Biden Pushes Iraqi Leaders On Vote Law, Oil-Bid Perks
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 17, 2009
BAGHDAD, Sept. 16 -- Vice President Biden pressed Iraqi leaders Wednesday to approve as quickly as possible legislation that establishes rules for the planned January general election and to make the next round of bids to develop Iraqi oil concessions more attractive to foreign investors.
In a series of meetings in the Green Zone, Biden listened to the concerns of Iraqi leaders, now in the heat of an election season that Obama administration officials acknowledge will delay until after the vote any progress on such pressing issues as passing a law on the equitable distribution of national oil revenue among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
A senior administration official said Biden also made his interests known on a variety of issues, such as the need for the Iraqi parliament to adopt laws to better protect foreign investment and leaving unchanged the terms of the timetable for the withdrawal of the 130,000 U.S. troops now in the country.
This is Biden's second visit to Iraq in two months, and it comes as the Obama administration is trying to manage a growing Iraqi impatience with the U.S. military presence here. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom Biden met with Wednesday evening, has expressed support for a proposed referendum that would hasten by a year the 2011 withdrawal deadline for all U.S. forces in Iraq.
U.S. military and diplomatic officials fear that a rapid departure could undermine the security gains realized over the past year, and in his meetings Biden asked Iraqi officials whether they thought the referendum would proceed. But Biden is reluctant to be seen as meddling in a domestic Iraqi issue, and a senior administration official said the vice president operated largely in "listening mode."
Speaking next to Biden at his official residence, Maliki said U.S. forces had complied with the terms of the agreement outlining the schedule for the troop withdrawal and the training of Iraqi forces with "high credibility."
Biden reiterated the terms of the withdrawal timeline. The senior administration official said the two men's statements mean "that we have a mutual interest in moving forward" under the conditions set out in the agreement.
Biden also appealed to Iraqi leaders to offer more financial incentives for foreign investors to bid on Iraqi oil concessions; only one bid of the eight put out this year was accepted. The administration official estimated that one additional deal would translate into $50 billion to $60 billion in foreign investment in Iraq, generate $600 million in annual revenue and create tens of thousands of jobs in the country.
The official said Biden would deliver the same message to Kurdish leaders in meetings scheduled for Thursday. Kurds' interest in ensuring what they see as a fair share of proceeds from the rich oil fields of Iraq's north has presented an obstacle to a revenue-sharing agreement. Reaching a deal is crucial to Iraq's oil-dependent economy, but the goal has been politically elusive for years.
"In an election season in any country, it's difficult to make definitive progress on any issue, and these are difficult issues," the official said, adding that Biden's hope is for the next Iraqi government to be "in good position" to move on the oil legislation and other matters soon after the election.
In all his meetings, Biden asked Iraqi officials to assess their progress on an election law, concerned that without one in place soon the January vote will not be able to proceed. The official said he particularly pressed Ayad al-Samarraie, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, because the law is a legislative matter.
Biden and Maliki expressed hope that the Iraq Business and Investment Conference scheduled to be held in Washington next month would encourage private U.S. investment in Iraq. But the administration source said Biden told Iraqi leaders that regulatory and other financial protections need to be enacted to make foreign investors more comfortable doing business here.
Some of the proposed protections are before parliament, the official said, and their passage would allow, among other things, for the Overseas Private Investment Corp. to extend loan guarantees to companies wishing to do business in Iraq.
Showing posts with label iraqi dinar forum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iraqi dinar forum. Show all posts
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Iraqi Dinar Value - Shattered in Baghdad blasts: Iraqi faith in security forces
Shattered in Baghdad blasts: Iraqi faith in security forces
From street sweepers to Foreign Ministry guards, Iraqis say their countrymen are falling short of their duty to protect them.
By Jane Arraf Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Baghdad - At the site of the deadliest Baghdad bombing in 18 months, Iraqi faith that their security forces could protect them lay shattered in the wreckage.
Outside the Foreign Ministry in central Baghdad, residents and security people gathered around tangled heaps of the frames of burned cars, some of them still smoldering into the evening.
"Iraqi security forces aren't strong enough – you see the police talking on their cellphones and listening to music," said Harath, a Foreign Ministry guard sitting under the dangling wires of a broken light fixture.
The ministry had been evacuated just after a truck packed with an estimated ton of explosives detonated, killing 59 people and wounding 150, but eight hours later Fatima Abdullah Sharif was still searching for her daughter Zainab, a ministry employee.
"Have you heard anything about her?" she asked each passerby in an anguished voice. "I've been looking for her since this morning."
Zainab, one of Fatima's three children, had returned temporarily to Baghdad two months ago from her job at the Iraqi consulate in Mexico. "I worked so hard to raise them," sobbed Fatima, explaining that her husband died 12 years ago.
Many of the dead and wounded were ministry officials. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zubari, who was not in Baghdad when the bombs hit, flew back from the Kurdish capital of Arbil and went to hospitals to visit the wounded after landing.
'I would prefer the US troops stay'
The ministry, surrounded by high concrete walls on a busy street, was near a checkpoint that had been dismantled earlier this year. As attacks in Baghdad have decreased, Iraqi authorities eager to show improvement in security and make the city livable again have started removing concrete walls and security checkpoints.
"We all know our security isn't perfect. We saw a big truck in the security camera," said Hawree Talabani, an employee in the IT department at the ministry. Blood seeped through a bandage wrapped around his head. "How can you drive a truck with a ton of explosives up here?"
Across the street, near the blackened branches of trees that caught fire in the explosions, policeman Hameed Eid explained why as he examined the tangled metal that was the remains of his car.
"They removed the checkpoint and we have no scanning devices for explosives," he said. "I would prefer to keep the concrete walls. I would prefer that the American troops stay but the Iraqis and the Iraqi political parties can't agree among themselves about it."
Hallmarks of Al Qaeda in Iraq
Thousands of US combat troops who had patrolled Baghdad with their Iraqi counterparts pulled back to the main US base outside the city in line with a June 30 deadline under the US-Iraqi joint security agreement. The move, a prelude to the complete withdrawal of US forces by the end of 2011, has raised concerns that Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups are creeping back into the city.
The US military says it was asked for and provided aerial surveillance after the attacks for intelligence gathering, medical evacuation, and forensic help to try to piece together who was responsible.
The coordinated attack, on the anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003, with its size and sophistication, had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
"These attacks represent a reaction to the opening of streets and bridges and the lifting of barriers inside the residential areas," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement. He blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq and former Baathists, as did many of the Iraqis in the streets.
"Only the Baathists would do this – they like destruction," said Saad Kamal Rahim al-Saadi, a street sweeper in an orange vest who was making a futile attempt to clear shattered glass.
"Not everything that happens is because of the Baathists," disagreed Abu Isa, a driver. "The Baathists themselves are afraid right now. If I was a security person I would protect the people – they're not doing their jobs."
'No one from the government has come here'
Another Iraqi in the gathering crowd, a shopkeeper, said he believed the United States and Israel were behind the bombings, because they wanted an excuse for American troops to stay.
Sardar Khorsheed, one of the Kurdish security people at the nearby parliament building, sat on the edge of the giant crater where the truck bomb had exploded.
"When the Americans were here there were no big explosions," he said, but added that that didn't mean he wanted the American troops to return.
Some of the anger of Iraqis was directed at the Iraqi government.
"No one from the government has come down here," said Henna al-Tamimmi, who lives in one of the blocks of apartments across the street. She said her windows were blown out, the doors hanging off her hinges, and the furniture in pieces. "It looks like the explosion happened in our house – where are we going to sleep tonight? All Iraqi officials do is go on television and say they have everything under control."
From street sweepers to Foreign Ministry guards, Iraqis say their countrymen are falling short of their duty to protect them.
By Jane Arraf Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Baghdad - At the site of the deadliest Baghdad bombing in 18 months, Iraqi faith that their security forces could protect them lay shattered in the wreckage.
Outside the Foreign Ministry in central Baghdad, residents and security people gathered around tangled heaps of the frames of burned cars, some of them still smoldering into the evening.
"Iraqi security forces aren't strong enough – you see the police talking on their cellphones and listening to music," said Harath, a Foreign Ministry guard sitting under the dangling wires of a broken light fixture.
The ministry had been evacuated just after a truck packed with an estimated ton of explosives detonated, killing 59 people and wounding 150, but eight hours later Fatima Abdullah Sharif was still searching for her daughter Zainab, a ministry employee.
"Have you heard anything about her?" she asked each passerby in an anguished voice. "I've been looking for her since this morning."
Zainab, one of Fatima's three children, had returned temporarily to Baghdad two months ago from her job at the Iraqi consulate in Mexico. "I worked so hard to raise them," sobbed Fatima, explaining that her husband died 12 years ago.
Many of the dead and wounded were ministry officials. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zubari, who was not in Baghdad when the bombs hit, flew back from the Kurdish capital of Arbil and went to hospitals to visit the wounded after landing.
'I would prefer the US troops stay'
The ministry, surrounded by high concrete walls on a busy street, was near a checkpoint that had been dismantled earlier this year. As attacks in Baghdad have decreased, Iraqi authorities eager to show improvement in security and make the city livable again have started removing concrete walls and security checkpoints.
"We all know our security isn't perfect. We saw a big truck in the security camera," said Hawree Talabani, an employee in the IT department at the ministry. Blood seeped through a bandage wrapped around his head. "How can you drive a truck with a ton of explosives up here?"
Across the street, near the blackened branches of trees that caught fire in the explosions, policeman Hameed Eid explained why as he examined the tangled metal that was the remains of his car.
"They removed the checkpoint and we have no scanning devices for explosives," he said. "I would prefer to keep the concrete walls. I would prefer that the American troops stay but the Iraqis and the Iraqi political parties can't agree among themselves about it."
Hallmarks of Al Qaeda in Iraq
Thousands of US combat troops who had patrolled Baghdad with their Iraqi counterparts pulled back to the main US base outside the city in line with a June 30 deadline under the US-Iraqi joint security agreement. The move, a prelude to the complete withdrawal of US forces by the end of 2011, has raised concerns that Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups are creeping back into the city.
The US military says it was asked for and provided aerial surveillance after the attacks for intelligence gathering, medical evacuation, and forensic help to try to piece together who was responsible.
The coordinated attack, on the anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003, with its size and sophistication, had the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
"These attacks represent a reaction to the opening of streets and bridges and the lifting of barriers inside the residential areas," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement. He blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq and former Baathists, as did many of the Iraqis in the streets.
"Only the Baathists would do this – they like destruction," said Saad Kamal Rahim al-Saadi, a street sweeper in an orange vest who was making a futile attempt to clear shattered glass.
"Not everything that happens is because of the Baathists," disagreed Abu Isa, a driver. "The Baathists themselves are afraid right now. If I was a security person I would protect the people – they're not doing their jobs."
'No one from the government has come here'
Another Iraqi in the gathering crowd, a shopkeeper, said he believed the United States and Israel were behind the bombings, because they wanted an excuse for American troops to stay.
Sardar Khorsheed, one of the Kurdish security people at the nearby parliament building, sat on the edge of the giant crater where the truck bomb had exploded.
"When the Americans were here there were no big explosions," he said, but added that that didn't mean he wanted the American troops to return.
Some of the anger of Iraqis was directed at the Iraqi government.
"No one from the government has come down here," said Henna al-Tamimmi, who lives in one of the blocks of apartments across the street. She said her windows were blown out, the doors hanging off her hinges, and the furniture in pieces. "It looks like the explosion happened in our house – where are we going to sleep tonight? All Iraqi officials do is go on television and say they have everything under control."
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Iraqi Dinar Value-So Cute The Fledgling Democracy Has Embezzlement. Long Way To Go Before You Come Close To Illinois...
Hey...It Wasn't Me...It was the Other Guy That Looks Just Like Me With The Exact Same Name...Iraqi Outgoing Provincial Chief Suspected Of Embezzling $130 Million
Monday April 6th, 2009 / 15h44
BAQOUBA, Iraq (AFP)--An arrest warrant has been issued for an outgoing Iraqi provincial council chief for allegedly misappropriating nearly $130 million in public funds, police said Monday.
"The judicial authorities have issued an arrest warrant against Ibrahim Hassan Bajilan, who is suspected of embezzlement," said an official in Baqouba, capital of the province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad. However Bajilan, a member of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, party, denied the allegation.
"It is completely false," he told AFP by telephone. "It was me who contacted the authorities, and judicial sources in Diyala province assured me it was someone with the same name who is being sought. It certainly isn't me!" Mahdi Saleh, a provincial councilor with the Islamic Party, told AFP that when the accounts for 2008 were being done "we discovered expenditure on fictitious projects and unjustified cash deposits in his accounts.
"Anti-corruption officials have asked Bajilan to reimburse 150 billion dinars ($128 million) to the state. He has refused. So the council referred the case to the judicial authorities," Saleh said. Iraq staged provincial elections Jan. 31 in 14 of the country's 18 provinces, including Diyala.
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