jte70

They need to get started - I'm missing my lunch break now!!

Yay it's on!

In other words, maybe she doesn't have the answer. It takes a lot less time to ignore a question than it does to grouch at somebody, if you ask me. (Go for it if you want to grouch me out now.)

Well... correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that if you had 40 25,000-dinar notes you'd get 40 25-dinar notes in exchange. I'm certainly no expert. It's just like this whole government thing over the past several days. You read as many stories about the LOP as you do the thing not happening.

I don't know if I could stand doing this for that many years.

Associated Press reports 12/23 as per in the News section http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHFrWQytdWUboppb61tJvoT0C9cg?docId=6d9e9431a8534f09807cfe1dfda8b9f9

Or a rainbow at the end of a pot!

Not exactly new but written in easily understood English. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHFrWQytdWUboppb61tJvoT0C9cg?docId=6d9e9431a8534f09807cfe1dfda8b9f9 BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of a Sunni-backed political party will join the Shiite-led government being assembled by his top rival, a spokeswoman said Tuesday, clearing a final hurdle to end months of tortuous, postelection dealmaking. The breakthrough cements what the Obama administration has been pushing for as U.S. troops prepare to leave Iraq by the end of 2011: an inclusive government that distributes power among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to forge stability after more than seven years of war. Former Premier Ayad Allawi had held out for months, insisting that he or one of his allies should be the next prime minister since his secular Iraqiya party narrowly won more seats than any other alliance in the March parliamentary election. He had long said he would refuse to join a government led by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom many Sunni Muslims view with suspicion. But after what appeared to be a warm 90-minute meeting between the two on Tuesday, Iraqiya spokeswoman said Maysoun al-Damlouji said Allawi has agreed to join the government as head of a newly created council to oversee security and foreign policy issues. Allawi's turnabout essentially gives him veto power over many of al-Maliki's top priorities. It also affords him the same salary as al-Maliki — to be set by the new parliament — that is believed to currently be at least $360,000 annually. The detente came after intense lobbying by Vice President Joe Biden and two U.S. ambassadors. It was one of the last major hurdles Iraq's leaders wanted to clear before announcing the nation's new leaders within a constitutionally required negotiation period that ends Dec. 25. Aides said al-Maliki is now expected to formally announce the new government on Dec. 23. Parliament must then approve the Cabinet. Allawi did not confirm that he had accepted a post in al-Maliki's Cabinet when briefing reporters after the discussion, which he described as "a positive fruitful meeting" where strategic affairs and Iraq's security were the top topics. "We reached a joint vision," Allawi said of his former rival. "Each of us has an experience that complements the other." Al-Maliki said the meeting focused on building a strong Iraq. "There are great challenges and we have the ability to confront all these challenges," he said. Al-Damlouji said Allawi expected to have broad powers as head of the National Council for Strategic Policies, a 20-member body that will serve as a counterbalance to al-Maliki's major security and foreign policy decisions. Parliament will meet Saturday to discuss the creation of the new council and its powers. But a second aide to Allawi said 80 percent of the new council must approve the policies it oversees before they are enacted. Last month, Allawi told CNN that he would not take part in al-Maliki's government and described the power-sharing deal as dead. His comments came after al-Maliki cobbled together enough support from Shiite allies, including Iranian-influenced religious hard-liners, to remain as prime minister even though his party fell short of winning the March 7 vote. The election's failure to yield a clear winner threw Iraq into political chaos and stoked Sunni insurgents' hopes that they could use violence to return the country to the brink of civil war. With a wary eye on the planned departure of American troops at the end of 2011, U.S. officials since have been pushing Iraqi leaders to broker a compromise and form an all-inclusive government. By all accounts, the back-room negotiating has been a politically painful and laborious process, with tensions between Allawi and al-Maliki so sour that a fellow lawmaker was taken aback by the warmth of Tuesday's meeting. "I was happy and surprised at the harmony and the understanding in the meeting," said Shiite lawmaker and former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who attended the discussion. The political breakthrough came amid reminders of the violence that continues to beset Iraq. Roadside bombs struck crowds of Iraqi pilgrims as they prepared to mark the year's most solemn Shiite religious ceremony, killing three people and wounding at least 31, police said. Shiite pilgrims from across Iraq are headed to Karbala for Ashoura, which marks the anniversary of the seventh century death of Imam Hussein in a killing that sealed Islam's historic Sunni-Shiite split. Karbala is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Sunni insurgents in Iraq have frequently targeted Shiite shrines and pilgrims. Separately, a roadside bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk killed one passer-by and wounded two others, city police and hospital officials said. The explosion was not related to the religious pilgrimage.

This is what I've been wondering. Where are the funds coming from to back up the increased value of their currency.

Maybe the RE-Stig?

It's Christmas

That's what I thought too... during my morning break

That's awesome.

It's terrible, isn't it? I've only been into this a short time and I'm already on the ride. Even with the possible zero drop I guess across the board we'd still make about a 30% ROI. Oh wait, after taxes we'd make nothing LOL! Who knows??? Hope for the best!!! I've already got the UN webcast bookmarked and will be watching!!!! .85 would do nicely (for a start LOL)

I guess it's financial because the UN is telling them what to do with their money.

Great more pressure to form a govt.

WOW. Well both articles say "UN WILL end sanctions" and then "this or that WOULD happen." Kind of a teaser, no?

So Maliki wants Chapter 7? I wondered how a RV would affect Iraq's debt. ??? Oh yeah, and I was just wondering if Iraq stalls on the RV just to keep its people broke. Any ideas?

If they really want to fool someone, they should have someone proofread their emails. You'd have to be a dodo to buy something from an "ambassador" with no command of the English language.

LOL

If I'm not mistaken Turkey is in favor of lifting CH7.

I wouldn't worry about it, just obviously it didn't happen today.

Looks that way. Thanks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/13/AR2010121303507.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 BAGHDAD (Washington Post Article) Among the soldiers of the First Infantry Division who are going home next week after a year in Iraq, it was an almost palpable feeling Monday: We're out of here. It's over. And in 12 more months, that will be true for the nation that sent them. The last U.S. troops are scheduled to leave in December 2011. What comes after the American era in Iraq? In the trough of a nightmarish occupation, that question sometimes seemed unimaginable for Iraqis and Americans alike. But it's now being debated in earnest by a new Iraqi government that, whatever its demerits, at least has gathered all the major players inside one tent. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met here Monday with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and urged him to start planning now for a "long-term strategic partnership" in which the United States will continue training the Iraqi military and police, and providing other, unspecified security assistance. Mullen said later that Maliki seems to want such a relationship, "but the direction hasn't been worked out." The biggest story about Iraq may be what hasn't happened. There were widespread fears that when U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqis cities mid-2009, the country would slip back toward civil war. That didn't happen. The same fears were expressed when the last combat troops departed this summer. It didn't happen then, either. Anxieties about renewed sectarian violence were stoked, again, by the eight-month delay in forming a new government after last March's elections. But the factions agreed last month on a compromise formula that will keep Maliki as prime minister, this time as head of a broad coalition that includes every major faction. ad_icon Maliki is hardly an ideal leader: He's sometimes described as an Iraqi version of Richard Nixon: with a conspiratorial mind and a perpetually unshaven face. He's nobody's favorite, but he proved acceptable to everyone: America and Iran, Sunnis and Shiites, Arabs and Kurds. Even the thorny issue of de-Baathification finally appears to have been solved by a compromise that will allow prominent Sunni politicians to join the parliament. Iraqi political style tends toward perpetual brinkmanship, with no issues resolved until the eleventh hour (or later). That frays the nerves of more compromise-minded Americans, but in the end, the Iraqis usually do find a political solution. What the long bargaining process showed is that most Iraqis are exhausted by violence. Nobody but the terrorist fringe wants a return of civil war. As one official says, given the choice between an effective government and an inclusive one, the Iraqis opted for inclusive. "Overall, I'm encouraged by what I see," said Mullen. The Iraqi security forces "are better than a lot of people expected. They're able to handle internal security." The numbers do show a trend that confounds predictions that Iraqi security forces couldn't do the job. U.S. commanders count an average of about 15 security incidents a day in Iraq, which they say is about 20 percent below the rate last year, when American troops played a larger role, and roughly the same level of violence before the U.S. invasion in 2003. An example illustrates the success of the Iraqi security forces - and also the continuing terrorist threat here. On Dec. 4, U.S. commanders passed the Iraqis intelligence that about 15 car bombs were about to attack targets. The Iraqis stopped all but three - a big success but still a terrible toll. The worry for U.S. officials is that post-America Iraq will slip back toward chaos if there isn't a strong continuing security relationship. They fear a replay of the last scene of the movie "Charlie Wilson's War." The Americans leave (in that case, from the CIA's proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s) to the relief of a war-weary public, and terrorism (in that case, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda) creeps into the vacuum. Asked if Iraq has become the "forgotten war," the U.S. deputy commander here, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, bristled in a conversation with reporters Monday. "What we see today has been paid for in blood and riches" by U.S. soldiers and taxpayers, he said. He doesn't want to see that investment lost in the relief of both Americans and Iraqis to be finally escaping the war's shadow. What comes next shouldn't be another security vacuum. Surely there's a midpoint between doing too much and doing nothing.

I'd hate to see #3 happen but it sounds feasible. My question is, how is Iraq going to back up an RV at this point?