Iraq Oil Report

There’s optimism in Iraq, at least from a mysterious cadre called the Energy Fusion Cell, which for the past eight months worked to bring coherence to both U.S. and Iraqi initiatives in the oil, gas and power sectors — the backbone of its citizens’ quality of life and the bulk of the national budget.

It’s a U.S. creation for sure, spearheaded by Iraq-based units in the Defense and State departments to meet U.S., U.N. and international finance and banking agreements. But it’s now gotten active buy-in from a swath of Iraqi ministries in charge of building and protecting Iraq’s energy sector.

“We offer advice to them on their own expressions of what their national policy is and give them the forum to come together with the coalition forces and the government of Iraq entities,” one member told United Press International in a background conference call interview from Baghdad. “That wouldn’t have happened a year ago” was a common refrain by members of EFC, which has weekly scheduled meetings and “a couple of layers of meetings … led by the government of Iraq.”

Simplified, the EFC’s goal is two-fold.

Read the entire article HERE by UPI’s Ben Lando

Royal Dutch Shell Plc may spend $2.5 billion on a natural gas plant in southern Iraq to meet energy demand in the Middle East, where economies are growing 5.9 percent a year, according to a person involved in the plan, Kristian Rix reports for Bloomberg News.Shell met with Iraqi officials last week to propose building a pipeline that would link the Basrah region to a new terminal on the country’s coast, the person said. Shell would also build a facility that could freeze 16 million cubic meters of gas a day and ship it to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the person said.

The War Over the War: a Q & A between Washington Post associate editor Karen DeYoung and readers about the war in Iraq, and other wars.

Arlington, Va.: Ms. DeYoung — so when is The Washington Post going to complete its investigation of the real reasons for our invasion of Iraq? Although it seems like “old news” now, some of us are still interested in knowing whether access to Iraqi oil was a significant factor — or a determining factor — in the administration’s decision to send 100,000 American troops to Iraq. Is The Post going to investigate this, or is it simply going to report it when someone else decides it’s time for the American public to know the details?
Karen DeYoung: C’mon. Millions of trees already have died in the cause of figuring out why the administration did/thought what and when. Many billions more are sure to expire. Far be it from me to say that oil wasn’t part of the equation, but I’d rate it far below political hubris and a misunderstanding of cause and effect.

Americans were suspicious of oil motivations in the war machine in a poll taken a year ago, and it’s doubtful any sentiment has become less wary:

Most Americans think President Bush invaded Iraq at least partly because of its oil — a war more than half rate him as “poor” in handling and nearly all say has affected the price of gas at the pump, Ben Lando wrote for UPI. The UPI/Zogby International interactive poll of 6,909 U.S. adults Jan. 16-18 found 32.7 percent considered Iraq’s oil supply a “major factor” and 23.7 percent “not a factor” in the decision to invade the country. Another 40.7 percent were split somewhere in between while 2.9 percent were “not sure.”

And Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan didn’t help his ex-boss’ cause. Read “Iraq, Oil and Greenspan’s Gospel,” also by UPI’s Ben Lando: ““I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq war is largely about oil,” Greenspan wrote toward the end of “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” released Monday. Iraq has the world’s third-largest proven reserves and an unexplored potential to rival Saudi Arabia.”

The head of an Iraqi electricity plant ranted about lack of help from officials in faraway Baghdad. The local governor grumbled about being ignored on project planning, Bradley Brooks writes for The Associated Press. The four-hour meeting at a U.S. military base in northern Iraq was full of gripes, bitterness and blame trading. But it was just the sort of encounter Washington hopes will eventually jump-start jobs and public works to regions long neglected by Baghdad — and, along the way, possibly undercut the insurgency by showing that better days could be ahead.

Managing Director of West Region Power Company Abdolaziz Karimi said here Wednesday that 150 megawatts of electricity are exported to Iraq daily via a 230 kilovolt power post on Bazideraz region in Sarpol-e Zahab district in Kermanshah province, the Islamic Republic News Agency reports.

Iraq’s Economy

Member of the parliament and former Iraqi planning minister, Mahdi Al-Hafiz, considered the omission of anything about foreign grants and aids in the new Iraqi budget “a significant gap,” Iraq Directory reports.

The local development of Diwaniya started in early 2008 signing 35 billion dinars worth of contracts to implement reconstruction projects under the provinces development plan and speeding up the reconstruction projects,” Governor Hamed al-Khudari told the Voices of Iraq news agency.

The Planning Ministry has announced development projects in Basera, Sulaimaniya, Babel, Thi Qar and Missan provinces, VOI reports.

Security, Society & Politics

Statistics regarding the violence against women has been revealed, Kurdish Media reports. From 01 January 2007 to 31 December 2007, 313 crimes in Sulaimania and 104 crimes and incidents in the district of Garmian have been recorded. 69 of the crimes occurred due to family disputes, 58 of them were carried out by husbands and other by relatives of the husbands.

Every week, letters from Iraqi widows spill across Samira al-Moussawi’s desk. One wrote to ask whether she should spend what scant money she gets on her infant or on school books for her older son, Aseel Kami reports for Reuters.The member of parliament and head of a parliamentary women’s committee is at her wits’ end as to how to answer the desperate pleas from what could be as many as one to two million women.

Iraq President Jalal Talabani makes a surprise visit to Kirkuk, meets with its governor, Voices of Iraq reports.

Iraq: Politics Unfrozen, Direction Still Unclear, a briefing by Daniel Serwer and Rend al-Rahim of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal defamation lawsuitfiled by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday against the editor-in-chief of the independent Kurdish weekly Hawlati for translating and publishing a report written by a U.S. scholar. … Azad Jindyany, head of the central press office for Talabani’s party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, confirmed to CPJ today that the criminal defamation case was filed. By translating the report and publishing it, he said, Hawlati had promoted the defamation of Talabani and the other Kurdish leaders. The spokesman said Talabani would file a lawsuit against (American Enterprise Institute’s Michael) Rubin in the United States.

The Iraq Press Roundup, what the Iraqi editorialists are writing, by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.

Dr. Majed Kazem, deputy dean of Kufa University has said the location of the new university approved by cabinet to be built in Najaf province would be north city center with total area of 5 acres, Al-Sabaah reports.

Talking Iraq: Dissecting Iraq in President Bush’s State of the Union speech. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! talks to Dahr Jamail (reporter for Inter Press Service and author of Dispatches from an unembedded journalist in Iraq) and Raed Jarrar (Iraq consultant with the American Friends Service Committee) about life on the ground in Iraq today, the appearance of U.S. policy changes toward Iraq, and the much-touted “surge” — including analysis of the US’s new Sunni “allies” in Al-Anbar province.

Violence Draws Veil Over Women in Iraq, by Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail for Inter Press Service.Conditions are particularly difficult for women in Baquba, despite the relative lull in violence. The city, about 40 km northeast of Baghdad, is capital of Diyala province, amongst the most troubled regions of Iraq in recent months.

America in Iraq

Soldier Suicides at Record Level: Increase Linked to Long Wars, Lack of Army Resources Dana Priest reports for The Washington Post. “I’m very disappointed with the Army,” Whiteside wrote in a note before swallowing dozens of antidepressants and other pills. “Hopefully this will help other soldiers.” She was taken to the emergency room early Tuesday. Whiteside, who is now in stable physical condition, learned yesterday that the charges against her had been dismissed.

To compete in the global information war played out on Web sites and e-mail, soldiers in Iraq should upload videos of their experiences in the combat zone to YouTube and post their personal stories online, a top Army general said recently, Greg Grant reports for Government Executive, a recommendation that appears to run counter to Pentagon policy.
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