Iraq Reconstruction News 7 February 2007

Iraq Reconstruction News
7 February 2007


1. House Hearing on Abuse in Iraq Reconstruction. http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=House%20Hearing%20on%20Abuse%20in%20Iraq%20Reconstruction&link=rtsp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.c%2Dspan.org%2Fproject%2Firaq%2Firaq020607%5Foversight.rm

2. Brookings Iraq Index 5 February 2007 http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf

3. IWPR's Iraqi Press Monitor.
http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=henmicrc-1-1170288000-2-1170374400-3-icr&o=c-1-1170288000-2-1170374400-3-icr&o1=month-2,year-2007&month=2&year=2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=henmicrc-1-1170288000-2-1170374400-3-icr&o=c-1-1170374400-2-1170460800-3-icr&o1=month-2,year-2007&month=2&year=2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=henmicrc-1-1170374400-2-1170460800-3-icr&o=c-1-1170633600-2-1170720000-3-icr&o1=month-2,year-2007&month=2&year=2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=henmicrc-1-1170633600-2-1170720000-3-icr&o=c-1-1170720000-2-1170806400-3-icr&o1=month-2,year-2007&month=2&year=2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=henmicrc-1-1170633600-2-1170720000-3-icr&o=c-1-1170720000-2-1170806400-3-icr&o1=month-2,year-2007&month=2&year=2007

4. GRD Iraq Reconstruction Report 7 February 2007 http://www.grd.usace.army.mil/news/releases/20070207.pdf

5. Democrats, Bremer Spar Over Iraq Spending. Ex-Administrator Defends Outlays. House Democrats criticized former Iraq occupation administrator L. Paul Bremer yesterday for disbursing nearly $9 billion in Iraqi oil revenue without instituting accounting systems to track more carefully how Iraqi officials were using that money. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601718.html

6. Dems blast U.S. officials for wasting billions in Iraqi money. In a partisan session that likened pre-invasion Iraq to the regimes of Adolf Hitler, the Khmer Rouge and Josef Stalin, and prompted comparisons between an embattled President Bush and wartime setbacks that Abraham Lincoln and George Washington experienced, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday launched a weeklong look into government waste, fraud and abuse. Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and ranking member Tom Davis, R-Va., presided over a session that delved into allegations of waste under the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led group that served as a government for Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein. A hearing memorandum prepared by committee Democrats described a "wild west" atmosphere in Iraq between May 2003 and June 2004, during which CPA spent $19.6 billion before handing over control to an interim Iraqi government. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36068&dcn=e_gvet

7. Military Wants More Civilians to help in Iraq. WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — Senior military officers, including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have told President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that the new Iraq strategy could fail unless more civilian agencies step forward quickly to carry out plans for reconstruction and political development.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/washington/07military.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

8. Bremer admits errors in rebuilding Iraq. WASHINGTON — The former head of the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq testified at a congressional hearing Tuesday that he and the Bush administration made mistakes, including inadequate planning. Paul Bremer — former administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which ruled Iraq for 14 months in 2003 and 2004 — said he was wrong to temporarily stop paying salaries and pensions to former Iraqi army officers. He added that Iraqis went too far with his order to purge members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from the government.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-02-05-iraq-contracts_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

9. Counterpart crisis" with Iraq resolved. The counterpart crisis which erupted after Iraq pointed Massoud Barzani as the counterpart for shipment of fuel products from Turkey, was resolved upon an official statement from Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-22247.html

10. New policy aims to encourage housing sector investment in Kurdistan http://www.portaliraq.com/news/New+policy+aims+to+encourage+housing+sector+investment+in+Kurdistan__1112432.html

11. Byblos Bank invests in Kurdistan Arbil
http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=36060&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

12. Scarce fuel...yet another problem for Iraqis. Baghdad, Jan 26, (VOI) – With a plethora of troubles, dangers and hardships that turn their lives into a daily struggle just to get by, Iraqis suffer another unlikely problem for a country that sits on the second largest oil reserves in the world. The snowballing crisis of fuel shortage has overburdened the people who have to purchase oil derivatives from the black market. http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=35965&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

13. Baghdad hospitals in crisis as they lack security and drugs, say specialists. BAGHDAD, 28 Jan 2007 (IRIN) - Hospitals and Primary Health Care Centres (PHCC) in Baghdad are facing a major crisis as a result of lack security and a shortage of medicine, equipment and specialised staff, say health specialists. “A major problem affecting [Iraq’s] health sector is definitely the country’s desperate security situation,” said Nada Doumani, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57224&SelectRegion=Middle_East&SelectCountry=Iraq

14. Iraqi official calls for Iranian investment in infrastructure projects in his country. An Iraqi official here Sunday called on Iran's private sector to invest in projects to develop his country's infrastructure. The consul general of the Iraqi consulate in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah, Riyadh Hassoun, made the call during a meeting with an Iranian delegation comprising representatives of Ilam province's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines.
http://www.irna.com/en/news/view/line-16/0701282842132718.htm

15. Iraqi Ministry of Electricity to supply Baghdad with solar energy http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093140740

16. Yemen Airways to inaugurate flights to Baghdad http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=634&p=local&a=7

17. University Failures Threaten Iraq's Professionals. All Things Considered, January 29, 2007 · Iraq was once proud of its doctors, engineers and professors. Many hoped that with Saddam's fall and the end of economic sanctions, there would be a resurgence of professional skills. But the Ministry of Education says only 30 percent of Iraq's students are currently attending classes — the lowest level since U.S. troops invaded Iraq four years ago. The universities, which are directly linked to Iraq's future, are on the verge of collapse. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7070116

18. Brazil's exports to Iraq triple in 2006. Brazilian companies pulled in revenues totaling 152.9 million U.S. dollars from exports to Iraq in 2006, against 49.9 million dollars in 2005, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade on Monday. http://www.iraqdevelopmentprogram.org/idp/news/new1479.htm

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