Archive for
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back
BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq’s Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and an American diplomat.
The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, will lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the American invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.
New Iraq almost most corrupt nation in the world
During the five years the United States has occupied Iraq, the Bush administration has created a new state with a number of notable features: A venal, dysfunctional government. A terrorist haven and training ground. A nation so violent and dangerous that 10 percent of the population has fled.
Add to that a new hallmark: Nearly the most corrupt nation on Earth.
Only two states out of 180, Somalia and Burma, outrank Iraq in Transparency International’s latest worldwide corruption index. They are tied for last place. But Iraq has plummeted through the rankings since 2004, when it was near the middle of the pack, and is now within a hair’s width of crashing to the bottom.
Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control
America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 – 10 000 more than when the military “surge” began in January 2007. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.
The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now. The leaks are certain to generate an angry backlash in Iraq. “It is a terrible breach of our sovereignty,” said one Iraqi politician, adding that if the security deal was signed it would delegitimise the government in Baghdad which will be seen as an American pawn.
Only 4 per cent of Iraqis in Syria plan to return home
Only 4 per cent of Iraqi refugees currently plan to return to their own country, while almost all have fled their homeland because of direct threats or general insecurity, according to a report out today from the United Nations refugee agency.
The report found that 65 per cent of refugees who do not wish to return said that they were under direct threat in Iraq. Some 30 per cent do not want to return because of the general insecurity in their home country and 8 per cent said their home in Iraq had been destroyed or was occupied by others.
Cold, hard facts.
Cold, hard facts…
What A Billion Muslims Really Think
A very interesting post:
Following the 9/11 attacks, President Bush claimed that Muslims hate America for its freedoms. Since then, 50,000 Muslims in 35 countries were surveyed by Gallup, the largest poll of Muslims ever. The results represent over 6 years of study and are outlined in a new book by Dalia Mogahed and John L. Esposito entitled “Who Speaks For Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really
More About Ghaza…
The Palestinian president has accused Israel of "international terrorism", saying its assault on Gaza constitutes "more than a holocaust".
Mahmoud Abbas’s comments on Saturday came as more Israeli air raids brought the total death toll over four days to 88 people, at least a third of which have been children, according to medical sources.
Fifty-four people were killed during Saturday’s
Walk 4 Iraq Part 2
Sometime in the mid year of 2007, 3 countries; UK, Canada, and New Zealand implemented a walk 4 Iraq fundraiser for money to send to Iraqi Refugees. The efforts the fundraisers put into this was to promote donation to Iraq from people in these 3 countries and take part in a 20km walk to fund humanitarian assistance for the Iraqi refugees in the Middle East. of walking in the remembrance of the innocent. Walk 4 Iraq was nothing but a name to the local community. Today this cause has spread to other cities in this world and it has been reported on the international headlines for recognition of the work that has been put to help the poor.
US holds 1st secret session of war crimes court
The U.S. military closed a session of a Guantanamo war crimes trial to journalists and other observers Thursday for the presentation of classified evidence — a first for the tribunal system created to prosecute alleged terrorists.
Anyone without a security clearance was forced to leave the courtroom for the testimony of two witnesses for Osama bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan. The defendant stayed in the courtroom.
The witnesses were U.S. Army special forces officers Col. Morgan Banks, a psychologist, and Lt. Col. G. John Taylor, an attorney. Officials did not say why their testimony had to be kept secret.
Hamdan, one of 21 Guantanamo prisoners charged so far, faces up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism at the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War II.
-
Subscribe Via Email
Receive new updates!
-
Iraq Body Count
