Iraq Reconstruction News 8 February 2007

Iraq Reconstruction News
8 February 2007


1. House Oversight Cmte. Hearing on Military Contractors 7 February 2007 http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=House%20Oversight%20Cmte.%20Hearing%20on%20Military%20Contractors&link=rtsp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.c%2Dspan.org%2Fproject%2Firaq%2Firaq020707%5Fcontractors.rm

2. Justice Dept. Briefing on Iraq Recontruction Investigation 7 February 2007 http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=Justice%20Dept.%20Briefing%20on%20Iraq%20Recontruction%20Investigation&link=rtsp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.c%2Dspan.org%2Fproject%2Firaq%2Firaq020707%5Fdoj2.rm

3. On-the-Record Briefing on Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Iraq http://www.state.gov:80/p/nea/rls/rm/2007/80216.htm

4. Iraq Weekly Status Report 31 January 2007 http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/79813.pdf

5. IWPR Iraqi Press Monitor http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=henmicrc-1-1170892800-2-1170979200-3-icr&o=c-1-1170892800-2-1170979200-3-icr&o1=month-2,year-2007&month=2&year=2007

6. Five named in alleged Iraq contracting scam. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A grand jury indicted three Army Reserve officers and two civilians Wednesday on charges they steered more than $8.6 million in Iraqi reconstruction funds to a contractor in exchange for kickbacks that included vehicles, jewelry and real estate. The 25-count indictment, which includes conspiracy, bribery and money-laundering charges, is the latest development in a wave of criminal charges stemming from the alleged fraudulent use of U.S. funds in Iraq. http://edition.cnn.com:80/2007/US/02/07/iraq.fraud/

7. More attacks target national grid. Azzaman, February 8, 2007. Saboteurs have destroyed five more pylons linking Baghdad to the power stations in Baiji in the north, the Ministry of Electricity said. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-02-08\kurd.htm

8. Iraq WTO bid will not hurt GCC relations. Dubai: Iraq's potential membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will not affect agreements with its neighbours in the Gulf, according to an Iraqi government official. Negotiations for the war-torn country's entry into the 151-member WTO are due to start in Geneva as early as next month. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/01/11/10095943.html

9. Travel Company Offers Iraq Tours. Day to Day, February 6, 2007 · A British travel firm plans to start offering tours of the Kurdish area of northern Iraq later this year. Geoff Hann, director of Hinterland Travel, talks with Madeleine Brand about the dangers and interest in traveling to northern Iraq. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7217567

10. 20 oil smugglers arrested near Kirkuk. Kirkuk, Feb 6, (VOI) – Iraqi army forces arrested 20 oil smugglers and seized 10 oil tanks prepared for smuggling in southwestern Kirkuk, an Iraqi police source said on Tuesday. http://www.aswataliraq.info/print.php?sid=36700

11. 185 professors killed since U.S. invasion http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-02-01\kurd.htm

12. No board yet for Iraq development fund-US Treasury. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key U.S. Treasury official said Monday the board to monitor the use of the money in a development fund for Iraq has not been set up yet because there is no agreement over the rules for using the funds.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/08/25/rtr1065940.html

13. Iraq urges India to be more `active` in reconstruction efforts. New Delhi, Jan 29: Iraq on Monday sought more active participation of India in efforts to rebuild the war-torn country, specifically in areas such as construction, it and oil explorations. "We want India to be more active. We have to promote the level of cooperation today for a better tomorrow. This is for the benefit of two sides," Muayad S Hussain, charge'd affairs at the Iraq embassy here, told media persons. http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=350780&sid=NAT

14. China's Huawei wins CDMA2000 contract in Iraq http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2007/01/30/afx3374211.html

15. Chaos hastens Iraq brain-drain. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Six months after the U.S. invasion, Esam Pasha, a 30-year-old Iraqi artist and writer, proudly painted a mural called "Resilience" over a giant portrait of Saddam Hussein on the wall of a government building. Now he lives in the United States. Pasha is among hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been driven abroad since the war, many of them doctors, businessmen, academics and other professionals whose skills Iraq can ill-afford to lose. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/lf_nm/migration_mideast_iraq_dc_3;_ylt=AjITumUFBjn4FzsbWHfL5v9X6GMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

16. 527 million dinar for paving the streets of Basrah. The Governor’s adviser of Basra said last Thursday that paving Haifa Street in Umm Qasr had been completed at the cost of 142 million dinar, while the director of the local Reconstruction Unit said that a local company had began this week paving the streets of the city of Qurnah at the cost of 385 million dinar. http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3046

17. Rehabilitation of water infrastructure in health care centres. Over the past few weeks, the ICRC improved the water and sanitation infrastructure of 21 primary health care centres (PHCC), in three governorates (Salaheddine, Kerbala and Diwaniya). http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6XT4CB?OpenDocument

18. Contractors balk at Iraq infrastructure projects. BAGHDAD — Iraqi military projects have been stymied by the refusal of contractors to work in insurgency-ridden areas. Officials said the Defense Ministry has been unable to conduct tenders for projects for the Iraq Army in such provinces as Anbar. They said most contractors dismiss the opportunity to develop infrastructure and other projects in areas where their staffers and assets would be under threat from Al Qaida insurgents, Middle East Newsline reported. http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/07/front2454125.1222222224.html

19. Iraq allies dawdle on aid for rebuilding. Foreign countries are billions of dollars delinquent on their pledges to help Iraq rebuild, and four years after the war began, the international reconstruction effort is still mostly funded by the United States. Some of the biggest deadbeats are Iraq's oil-rich neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which are both about a half-billion dollars in arrears, and the United Arab Emirates, which has failed to make good on one penny of a $215 million promise, according to Iraqi government statistics. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070206-122747-2576r.htm

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