Iraq Reconstruction News 18 January 2007

Iraq Reconstruction News
18 January 2007


1. GRD Iraq Reconstruction Weekly Update 01/13/07. https://www.rebuilding-iraq.net/pls/portal/url/ITEM/07251F2EFBCA801DE040A8C00B0741F5

2. Brookings Iraq Index, 16 January 2007. http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf

3, Iraqis will never accept this sellout to the oil corporations. The US-controlled Iraqi government is preparing to remove the country's most precious resource from national control. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1991321,00.html

4. Armed groups blamed for loss of oil revenues. Azzaman. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-01-17\kurd1.htm

5. Iraqi Leaders Reportedly Agree On Draft Oil Law. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi officials have agreed a final draft of a law that sets rules for sharing Iraq's oil wealth and aims to bring in billions of dollars of foreign investment to rebuild the mainstay of the economy. But crucially, international oil firms waiting for access to the world's third biggest oil reserves will find little detail in the draft about the form future deals will take. They are likely to hold off major commitments until there is clarity. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-01-17T142445Z_01_MAC743964_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&src=011707_1025_DOUBLEFEATURE_weather

6. Syria-Iraq oil pipeline to be restored -- minister. DAMASCUS, Jan 17 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Commerce Minister Abdulfalah Al-Soudani said Wednesday his country and Syria were studying ways of restoring an old oil pipeline crossing Syrian territory and linking Iraq with the Mediterranean Sea.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=943488

7. Japan to Lend 82.6B Yen to Build Pipeline, Other Facilities in Iraq. Japan will lend Iraq a total of 82.6 billion yen to help the war-torn Middle Eastern country improve crude oil and electricity-related facilities, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=38974

8. Iraq agrees final oil law draft. Upstream.com. Iraqi officials have agreed a final draft of a law that sets rules for sharing Iraq's oil wealth and aims to bring in billions of dollars of foreign investment to rebuild the mainstay of the economy. http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/middle_east/article126300.ece

9. Haifa Waleed - "I prefer to be illiterate than to die" BAGHDAD, 10 Jan 2007 (IRIN) - “I am 10 years old but I have not been to school for the past three years because I’m scared of the killings taking place in Iraq. Many of my friends have either been kidnapped or killed. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56971&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=IRAQ

10. UN FAO: Iraq water resources. http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/aglw/aquastat/countries/iraq/index.stm

11. A New Oil Plan for Iraq. TIME. In his speech announcing plans to boost troop levels in Iraq, George Bush noted that Iraq was about to pass "legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis" in order to give the citizens of that country a share in the economy. Indeed, the 33-page draft of that proposed Oil & Gas Law now circulating, if passed as currently written, would end decades of total government control over Iraq's mammoth oil reserves and distribute oil income among all the country's regions — a dramatic change from the past and a potential windfall for Big Oil. But it must first get through Iraq's fractious parliament and the country's divisive ethnic politics. Already, the draft shows signs of wrangling and potentially troublesome compromise. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1576593,00.html

12. Provision of yen loan to Iraq. The Government of Japan has announced its intention to provide yen loans up to the total amount of 79,837 million yen to the Republic of Iraq. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6XCL6Y?OpenDocument

13. Cost of Iraq railroad projects. http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/13261

14. Iraq allocates 8 billion dollars for housing projects. The Iraqi government allocated eight billion dollars for "the Land Bank" to support the project of lending citizens at facilitated interests to build on the lands granted to them by the government (100 thousand residential plot), within the current year's budget, and the housing project which was announced earlier. http://www.iraqdevelopmentprogram.org/idp/news/new1456.htm

15. Shock and oil: Iraq's billions & the White House connection. The American company appointed to advise the US government on the economic reconstruction of Iraq has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican Party coffers and has admitted that its own finances are in chaos because of accounting errors and bad management. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2152438.ece

16. Turkey warns Kurds against seeking control of oil-rich Kirkuk. ANKARA, Turkey: Turkey's prime minister warned Iraqi Kurdish groups Tuesday against trying to seize control of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Kurdish lawmakers responded by accusing Ankara of interfering in internal Iraqi matters. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will not stand by amid growing tensions among ethnic Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds in Iraq's oil-rich north. Turkish lawmakers are to discuss Kirkuk and Iraq on Thursday, and Turkey's main opposition party has said it would back a cross-border offensive to quell a Kurdish rebellion. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/16/europe/EU-GEN-Turkey-Iraq-Kirkuk.php

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