Iraq Reconstruction News
3 May 2007


1. STATEMENT FROM MINISTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT - IRAQ. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) clarifies its position regarding the latest developments on the Draft Oil Law. http://www.krg.org/pdf/MNR_Statement_20070427.pdf

2. Iran gives $1b in credit to rebuild Iraq - Tehran: Iran has extended $1 billion in credits for reconstruction projects in Iraq, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday ahead of an international conference on stabilizing Iraq. Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, said a committee of experts from both countries was discussing possible development projects, including some involving energy, the state-run news agency IRNA reported. http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10122372.html

3. Iraq wins debt relief - Iraq has won a trickle of debt relief pledges at a big international conference in Egypt. Egypt and three East European countries agreed to waive debts owed by Iraq as part of an International Compact to support Iraqi institutions in exchange for political and economic reforms by the Baghdad government. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1096446

4. Report: U.S. investment in Iraqi reconstruction at risk -- BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Poor construction, improper design, substandard materials and lack of maintenance have brought into question the usefulness of seven of eight U.S.-funded Iraq reconstruction projects. So says an inspector general report that recently examined the eight reconstruction projects. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/04/30/iraq.reconstruction/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

5. U.S.-funded projects falter in Iraq - USA Today -Widespread corruption, an unwieldy bureaucracy and inadequate funding threaten the Iraqi government's ability to complete or maintain U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, according to an oversight report to be released today. The report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says some projects portrayed as successes by U.S. officials have started breaking down because of poor maintenance, shoddy construction or simple neglect. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-29-us-funded-projects_N.htm

6. Iraq to but more of Iran electricity - Iran's electricity export to Iraq is set to increase to 500 megawatts as a new power line comes on stream in Khosravi, Kermanshah Province. The 400-kilovolt transmission line, which will be 200 kilometers long, is scheduled to be put into operation through a 450 billion rial (roughly $48.64 million) investment, said Aziz Karimi, Managing Director of the West Regional Power Company. http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=8084&sectionid=351020103

7. Rick Barton Discusses Iraq Reconstruction - On 30 April 2007, CSIS PCR Co-Director Rick Barton appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss ongoing problems with the U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq. Read the transcript here: http://pcrproject.com/blog/2007/05/01/rick-barton-discusses-iraq-reconstruction/

8. Iraq Not Getting Power Invest Needed For Reconstruction - Minister -- LONDON - (Dow Jones)- Iraq isn't receiving all investment it needs to rebuild its dilapidated electricity sector and reduce the widespread power cuts experienced every day across the country, Electricity Minister Karim Hasan said. "We have spoken with many investors and there is project money being put into (the power sector in) Iraq but we have many needs and much more is needed," Hasan told a small group of journalists in London. http://news.morningstar.com/news/ViewNews.asp?article=/DJ/200704260650DOWJONESDJONLINE000565_univ.xml

9. Program to combat administrative corruption in Missan - Missan, Apr 13, (VOI) - The New Iraq Academic staff Organization in Missan started on Friday a program for combating the administrative corruption in the province in cooperation with the Development of Civil Society Centre in the southern section of Iraq. http://www.aswataliraq.info/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=41881&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

10. Baghdad International Airport: Iraq's Gateway to the World - Blackanthem Military News, BAGHDAD, Iraq – Baghdad International Airport currently has between 18 and 24 flights transporting more than 1,000 passengers daily to destinations inside and outside the country. The environment there feels like any other airport in the world with its duty free shops, restaurant and other stores that sell books and clothes. Allan Nelson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says about 1,200 Iraqis are employed there and he’s proud of the numerous improvements that have been completed over the past two years. http://www.blackanthem.com/News/U_S_Military_19/Baghdad_International_Airport_Iraq_s_Gateway_to_the_World6053.shtml

11. Iran halves tariffs on Iraq-bound goods -- TEHRAN, (MNA) -- Iran’s Ports and Shipping Organization (PSO) Sunday announced that it has reduced by 50 percent the port tariffs and costs for the vessels that transport goods to Iraq. In line with the objectives of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the maritime cooperation between Iran and Iraq, PSO made the decision. http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=474448

12. Mixed messages - Economist.com - For some, it was a golden age in Iraq's history: those oil-boom years in the 1970s and early 1980s when women in Iraq combined jobs and children with greater ease than many non-superwomen in the West. Rather than relying on migrant labour like other Arab oil states, Iraq tapped its own unused resource—women—and tempted them to work with generous maternity benefits, free child care and transport to and from school and workplace. Peasant women were taught to read and write. Yet these were also the years when Saddam Hussein was committing some of his worst atrocities against Iraq's Kurds and Shias, men and women. http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8998263

13. Iraqi government scraps wireless auction plans, reaches deal with current operators - Iraq has scrapped its long-delayed cellular auction and instead decided to license the three national mobile phone carriers in June under an arrangement calling for revenue-sharing and an upfront cash payment of at least $250 million from each operator, according to Iraqi government and industry sources. http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070420/FREE/70420007/1005/allnews

14. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF FAILURE IN IRAQ: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RECONSTRUCTION - This article examines the course of the disastrous U.S. reconstruction of Iraq from the invasion through the fall of 2006. It locates the source of America's many failings not only in the ignorance that governed the Bush Administration's assumptions about the ease of postwar reconstruction and the absence of appropriate or realistic planning that resulted, but also in a series of equally mistaken decisions by the Bush Administration, the Coalition Provisional Authority, and the U.S. military in the years that followed. It argues that the political deadlock, security vacuum, and absence of a functional Iraqi economy today are all the result of these problems and that only dramatic changes in U.S. policy--not the tactical tinkering that the Bush Administration has engaged in over the past 18 months and that many of its critics continue to recommend today--have any chance of undoing the damage of this long chain of needless mistakes. http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2006/issue4/jv10no4a1.html

15. Ministry plans to create 3 million jobs -- Azzaman -- The Ministry of Agriculture has unveiled a three-year development plan under which it hopes to create ‘three million jobs’. Agriculture Minister Nadhem al-Abadi said most of the new jobs will be created in the southern and central parts of the country. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-04-14\kurd1.htm

16. Iraq corruption commissioner says rampant problem has cost $8B - [JURIST] Iraq has lost $8 billion through corruption over the past three years, Radi al-Radhi, the head of Iraq's public corruption commission, told AP Wednesday. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/04/iraq-corruption-commissioner-says.php

17. Thousands without food and supplies due to failing distribution system - BAGHDAD (IRIN) - Thousands of Iraqis are going without food and basic supplies as the country's food distribution infrastructure crumbles, according to a new report. The country's Public Distribution System (PDS), set up in 1995 as part of the UN's Oil-for-Food programme, has been hit by insecurity, poor management, corruption and a lack of political will. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/3a7e2aaa336e0e7fc808050218b70e6a.htm

18. Years after Widespread Looting of Museums, Iraq's Antiquities Remain Vulnerable. Although home to some of the world's earliest civilizations, Iraq's basic security needs have overshadowed efforts to protect the country's treasured archeological sites, resulting in an increase in vandalism and theft. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/middle_east/jan-june07/artifacts_04-30.html

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