Iraq Reconstruction News 12 March 2007

Iraq Reconstruction News
12 March 2007


1. GRD Iraq Reconstruction Weekly Update 03/07/07 https://www.rebuilding-iraq.net/pls/portal/url/ITEM/07251F2EFBCA801DE040A8C00B0741F5

2. Defense Dept. Briefing on Economic and Reconstruction Activity From Iraq 9 March 2007 http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=Defense%20Dept.%20Briefing%20From%20Iraq&link=rtsp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.c%2Dspan.org%2Fproject%2Firaq%2Firaq030907%5Fdod.rm

3. Conference Call With U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, 10 March 2007 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/mar/81615.htm

4. Weekly Iraq Report for March 10, 2007 - The Baghdad Security Plan and the greater Iraq security operation is now over four weeks into its execution. Over the past month, Baghdad has seen sectarian murders decrease significantly. Al Qaeda in Iraq, however, is attempting to destabilize the government and force an early U.S. withdrawal. Al Qaeda in Iraq has stepped up its suicide and car bomb attacks against government targets and the Shia population in an effort to reignite the sectarian violence, which has drawn Iraq to the precipice of civil war during the past year.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/03/weekly_iraq_report_for_march_1.asp

5. Iraq Oil Plan Avoids Key Issues - Lawmakers in Iraq will soon debate a draft petroleum law for the oil-rich country, but the legislation's current form fails to clarify two issues crucial to the nation's future: how to lure foreign investment into the vast oil sector and how to distribute the new revenue that results.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117340792674031785.html?mod=special_page_iraq_1

6. BG spearheads move to tap Iraq's riches - BG Group, the British oil and gas explorer, could become the first major Western energy company to invest in Iraq. Ut is understood that representatives from BG recently visited the northern region of Iraq in a move to assess the opportunities. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/03/11/cnbg11.xml

7. Iraq, Iran to build joint pipeline in south - Azzaman, March 10, 2007 - Iraq and Iran have agreed to build a pipeline to carry Basra crude to the refineries in Abadan. The deal is part of a memorandum of understanding the countries have signed to further expand economic ties. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-03-10\kurd1.htm

8. Foreign Office helped set up Iraqi oil deals - The British Government intervened to help UK and US energy giants in their attempts to secure lucrative contracts to exploit Iraq's ruined oilfields. The Foreign Office delivered a report by the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) - a Washington-based think-tank backed by a host of multinationals, including oil companies such as Shell and BP - to Iraqi officials in Baghdad, it has emerged. The British ambassador to Iraq formally sent the "road-map" study on the Iraqi oil industry to the then Iraqi minister of finance, according to documents seen by The Independent on Sunday. The study recommended the Iraqi government sign long-term production-sharing agreements with foreign oil companies. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2347416.ece

9. CNPC in Iraq looking for old oil deal -- BAGHDAD, March 9 (UPI) -- Officials from the China National Petroleum Corp. are in Iraq trying to re-sign a major oil deal first signed with Saddam Hussein. Assem Jihad, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, said CNPC representatives had been in country since Tuesday.
http://www.upi.com/Energy/cnpc_in_iraq_looking_for_old_oil_deal/20070309-093748-5908r/

10. KRG publishes draft Federal Oil and Gas Law of Iraq in English and Arabic - 9 March 2007 - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Spokesman today published an authorised English translation of the draft Federal Oil and Gas Law for Iraq. The original Arabic draft, also published by the KRG today, was prepared by the Oil and Energy Committee of the Iraq Council of Ministers on 15 February 2007. That draft was later approved by the Council. The drafts can be downloaded at the links below. http://web.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&RubricNr=&ArticleNr=16644&LNNr=28&RNNr=70

11. Contractors in War Zone Face Legal Front - The surge in private contractors serving alongside U.S. troops in war zones could potentially leave those companies exposed on a dangerous legal front: liability claims. A 1950 Supreme Court ruling bars American soldiers and their relatives from suing the government over injuries or death resulting from military service. Separate rulings largely protect defense companies against lawsuits seeking damages because of defective weapons. But as the nation's military increasingly outsources front-line tasks like security and transportation, the extent of a contractor's liability when things go wrong is emerging as a serious issue. The quandary comes amid a broader policy debate over how to define the role of private contractors in a war effort and a push in Congress to tighten laws that govern the conduct of such contractors.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117332287915030490.html?mod=special_page_iraq_1

12. Agencies Tangle on Efforts to Help Iraq - As violence in Iraq crescendoed last year, President Bush summoned his secretaries of agriculture, commerce and energy to Camp David in June to meet with his national security team. During a two-hour afternoon discussion in the main lodge, the president urged the three secretaries to become more involved in the Iraq reconstruction effort. When Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez got back to his office, he asked his staff members to develop a list of Iraq-related projects for the agency. They did, and two months later, they shared it with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, expecting that diplomats on the ground would welcome a little help from Washington. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031001442.html

13. US tries to revive Saddam’s state industry -- Four US Blackhawk helicopters come in low over a sprawling automotive plant near the town of Iskandariya south of Baghdad. The complex is a mess, strewn with jumbled railway cars and fields of broken tarmac. But amid the decay sits a line of newly painted police cars freshly out of the factory’s workshops, evidence that this plant – once a flagship of Iraqi heavy industry but virtually shut down after the 2003 US-led invasion – is getting back on its feet. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2f9d257e-cce5-11db-a938-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=17aab8bc-6e47-11da-9544-0000779e2340.html

14. Iraqis Seek Role in Rebuilding Their Nation - BAGHDAD, March 8 — When Rahim al-Daraji looks at the dusty lots just east of Sadr City where scores of bodies have been dumped in the past year, he sees a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, coffee shops and restaurants. “We should have an amusement park,” said Mr. Daraji, one of two elected mayors in Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad where American and Iraqi troops have been peacefully clearing homes since Sunday. “We want to rehabilitate the area so that families can have fun.” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/world/middleeast/09sadrcity.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fIraq&oref=slogin

15. War News Radio" Absent Without Leave http://warnewsradio.org/