Iraq Reconstruction News 23 March 2007

Iraq Reconstruction News
23 March 2007


1. Pres. Bush Meeting on Iraq Reconstruction - 22 March 2007 -
http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=Pres.%20Bush%20Meeting%20on%20Iraq%20Reconstruction&link=rtsp%3A%2F%2Fvideo.c%2Dspan.org%2Fproject%2Firaq%2Firaq032207%5Fbush.rm

2. Brookings Iraq Index 22 March 2007 http://www3.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf

3. Iraq Weekly Status Report 21 March 2007 http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/82192.pdf

4. Stabilizing Iraq: Preliminary Observations on Budget and Management Challenges of Iraq's Security Ministries, by Joseph A. Christoff, Director, International Affairs and Trade, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Armed Services. GAO-07-637T, March 22.http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-637T Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07637thigh.pdf

5. Iraqi Defense Ministry Seeks to Buy U.S. Rifles All Things Considered, March 22, 2007 · Iraq's government has spent little of its own money on reconstruction projects — a fact that has drawn criticism from U.S. inspectors. But in one of its first major spending decisions, the Iraqi defense ministry is buying tens of thousands of U.S.-made assault rifles. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9083510

6. Two key Iraq parties oppose oil law -- BAGHDAD, (UPI) -- Two Iraqi political parties, including one of the former prime minister, said the draft hydrocarbons law should be tabled until the security situation improves. "We believe that the time is not right for dealing with this issue. We should, above all, deal with security matters before debating this draft," said Hussein al-Falluji, a member of Parliament representing the Iraqi Accordance Front, a Sunni party. http://www.upi.com/Energy/two_key_iraq_parties_oppose_oil_law/20070313-011332-2256r/

7. Iraq’s Kurds to go it alone on oil deals -- The Kurdistan regional government plans to triple the number of foreign oil companies operating in its region by the end of the year regardless of whether Iraq’s parliament passes a politically sensitive hydrocarbon law. In an interview, Ashti Hawrami, the Kurdish energy minister, said Kurdistan would become a hub for energy companies that were not ready to invest in the rest of Iraq because of security concerns. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ad355e82-d895-11db-a759-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=17aab8bc-6e47-11da-9544-0000779e2340.html

8. New dates confirmed for Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Electricity Summit -- The Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Electricity Summ it has been planned to take place in Amman, Jordan on May 28 to 30. The summit will welcome representation from the Iraqi Ministries of Oil, Industry and Minerals, and Electricity, as well as the Iraq Energy Council, Investment Promotion Agency and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry for Natural Resources. It will also host many of the state companies operating under the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and senior representatives from the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO). http://www.portaliraq.com/news/New+dates+confirmed+for+Iraq+Oil,+Gas,+Petrochemical+and+Electricity+Summit__1112489.html

9. Calibre Waiting on Equipment for Northern Iraq Well Test - Calibre Energy, Inc. on Thursday said that the Bina-Bawi 1 exploration well, located in Iraqi Kurdistan, was waiting on material and testing equipment for the planned testing of the well. As previously announced, the Bina-Bawi 1 reached a total depth of 3,355 meters (11,007 feet) and awaits the commencement of testing to determine the productive and commercial potential of at least three zones intersected by the well.
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=42905

10. Audit: US Must Learn From Iraq Mistakes - The U.S. government must learn from its multi-million-dollar mistakes of poor contract oversight and bad planning in its Iraq reconstruction effort or risk repeating them there and elsewhere, investigators say. The audit released Thursday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the first to list in one place the series of mistakes, delays and missed opportunities in a four-year-old Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers nearly $400 billion. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/03/22/ap3542087.html

11. Najaf Factory to Make Garments for U.S., International Retailers - Blackanthem Military News, WASHINGTON, D.C. – A garment factory in Najaf, Iraq, will start supplying clothes to U.S. and international retailers in a few months, a senior U.S. official said in Baghdad yesterday. The Najaf facility is "one of the most state-of-the-art clothing factories I've seen," Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business transformation, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. "It will be providing garments to American and international retail beginning this summer." http://www.blackanthem.com/News/International_21/Najaf_Factory_to_Make_Garments_for_U_S_International_Retailers5180.shtml

12. Expanding Provincial Reconstruction Teams To Achieve Iraqi Self Reliance -- Under The President's New Way Forward For Iraq, The Number Of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) Will Increase. PRTs are joint civilian-military units that support local leaders and empower provincial authorities by working closely with the communities they serve. The expansion is a joint Department of State-Department of Defense mission that will employ both civilian and military resources toward a common strategic plan. The Number Of PRTs Will Increase To 20 And In Personnel From 290 To Over 600. The Ten New PRTs Will Be Embedded In U.S. Brigade Combat Teams In Baghdad, Anbar, And North Babil Provinces. http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070322005724&newsLang=en

13. Inspector General Details Failures of Iraq Reconstruction -- The U.S. government was unprepared for the extensive nation-building required after it invaded Iraq, and at each juncture where it could have adjusted its efforts, it failed even to understand the problems it faced, according to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. In a stinging, wide-ranging assessment of U.S. reconstruction efforts, Stuart W. Bowen Jr. said that in the days after the invasion, the Defense Department had no strategy for restoring either government institutions or infrastructure. And in the years since, other agencies joined the effort without an overall plan and without a structure in place to organize and execute a task of such magnitude. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102418.html?sub=AR

14. Reconstruction Audit Shows Need For Better U.S. Oversight in Iraq -- WASHINGTON -- The leaders of a Senate panel said Thursday that the Defense and State departments must work more closely together to avoid repeating multimillion dollar mistakes in the reconstruction of Iraq. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Susan Collins(R., Maine) said they were considering legislation to create a commission to help fix problems after investigators found confusion and disarray in the four-year-old reconstruction effort.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117457342617045479.html?mod=special_page_iraq_1 The audit report is at http://online.wsj.com/documents/sigirMarch21.pdf

15. Iraqi Minister of Finance authorized to sign agreements of reorganizing Iraq's debts -- The government’s official spokesman, Ali Addabagh, said that the Cabinet decided to ratify the Convention of debt reduction signed with Paris Club during its tenth regular session. http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3365

16. Crippled, Iraq leans on longtime enemy Iran for trade -- NAJAF, Iraq: While the Bush administration works to stop Iran from meddling in Iraq, Iranian air conditioners fill Iraqi appliance stores, Iranian tomatoes ripen on the window sills of kitchens here and white Iranian-made Peugeots sit in Iraqi driveways. Some Iraqi cities, including the oil- producing enclave of Basra, buy electricity from Iran. The Iraqi government is relying on Iranian companies to bring gasoline from Turkmenistan to alleviate a severe shortage. Iraqi officials are reviewing an application by Iran to open a branch of an Iranian national bank in Baghdad, and Iran has offered Iraq $1 billion in soft loans. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/13/news/baghdad.php

17. Gulf investors invited to implement "Iraq Great Port" project -- Governor of Basrah, Muhammad Misbih Alwaeli, invited Arab (especially Gulf) and international companies to present designs concerning “Iraq Great Port” project which is intended to be set up at the mouth of Shatt al-Arab in the city of Faw, (100 km south of Basrah). Alwaeli stressed that “the project of the port is a first step in establishing a broad Iraqi investment base starting from Basrah, explaining that it would be built in a 100% safe area, located outside the city, and isolated from any political or party activity, as well as being protected by Iraqi forces, which will help inviting investors to examine it”. http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3375

18. Halliburton retreats from Iraq logistics work -- Halliburton Inc. has recently taken steps to back away from its prominent role in federal contracting in the Middle East, with a late February announcement that it would sell its subsidiary KBR Inc. and a notice this weekend that it would move its corporate headquarters to the United Arab Emirates. Halliburton will move its headquarters from Houston to Dubai to focus greater attention on its Eastern Hemisphere operations, according to a Sunday announcement. The company, which was led by Vice President Dick Cheney before he took office, also recently announced that it would sell its controlling stake in KBR, a subsidiary that has been a conduit for criticism of the administration's military operations and reconstruction effort in Iraq. A federal contracting expert who asked not to be named said Halliburton's moves likely would help the company's image. "In the public mind, Cheney is linked with Halliburton … so it can't but help that they're moving out of government contracting," the expert noted. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36334&dcn=e_gvet

19. Iraq: Rebuilding combines high risk with rich rewards -- Like many of the tens of thousands of private contractors who descended on Iraq to grab a slice of the reconstruction pie, David, a US contractor who is reluctant to give out more than a first name, is tired. “I want out of Iraq”, he says as he arrives for another six-month stint in a country he has grown to love and to loathe, depending, he says, on the time of day. Clearly used to the security at Baghdad’s international airport, he saunters through the customs lines with his knapsack, ignoring demands by officials that he present himself for a baggage inspection. “If you keep walking, they often don’t bother to call you back”, he says, as he’s greeted outside by a team of South Africans who will provide him with a private security escort.
http://www.mmorning.com/ArticleC.asp?Article=4522&CategoryID=6

20. Violence taking a toll on Iraqi men's love lives -- BAGHDAD — Nashwan Habeeb quietly shouldered the stress of Baghdad's violence for more than two years. But when the anxiety crept into his bedroom and began affecting his performance with his wife, Habeeb sought help. He went to a nearby pharmacist and bought several pills — little blue knockoffs of the popular American drug Viagra. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-08-iraqweek_N.htm

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