Harvey wasn't dismissed for the conditions at the hospital, defense officials said. Gates relieved him for failing to acknowledge the severity of the problems and fix them swiftly.
The Army secretary was visiting troops at Fort Benning, Ga., when he got an unexpected call from Gates's chief of staff ordering him to return immediately to the Pentagon. After Gates told him that he was fired, Harvey tried to argue his case, insisting that Gates and his staff had approved every move he had made in response to the failures at the hospital.
Gates, who colleagues describe as consistent and self-controlled, often grows quiet when he disagrees with someone. "It was like arguing with a stone," Harvey recalled. "The meeting lasted maybe 90 seconds."
A few days later, Gates asked through an intermediary if he could attend the goodbye ceremony that the Army was holding for Harvey. It was Gates's attempt to show respect for the office, said a defense official. Harvey sent word back that Gates wasn't welcome. "It was astounding to me that he'd even ask," Harvey recalled.
The Secretary's Vision
Since the early days of his tenure, Gates's vision for remaking the military has been shaped more by the daily frustrations of running the vast Pentagon bureaucracy than grand ideas about future war. Those frustrations came to a head in early 2008 when commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan were clamoring for more intelligence equipment, particularly Predator unmanned surveillance aircraft.
The field commanders estimated that they needed more than 40 Predator combat air patrols in the two war zones, defense officials said. At the time, the Air Force was able to maintain 12. When Gates asked the Air Force to find more surveillance planes, senior officials replied that they could provide four more patrols. Some Air Force officials also questioned whether the wartime commanders needed so many surveillance planes.
A Single-Minded Focus on Dual Wars
"The bureaucracy's first impulse was to deny that the demand really existed," said Brad Berkson, who served as director of program analysis and evaluation in the defense secretary's office.
In the weeks that followed, Gates pulled together a special task force, made up of his immediate staff and some military officers, to find more surveillance planes, both manned and unmanned. "We literally counted every tail in the fleet," said one Pentagon official involved in the effort. The results were stunning: Less than 25 percent of the military's arsenal of surveillance aircraft, which included Air Force Predators, Army Shadows and Navy P-3 Orion planes, was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the task force found.
The deficiencies in Iraq and Afghanistan were a result of a shortage of Air Force control stations, from which pilots fly the unmanned aircraft. The Air Force also hadn't trained enough pilots to operate all of the Predators in its rapidly expanding arsenal.
Gates's team went to extreme lengths to get more hours out of the available ground control stations and pilots. The task force arranged for experienced pilots to use stations normally set aside for training to fly combat missions during off hours. Because the Predators are controlled using satellite links, pilots can operate aircraft flying in Afghanistan and Iraq from bases in the United States.
The Air Force also lost a few hours of flying time each day because Predator pilots controlling planes from Creech Air Force Base, Nev., had to make an hour-long drive into town to buy lunch, visit the bank or pick up their children from day care. Gates set aside money to build a cafeteria, child-care facilities and other amenities at Creech. "We decided the pilots' time was extremely valuable," Berkson said. "We didn't even want them to have to stand in line at the bank."
Some Air Force officials complained bitterly that the defense secretary's staffers were micromanaging commanders at Creech. In one case, a member of Gates's staff called one of the base's commanders to ask him why his pilots were working shorter hours than Army pilots flying similar unmanned aircraft. "I was having to justify my organization down to the gnat's ass just about every week," an Air Force officer recalled, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to talk freely about his superiors. "It became a distraction."
Results on Predators
By early 2009, the task force's efforts had produced results: The number of U.S. military Predators in the air over Afghanistan and Iraq had increased almost three-fold, to 31 from 12. In a speech last year at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., Gates compared the effort to "pulling teeth."
In the months since he was asked by Obama to stay on as defense secretary as the Cabinet's lone holdover, Gates's top priority has been incorporating the lessons of the task force and similar initiatives into the 2010 defense budget. "His engagement on this budget has been orders of magnitude greater than any other secretary of defense that I can recall," said Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in an interview. "There is a certainty about what he wants, and you can't get around it."
The current budget, for example, sets aside $2 billion so the Air Force will be able to keep as many as 50 unmanned surveillance planes in the air by 2011. Gates also carved out $500 million to increase the number of helicopters in Afghanistan and Iraq, which have been in short supply since 2003. As with the Predators, the helicopter shortfall was caused by a lack of crews to maintain and fly the aircraft. The Pentagon has 6,000 helicopters in its fleet, but about 800 of them are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mullen said.
'We . . . Must Do Better'
Last week, Gates flew to Afghanistan, where he asked for the resignation of the top American general in charge of the war. He had chosen Gen. David D. McKiernan for the post 11 months earlier but had become convinced that a new commander was needed to arrest the decline in the country. "We can and must do better," he later told reporters at a Pentagon news conference.
During his trip, Gates flew to a sprawling American base being built in southern Afghanistan to accommodate thousands of new U.S. troops now arriving in the country. He met four Marines who showed him their charred and dented MRAP. A few days earlier, as they patrolled the desert surrounding the base, a roadside bomb had detonated under the vehicle.
One of the Marines inside had broken his arm. The other three emerged with minor scratches and bruises.
Gates looked pleased. He shook their hands, struggled to make small talk and thanked them for their service.
Some older articles directly on Iraq and Iran from Debka (Israeli News). I of course, had not read them until now.
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Iran canceled air show upon Russian warning of Israeli plan to destroy all 140 warplanes
24 April: DEBKAfile's Iranian and intelligence sources disclose that Moscow warned Tehran Friday April 17 that Israel was planning to destroy all of its 140 fighter-bombers concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base for an air show over Tehran on Iran's Army Day the following day. The entire fleet was accordingly removed to remote bases and the display cancelled.
In the first week of April, Tehran announced it would stage its biggest air show ever to dramatize a ceremonial military parade in the capital on April 18. Iran would show the world that it is capable of fighting off an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities. Instead, only four aircraft flew over the saluting stand. Iranian media explained that the big show was cancelled due to "bad weather and poor visibility," when in fact Tehran basked in warm and sunny weather.
Moscow had informed the Iranians that its spy satellites and intelligence sources had picked up preparations at Israeli Air Force bases to destroy the 140 warplanes, the bulk of the Iranian air force, on the ground the night before the display, leaving its nuclear sites without aerial defense. A similar operation wiped out the entire Egyptian air fleet in the early hours of the 1967 war.
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Al Qaeda's roars back in Iraq against double target: US and Iranians
25 April: Hillary Clinton said in Baghdad Saturday, April 25, that the wave of suicide killings which accounted for more than 250 lives this month were "a tragic signal that Iraq was on the right path." She said there would be no delay in the pullout of US troops from Iraq's main cities.
Many of the victims were Iranian pilgrims visiting Shiite shrines.
Friday, US Middle East commander Gen. David Petraeus told a House panel in Washington that attacks in Iraq will continue for some time and they may be the work of a network of foreign fighters from Tunisia.
According to DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources, Al Qaeda is attempting a comeback in Iraq moving reinforcements in long-distance from its Maghreb (North African) branch.
By targeting Shiites and Iranian pilgrims, Osama bin Laden is warning Tehran and Washington that their unfolding bid to bracket their resources together for ending the Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts will precipitate fresh trouble not only in those arenas, but also in Iraq.
Al Qaeda's recovery in Iraq has been boosted by the 100,000 commanders and fighters of the Awakening Councils, the strong arm of the US surge strategy for crushing al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents, having dropped out of the war. They are protesting mass detentions of their members on the orders of
Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki as US forces prepare to leave Iraq's main cities.
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Unknown vessel destroys another Iranian arms ship bound for Gaza
26 April:
An Iranian ship transporting arms to the Gaza Strip was destroyed off the Sudanese coast in the Red Sea last week, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Usbu (The Week) reported on Sunday. An unidentified warship launched missiles at the ship, sinking it with its crew and cargo. Quoting anonymous sources, the newspaper suspected Israeli or American forces were responsible for the attack.
The same sources said the ship was on course to dock in Sudan, where the weapons would be unloaded and eventually shipped to Gaza through Egypt.
Neither Iran, Israel, or the United States has commented.
Two more disturbing articles from Debka News.
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NATO member Turkey and Syria hold first joint military exercise
DEBKAfile Special Report
26 April: The joint Turkish-Syrian land exercise backed begins on their border Monday, April 27, and lasts three days. DEBKAfile's military sources stress that it is the first joint military maneuver any NATO member, including Turkey, has ever carried out with Syria. Washington's approval underscores its new policy of boosting the strength of the Syrian army as partner in a strong a three-way military coalition with Turkey and Lebanon.
It comes only four days after the Obama administration approved a large Turkish arms sale to the Lebanese army assigning Turkish military instructors to train Lebanese army units (half of whose personnel are Shiites sympathetic to Hizballah.)
The Obama administration's actions took place without informing Israel or taking into account its vital security interests. Israel's top security echelons are concerned and criticize the new Netanyahu government for taking too long to respond to the dire security setbacks piling up around its borders. They cannot wait until the prime minister meets Obama in the coming month. By then, he will be confronted with some unpalatable accomplished facts.
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April 26 Brief:
- Palestinian captured for axe-murder of an Israeli boy, and wounding a second, at Bat-Ayin near Hebron on April 2. He confessed to a religious urge to become a shahid by murdering Israeli youths.
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Turkish-Syria exercise prompts Israeli review of sophisticated arms sales to Ankara
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
27 April: Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak commented Monday, April 27, that Turkey's decision to hold three days of military maneuvers with Syria was "disturbing."
And that is not all. Monday or Tuesday the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers signed a protocol for cooperation in the defense industry. The two events were major landmarks in the continuing shrinkage of the old military and trading ties between Turkey and Israel. In 2009, Ankara cut those ties to $2.2 billion and expanded its trade with Syria to $2.6 billion.
Israel is hastening to slash its military exchanges with Turkey to prevent he leakage of military secrets to an avowed Arab enemy. Construction is discontinued on an Israeli Mark 3 Chariot plant in Turkey after Ankara began defaulting on payments for military purchases and other contracts. The sale of Israel's world class unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) has been stopped and its military ties with Turkey dating from the 1960s cut down sharply.
Some more articles from Debka, that could be of some interest.
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US envoy arrives in Middle East to allay fears of Arab rulers
DEBKAfile Exclusive
28 April: Tuesday, April 28, US envoy Dennis Ross set out on an extensive tour for pouring oil on troubled waters in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. He is accompanied by the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, and National Security Council official Puneet Talwar.
Like secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who promised in Beirut this week that the US was not selling Lebanon out by dealing with Syria, Ross will try and reassure America's Arab friends that Washington's new ties of friendship and strategic cooperation with Tehran will not be at their expense.
DEBKAfile's sources ask how much leverage against Iran's drive for a nuclear bomb will be left to Washington when the US becomes dependent on Tehran for its war supplies to Afghanistan.
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April 28 Briefs:
- Pakistan reports its jets bombing Taliban bases in Buner district near capital in apparently widening counter-offensive.
- British jury acquits three men charged with conspiracy in 7/7 London suicide attacks.
The three Muslims from Leeds were the only bombing accomplices ever brought to trial.
- The sole surviving Mumbai bomber is proved over 20 and eligible for trial.
If convicted he faces death for 170 murders.
- Two Christian women have throats slit in Kirkuk, N. Iraq.
- Mexico protests ultra-religious Israeli health minister's proposal to rename swine flu Mexican flu.
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International Hariri tribunal self-destructs, frees 4 key Lebanese suspects. Assad wins after all
29 April: DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources report that, by setting the key witnesses, four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals, free, the pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen Wednesday, April 29, effectively scrapped the international tribunal's mission to prosecute the murderers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
The four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals, now under "under strict security for their own safety," were held in custody for four years on suspicion of complicity in the 2005 Hariri murder in close alignment with Syrian military intelligence, which then ruled Beirut, and with figures close to Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Their release "for lack of sufficient evidence", according to Fransen, rewarded Assad for the extraordinary efforts he made to quash the international legal proceedings for fear of compromising his close circle in one of the most outrageous political crimes in recent Middle East history.
The tribunal was also briefed to prosecute a series of high-profile political assassinations in Lebanon after the Hariri murder, for which Damascus was also blamed.
Our counter-terror sources note that the chance of ever bringing any of these assassins to justice has just been reduced to zero by the international judge's action. He has cut the main sources of evidence leading to the culprits in Damascus.
A major barrier to Bashar Assad's international rehabilitation has been removed.
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Second Turkish affront to Israel in a week
29 April: Turkey's army chief Gen. Ilker Basburg brushed off the Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak's comment that the joint Turkish-Syrian military exercise was "disturbing."
Barak referred to the first exercise Turkey, Israel's longstanding military ally and NATO member, had ever staged with an Arab nation, Israel's avowed foe Syria. Gen. Basbug said it was only a border exercise, small-scale and "none of anybody's business."
"Why would it concern Israel? We will not ask for permission from anybody else [to conduct such exercises], he said."
DEBKAfile's military sources, who first broke the story about the maneuver earlier this week, noted that the Turkish general made a point of mentioning his "extensive talks with the visiting US Chief of General Staff" and their four-hour long "exchange of views on a range of issues."
This confirmed DEBKAfile's earlier report that the Turkish-Syrian exercise had received Washington's nod.
I have questions for speculation. Why would Saudia Arabia allow Russian warships to anchor in one of its ports in the Persian Gulf?.
In addition, why would Saudia Arabia then cooperate with Israel to use it's lands for an attack on Irans nuclear sites?.
I am wondering if Saudia Arabia thinks that USA would not fight to protect their country and therefore, Saudia Arabia has turned to Russia for protection from Iran?.
C'mon, Andy. You can't do that and expect to be taken seriously. Even with a follow-up post. No info, no background, but you do provide a link to a Christian forum that has disabled any registration so one can't even log in and read any posts, and on top of that, there's a click advert. that takes you to a place to buy dinar.
You're selling something, man. We don't trust you.
I want proof from a reliable source stating that the dinar is to revalue at over $3.00 per dinar. I looked at the link you provided and it appears what you are selling is salvation.
Hey David get a clue man. I can guarantee you I am not selling anything and to view the forum you need to register. All of you people can keep thinking negative thoughts about the RV and expect to receive negative things in your lives. When the RV does happen, think of me saying I told you so. Best of luck to you all.
No one is doubting the possibility of a significant alteration ot the Dinars exchange rate. In my view, there are some oustanding issues (namely, Hydro Carbon Legislation) that must be addressed before this change occurs.
I think our point to you is that you make an unsubstantiated claim that "ITS OFFICIAL FOLKS!! The Iraqi Dinar is coming in at $3.98!!!!!!!!" You were asked point blank to provide official documentation to support you're claim.
Instead, you post a link to a religious organization. The link has nothing to do with our investments in Dinar. I am still uncertain why you posted in the first place.
I am in agreement with David; produce the official documentation stating that 1 Dinar is worth $3.86 usd. If you cannot document such a claim please do not post it.
I TRIED to get a clue. I TRIED to register. The ability to register has been DISABLED (which is what I said in my post). How can I follow up on anything you have said? Can't. You are blowing smoke. Ha, ha, ha. Good one. Whew, man, you really got us on that one. When I can breathe again after laughing so hard, I'll get back to watching for real information on the dinar.
Rob, the website I posted has very knowledgeable people on it. There are people that have inside sources regarding the RV and I am strictly going by them. I also have a source confirming who is located in Texas. I have also personally talked to Ali who is the owner of Dinar Trade. We are very close to the RV happening and it doesn't help when you have people being negative nancys about the whole situation.
Grow up David. You obviously have no idea on how to use the internet if you couldn't figure out how to register because my brother was able to register this morning. Good luck in life. :)
Looks like we're in a real conundrum regarding the Dinar RV....guess I'll call off my trip to Bali until we find out for sure.....I hear the RV is soooooon!
I know a farmer in Kansas who says that the price of canned corn is going to be $167.57/can by the end of June! His name is Hank. He totally OWNS his farm! So now he's going to sell me a 100,000 cans of corn for only 1.29 each, and I'll make a killing at the end of the month. You can do it, too. I talked to some other guys who are real experts on corn, and they say Hank is right. So follow this link to Hank's website - that's where all these experts are that I've talked to are. Especially this one guy who really knows a lot. He's in - are you ready for this? - Nebraska! They'll tell you it's going to happen, just like Hank said. And don't you go thinking negative thoughts about this, either. If you do, I'll really get to laugh at you and say I told you so when I'm totally rich! Here's the link: cornforumsfordisingenuousguyswhosaytheyarechristianssoyouwilltrustthem.com
Actually, this was fun. We haven't had a goofball like Andy drop in for a while, and there have been several posts in just a short time. That hasn't happened in...
Regardless of your contacts they are not officials at the CBI or within the GoI. With all due respect to Ali his time table for a revaluation is mere another person's opinion.
Instead of thinking me a "negative nancy" think of me as a realist. If the United Nations releases Iraq from Article VII and if Hydro Carobon legislation is passed I will still be cautiously optomistic about the possiblitly of a significant change in the dinars exchange rate.
In my view, Iraq cannot radically alter its exchange rate until their oil reserves are monetized (petro-dinars). I think we have at least until Jan of 2010 and for parlimentary elections befor the HCL will be considered. On this note, I reserve the right to be wrong.
All the hype you brought to this forum by claiming a revaluation of $3.86 has happened is Ali's way to sell some more dinars.
When you have verifible facts then I will listen with more of an attentive ear.
Wow we have another rumor, and this time "it's official".
Reminds me about the Monty Pythons scetch, ...The Department of Funny Walk.
When something is "official", it means that the authority that controls the item, are making a statement.
The only official statement about Indias defense will come from Indias Dep of Defense.
The only official statement regarding Russias fiscal budget expenses, will come from the Russian Finance Dep.
The ONLY authority that physically and legally CAN make an "official" statement with regards to the Iraqi Dinar, is the Central Bank of Iraq.
Rest is speculation, and rumors.
A speculator, will openly tell that the source is not the "official" source, but it can however be based on a compilation of data gathered on this particular subject. A legit analysis can most often be derived from such activity.
A speculation, or an analysis derived from it, have the inherent integrity in it, that it will reveal the sources, and the logic behind the analysis.
A rumor, is a message or communication in where the originator is unknown or undisclosed.
The fun part kicks in when the originator, or bearer of the rumor, insist that it is "official", while at the same time, when people are looking at the real official site, can find no trace of the claim that the bearer of the rumor is claiming to be true.
It's even more fun when the poster of the rumor is trying to be right about it.
India's Defence Dep, Russia's Finance Dep and Iraq's Central Bank have hereby moved to a web page that only Andys brother can log onto.
It's hereby "official".
Andy, you really don't have a clue...right???
What you're really good in, is calling people idiots, ....isn't it so???.
The problem with stupid people is that they don't have a perception above their own IQ range....and therefore they believe that all other people are as stupid as they are.
They keep being right about it, and ...this is the fun part...don't have a clue that they are undressed... they continue to monkey around to the amuzement of others.
Even when you show them, they don't see,....you're trying to be helpful and point out to them where to look.......but they are like dogs......you point to the moon but all they see is the finger.
The United Nations is scheduled to discuss the lifting of sanctions of Iraq; specifically, article VII. Sadly, the Kuwaiti's do not believe the GoI have paid enough in war reparations.
Iraq and Kuwait are now in a diplomatic bicker over payment of war reparations. According to www.noozz.com; "Kuwaiti lawmakers on Tuesday urged the government to recall the emirate's ambassador from Baghdad in protest at "attacks" by Iraqi MPs and demands to halt the payment of reparations". In contrast, www.ninanews.com has the following comment from Iraqi MP Zahra al-Hashimi of the Fadhila Bloc pointed out that negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait are "useless, because Kuwait is obstinate and aims at weakening Iraq."
In my view, I think this is a battle Kuwait will loose. It appears that the United States is intent on Iraq emerging from Article VII. If Iraq does emerge from Article VII it will lend the Dinar to internationally convertibility.
Hey, back off on Andy, man. I'm the guy he called an idiot, and I stand by it. If by "idiot" he means I'm someone who checks up on the paltry amount of evidence he gives to support his claims, and then who challenges him because there's nothing of substance actually there and then he is reduced to calling me a name, well, then I gladly and proudly bear the title, "Idiot." Andy has effectively appropriated a new term for what we used to call "reasonable" or "principled" or "discerning" or "wise" or "responsible."
So, as we sit here in a circle in our "Dinar Therapy" session, I have this confession to make:
My dear fellow dinar investors here on the T&B forum: I am an Idiot. It makes me feel so much better to get that off my chest, and to look around the room here and see so many other Idiots. It's good to be here. This is indeed good company.
All,
I am also an idiot. I have been an idiot for 45 years. Since admitting I have this disease I have been keeping it under control, except occassonally I loose it and go on a binge thinking I know everything. I want to thank you all for your support. With your help I will continue with my recovery efforts.
Hi everyone, the rate has been set at $5.62 is what I am hearing and for everyone to say that it wont be that high where is your logic? They wont set it at 33 cents that is way too low it wouldnt do anything for their economy. When this happened to Kuwait in 1990 their currency was set at $7 so it is definetly possible.
-- May 30, 2009 3:29 PM ∞
Andy wrote:
ITS OFFICIAL FOLKS!! The Iraqi Dinar is coming in at $3.98!!!!!!!!
-- May 31, 2009 4:35 PM ∞
...and what will the 'official' rate be tomorrow Andy?
I for one would rather be a negative nancy than a deluded speculator sucked in by dealer hype. Come up with some hard evidence to support your 'officical' statement before you come in here and start slinging insults at people who have an opinion, based on years of research into the Dinar and the Iraqi economy, that differs from your own.
People make poor investment decisions based on poor information. I suggest to you that you are passing on misinformation spun by a dealer to sell Dinar. If a dealer knew his stock was going to massively increase in value overnight would he be trying to offload it to investors?
Safat Energy Bahraini subsidiary wins USD 4.5m oil well contract in Iraq
Bahrain-based Eastern Industrial & Oilfield Services (EiOS), 61.65% owned by Kuwaiti Safat Energy Holding (KUW:SENERGY), has won a one-year USD 4.5 million (EUR 3.2m) contract to provide oil well exploratory services to an unnamed customer in southern Iraq, Safat Energy said in a statement to the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE).
(www.noozz.com)
PARIS (Reuters) - French oil major Total (TOTF.PA) expects Iraq to award stakes in oilfields open to bids this summer, a senior executive told the Reuters Energy Summit on Thursday.
"It is a matter of two or three months starting from now... not only in Bin Umar but also in fields which are open for bids," said Jean-Jacques Mosconi, head of strategy and planning at Total.
Iraqi officials have said Total and Chevron (CVX.N) have been invited to bid jointly against Norway's StatoilHydro (STL.OL) for a contract to develop the 6-billion barrel Nahr Bin Umar southern oilfield.
In April, Iraq's Vice-President Adil Abd al-Mahdi said that Total had a very good chance of wining contracts in the country that holds the world's third largest oil reserves.
Baghdad is seeking foreign investment in an effort to boost production and modernize infrastructure devastated by decades of war, sanctions and neglect.
Mosconi said it would take some time to bring fields back on stream, but declined to say exactly how long it would take to restore higher levels of production, saying that element was part of the bids.
"The fields are not performing well. They are very old so all this has to be reassessed. You have big and deep production issues."
The following article has been posted by Seaview on IIF. I believe it is of such significance that I am posting it here for your consideration. Your comments are welcomed and appreciated. Concrete evidence that sanctions may be abolished.
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the Security Council is to abolish the sanctions imposed on Iraq
UN Security Council intends to raise the number of UN resolutions imposed on Iraq during the two meetings will be held this month. A Western diplomat of the "morning" for the success of diplomacy to persuade Iraq's large number of members of the Security Council,
Especially the permanent members, that Baghdad was committed to the implementation of most of the sanctions imposed on the country in accordance with Section VII of the Charter of the United Nations, because of Saddam's regime's invasion of Kuwait. In spite of the movement of non-Kuwaiti officials justified to prevent the exodus of money from Iraq, Section VII, but the diplomat, who asked not to be on condition of anonymity, said the council will cancel a number of resolutions, without revealing whether the file relating to Kuwait or other issues, adding say: It will be "There is a write-off of two or more.
The official Kuwaiti news agency revealed last week as adviser to the movement in the Kuwaiti Amiri Diwan Mohammad Abdullah Abul-Hassan to the members of the Security Council to prevent the lifting of international sanctions on Iraq, which is unacceptable, several deputies, asking to pay compensation to Kuwait due to Iraq's past policies and the confiscation of tens of kilometers from the territory of the country.
He expected a diplomatic resolution of the weight will keep Iraq under Chapter VII, but the bases and new mechanisms to enable then to get rid once and for all of these sanctions, noting that there are good American, British and Turkish to pay towards the reconstruction of Iraq to the role of regional and global levels.
It should be noted that Dr. Mohammed al-Haj Hammoud, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had discussed with the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad Deria Qnbay, raising the question of Iraq from Section VII, in particular with Turkey to preside over the Security Council this month.
The western diplomat added that "the Council will deliberate on two meetings held in June in a detailed report of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the activities of (UNAMI), and the review of decisions by the Security Council imposed on Iraq under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, according to the fifth paragraph of the resolution Security Council 1859th was Ban Ki-moon has said in a report published in several sites yesterday, to a significant progress in Iraq in the political and security spheres, suggesting the application of Baghdad, international obligations, as may be allowed to derail the country's huge item VII.
Furthermore, there were Iraqi diplomatic dynamic is designed to calm the situation with Kuwait and contain the escalation, calling for dialogue and bilateral cooperation to resolve issues that reflect negatively on the development of relations between the two countries, despite the continuation of non-rationality of the votes of MPs, Kuwaiti officials. It should be noted that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded during a meeting last week, Kuwait's ambassador in Baghdad, the insured, "the resolution of outstanding issues between the two brotherly neighbors, through dialogue, which guarantees the rights of the parties," stressing that "the commitment to maintain calm and dialogue between the two sides could resolve the problems inherited from the era of the Alambad.
As part of a related new member of the Integrity Committee in the House of Representatives Mohamed Naji Kuwait re-claim the property seized by Iraq after 1991, indicating that the Kuwaiti government seized five Iraqi oil tankers and giant refused to surrender since that time on various pretexts.
Gulf states will sign an agreement for monetary union on June 7 in Riyadh, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said at a meeting of the GCC finance ministers in Muscat Saturday.
Al-Attiyah said the GCC’s Higher Council had authorized the Ministerial Council to sign the agreement.
The GCC secretariat general is seeking through its communication with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar to implement the Higher Council order to approve the agreement before next September in order for it to be effective by the beginning of 2010, prior to establishing the Monetary Council before the end of the current year.
Al-Attiyah added that executive steps for the establishment of the Monetary Council were awaiting moves from legislative bodies in member countries to approve the Monetary Union Agreement which contains the union’s legislative and institutional framework.
The Monetary Council will be tasked with technical requirements, preparations for the Central Bank, and the single currency.
Bahrain is the only country to have already approved the agreement. The Kuwaiti finance ministry has submitted the agreement to Kuwait’s Council of Ministers for approval.
Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf in an interview to a news agency said the Kingdom and three other Gulf states will proceed with their monetary union plan and the location of a Gulf central bank would not be open for renegotiation.
“It is not derailed, it will continue. The monetary union will proceed as planned,” he said.
“As long as we are moving in the right direction, this is the most important.”
The UAE dropped out of the single currency plan.
Asked if the location of the central bank was open for renegotiation, Al-Assaf said: “No. There is a decision that has been taken by our leaders.”
Al-Assaf said one of the key benefits of the single currency would be to reduce transaction costs between the member countries in areas such as trade and tourism.
“Having a single currency will eliminate the risk and that tremendously influences decisions to invest, to deposit funds, to do any type of trade.” The single currency would also enable the region to have a “major currency bloc,” he said.
In 2001, the six members of the GCC - a loose political and economic alliance - agreed to set up a monetary union like that of the European Union.
The man who hopes to be Japan's next finance minister envisions an Asia united by a single currency, saying the dollar may no longer reign supreme in future.
The opposition's "shadow finance minister" Masaharu Nakagawa also says he hopes to reshape the world's number two economy into a kinder, gentler place if his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) wins elections this year.
"You can't invigorate society only through... the law of the jungle where the strong become stronger," he told AFP. "The same player would always win if there were no handicaps in golf."
Japan's conservative Prime Minister Taro Aso must call elections by September, when the DPJ hopes to topple his Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for almost all of the past half century.
In an interview with AFP, Nakagawa outlined some of the changes he would like to make if he becomes finance minister in Asia's largest economy, which is now in the throes of its worst post-World War II recession.
Looking at the broader region, he said Asia should tackle security and economic issues as "a unified community."
"Asian currencies should be unified into a common currency in the course of the region's forming a single economic zone," Nakagawa told AFP.
He did not give a timeframe, saying it would largely depend on economic and political developments in China.
Nakagawa said people must "take into account the possibility that the dollar might not function as the key currency any more in the medium and long term" as the world seeks a new order in the post-Cold War era.
Until an Asian common currency emerges, he said, "the Japanese government should make efforts to have the "Asia zone" use the yen, not the dollar, for trade settlements. It's time for Japan to launch this plan."
Japan's government could extend lending to the International Monetary Fund on condition that it is in yen while guaranteeing bonds by Asian countries if they are denominated in the Japanese currency, he said.
Nakagawa, who turns 59 in June, studied foreign affairs at Georgetown University in the United States in the 1970s. The father-of-four represents a constituency in central Mie prefecture.
He says he is a "generalist" rather than an economic expert.
Speaking more broadly on his vision for Japan, he said the country had followed the United States and its liberalism in the past, but the time had come for the nation to be "more Asian."
"Now is the time for Japan to say what kind of world it would like to create, not to adapt itself to the given circumstances as it has "- since its defeat in World World II, he said.
The reason Kuwait insists on full payment,via chapter VII, for war damages by Iraq is the fact that Saddam blew 700 wellheads on the way out of Kuwait. Repair costs were huge!
Another huge cost factor was the clean-up of the crude that drifted down the coast fron Kuwait to Bahrain. Every industrial plant along the coast had to implement an emergency clean-up plan to keep the crude out of their seawater intake systems. The desalination plants were in pure panic mode.
Even after Iraq pays their debt for all damages, relations will never be the same between the two countries, too much bad blood!
Al-Nujaifi warns against possible clashes between Iraqi army and Kurdish militias in Mosul
Al-Bayyina Al-Jadeeda independent newspaper of today has quoted lawmaker Usamah al-Nujaifi of the National Iraqi List warning against possible confrontations between the Iraqi army and the Kurdish militias in the Nineveh governorate the provincial capital of which is Mosul.
(www.noozz.com)
Post war,the United Nations ordered Iraq to pay billions of dollars in compensation to its oil-rich southern neighbour. With Saddam gone and Baghdad under the control of the United States, a long-time Kuwaiti ally, Iraq believed the reparations would be cancelled and friendly relations resumed, Nizar Latif reports for The National.
Instead, Kuwait has been urging the UN Security Council to uphold the repayments, with $25.5 billion (Dh94bn) still owing. An extra $16bn in debt, lent to Iraq during the 1980s to fund its war with Iran, is also being demanded.
Kuwait sent an envoy to council members to lobby their support, insisting that Iraq’s international obligations have still not been met and apply to the new government of Nouri al Maliki, just as they applied to Saddam Hussein.
Iraqis, who believe they have already paid heavily enough for Saddam’s folly with 10 years of devastating sanctions, are outraged.
The following is posted by Adster on IIF. It presents a logical argument why we all have invested in the New Iraqi Dinar.
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This is a once in a lifetime event because there’ll never be another country as potentially rich as Iraq (2nd largest oil reserves in the world) whose currency and bonds have
To demonstrate how this scam has occurred under George W. Bush, let us go back to the Understanding Money and War, Parts IV and V, which addressed the work of the crafty Paul Wolfowitz and the Rothschild banking empire to take over the Iraqi money system.
In trying to assess these efforts, my first inclination was that surely Wolf and his Rothschild mentors moved in on the old Iraqi dinars and obtained possession of most of them (maybe like their earlier relatives did with the old Continentals after the Revolutionary War).
I have already related the story from Gordon Thomas and the American Free Press of Aug 20, 2003 about how the CIA raided the old Iraqi Central Bank and made off with its money, gold and whatever of value found there (as related in Part IV of this series).
I don’t know how many of the old dinars were stolen in this raid. But there should have been quite a supply of them at the Iraqi Central Bank. And if so, where did they go? My own belief is that Wolfowitz and his Rothschild relatives and colleagues ended up with much of the monetary assets of the CIA raid on the Iraqi Central Bank. Since Paul was in charge of the Iraqi war, he already had plans made that there would be a new dinar and that the old dinar would be 100% convertible to the new one.
Once the Rothschild privately owned Iraqi Central Bank came into being in 2004, it all became academic anyway. Just as the US Federal Reserve answers to no one (except its owners), we can be sure that the privately owned Iraqi Central Bank will answer to no one beyond its corporate owners (which are the Rothschilds and other big bankers).
More
I have also learned some other things on how the fat cat plutocrats are now in the process of making another huge stack of profits on a deal that they have been working on in Iraq. It appears that Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch had some worthless packaged mortgages which nothing could be or can be done about. But they also had a lot of (currently) worthless, old, Iraqi bonds, alongside the mortgages. Lehman Brothers did not have many Iraqi bonds.
With this backdrop, JP Morgan-Chase bought Bear Stearns and Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch. This worked out well because those same banks also have much Iraqi currency and bonds. When you add the holdings of the failing companies in with the surviving big banks, it means the survivors now have a hoard of Iraqi money and bonds.
The fat cats seemingly let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt possibly because they didn’t have any assets like that in their portfolio. But as a sidelight on this, the top brass of Lehman are now a part of an organization in the Middle East that has something to do with setting oil prices. So they are not being left out of the loop entirely.
When the current Iraq war broke out, the old Iraqi dinars went to near worthless (which we can be sure were bought up by Rothschild agents like Wolf). Subsequently, the Rothschilds had a hand in creating the new Iraqi dinar (which was all spiffed up with good security features, etc.). While the war has been going on since Mar 2003, the plutocrat team players have been acquiring huge quantities of the Iraqi dinars and bonds.
First, they picked up vast quantities of the old dinars which were made good in 2004 with the exchange proviso to the new dinar. And now, since 2004, they have been acquiring the new dinars and either holding them or selling them to the public (along with the work of the Rothschild owned central bank sales of dinars to the public).
Some days ago, I understand that Goldman Sachs (another Rothschild US Company) was given permission to convert itself into a regular bank. All normal waiting times and red tape to do this were waived. This bank supposedly has $1.1 trillion in assets (too, Warren Buffet has invested 5 billion into this new operation and, supposedly, it is the first time he’s invested in a bank in decades). As it turns out, Goldman Sachs is also flush with Iraqi bonds.
The reason Goldman Sachs needed to be a bank is so that when the Iraqi dinar is stabilized and increased in value from oil sales (which will be an engineered maneuver, courtesy of the Rothschilds) those Iraqi assets will suddenly, magically become worth much. This is a once in a lifetime event because there’ll never be another country as potentially rich as Iraq (2nd largest oil reserves in the world) whose currency and bonds have been engineered to be worthless to give the big boys a chance to hop on them and really clean up.
The events described above on the Iraqi situation help establish why the US invaded that nation in 2003. Obviously, the whole exercise was undertaken to make vast new profits for the plutocrat masters and neo-cons now ruling the US. For sure, we can bank on it that the fat cats have and will make absolute fortunes on the Iraqi thing before the dust settles.
But once more, there is a word of caution here. Just as the new dinar has had wide swings up and down in value, it could easily go to the garbage can if and when US forces leave Iraq and the people of Iraq gain control of their nation. When that happens, we can be sure that the Rothschild Central Bank and the present Rothschild approved dinar will both go down the tubes.
Finally, there remain some questions about the US war to make money for the plutocrats and neo-cons and particularly about the gold formerly held by the Iraqi government at the old Iraqi Central Bank. What happened to this gold? Was it laundered by some mining company? Did the Rothschilds get it? Has it been sold on the open gold market to drive gold prices down?
As touched upon in the Goldsmiths, Part XXX, the CIA was in possession of this gold as well as likely a large sum of gold found in the Philippines and Europe after WWII. The CIA could have easily made this gold available to the Fed or Treasury to manipulate and control the gold markets for the last 40 years.
That is a what if story of all stories. I have patiently awaited a move one way or the other and am glad it has not been the other! It is moving in a increasing value just much much slower than we all would like and believe that it should. That is were scenario after scenario is thrown at this board which play heavily on our fragile Dinar hearts.
One thing we know The US is not gonna leave Iraq, we have built a few bases and it is garanteed that a presence will be in place. The Navy is always in the Gulf and Army always in Afghanistan. There are just to many factors keeping this thing from moving.
-Oil Prices higher while usage down ???
-Us Dollar weak one month and strong the next CNBC
-Less press on Iraq on a day to day Good with less deaths but bad for showing the world lets get busy!
-Infrastructure, who who really I mena really thought they had to rebuild everything I mean really!!
-Banking system US banks thumbs down so how is Iraq's banking system gonna flourish during this?
-Do they have their imports of goods reaching all the cities yet or just the big cities.
-It just goes on and on
I think there are many reasons to continue to be bullish on the Dinar. What we are all watching is a nation emerging from war to a viable nation state. Just as the great Roman Empire was not built in a day neither shall Iraq.
I agree there is still much work both the GoI and the CBI must do; but, if my previous post has any merit and the Rothschild are involved to the degree indicated then we are in good company.
Hang on Frank while Iraq continues to slowly rise from the dust of despotism and war it will evolve into a functioning and prosperous nation state.
Iraq may be able to boost government spending in coming months thanks to rising oil prices and recent increases in the country's production capacity, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday.
(www.noozz.com)
Jabir accuses Atiyya of delaying oil minister interrogation 09/06/2009 17:15:00
Baghdad (NINA) – Rapporteur of Oil and Gas committee in Parliament MP Jabir Khalifa Jabir confirmed that Deputy Speaker Khalid al-Atiyya attempts to delay interrogation of oil and gas minister Hussein al-Shahristani.
(www.ninanews.com)
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