Iraq Reconstruction News 24 February 2007

Iraq Reconstruction News
24 February 2007


1. Kurdish Officials to Back Iraq Oil Law. The Associated Press. SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq -- Kurdish authorities have agreed to back a draft law to manage and share Iraq's vast oil wealth, removing the last major obstacle to approving the measure and meeting a key U.S. benchmark in Iraq, a top Kurdish official said Saturday. Approval of a new oil law could help open the way for international oil companies to invest billions to upgrade Iraq's decrepit wells and pipelines and exploit the country's reserves, among the world's largest. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/24/AR2007022400656.html

2. Attacks cost Iraq 400K bpd of oil -- BAGHDAD, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Attacks on Iraq's oil sector, mostly on pipelines, affects 400,000 barrels per day and billions of dollars annually, an Oil Ministry spokesman said. Assem Jihad said attacks on the country's oil infrastructure averaged one every other day, totaling 159 major blows in 2006, Azzaman reports. http://www.upi.com/Energy/Attacks_cost_Iraq_400K_bpd_of_oil/20070222-025538-6039r/

3. Abbas to serve in Iraq Cabinet. St. Cloud State University professor Abbas Mehdi has accepted a new Cabinet position in the Iraq government. Mehdi officially will start April 1 as the chairman of the Iraqi Investment Commission. The commission will be the "voice for the private sector," Mehdi said, and will work to rebuild the country based on free- market principles. http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/NEWS01/102230040/1009/RSS

4. Iraq war exacts toll on contractors. In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press. Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon's work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Defense Department's count of more than 3,100 U.S. military dead does not tell the whole story. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/24/AR2007022400656.html

5. Iraq's trade minister, U.S. official take up economic relations. Undersecretary for International Trade of the Department of Commerce Frank L. Lavin discussed means to further economic cooperation relations as an important means of ending violence and unemployment in Iraq. The meeting took place in Arbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, on the sidelines of the Iraqi-U.S. businessmen's dialogue meetings. http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=37973&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

6. Violence deters Iraqi Americans returning to rebuild country - Associated Press - LOS ANGELES -- When Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003, the U.S. government encouraged Iraqis living in America to return home. They were seen as key to the rebuilding, since many were well-educated, well-to-do and supportive of democracy. But many of those who went back are giving up and returning to America, frightened and disillusioned by the bloodshed in their homeland. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/23/military/15_44_172_22_07.txt

7. Iraq Rebuilding Short on Qualified Civilians - Washington Post - In Diyala, the vast province northeast of Baghdad where Sunnis and Shiites are battling for primacy with mortars and nighttime abductions, the U.S. government has contracted the job of promoting democracy to a Pakistani citizen who has never lived or worked in a democracy. The management of reconstruction projects in the province has been assigned to a Border Patrol commander with no reconstruction experience. The task of communicating with the embassy in Baghdad has been handed off to a man with no background in drafting diplomatic cables. The post of agriculture adviser has gone unfilled because the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided just one of the six farming experts the State Department asked for a year ago. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022302049.html

8. Japan to provide extra US$145 million in aid to Iraq. TOKYO: Japan will give Iraq US$145 million (€110.64 million) in a new humanitarian grant as part of international efforts to help rebuild the war-torn country, the Foreign Ministry said. The aid covers security and basic services ranging from food to medical support, ministry official Masato Usui said. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/23/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-Iraq-Aid.php

9. US lawmaker promises hearings on Iraq reconstruction spending after visit. BOSTON: U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan vowed Friday to investigate how reconstruction funds were being used in Iraq, saying more money should not be committed to the country until more is known about what was spent. Meehan, the Democratic chairman of the newly created House Armed Services subcommittee on oversight and investigations, returned Friday from his third trip to Iraq. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/23/america/NA-GEN-US-Iraq-Reconstruction.php

10. Iraq's 2007 budget allocates $2.3b for oil, $778m for electricity http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093144019

11. Foreign firms eye new work in Iraq - THE WASHINGTON TIMES - The Bush administration is promoting business opportunities in Iraq as fighting rages on, with a senior Commerce Department official leading a mission there this week. Sectors that focus on rebuilding, such as telecommunications and construction, offer significant opportunities for foreign companies. http://washingtontimes.com/business/20070220-100313-2579r.htm

12. U.S. troops aiming to slip up oil smugglers - KIRKUK, Iraq — U.S. troops in northern Iraq have targeted oil smugglers as part of continuing efforts to restore the battered oil industry and prevent a nascent wave of organized crime from benefitting the insurgents. Military officials say they believe smugglers range in sophistication and motive: from poor local farmers seeking crude to tar their roofs to international rings using fraudulent paperwork and fleets of trucks to earn millions of dollars. http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=42750&archive=true

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