Blitz

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ten years and $60 billion in American taxpayer funds later, Iraq is still so unstable and broken that even its leaders question whether U.S. efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation were worth the cost. In his final report to Congress, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen's conclusion was all too clear: Since the invasion a decade ago this month, the U.S. has spent too much money in Iraq for too few results. The reconstruction effort "grew to a size much larger than was ever anticipated," Bowen told The Associated Press in a preview of his last audit of U.S. funds spent in Iraq, to be released Wednesday. "Not enough was accomplished for the size of the funds expended." In interviews with Bowen, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the U.S. funding "could have brought great change in Iraq" but fell short too often. "There was misspending of money," said al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim whose sect makes up about 60 percent of Iraq's population. Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, the country's top Sunni Muslim official, told auditors that the rebuilding efforts "had unfavorable outcomes in general." "You think if you throw money at a problem, you can fix it," Kurdish government official Qubad Talabani, son of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, told auditors. "It was just not strategic thinking." The abysmal Iraq results forecast what could happen in Afghanistan, where U.S. taxpayers have so far spent $90 billion in reconstruction projects during a 12-year military campaign that, for the most part, ends in 2014. Shortly after the March 2003 invasion, Congress set up a $2.4 billion fund to help ease the sting of war for Iraqis. It aimed to rebuild Iraq's water and electricity systems; provide food, health care and governance for its people; and take care of those who were forced from their homes in the fighting. Fewer than six months later, President George W. Bush asked for $20 billion more to further stabilize Iraq and help turn it into an ally that could gain economic independence and reap global investments. To date, the U.S. has spent more than $60 billion in reconstruction grants to help Iraq get back on its feet after the country that has been broken by more than two decades of war, sanctions and dictatorship. That works out to about $15 million a day. And yet Iraq's government is rife with corruption and infighting. Baghdad's streets are still cowed by near-daily deadly bombings. A quarter of the country's 31 million population lives in poverty, and few have reliable electricity and clean water. Overall, including all military and diplomatic costs and other aid, the U.S. has spent at least $767 billion since the American-led invasion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. National Priorities Project, a U.S. research group that analyzes federal data, estimated the cost at $811 billion, noting that some funds are still being spent on ongoing projects. Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate committee that oversees U.S. funding, said the Bush administration should have agreed to give the reconstruction money to Iraq as a loan in 2003 instead as an outright gift. "It's been an extraordinarily disappointing effort and, largely, a failed program," Collins, R-Maine, said in an interview Tuesday. "I believe, had the money been structured as a loan in the first place, that we would have seen a far more responsible approach to how the money was used, and lower levels of corruption in far fewer ways." In numerous interviews with Iraqi and U.S. officials, and though multiple examples of thwarted or defrauded projects, Bowen's report laid bare a trail of waste, including: —In Iraq's eastern Diyala province, a crossroads for Shiite militias, Sunni insurgents and Kurdish squatters, the U.S. began building a 3,600-bed prison in 2004 but abandoned the project after three years to flee a surge in violence. The half-completed Khan Bani Sa'ad Correctional Facility cost American taxpayers $40 million but sits in rubble, and Iraqi Justice Ministry officials say they have no plans to ever finish or use it. —Subcontractors for Anham LLC, based in Vienna, Va., overcharged the U.S. government thousands of dollars for supplies, including $900 for a control switch valued at $7.05 and $80 for a piece of pipe that costs $1.41. Anham was hired to maintain and operate warehouses and supply centers near Baghdad's international airport and the Persian Gulf port at Umm Qasr. — A $108 million wastewater treatment center in the city of Fallujah, a former al-Qaida stronghold in western Iraq, will have taken eight years longer to build than planned when it is completed in 2014 and will only service 9,000 homes. Iraqi officials must provide an additional $87 million to hook up most of the rest of the city, or 25,000 additional homes. —After blowing up the al-Fatah bridge in north-central Iraq during the invasion and severing a crucial oil and gas pipeline, U.S. officials decided to try to rebuild the pipeline under the Tigris River at a cost of $75 million. A geological study predicted the project might fail, and it did: Eventually, the bridge and pipelines were repaired at an additional cost of $29 million. —A widespread ring of fraud led by a former U.S. Army officer resulted in tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks and the criminal convictions of 22 people connected to government contracts for bottled water and other supplies at the Iraqi reconstruction program's headquarters at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. In too many cases, Bowen concluded, U.S. officials did not consult with Iraqis closely or deeply enough to determine what reconstruction projects were really needed or, in some cases, wanted. As a result, Iraqis took limited interest in the work, often walking away from half-finished programs, refusing to pay their share, or failing to maintain completed projects once they were handed over. Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite, described the projects as well intentioned, but poorly prepared and inadequately supervised. The missed opportunities were not lost on at least 15 senior State and Defense department officials interviewed in the report, including ambassadors and generals, who were directly involved in rebuilding Iraq. One key lesson learned in Iraq, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns told auditors, is that the U.S. cannot expect to "do it all and do it our way. We must share the burden better multilaterally and engage the host country constantly on what is truly needed." Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno, who was the top U.S. military commander in Iraq from 2008 to 2010, said "it would have been better to hold off spending large sums of money" until the country stabilized. About a third of the $60 billion was spent to train and equip Iraqi security forces, which had to be rebuilt after the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority disbanded Saddam's army in 2003. Today, Iraqi forces have varying successes in safekeeping the public and only limited ability to secure their land, air and sea borders. The report also cites Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as saying that the 2011 withdrawal of American troops from Iraq weakened U.S. influence in Baghdad. Panetta has since left office when former Sen. Chuck Hagel took over the defense job last week. Washington is eyeing a similar military drawdown next year in Afghanistan, where U.S. taxpayers have spent $90 billion so far on rebuilding projects. The Afghanistan effort risks falling into the same problems that mired Iraq if oversight isn't coordinated better. In Iraq, officials were too eager to build in the middle of a civil war, and too often raced ahead without solid plans or back-up plans, the report concluded. Most of the work was done in piecemeal fashion, as no single government agency had responsibility for all of the money spent. The State Department, for example, was supposed to oversee reconstruction strategy starting in 2004, but controlled only about 10 percent of the money at stake. The vast majority of the projects — 75 percent — were paid for by the Defense

I talk to Randy by email 4-5 times a month and he has not mentioned anything about an RV this month.

@janearraf: #Iraqi foreign minister - $4 billion #Russia-Iraq arms deal put on hold over corruption charges is on again but 2013 budget needs ok first. @janearraf: #Iraqi PM #Maliki says promoting sectarianism will be punished. Warning of arrests after Friday anti-Iran protest speeches in Anbar

CORRECTED-Facing Iraq dilemma, Exxon hires top ex-U.S. diplomat Fri Feb 8, 2013 7:30pm GMT (Corrects diplomat's name to James Jeffrey from Jeffrey James) By Peg Mackey and Isabel Coles LONDON/ARBIL, Iraq, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil has hired a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq as a consultant, diplomats and industry sources said, as the U.S. major faces a dilemma over whether to operate in the south of the country or honor its deals with the autonomous Kurdistan region. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last month made Exxon an offer in a bid to woo back the company, which had seemed intent on pulling out of the $50 billion West Qurna 1 oilfield in the south under the central government's jurisdiction. The substance of Maliki's offer to Exxon is not known, but industry sources describe it as substantial and say it is likely to involve much sweeter contract terms. The condition is that Exxon quit the northern Kurdish region. It was unclear whether James Jeffrey was hired specifically to handle the dilemma and its fallout, but industry sources and diplomats said it was likely to work in the central government's favor. "He probably has better relations in Baghdad than in Arbil," said a former U.S. diplomat on condition of anonymity. Since signing for six blocs with the Kurdistan regional government in 2011, Exxon has put itself on one of Iraq's deepest faultlines: between the northern enclave and Baghdad, which says only it has the authority to grant oil contacts and control crude exports. The Kurds argue their right to their own oil policy is enshrined in the country's federal constitution, drawn up following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Iraqi oil officials and Kurdish politicians have said publically they are certain Exxon will choose them over the other. Baghdad has the advantage of pursuing a goal aligned with the foreign policy of the United States, which has actively discouraged the KRG from pursuing its own oil policy, fearing it will precipitate the break-up of Iraq. Tensions between Iraqi Kurds and the Shi'ite-led government are such that both sides deployed their respective armies to reinforce positions along their disputed internal border last year. U.S. officials say the solution lies in a national oil law that has been caught up for years in a power struggle between Sunni, Shi'ite and ethnic Kurdish factions, which has intensified since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011. The head of Iraq's parliamentary oil and energy committee told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that passing legislation to govern the world's fourth largest oil reserves was "at the bottom of the government's list." "Exxon's made some big hires to patch up mistakes, which could indicate they may be willing to scale down in Kurdistan" another diplomatic source told Reuters. As the first major oil company to risk Baghdad's ire by venturing north, Exxon afforded the Kurds a victory in their ongoing turf war with the central government. Although it would be a symbolic blow if Exxon left, the region is now host to a number of other majors such as Total , Russia's Gazprom Neft and Chevron Corp , and is determined to get greater energy autonomy. (Editing by James Jukwey)

http://bit.ly/Th916o Iraqi News IraqiNews.com HOME BUSINESS & IRAQI DINAR IRAQ WAR BAGHDAD POLITICS SPORTS WORLD & ARAB NEWS JOBS IN IRAQ Civil Society Variety Featured Braking News …Maliki submits two candidates for Interior Minister’s Post Added by Baghdad Iraq on October 7, 2012. Saved under Baghdad Politics Share this article! FacebookTwitterGoogle1Email Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) -A source within the Iraqi National Alliance announced that the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki, submitted two candidates for the Post of the Interior Minister after two years of forming the government. The source stated to Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com) on Sunday “Maliki submitted the names of the leader within the Islamic Dawa party, Adnan al-Asadi and Falih al-Fayadh, the leader within the National Reformation Trend headed by Ibrahim al-Jaafary, for the Interior Minister’s Post.” “The political blocs within INA are reserved over those two candidates because they belong to political blocs and not independent candidates,” the source added. “The political blocs did not accept nominating these candidates, stating that this post does not belong to a political party where it is for the political blocs that have Members of parliament and do not have ministers in the government,” the source concluded. You may also like - Two personalities nominated for Interior Minister’s post Iraq’s National Coalition’s candidate, Ibrahim al-Lamy, most lucky candidate for Interior Ministe ... Iraq’s National Coalition has not decided to nominate Riyadh Gharib for National Security Minister Al-Iraqiya Coalition’s threat to withdraw from government, aimed at rising its demands, MP says. Iraq’s National Alliance candidate, Ibrahim al-Lamy, nopost.minated for Interior Minister’s Read more: http://www.iraqinews.com/baghdad-politics/braking-news-maliki-submits-two-candidates-for-interior-minister-s-post/#ixzz28cWLdKTc Follow us: @IraqiNews_com on Twitter | IraqNews on Facebook

http://bit.ly/SPxFuw Parliament to vote on Infrastructure law draft on Monday’s session q on September 30, 2012. Saved under Baghdad Politics Share this article! FacebookTwitterGoogle1Email Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) -The parliament will hold its regular session on next Monday to vote and read some law drafts. A statement by the media office of the parliament received by IraqiNews.com on Sunday cited “The agenda of Monday session will included the vote on the Infrastructure law draft and some other law drafts.” You may also like - Parliament sets Thursday to vote on General Amnesty law draft Citizen MP describes Maliki's statements over corruption in Infrastructure law as "Dangerous" Urgent....Iraqi Parliament postpones vote on Infrastructures Law draft Parliament to resume its sessions next Tuesday Urgent .... Parliament to vote on infrastructure law draft next Monday Read more: http://www.iraqinews.com/baghdad-politics/parliament-to-vote-on-infrastructure-law-draft-on-monday-s-session/#ixzz27xo6zwXI Follow us: @IraqiNews_com on Twitter | IraqNews on Facebook

WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program. Related Iranian Currency Traders Find a Haven in Afghanistan (August 18, 2012) Deutsche Bank’s Business With Sanctioned Nations Under Scrutiny (August 18, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. The little-known bank singled out by the United States, the Elaf Islamic Bank, is only part of a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that, according to current and former American and Iraqi government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, has provided Iran with a crucial flow of dollars at a time when sanctions are squeezing its economy. The Obama administration is not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran just eight months after the last American troops withdrew from Baghdad. Still, the administration has held private talks with Iraqi officials to complain about specific instances of financial and logistical ties between the countries, officials say, although they do not regard all trade between them as illegal or, as in the case of smuggling, as something completely new. In one recent instance, when American officials learned that the Iraqi government was aiding the Iranians by allowing them to use Iraqi airspace to ferry supplies to Syria, Mr. Obama called Mr. Maliki to complain. The Iranian planes flew another route. In response to questions from The New York Times, David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, provided a written statement saying that Iran “may seek to escape the force of our financial sanctions through Iraqi financial institutions.” But he added that “we will pursue, and are actively pursuing, efforts to prevent Iran from evading U.S. or international financial sanctions, in Iraq or anywhere else.” Some current and former American and Iraqi officials, along with banking and oil experts, say that Iraqi government officials are turning a blind eye to the large financial flows, smuggling and other trade with Iran. In some cases, they say, government officials, including some close to Mr. Maliki, are directly profiting from the activities. “Maliki’s government is right in the middle of this,” said one former senior American intelligence official who now does business in Iraq. In announcing that he was “cutting off” Elaf Islamic Bank, Mr. Obama said it had “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.” But the treatment the bank has received in Baghdad since it was named by Mr. Obama suggests that the Iraqi government is not only allowing companies and individuals to circumvent the sanctions but also not enforcing penalties for noncompliance. Iraqi banking experts said last week that the bank was still allowed to participate in the Iraq Central Bank’s daily auction at which commercial banks can sell Iraqi dinars and buy United States dollars. These auctions are a crucial pathway for Iranian access to the international financial system. Western officials say that Iran seeks to bolster its reserves of dollars to stabilize its exchange rates and pay for imports. Iraqi and American officials with knowledge of Iraqi banking practices say Iranian customers are able to move large amounts of cash through the auction, and from there into banks in regional financial centers like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, or Amman, Jordan, and then into the international banking system. Mudher Salih, the central bank governor, said in an interview that Elaf Islamic Bank was being allowed back into the auction because Elaf officials had denied any wrongdoing. “Elaf Bank is attending the auctions, and they are telling us that they didn’t violate the law, and saying that they didn’t deal with any Iranian institutes,” Mr. Salih said. While Iraq has tried to impose more stringent reporting requirements that might pick up illegal transfers, officials with knowledge of the Iraqi banking industry say that banks, hawala houses, an unofficial global network of money-traders, and their Iranian customers are finding ways around them, often by forging documents that make it look as if the money transfers are to finance legitimate trade between Iraq and other countries. Thanks to Iraq’s growing oil revenue, the Iraqi central bank has about $60 billion in foreign exchange reserves, held in accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with which to meet the insatiable demand for dollars. But the new flight of dollars out of Iraq is prompting criticism of the central bank and of the Iraqi government. The accusations of high-level Iraqi government involvement in sanctions-busting have roiled Iraqi politics and invariably reflect on Mr. Maliki, since many Iraqi officials now say that he has taken effective control of the Iraqi central bank, which is nominally independent. “We want to question the central bank and the banks that are involved,” Ali al-Sachri, a member of Parliament, said in an interview. Mr. Salih acknowledged the huge dollar transfers and said that they threatened the economic stability of Iraq by depleting the country’s foreign reserves. He said that “in order to prevent the economy from collapsing, we should put an end to this illegal flow of dollars outside Iraq.” He said the large-scale money laundering was probably being helped by “some corruption that requires the government to investigate,” but he defended the actions of the central bank, saying that it does “not have the capability to watch everything.” Several American and Iraqi banking and government officials also say that Iranian organizations have gained effective control over at least four Iraqi commercial banks through Iraqi intermediaries. That gives Iran direct access to the international financial system, supposedly denied to Tehran by the economic sanctions. Even as the United States has moved to tighten the vise against Iran this summer, the Maliki government has openly sought to enhance its already deep economic and political ties with Iran. Trade between Iraq and Iran, which fought a costly war from 1980 to 1988, has been growing rapidly ever since the American-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and it is now estimated to be as high as $11 billion a year. Among other openly acknowledged forms of trade, Iraq has contracts to buy large amounts of electrical power from Iran. Just last week, an Iraqi delegation that includes the deputy prime minister and top officials from the ministries of finance and trade and the central bank met in Tehran with their Iranian counterparts for talks about further increasing economic ties. An Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a telephone interview that Iraq “is not intending to break any rules,” but added that “we also have good relations with Iran that we do not want to break.” This year, Iraqi officials publicly expressed concerns that their large volume of trade with Iran might place them in violation of the sanctions on Iran, and they said they would seek a sanctions waiver. After those public statements, American officials privately told the Maliki government that Iraq would not be found to be in violation of the new Iran sanctions because of its publicly acknowledged cross-border trade, according to a former senior United States official. Whatever help Iraq has given Iran, the sanctions have put considerable pressure on Tehran. Iran’s oil exports have dropped by about 40 percent because of the latest round of sanctions, while Iraq’s own oil production has been surging. American officials say that if aiding Iran was a priority of the Iraqi government, Baghdad would not be so eagerly ramping up oil production to fill the void left by Iran. Still, clandestine trade, including large-scale smuggling of oil and oil products, has been increasing, and the Iraqi government has done little to stop a highly organized effort that frequently provides financial benefits to Iraqi political parties and powerful political leaders, according to American and Iraqi oil traders and experts. Iraqi fuel oil, acquired by smuggling operations with close connections to political leaders at extremely low prices with the help of government subsidies, is being smuggled from Iraq through Kurdistan and into Iran. From Iran it is smuggled once again, with some going to Afghanistan, where the cheap fuel is resold at a large profit. American and Iraqi oil experts say they believe that at least some Iranian oil is finding its way to Iraqi ports for export. nytimes.com

I can promise you that this is not randy Koonce. I am in contact with him all the time and not once has he ever said that they could RV with out a stable GOI.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) -The Turkmen MP, Hasan Ozman, announced that “The new Iraqi currency will involve a Turkmen symbol.” He stated to Iraqi News (IraqiNews.com) “During the meeting with the Governor of the Iraqi Central Bank, Sinan al-Shibibi, over the issue of deleting the zeros from the current Iraqi currency and form of the new currency, some samples were offered involving sights like the Zaqura or Gali Ali Bek waterfall.” “We asked to put a Turkmen symbol on the new form of currency and this suggestion was accepted by the Administration of the Bank,” he added. “We have chosen a historical dome, which was built 800 years ago inside the Kirkuk Castle, as the sight to symbolize the Turkmen community,” he mentioned. “The photos of the dome were sent to the ICB to be shown on the new currency,” he stressed, noting that “This happen for the first time in the history of the Iraqi State.” ICB intends to issue new currency after deleting the zeros during 2013. http://t.co/TS1pwKlx

Yeah i follow Allawi, too!!

#Iraq deputy finmin tells #Reuters expects 2013 budget of $111.4 billion, based on #oil price of $85 per barrel, oil exports of 2.9 mln bpd