Iraq Reconstruction News
2 May 2007


1. SIGIR April 2007 Quarterly Report http://www.sigir.mil/reports/quarterlyreports/Apr07/Default.aspx

2. SIGIR: Status of the Advanced First Responder Network http://www.sigir.mil/reports/pdf/audits/07-002.pdf

3. SIGIR Project Assessment Reports http://www.sigir.mil/reports/onsite.aspx

4. Brookings Iraq Index 30 April 2007 http://www3.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf

5. Report Cites Problems with Iraq Rebuilding Costs - Morning Edition, April 30, 2007 · A report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction says Iraqis are doing a poor job maintaining buildings and equipment paid for with U.S. money. The report offers a snapshot on how more than $20 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds are being spent. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9910519

6. New Report Details Reconstruction Failures in Iraq - Billions of U.S. dollars have been invested in improving Iraq's infrastructure since 2003, but the effort has been beset by problems. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen discusses his latest report. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june07/bowen_04-30.html

7. Kurds Will Oppose Oil and Gas Law - Kurdish MPs have reversed their position on the US-backed draft legislation that would regulate Iraq’s oil and gas industries, Reuters reports. On Monday, Kurdish spokesman Khalid Saleh said that Kurdish lawmakers would oppose the bill on the basis of a provision added since February, when the Kurdish bloc said it would support the draft legislation. http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/2595/Kurds_Will_Oppose_Oil_and_Gas_Law

8. Iraqi blocs opposed to draft oil bill - ERBIL, Iraq: Kurdish and Sunni Arab officials expressed deep reservations on Wednesday about the draft version of a national oil law and related legislation, misgivings that could derail one of the benchmark measures of progress in Iraq laid down by President George W. Bush. The draft law, which establishes a framework for the distribution of oil revenues, was approved by the Iraqi cabinet in late February after months of negotiations. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/03/africa/03iraq.php

9. Iraq’s oil law architect confident draft will pass - Reuters - BAGHDAD - Iraq’s deputy prime minister said on Tuesday he was confident a draft oil law will be approved in parliament after officials from the central government and Kurdistan meet to iron out differences. Barham Salih said the meetings could take place as early as the weekend. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/May/focusoniraq_May4.xml&section=focusoniraq

10. Analysis: Fight rages over Iraq oil law -- WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Discussions turned contentious among the more than 60 Iraqi oil officials reviewing Iraq's draft hydrocarbons bill last week in the United Arab Emirates. But the dispute highlighted the need for further negotiations on the proposed law that was stalled in talks for nearly eight months, then pushed through Iraq's Cabinet without most key provisions. Tariq Shafiq, one of three authors of the law, said he attended the Dubai summit "reluctantly," at the request of Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani. http://www.upi.com/Energy/Analysis/2007/04/27/analysis_fight_rages_over_iraq_oil_law/

11. Analysis: Iraq oil law author now a critic -- WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- A critic of Iraq's draft oil law with perhaps the biggest shadow -- one of its original authors -- says the version penned by oil experts has been compromised by politics and he no longer wants it approved. "I think really the majority of the oil technocrats are against it," Tariq Shafiq, director of the oil consultant firm Petrolog & Associates and one of three authors of Iraq's draft hydrocarbons law, told United Press International in a telephone interview from his home in Amman, Jordan. http://www.upi.com/Energy/Analysis/2007/05/02/analysis_iraq_oil_law_author_now_a_critic/

12. SOC Takes Control of South Rumaylah Gas Compressor Station - Blackanthem Military News, BASRAH, Iraq – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently turned over the biggest gas compressor station in Basrah to the Southern Oil Company which will help to boost Iraq’s economic position in the global marketplace. http://www.blackanthem.com/News/U_S_Military_19/SOC_Takes_Control_of_South_Rumaylah_Gas_Compressor_Station6279.shtml

13. Iraq’s Petroleum Law: Politicized Management Vis-à-Vis Optimal Resource Management - The following article was written for MEES by Tariq Shafiq, Founding Executive Director, Iraq National Oil Company (INOC), Director, Petrolog & Associates, and Chair, Fertile Crescent Oil Development Co (based in Baghdad).
http://www.mees.com/postedarticles/oped/v50n18-5OD01.htm

14. Foreign Oil Projects Stall In Wait for Iraqi Permits -- ZAKHO, Iraq -- After building a 42 kilometer pipeline and sending out a flurry of optimistic news releases over the past three years, Det Norske Oljeselskap, a small Norwegian oil company, is still waiting for permission to open the taps on what could be post-Saddam Hussein Iraq's first foreign-developed oil field. The holdup: Iraqi politicians in Baghdad, a nine-hour drive south of here, have yet to approve a hydrocarbon law laying down the legal framework for foreign investment in the country's sensitive oil industry. Lawmakers could vote on a version of the law in May, but the legislation has already missed a series of deadlines since the American-led invasion four years ago. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117789465618586522.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

15. Iraqi oil reserves may surpass those of Saudi Arabia, oil minister says - Azzaman, May 1, 2007 - Explorations and surveys done in the past four years show that Iraqi oil reserves may exceed those of Saudi Arabi, said Oil Minister Husain al-Shahristani. Speaking at Babylon University in the southern city of Hilla, the minister said Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves already explored and perhaps more than that number of reserves yet to be explored. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2007-05-01%5Ckurd1.htm


16. Foreign Minister Song to attend Egypt conference on reconstruction of Iraq -- SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Song Min-soon arrived in Cairo Wednesday to attend an international conference on the reconstruction of war-torn Iraq, the Foreign Ministry said. The inaugural meeting of the International Compact with Iraq (ICI) will be held Thursday at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Congress Center with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other political leaders from across the world attending, the ministry said in a press release. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070502/630000000020070502092322E2.html

17. Iraq pleads for funds to rebuild - BBC - Iraq's prime minister has appealed for other countries to write off its debts, at the start of a summit called to try to rebuild and stabilise the country. Nouri Maliki urged delegates at the talks in Egypt to help "build a united, democratic and federal Iraq". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6616841.stm

18. China to grant Iraq 6.5m dollars in aid in 2007 - foreign minister. Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) ["China To Grant Iraq 50 Mln Yuan in Aid This Year: FM" - Xinhua headline] Sharm El-shaykh, Egypt, May 3 (Xinhua) - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi announced here on Thursday morning that the Chinese government will give a grant of 50m yuan of RMB ( about 6.5m US dollars) to Iraq in 2007 and forgive all the debts owed by the Iraqi government. The sum will be used to provide assistance in Iraq's public health and education, Yang said at a ministerial meeting of the International Compact with Iraq (ICI) opened in the day at this Egyptian Red Sea resort. "The Chinese government is ready to substantially reduce and forgive the debts owed by Iraq. In particular, it will forgive all the debts owed by the Iraqi government," he said. Yang, who was named as Chinese foreign minister on April 27, also said China is ready to resolve through continued friendly consultation with Iraq the issue regarding its request for debt reduction and forgiveness according to the arrangement of the Paris Club. Yang, who arrived at this Red Sea resort on Wednesday afternoon, was on his first international mission after he replaced retired Li Zhaoxing as Chinese foreign minister. The ICI meeting, with the attendance of some 60 nations and 12 regional and international organizations, was the largest international meeting on Iraq ever since the US-led coalition forces seized Baghdad in April of 2003. The ICI was initially launched on July 28, 2006, in the hope of creating "a permanent partnership between Iraq and the international community" to help Iraq in its reconstruction efforts and to pursue political, economic and social development over the next five years. The initiative, with strong support from the United States, looks like a type of five-year plan for Iraq, yet it is also based on economic, political and security commitments by the Iraqi government in the next five years. The ICI is supposed to be chaired jointly by Iraq and the UN, with the support of the World Bank. Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0920 gmt 3 May 07

19. Police Pay-Wagons of Iraq - How Do Iraq’s Finest Get Paid? Not exactly the way New York’s finest get paid, as Richard Miniter - on assignment for PJM in Iraq - discovered. Since so few have a bank account, Iraqi cops (and other public officials) are paid in cash - just as they were under Saddam. And they like it that way. http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/04/iraqi_pay_wagons.php

20. War News Radio: Expatriate Dreams http://warnewsradio.org/

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