IRAQ - US-Iran Talks.
Bilateral talks in Baghdad were resumed on July 24 by US Ambassador
Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi. They agreed
to set up a three-state security committee with Iraq . . .
IRAQ - Iraqi Security Forces Need Years Of Training.
Maj Gen. Walter Gaskin, leading American troops in Anbar Province,
on July 20 said Iraq's security system will need years of mentoring
and support from US forces. He warned against a US withdrawal . . .
IRAQ - Sunni Imams Harbour Neo-Salafis.
US forces on July 21 stormed the Association of Muslim Scholars
(AMS) HQ in Baghdad and arrested 18 armed Neo-Salafi militants of
al-Qaeda. The AMS is the main Sunni religious group which claims . . .
IRAQ - Sunnis Threaten To Quit Govt.
The IAF on July 25 threatened to quit its membership of the
government, in an indication of a widening Sunni-Shi'ite rift
complicating efforts to secure national reconciliation. The IAF said in
a . . .
IRAQ - Violence In The South.(airmen killed in attack)(Brief
article)
Three British airmen were killed on July 19 by rocket or mortar
fire into their airport base in Basra. The deaths brought to 162 the
total number of British service members killed since the . . .
IRAQ - Denmark Evacuates Iraqi Employees & Relatives.
Denmark has secretly airlifted about 200 Iraqi employees and their
relatives out of Iraq to prevent them from being killed after 470 Danish
ground troops withdraw in August. Interpreters and other . . .
IRAQ - Law Allows Private Refining.
Parliament on July 24 approved a law allowing private oil
refineries to be set up in Iraq. This was a step towards relinquishing
state control in the refining sector and, when poverty is . . .
IRAQ - The Makhmour Controversy.(to join the Kurdistan Regional
Government region)
The town of Makhmour lies amid the dust devils, wheat-fields and
oil pipelines of the northern Iraqi plains, just east of the Green Line
which divides the autonomous KRG area from the rest of Iraq. . . .
IRAQ - Kurds Offer Oil 40 E&P Blocks.
The KRG is not waiting for Baghdad to pass the petroleum law, which
it says could take several months. Instead, it is preparing to offer 40
new oil E&P blocks in the north on the basis of a PSA . . .
IRAQ - Focusing On The Non-Oil Sector - Part 17 - Iraqi
Complications & 'Saddam Curse'.
Spending almost $1 trillion in efforts on all fronts - including
cash, with the war bill now exceeding $2 bn/week - and having lost so
many American lives, the Iraq project seems to be the . . .
Professionals Flee Death Threats.
The FT on June 19 focused on Iraqi professionals fleeing death
threats in Baghdad. It mentioned Saher - "a pseudonym chosen by a
34-year-old Christian electrical engineer" who before the . . .
The Military Offensive.
The US-led Ba'quba assault is unusual in its scope and
ambition, representing a more aggressive strategy of attacking several
insurgent strongholds simultaneously to tamp down violence . . .
Petraeus Says Stabilising Iraq May Take A Decade.(Lt-Gen David
Petraeus)
The top US commander in Iraq, Lt-Gen David Petraeus, says
stabilising this country could take as long as a decade, says the U.S.
commander in Baghdad. His comments came as US Secretary of . . .
Iraqi & US Offensive - Focusing On The Non-Oil Sector - Part
16.
The US has launched a major military offensive on Sunni and
Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq, with emphasis on the Neo-Salafi groups.
The US military on June 19 began the biggest operation since the . . .
How USA May Win The Energy War.
The following is an article by Frank G. Zarb, head of a private US
equity firm, who was assistant to the president for energy affairs in
the Ford administration, published on May 23: "With prices . . .
Bush Says Withdrawal Would Fuel Risk of Al-Qaeda Attack On
USA.
President Bush on May 23 pressed his argument that a premature
departure of coalition forces would make al-Qaeda an even greater threat
to the region and to the US. The coalition, Bush said during . . .
Anti-OPEC Move.(Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
obejected by House)
Decrying near-record high gasoline prices, the House on May 22
voted to allow the government to sue OPEC over oil production quotas.
The White House objected, saying that might disrupt supplies and . . .
'Obscene Attempt' To Steal Iraq Oil.( Dennis Kucinich
reprts of George W. Bush's action)
In a nationally televised (C-SPAN) speech on May 23, Democratic
Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said the US
Congress, under intense pressure from the Bush administration, was . . .
Complex Iraqi Politics.
Iraq's petroleum law has been touted as a major step towards
the political reconciliation of the country's major sects. The US
military "surge" in Baghdad is, in part, designed to provide
the . . .
Focusing On The Non-Oil Sector - Part 15 - Iraqi & US Energy
Issues.
The Bush administration is facing a number of energy issues in Iraq
and the US. In Iraq, continuing violence is overshadowing efforts for
parliament to pass the country's petroleum law. In the US, . . .
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