Abarvets

Thanks Adam. In case you guys missed it the UN Security Council is meeting today in New York............

As I recall from one of the recent articles not only are the banks to be closed, government, education and other businesses as well until after the summit. We shall see.............

Even a child who is failing will tell you they are doing well..............................

Audigger, thanks for the articles. You are correct he is frustrated. There were rumblings about them wanting to break off but not until later 2016 and beyond in my readings. I truely hope as Carrello stated that this is not the announcement. I will remain positive and think that this is just to push the others along to get them to announce something like the HCL or perhaps the new currency value. We wait.

Yes you are correct Carrello posted an article on it.

Don't know that has been the million dollar question. You are welcome Detroit!

Nowruz torch light up the sky to the beat of Arbil, Kurdish Dabkeh 20/03/2012 20:50 Arbil, March 20 / March (Rn) - Stoke Arbil, capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq on Tuesday night the flame of Nowruz in a park in the city center with the participation of Shander official attended regional president Massoud Barzani took part in the Aiviadha. The torch-lighting is an annual tradition in Arbil, as is the case for all the governorates of the Kurdistan region marked the advent of the Kurdish New Year. By the way, and began firing Mahtvon crackers and fireworks in the air for about half an hour to illuminate the sky in a scene of Arbil is repeated in each year. And the Kurds celebrated on 21 March of each year of Nowruz, which is a national holiday and historically an expression of freedom and get rid of oppression in addition to being a New Year's Calendar Kurdish approved since 2712 year. Is associated with a Kurdish festival Newroz Bmathologia ancient Troy that there was a king named Azdhak unjust killing people on this day that someone is called Kurd Kawa Haddad to kill him and save the people from oppression. And decorated with gardens and parks, the Kurdish flag, while the deployment of a number of young men hats and umbrellas. The Kurdish artist Nasser Warzazi set of songs. As the artist Maher Mohamed Amin Group of the songs have turned the stands into an arena for dance artist Altbekat Nazdar then presented a set of her songs, accompanied by folk dance group of Kurdish. A significant number of tourists Iraqi Arabs expressed satisfaction with the organization of the ceremony. She said an Iraqi woman named Umm Ahmed "We congratulate the Kurdish people everywhere on this occasion. Very beautiful ceremony." Said Saad Mohammed, an Arab from Baghdad (Rn) "We arrived to Erbil yesterday to attend the celebrations of Nowruz. Surprised offers beautiful and brilliant. Fireworks display was more than wonderful." And gives a number of countries in the Middle East Nowruz Celebrations such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan and the countries of eastern Europe, such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The authorities took security in the Kurdistan Region security measures, said it aimed for the safety of Mahtvin by the way, particularly in gathering places through the deployment of security personnel around the edges. The director of the Office of the Minister of Interior in the region Bilal Muhammad's (Rn) in the earlier "We have taken all security measures on this occasion to come out best." "The security situation is very stable. Did not record any events in these days. We have all the facilities for the guests (tourists) coming from different provinces of Iraq." And embraced the capital of the Kurdistan region yesterday acrobatic performances in the park itself. Experiencing the provinces of the Kurdistan region of presentations and similar events will be the height of the Pima celebrate holidays in 21 of the month. A public holiday in each year. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ar&tl=en&u=http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/3

Must be in the training or lack there off. It is really very sad.............

That is the hope! There was an article out today that stated the bombings were targeting the National Conference which started today. Have the wording wrong, but it implied the meeting was being held today. Looking for any other news that goes with it..........

Iraqi army is the world’s largest in terms of ratio per 1000 inhabitants By Nidhal al-Laithi Azzaman, March 20, 2012 Iraq now has 1.2 million people under arms, that is one soldier for each 22 Iraqis and 45 for every 1000 people, according to latest statistics revealed by the Iraqi parliament. The number of troops in Iraq has never been as high as it is now “if we exclude the 1980-1988 war with Iran,” said Haytham al-Jibouri, a member of the parliament’s powerful Finance Commission. But despite their large numbers, the troops have yet to succeed in freeing Iraq from violence and acts of terror. The Iraqi army is a volunteer force but there has never been a shortage of volunteers despite insurgent attacks which have claimed thousands of military lives so far. The main reason for the rush of Iraqis to volunteer and join the armed forces is the high unemployment rate. Joining the army secures a life-time, well-paid job. The army has the lion’s share of the national budget which almost solely relies on oil royalties for hard cash resources. Last year, the defense ministry received 15% of the budget, that is $15 billion – a sum larger than the allocations earmarked for the ministries of health, education and higher education and scientific research. Most of the defense ministry’s allocations (about 90%) go to salaries and overheads. http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2012-03-20\kurd.htm

Dozens of bombs kill at least 52 across Iraq Reuters | Mar 20,2012 | 23:13 BAGHDAD — More than 30 bombs struck cities and towns across Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 52 people and wounding about 250, despite a massive security clampdown ahead of next week’s Arab League summit in Baghdad. It was Iraq’s bloodiest day in nearly a month, and the scale of the coordinated explosions in more than a dozen cities showed an apparent determination by insurgents to prove that the government cannot keep the country safe ahead of the summit. Iraq is due to host the meeting for the first time in 20 years, and the government is anxious to show it can maintain security following the withdrawal of US troops in December. “The goal of today’s attacks was to present a negative image of the security situation in Iraq,” government spokesperson Ali Dabbagh told Reuters. “Security efforts will be escalated to counteract terrorist groups’ attacks and to fill loopholes used by them to infiltrate security, whether in Baghdad or other provinces.” Tuesday’s deadliest incident occurred in the southern Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, where twin explosions killed 13 people and wounded 48 during the morning rush hour, according to Jamal Mahdi, a Karbala health department spokesman. “The second explosion caused the biggest destruction. I saw body parts, fingers, hands thrown on the road,” 23-year-old shop owner Murtadha Ali Kadhim told Reuters. “The security forces are stupid because they always gather at the site of an explosion and then a second explosion occurs. They become a target.” Blasts also struck in the capital, in Baiji, Baqouba, Daquq, Dibis, Dhuluiya, Kirkuk, Mosul, Samarra, Tuz Khurmato, Khalis and Dujail to the north, in Fallujah and Ramadi to the west, and Hilla, Latifiya, Mahmudiya and Mussayab to the south. Police defused bombs in Baqouba, Fallujah and Mosul. Most of the blasts targeted police checkpoints and patrols. “This latest spate of attacks is very likely to have been coordinated by a large and well-organised group. It is likely an attempt to show the authorities that their security measures are insignificant,” said John Drake, a senior risk consultant at AKE Group, which studies security in Iraq for corporate clients. Army and police forces are frequently targeted in Iraq, where bombings and shootings still occur almost daily. Al Qaeda’s Iraq wing and allied Sunni Muslim insurgent groups say that despite the withdrawal of US forces, they will not lay down arms and will continue to battle the Shiite-led government. They have claimed responsibility for nearly all the major attacks so far this year, mounting days of coordinated bombings across the country about once a month since the Americans left. Tuesday’s attacks were the biggest since February 23 when dozens of explosions across the country killed at least 60 people. A White House spokesperson called the attacks “reprehensible acts”. “Despite these efforts by extremists, violence in Iraq remains at near historic lows,” he said. “Iraqi forces have demonstrated their capacity to deal with the security challenges that exist in that country again and again in recent years, and we do have faith in their ability.” The Arab League summit on March 27-29 will be the first held in Baghdad since 1990. Tuesday was also the day after the ninth anniversary of the start of the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam. Security has been ratcheted up across Baghdad in the runup to the summit. Since Monday, intensive searches at checkpoints have ground the city of 7 million people to a halt. In the northern city of Kirkuk, two car bombs exploded near a police headquarters, killing nine people and wounding 42, police and health sources said. In Baghdad, two bombs killed nine people and wounded 28. Police in the northeastern city of Baqouba said they had found and defused nine bombs, including one in a booby-trapped car which was parked on the road. Five other bombs exploded in the town, the capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad, which also saw a smaller string of deadly explosions on Monday night. By evening, Reuters had recorded 32 separate explosions on Tuesday. The toll of the blasts, as provided by police and medical sources, was at least 52 killed and 249 wounded. http://jordantimes.com/dozens-of-bombs-kill-at-least-52-across-iraq

Erbil and Baghdad Dispute Funding for Arab Refugees 20/03/2012 03:28:00By NAWZAD MAHMOUD Font size: Shia Arab women driven out of their homes in Baghdad by militiamen stand in front of a tent in a refugee camp in Kut city in southern Iraq. Photo by Ayub Nuri. SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – A new dispute has arisen between Erbil and Baghdad over Arab refugees who have settled in the Kurdistan Region in the past few years. The Iraqi minister of immigration, Dindar Najman Doski, says the Iraqi government expects the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to provide financial support for the Arab families. “The Iraqi Finance Ministry wants KRG to provide service for the Arab refugee families, who are settled in Kurdistan, from the 17 percent of the annual budget it receives from Baghdad.” Bayz Talabani, KRG finance minister, rejected this demand from Baghdad, saying, “We will not do that.” Doski, a Kurd serving in the Iraqi government, said Baghdad’s request of the KRG is unfair. “The Iraqi Finance Ministry doesn’t provide funds to help these refugees,” he said. “Instead, it demands that the KRG must take care of them out of its own budget. But that’s impossible because this budget is only for Kurdish people.” At the peak of the sectarian war that swept Baghdad and the rest of Iraq between 2005 and 2008, many Arab families, among them Shia, Sunni and Christians, fled to the safety of the Kurdistan Region. Doski said Baghdad’s expectations of the Kurdistan authorities have put his ministry in a difficult position. According to statistics from the Iraqi Ministry of Immigration obtained by Rudaw, nearly 40,000 Arabs from the center and south of Iraq have fled to the Kurdistan Region, with the majority settled in Duhok province. Doski believes the demand from Baghdad can reduce his ministry’s capacity to meet the refugees’ needs, saying, “We know that the refugees are living in bad conditions. They need services like education, hospitals, monthly income and transportation.” Najiba Najib, a member of Iraq’s parliamentary finance committee, said Baghdad shouldn’t manipulate the refugee case. “We must take this issue seriously and we shouldn’t allow the central government to link the refugees’ needs to the 17 percent (KRG) budget,” she said. “The KRG has continuously helped the refugees by providing them education, health care and settlements.” Erbil and Baghdad are already dealing with a number of unresolved issues, such as the implementation of Article 140 regarding disputed territories and the country’s oil and gas law. Najib fears that the Arab refugees, better known as internally displaced people (IDP), may become a new problem between the two authorities. “Without even solving the current issues between the two sides, another issue has just emerged,” she said. According to an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil, the Kurdistan Region receives 17 percent of Iraq’s annual budget for the three semi-autonomous Kurdish provinces. Kurdish authorities maintain that it is Baghdad’s responsibility to allocate extra funding for the Arab families. Talabani, KRG finance minister, said, “So far no one has discussed this issue with us. The central government has been taking care of the refugees in the past. No designated fund has been sent to KRG for the refugees from this year’s budget; that’s why this has nothing to do with us.” In the meantime, Iraqi Deputy Finance Minister Fazil Nabi said it is the budget board that wants to oblige the KRG to support the refugees. “This is not the demand of Iraqi finance minister,” Nabi said. “It is just the opinion of the general director of the budget department.” Nabdi added, “We will solve this issue soon.” http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/4543.html

Allowing Kuwaiti owners of real estate in Iraq the right to dispose of them. 20/03/2012 11:39:00 Baghdad/ NINA/-- Council of Ministers decided to allow the Kuwaiti owners of real estate in Iraq the right to dispose of their properties unless there is a judicial mind. In a statement by the Secretariat Department of Cabinet Affairs : " The decision taken according to the principle of reciprocity from the Kuwaiti side regarding the rights of Iraqis. The department indicated in its statement that it will be exchanged commitments and agreed through diplomatic channels and through the receipt of individual documented applications by the concerned authorities in both countries. / End http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=FKIFEH

20 Wanted, suspects arrested in Diyala 20/03/2012 22:48:00 Baquba (NINA) – Security forces arrested 20 wanted and suspected persons in various parts of Diyala province. Security source told NINA on Tuesday, Mar. 20, that during search raids carried out in Baquba, Khalis, Muqdadiya and Bani-Sa’ad, security forces arrested 10 wanted persons. He added that 10 persons suspected of being related to Tuesday’s attacks have been detained. / End. http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=FKIGFL

Intense security procedures in Amara after the bombings in Baghdad, provinces 20/03/2012 18:14:00 Amara (NINA) – Security and Defense Committee in the Maysan Provincial Council adopted intense security procedures after the bombings in Baghdad and other provinces today. Chairman of the committee Sarhan Al Ghalibi told NINA correspondent that “the security services in Maysan adopted the intense procedures after today’s bombings that aim at destabilize security and stability and give a message that affect the Arab public opinion that Baghdad is not safe in order to foil the Arab Summit in Baghdad by the end of March. He demanded the “security services and citizens to be highly alerted and cautious to miss the opportunity for those who try to harm the safety and security of Iraqis.” /End/ http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=FKIFMK

Hakeem, Zebari review preparations for the Summit 20/03/2012 21:36:00 Baghdad (NINA) – Leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), Ammar al-Hakeem, reviewed with Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, the ongoing preparations and measures taken to receive Arab delegations to the Summit in Baghdad. A statement issued on Tuesday, Mar. 20, by the SIIC said that during the meeting, Hakeem praised the efforts exerted in preparation for the Summit, calling for more to make the Summit successful. / End. http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=FKIGEJ

Talabani calls on security agencies to foil attempts aiming to disturb climate on the Summit’s eve 20/03/2012 23:51:00 Baghdad (NINA) – President Jalal Talabani condemned the explosions that occurred on Tuesday, Mar. 20, in Baghdad and some provinces, calling on the security agencies to foil attempts aiming to disturb the climate on the eve of the Arab Summit. A statement issued by the President’s Office quoted Talabani saying that terrorist carried out series of criminal acts in which tens civilian casualties fall in an attempt to disturb security and stabililty as well as to create tension on the eve of the Arab Summit. Talabani added that holding the Summit in Baghdad is to consolidate bridges between Iraq and other Arab countries to recognize its sovereignty and being a genuine member of the Arab League, as well as being an important regional country. / End. http://www.ninanews.com/english/News_Details.asp?ar95_VQ=FKIGGI

Great find Carrello! We all wait for that beautiful announcement! Hope it comes in as breaking news. Almost time to start checking............

Thank you so much, I loved it the first time I saw it and love it even more now. Zig you rock! Thanks again Carrello a huge plus for you!!! + alright it won't let me will have to do it in spirit......... Zig do you have anything else for us up your sleve? The mood could use a little uplifting take the edge off so to speak. We are all watching this thing like hawks and could use some comic relief. That part of my brain is not functioning very well keep having visions of camels at the next Victoria Secret Fashion Show.......

Know the feeling..............

This makes sense with the curfew that they imposed for bikes and motorcycles starting on Saturday if I am quoting the article correct. Once I saw that I thought hmm why have the curfew this early. Let me go hunt for that article. Here is what I had posted: Curfew on bicycles, motorcycles movement in Baghdad starting next Saturday 14/03/2012 15:18:00 Baghdad (NINA) – Baghdad Operation Command announced a curfew on bicycles and motorcycles of all kinds starting from next Saturday until further notice, according the semi-official Iraqiya TV channel. /End/ http://www.ninanews....?ar95_VQ=FKHGHM Could it be our National Meeting or is something else scheduled then? Read more:

I can not believe that they would let a 13 year old jet off without a parent. I pray if they went at least the grandmother went along. Parents have lost custody for less. What are the other parents thinking in letting their children go? What is in the water up there?

I am ok with repeats as opposed to the not until 2015 or it will not happen. Recycle, repeat just part of educating the folks imho. Could be way off. Glass half full type of day. That is why many eyes are better! Thanks for pointing that out!

Thank you, interesting that they are taking off that much time.

This is an opinion piece, it is what he wants. This leads me to believe that it is currently scheduled for before the summit. We shall see.......... Thanks for the post!