Agence France Presse, 14 February 2008
KABUL (AFP) - More than 70 percent of public expenditure in Afghanistan comes from donors and most is spent without government oversight, according to a report that calls for more accountability.
The bypassing of government undermines its authority and development, said the report by nongovernmental group ActionAid Afghanistan released Wednesday.
"Over 72 percent of the total government expenditure in Afghanistan comes from external assistance," it said.
"However three-fourths of the total external assistance is spent directly by donors, and most of it without any reporting to the Afghan government."
The report, "Gaps in Aid Accountability", calls for urgent efforts to improve the government's own revenue, including through better tax collection.
It notes that donors committed about 19.9 billion dollars between 2002 and 2006 but only 14.7 billion was disbursed.
And the government's flagship community development project, National Solidarity Programme which is said to reach 22,000 villages, faced a shortfall of 87 percent for this year, it said.
The Afghan government and some of its partners have been urging donors to direct more of their aid through the government's budget but there are concerns about corruption and mismanagement of funds.
Citation: " Report calls for more Afghan control of budget," Agence France Presse, 14 February 2008.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080214/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanbudgeteconomy
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15 February 2008
U.N. says 4 million Iraqis hungry despite wealth
By Tim Cocks
Reuters, 12 February 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Four million Iraqis are struggling to feed themselves and 40 percent of the country's 27 million people have no safe water, despite oil wealth and a booming economy, the U.N. said on Tuesday.
With annual economic growth of around 7 percent, according to U.N. estimates, and a national budget of $48 billion, buoyed by oil exports of 1.6 million barrels per day, Iraq has the ingredients to be prosperous.
But insurgency and sectarian attacks have displaced more than two million people and left nearly twice as many hungry.
"Four million Iraqis cannot guarantee they're going to have food on their table tomorrow," the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, David Shearer, told Reuters at the launch of a $265 million appeal to donor governments for 2008.
The United Nations says the number of displaced people has roughly doubled since 2006 to nearly 2.5 million. High unemployment has left many others unable to feed themselves.
Violence is down 60 percent across Iraq since last June, thanks to a surge of 30,000 extra U.S. troops, a decision by Sunni tribal leaders to turn against al Qaeda and a ceasefire by Moqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite Mehdi army.
Shearer said 36,000 displaced people had gone home in this period, a tiny fraction of the total who fled the violence. "We seeing a plateauing of the displacement," Shearer said, adding Iraq was still too dangerous for foreign aid workers to move around or for the U.N. to have a large-scale presence.
In August 2003, insurgents blew up the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and triggering a pullout of most U.N. staff that has yet to be reversed.
Shearer said the latest appeal should be seen as a stop-gap until the government has fully set up its own networks, not a bid to enlarge the long-term presence of aid agencies in Iraq.
Underscoring the paradox of an aid appeal in a nation as wealthy as Iraq, the government said it would for the first time give $40 million from its own coffers.
Elements of the appeal include food ($97 million), shelter ($37 million), health ($32 million), human rights ($26 million), water and sanitation ($21 million) and education ($18 million).
Citation: Tim Cocks. "U.N. says 4 million Iraqis hungry despite wealth," Reuters, 12 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12717521.htm
Reuters, 12 February 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Four million Iraqis are struggling to feed themselves and 40 percent of the country's 27 million people have no safe water, despite oil wealth and a booming economy, the U.N. said on Tuesday.
With annual economic growth of around 7 percent, according to U.N. estimates, and a national budget of $48 billion, buoyed by oil exports of 1.6 million barrels per day, Iraq has the ingredients to be prosperous.
But insurgency and sectarian attacks have displaced more than two million people and left nearly twice as many hungry.
"Four million Iraqis cannot guarantee they're going to have food on their table tomorrow," the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, David Shearer, told Reuters at the launch of a $265 million appeal to donor governments for 2008.
The United Nations says the number of displaced people has roughly doubled since 2006 to nearly 2.5 million. High unemployment has left many others unable to feed themselves.
Violence is down 60 percent across Iraq since last June, thanks to a surge of 30,000 extra U.S. troops, a decision by Sunni tribal leaders to turn against al Qaeda and a ceasefire by Moqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite Mehdi army.
Shearer said 36,000 displaced people had gone home in this period, a tiny fraction of the total who fled the violence. "We seeing a plateauing of the displacement," Shearer said, adding Iraq was still too dangerous for foreign aid workers to move around or for the U.N. to have a large-scale presence.
In August 2003, insurgents blew up the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and triggering a pullout of most U.N. staff that has yet to be reversed.
Shearer said the latest appeal should be seen as a stop-gap until the government has fully set up its own networks, not a bid to enlarge the long-term presence of aid agencies in Iraq.
Underscoring the paradox of an aid appeal in a nation as wealthy as Iraq, the government said it would for the first time give $40 million from its own coffers.
Elements of the appeal include food ($97 million), shelter ($37 million), health ($32 million), human rights ($26 million), water and sanitation ($21 million) and education ($18 million).
Citation: Tim Cocks. "U.N. says 4 million Iraqis hungry despite wealth," Reuters, 12 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12717521.htm
12 February 2008
War demands strain US military readiness
By Lolita C. Baldor
The Associated Press, 08 February 2008
WASHINGTON - A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.
Despite security gains in Iraq, the military was not able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.
The Pentagon will say that efforts to increase the size of the military, replace equipment and bolster partnerships overseas will help lower the risk over time, defense officials said Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the classified report.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has completed the risk assessment, and it is expected to be delivered to Capitol Hill this month. Because he has concluded the risk is significant, his report will also include a letter from Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlining steps the Pentagon is taking to reduce it.
The risk level was raised to significant last year by Mullen's predecessor, Gen. Peter Pace.
On Capitol Hill this week, Mullen provided a glimpse into his thinking on the review. And Pentagon officials Friday confirmed that the assessment is finished and acknowledged some of the factors Gates will cite in his letter.
"The risk has basically stayed consistent, stayed steady," Mullen told the House Armed Services Committee. "It is significant."
He said the 15-month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are too long and must be reduced to 12 months, with longer rest periods at home. "We continue to build risk with respect to that," he said.
Citation: Lolita C. Baldor. " War demands strain US military readiness," The Associated Press, 08 February 2008.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_go_co/military_risk_assessment
The Associated Press, 08 February 2008
WASHINGTON - A classified Pentagon assessment concludes that long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis, The Associated Press has learned.
Despite security gains in Iraq, the military was not able to reduce the response risk level, which was raised from moderate to significant last year, according to the report.
The Pentagon will say that efforts to increase the size of the military, replace equipment and bolster partnerships overseas will help lower the risk over time, defense officials said Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the classified report.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has completed the risk assessment, and it is expected to be delivered to Capitol Hill this month. Because he has concluded the risk is significant, his report will also include a letter from Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlining steps the Pentagon is taking to reduce it.
The risk level was raised to significant last year by Mullen's predecessor, Gen. Peter Pace.
On Capitol Hill this week, Mullen provided a glimpse into his thinking on the review. And Pentagon officials Friday confirmed that the assessment is finished and acknowledged some of the factors Gates will cite in his letter.
"The risk has basically stayed consistent, stayed steady," Mullen told the House Armed Services Committee. "It is significant."
He said the 15-month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are too long and must be reduced to 12 months, with longer rest periods at home. "We continue to build risk with respect to that," he said.
Citation: Lolita C. Baldor. " War demands strain US military readiness," The Associated Press, 08 February 2008.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_go_co/military_risk_assessment
Germany Touts Its Role in Afghanistan
By Paul Ames
The Associated Press, 10 February 2008
MUNICH, Germany (AP) — Germany rejected U.S. criticism of its role in Afghanistan on Saturday, insisting its troops were playing a key role in promoting stability and reconstruction in the country's north.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized Germany and other key European allies this week who have refused to allow their troops in Afghanistan to be deployed to the southern heartland of Taliban insurgency alongside U.S., British, Canadian, Dutch and other contingents.
"Germany has nothing to be ashamed of," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Gates and other delegates at an international security conference Saturday.
Steinmeier said the 3,500 German troops were playing a key role in the relatively stable northern region and warned that weakening their presence there would risk undermining security in that region.
"Our resources are limited and I don't see the sense in undermining this good work in the north by spreading the Bundeswehr forces thinner," Steinmeier said.
All of NATO's 26 allies have troops in the 43,000-strong alliance force in Afghanistan, but many refuse to allow their units to be used in the dangerous southern regions, opening a rift within the alliance.
The U.S. and Canada stepped up pressure on European allies this week to find more front line troops for southern Afghanistan. At a meeting Thursday in Vilnius, Lithuania, Canada told NATO defense ministers it will pull out its 2,500 troops from a key role in volatile Kandahar province next year unless they are reinforced by 1,000 allied troops.
With Germany, Spain and Italy refusing to send troops to the southern battlefields in the face of widespread public and parliamentary opposition, attention has focused on France, which has said it will come to Canada's aid while stressing no decisions have been taken on the extent of its assistance.
Speaking at the Munich meeting, French Defense Minister Herve Morin did not go into details, but he stressed the possibility of increased military deployments. "A supplementary effort should perhaps be made in the short term," he said.
NATO officials said they were hopeful French President Nicolas Sarkozy could announce a French deployment to the south at a NATO summit in April.
"If they decide to make that kind of contribution, first of all it would be a most welcome contribution," Gates told reporters in Munich late Friday. "I think it would send a very good signal about their participation in this NATO mission and about the future."
Associated Press writers David Rising and Robert Burns contributed to this report.
Citation: Paul Ames. "Germany Touts Its Role in Afghanistan," The Associated Press, 10 February 2008.
Original URL: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJYHFKJvxq59JkMp92bDlP_mWwAgD8UN5CS80
The Associated Press, 10 February 2008
MUNICH, Germany (AP) — Germany rejected U.S. criticism of its role in Afghanistan on Saturday, insisting its troops were playing a key role in promoting stability and reconstruction in the country's north.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized Germany and other key European allies this week who have refused to allow their troops in Afghanistan to be deployed to the southern heartland of Taliban insurgency alongside U.S., British, Canadian, Dutch and other contingents.
"Germany has nothing to be ashamed of," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Gates and other delegates at an international security conference Saturday.
Steinmeier said the 3,500 German troops were playing a key role in the relatively stable northern region and warned that weakening their presence there would risk undermining security in that region.
"Our resources are limited and I don't see the sense in undermining this good work in the north by spreading the Bundeswehr forces thinner," Steinmeier said.
All of NATO's 26 allies have troops in the 43,000-strong alliance force in Afghanistan, but many refuse to allow their units to be used in the dangerous southern regions, opening a rift within the alliance.
The U.S. and Canada stepped up pressure on European allies this week to find more front line troops for southern Afghanistan. At a meeting Thursday in Vilnius, Lithuania, Canada told NATO defense ministers it will pull out its 2,500 troops from a key role in volatile Kandahar province next year unless they are reinforced by 1,000 allied troops.
With Germany, Spain and Italy refusing to send troops to the southern battlefields in the face of widespread public and parliamentary opposition, attention has focused on France, which has said it will come to Canada's aid while stressing no decisions have been taken on the extent of its assistance.
Speaking at the Munich meeting, French Defense Minister Herve Morin did not go into details, but he stressed the possibility of increased military deployments. "A supplementary effort should perhaps be made in the short term," he said.
NATO officials said they were hopeful French President Nicolas Sarkozy could announce a French deployment to the south at a NATO summit in April.
"If they decide to make that kind of contribution, first of all it would be a most welcome contribution," Gates told reporters in Munich late Friday. "I think it would send a very good signal about their participation in this NATO mission and about the future."
Associated Press writers David Rising and Robert Burns contributed to this report.
Citation: Paul Ames. "Germany Touts Its Role in Afghanistan," The Associated Press, 10 February 2008.
Original URL: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJYHFKJvxq59JkMp92bDlP_mWwAgD8UN5CS80
Ashdown blames Afghan politics for UN envoy veto
Agence France Presse, 10 February 2008
LONDON (AFP) — Domestic Afghan politics were behind President Hamid Karzai's veto of Paddy Ashdown as the new United Nations envoy there, the senior British diplomat said Sunday.
Ashdown said Kabul's objections to his candidacy -- and Karzai's recent criticisms of British and US military tactics -- were "almost certainly" to do with internal Afghan politics.
"President Karzai, a man whom I respect and I wish him well and I wish his government well, is a politician," the former British political party leader and international envoy to Bosnia-Hercegovina, told BBC television.
"He's lining up, hopefully, as he would see it, to win the presidential elections likely to be in 2009.
"I suppose he must have calculated that beating up on Britain -- an ex-imperial power -- beating up on the United States, was not going to do him any harm in a proud Afghanistan amongst the (ethnic) Pashtun vote."
Ashdown said he had not wanted the job when he was first approached by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in October and made it clear the role needed the active support of the Afghan government.
It was not about having the power he had in Bosnia because Afghanistan is a sovereign state, but instead concerned co-ordinating the international community, he said.
He said he had spoken to Karzai and understood the conditions were in place, until he fell out of favour.
According to a Financial Times report on February 4, Karzai and his government's fury at a secret British plan to train former Taliban militants was behind the expulsion of two senior UN and EU diplomats late last year.
The Afghan leader has also said the security situation had worsened in the volatile southern province of Helmand, despite the efforts of the 7,800 British troops who are mainly based there, prompting criticism in London.
Ashdown told the BBC that the British ambassador to Kabul had told him that "Britain is being used to get at you", prompting him to withdraw his candidacy for the post in the wider interest of bringing security to Afghanistan.
Describing Afghanistan as a "failed state", he said it was more important now to work out how to defeat the militants and most importantly, keep public opinion there on side or else face a long, more difficult task.
The former British military officer said: "I remember in Belfast in 1969 when I was a young soldier, we were welcomed by the Catholics with cups of tea and sandwiches.
"It took us a year to lose their support and 35 years to gain it back again."
Citation: "Ashdown blames Afghan politics for UN envoy veto," Agence France Presse, 10 February 2008.
Original URL: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hx9EWV5WhEiJcg8izIMXlVeVjXsw
LONDON (AFP) — Domestic Afghan politics were behind President Hamid Karzai's veto of Paddy Ashdown as the new United Nations envoy there, the senior British diplomat said Sunday.
Ashdown said Kabul's objections to his candidacy -- and Karzai's recent criticisms of British and US military tactics -- were "almost certainly" to do with internal Afghan politics.
"President Karzai, a man whom I respect and I wish him well and I wish his government well, is a politician," the former British political party leader and international envoy to Bosnia-Hercegovina, told BBC television.
"He's lining up, hopefully, as he would see it, to win the presidential elections likely to be in 2009.
"I suppose he must have calculated that beating up on Britain -- an ex-imperial power -- beating up on the United States, was not going to do him any harm in a proud Afghanistan amongst the (ethnic) Pashtun vote."
Ashdown said he had not wanted the job when he was first approached by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in October and made it clear the role needed the active support of the Afghan government.
It was not about having the power he had in Bosnia because Afghanistan is a sovereign state, but instead concerned co-ordinating the international community, he said.
He said he had spoken to Karzai and understood the conditions were in place, until he fell out of favour.
According to a Financial Times report on February 4, Karzai and his government's fury at a secret British plan to train former Taliban militants was behind the expulsion of two senior UN and EU diplomats late last year.
The Afghan leader has also said the security situation had worsened in the volatile southern province of Helmand, despite the efforts of the 7,800 British troops who are mainly based there, prompting criticism in London.
Ashdown told the BBC that the British ambassador to Kabul had told him that "Britain is being used to get at you", prompting him to withdraw his candidacy for the post in the wider interest of bringing security to Afghanistan.
Describing Afghanistan as a "failed state", he said it was more important now to work out how to defeat the militants and most importantly, keep public opinion there on side or else face a long, more difficult task.
The former British military officer said: "I remember in Belfast in 1969 when I was a young soldier, we were welcomed by the Catholics with cups of tea and sandwiches.
"It took us a year to lose their support and 35 years to gain it back again."
Citation: "Ashdown blames Afghan politics for UN envoy veto," Agence France Presse, 10 February 2008.
Original URL: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hx9EWV5WhEiJcg8izIMXlVeVjXsw
Foreign militants entering Iraq down 50 pct - Petraeus
By Dean Yates and Sean Maguire
Reuters, 11 February 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The flow of foreign militants entering Iraq to fight for al Qaeda has fallen by half, General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said on Monday.
Much of the fall in numbers was due to countries barring young men from flying to the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo on one-way tickets, said Petraeus.
The U.S. government has long urged Syria to take steps to stop foreign fighters crossing its long land border with Iraq. Damascus says it has stepped up security on the frontier after the U.S. criticism.
"The flow of fighters is down, we think by about 50 percent," Petraeus told Reuters in an interview.
"It's a result not just of Syrian activity, although there has been some. It's the result of source countries making it tougher to fly as a military age male," he added.
Most of the fighters coming across the borders are believed to be affiliated with Sunni Islamist al Qaeda in Iraq. Al Qaeda's foot soldiers and suicide bombers attack U.S. forces, the Shi'ite-led government and groups they regard as un-Islamic.
Last month the U.S. military said captured al Qaeda documents showed 750 militants from 22 countries entered Iraq during the 12 months leading up to August 2007.
Petraeus did not say which countries were taking action at airports, but the documents said just under half the foreign fighters entering Iraq come from Saudi Arabia, followed by Libya, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia and Morocco.
It also said 90 percent of the al Qaeda suicide bombers were foreign. Most of al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership is foreign while the rank-and-file are Iraqi, the U.S. military says.
Petraeus said suicide bombers were still getting through, although he said it was difficult to assess numbers.
Some of those fighters enter Iraq through northern Nineveh province, which has become a key haven for al Qaeda after its militants were forced to flee military offensives in western Anbar province and Baghdad.
Petraeus said Nineveh was the only province in Iraq where attacks had not fallen in recent months.
"In fact they have actually gone up," Petraeus said without giving details.
The capital of Nineveh is Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has promised a final, "decisive" battle against al Qaeda.
But Petraeus cautioned that it would take months.
"This is not going to be a lightening campaign .. you don't clear a city of 1.6 million the way you clear a city of 200,000 or 400,000," he said.
The U.S. military had deployed an extra 1,500 to 2,000 troops to Nineveh in the past several months, Petraeus said. Iraq has also sent additional forces.
"Al Qaeda clearly has sustained very serious blows. I don't think there is any question about that," Petraeus said.
"But they remain lethal, we regard them still as public enemy number one in Iraq. They are the wolf closest to the sled." (Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
Citation: Dean Yates and Sean Maguire. "Foreign militants entering Iraq down 50 pct - Petraeus," Reuters, 11 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/YAT155421.htm
Reuters, 11 February 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The flow of foreign militants entering Iraq to fight for al Qaeda has fallen by half, General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said on Monday.
Much of the fall in numbers was due to countries barring young men from flying to the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo on one-way tickets, said Petraeus.
The U.S. government has long urged Syria to take steps to stop foreign fighters crossing its long land border with Iraq. Damascus says it has stepped up security on the frontier after the U.S. criticism.
"The flow of fighters is down, we think by about 50 percent," Petraeus told Reuters in an interview.
"It's a result not just of Syrian activity, although there has been some. It's the result of source countries making it tougher to fly as a military age male," he added.
Most of the fighters coming across the borders are believed to be affiliated with Sunni Islamist al Qaeda in Iraq. Al Qaeda's foot soldiers and suicide bombers attack U.S. forces, the Shi'ite-led government and groups they regard as un-Islamic.
Last month the U.S. military said captured al Qaeda documents showed 750 militants from 22 countries entered Iraq during the 12 months leading up to August 2007.
Petraeus did not say which countries were taking action at airports, but the documents said just under half the foreign fighters entering Iraq come from Saudi Arabia, followed by Libya, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia and Morocco.
It also said 90 percent of the al Qaeda suicide bombers were foreign. Most of al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership is foreign while the rank-and-file are Iraqi, the U.S. military says.
Petraeus said suicide bombers were still getting through, although he said it was difficult to assess numbers.
Some of those fighters enter Iraq through northern Nineveh province, which has become a key haven for al Qaeda after its militants were forced to flee military offensives in western Anbar province and Baghdad.
Petraeus said Nineveh was the only province in Iraq where attacks had not fallen in recent months.
"In fact they have actually gone up," Petraeus said without giving details.
The capital of Nineveh is Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has promised a final, "decisive" battle against al Qaeda.
But Petraeus cautioned that it would take months.
"This is not going to be a lightening campaign .. you don't clear a city of 1.6 million the way you clear a city of 200,000 or 400,000," he said.
The U.S. military had deployed an extra 1,500 to 2,000 troops to Nineveh in the past several months, Petraeus said. Iraq has also sent additional forces.
"Al Qaeda clearly has sustained very serious blows. I don't think there is any question about that," Petraeus said.
"But they remain lethal, we regard them still as public enemy number one in Iraq. They are the wolf closest to the sled." (Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
Citation: Dean Yates and Sean Maguire. "Foreign militants entering Iraq down 50 pct - Petraeus," Reuters, 11 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/YAT155421.htm
Iraqi govt faces collapse over budget row-speaker
By Ahmed Rasheed
Reuters, 11 February 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's government faces collapse unless lingering disputes over this year's budget can be resolved, the parliamentary speaker warned on Monday, after attempts to pass the bill broke down again.
On Sunday, Iraqi lawmakers said they had resolved a row over the budget allocations, particularly for the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, the main stumbling block to the $48 billion budget.
Iraqi officials have complained that failure to pass the budget was holding up vital spending at a time when the United States is urging the government to jumpstart the economy to take advantage of falls in violence in recent months.
But the long-running talks failed to reach resolution on Monday, prompting parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani to warn lawmakers that the country faced a political crisis.
"If this situation continues, if parliament is not able to let the budget pass, then it is at a very dangerous point ... and this may lead to the collapse of the whole state," said Mashhadani, the first time he has spoken out on the issue.
Leaders of the various political blocs had indicated they had agreed a compromise package on Sunday. This would have allowed the budget and two other bills, one on provincial powers and one an amnesty law, to be passed together.
Washington says all are crucial for Iraq's stability.
Shi'ites want the provincial powers law, Sunnis want the amnesty law -- which would free thousands of mainly Sunni prisoners -- and Kurds want to pass the budget giving them 17 percent of allocations.
The other blocs say the Kurdish allocation is too large, and, lacking an accurate census, some lawmakers had argued that Kurdistan should get 12 percent, based on population estimates.
Mashhadani said disagreements meant there was still not enough support in parliament to get the laws passed.
"Our patience is consumed and we can't go any further," he said. "I appeal to the leaders of all parliamentary blocs to pay attention to this ... or we will enter into a vicious circle, and no one will be affected except the Iraqi citizens."
U.S. officials had praised the 2008 budget as well as a recent act allowing former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to rejoin the government as evidence that Iraq's divided leaders were starting to make political progress.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday during a trip to Baghdad that Iraq's leaders "seem to have become energised in the last few weeks." Gates had been critical in the past of the lack of progress made by the Shi'ite-led government. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim; writing by Michael Holden; editing by Tim Pearce)
Citation: Ahmed Rasheed. "Iraqi govt faces collapse over budget row-speaker," Reuters, 11 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11176715.htm
Reuters, 11 February 2008
BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's government faces collapse unless lingering disputes over this year's budget can be resolved, the parliamentary speaker warned on Monday, after attempts to pass the bill broke down again.
On Sunday, Iraqi lawmakers said they had resolved a row over the budget allocations, particularly for the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, the main stumbling block to the $48 billion budget.
Iraqi officials have complained that failure to pass the budget was holding up vital spending at a time when the United States is urging the government to jumpstart the economy to take advantage of falls in violence in recent months.
But the long-running talks failed to reach resolution on Monday, prompting parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani to warn lawmakers that the country faced a political crisis.
"If this situation continues, if parliament is not able to let the budget pass, then it is at a very dangerous point ... and this may lead to the collapse of the whole state," said Mashhadani, the first time he has spoken out on the issue.
Leaders of the various political blocs had indicated they had agreed a compromise package on Sunday. This would have allowed the budget and two other bills, one on provincial powers and one an amnesty law, to be passed together.
Washington says all are crucial for Iraq's stability.
Shi'ites want the provincial powers law, Sunnis want the amnesty law -- which would free thousands of mainly Sunni prisoners -- and Kurds want to pass the budget giving them 17 percent of allocations.
The other blocs say the Kurdish allocation is too large, and, lacking an accurate census, some lawmakers had argued that Kurdistan should get 12 percent, based on population estimates.
Mashhadani said disagreements meant there was still not enough support in parliament to get the laws passed.
"Our patience is consumed and we can't go any further," he said. "I appeal to the leaders of all parliamentary blocs to pay attention to this ... or we will enter into a vicious circle, and no one will be affected except the Iraqi citizens."
U.S. officials had praised the 2008 budget as well as a recent act allowing former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to rejoin the government as evidence that Iraq's divided leaders were starting to make political progress.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday during a trip to Baghdad that Iraq's leaders "seem to have become energised in the last few weeks." Gates had been critical in the past of the lack of progress made by the Shi'ite-led government. (Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim; writing by Michael Holden; editing by Tim Pearce)
Citation: Ahmed Rasheed. "Iraqi govt faces collapse over budget row-speaker," Reuters, 11 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11176715.htm
08 February 2008
Iraq Sunni insurgents turn to armor-piercing bombs
By David Morgan
Reuters, 07 February 2008
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Sunni Arab insurgents in Iraq have developed their own crude versions of the Iran-originated armor-piercing munitions that have been a hallmark of Shi'ite militant roadside attacks on U.S. troops, U.S. defense officials say.
The devices are a form of weaponry known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, which have given Shi'ite militants the firepower to penetrate the heaviest U.S. armor. Iran denies U.S. assertions that it has supplied EFPs to anti-U.S. Shi'ites.
So far, the Sunni versions, first discovered in 2007, have been crude home-made knock-offs of the Iranian-made EFPs, according to U.S. officials.
But officials are concerned that Sunni EFPs could become more deadly if they follow the same path toward sophistication as the most common roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, used throughout Iraq against U.S. forces for much of the war..
"That's a fairly typical trajectory. I would expect (EFPs) to evolve," said Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations.
U.S. officials believe the new EFPs are the work of either al Qaeda in Iraq or the Islamic State in Iraq, related networks of Sunni Islamist militants who have recently come under fire from a joint U.S.-Iraqi counterinsurgency operation.
The munitions have shown up in Sunni areas at a time when Islamist groups are particularly vulnerable after being driven from safe havens by U.S. and Iraqi troops aided by U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen.
INEFFECTIVE FOR NOW
But unlike Shi'ite EFPs, U.S. officials say the Sunni versions have proved ineffective, for now.
"They're very poorly formed," said Army Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, the U.S. commander in northern Iraq, where as many as 10 Sunni-made EFPs have been discovered.
"They're locally made, certainly not imported," he told Reuters in a recent interview in Iraq.
Defense officials declined to say whether the Sunni EFPs have been used against U.S. forces or have caused casualties.
The deadly effectiveness of the more common IEDs prompted the Pentagon to launch a $22.4 billion program to equip U.S. forces in Iraq with trucks, personnel carriers and patrol vehicles designed to resist the force of the explosion.
But U.S. Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, are still vulnerable to EFPs, which are designed drive metal projectiles into armored vehicles.
EFP attacks spiked upward during the first two weeks of January but have since returned to low levels seen late in 2007.
"The predominant EFP threat remains those of Iranian origin, which are still being used by rogue criminal Shi'ite elements," said Army Maj. Winfield Danielson, a spokesman for multinational forces in Iraq.
Officials have disclosed no casualty figures for EFP attacks, other than to say early last year that 170 U.S. troops had been killed by Shi'ite weapons. (Additional reporting by Paul Tait in Baghdad, editing by Philip Barbara)
Citation: David Morgan. "Iraq Sunni insurgents turn to armor-piercing bombs," Reuters, 07 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04596295.htm
Reuters, 07 February 2008
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Sunni Arab insurgents in Iraq have developed their own crude versions of the Iran-originated armor-piercing munitions that have been a hallmark of Shi'ite militant roadside attacks on U.S. troops, U.S. defense officials say.
The devices are a form of weaponry known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, which have given Shi'ite militants the firepower to penetrate the heaviest U.S. armor. Iran denies U.S. assertions that it has supplied EFPs to anti-U.S. Shi'ites.
So far, the Sunni versions, first discovered in 2007, have been crude home-made knock-offs of the Iranian-made EFPs, according to U.S. officials.
But officials are concerned that Sunni EFPs could become more deadly if they follow the same path toward sophistication as the most common roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, used throughout Iraq against U.S. forces for much of the war..
"That's a fairly typical trajectory. I would expect (EFPs) to evolve," said Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations.
U.S. officials believe the new EFPs are the work of either al Qaeda in Iraq or the Islamic State in Iraq, related networks of Sunni Islamist militants who have recently come under fire from a joint U.S.-Iraqi counterinsurgency operation.
The munitions have shown up in Sunni areas at a time when Islamist groups are particularly vulnerable after being driven from safe havens by U.S. and Iraqi troops aided by U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen.
INEFFECTIVE FOR NOW
But unlike Shi'ite EFPs, U.S. officials say the Sunni versions have proved ineffective, for now.
"They're very poorly formed," said Army Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, the U.S. commander in northern Iraq, where as many as 10 Sunni-made EFPs have been discovered.
"They're locally made, certainly not imported," he told Reuters in a recent interview in Iraq.
Defense officials declined to say whether the Sunni EFPs have been used against U.S. forces or have caused casualties.
The deadly effectiveness of the more common IEDs prompted the Pentagon to launch a $22.4 billion program to equip U.S. forces in Iraq with trucks, personnel carriers and patrol vehicles designed to resist the force of the explosion.
But U.S. Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, are still vulnerable to EFPs, which are designed drive metal projectiles into armored vehicles.
EFP attacks spiked upward during the first two weeks of January but have since returned to low levels seen late in 2007.
"The predominant EFP threat remains those of Iranian origin, which are still being used by rogue criminal Shi'ite elements," said Army Maj. Winfield Danielson, a spokesman for multinational forces in Iraq.
Officials have disclosed no casualty figures for EFP attacks, other than to say early last year that 170 U.S. troops had been killed by Shi'ite weapons. (Additional reporting by Paul Tait in Baghdad, editing by Philip Barbara)
Citation: David Morgan. "Iraq Sunni insurgents turn to armor-piercing bombs," Reuters, 07 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04596295.htm
Study: New War Veterans Face Job Woes
By Hope Yen
The Associated Press, 07 February 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Strained by war, recently discharged veterans are having a harder time finding civilian jobs and are more likely to earn lower wages for years due partly to employer concerns about their mental health and overall skills, a government study says.
The Veterans Affairs Department report, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, points to continuing problems with the Bush administration's efforts to help 4.4 million troops who have been discharged from active duty since 1990.
The 2007 study by the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. found that 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year. Many had taken advantage of government programs such as the GI Bill to boost job prospects, but there was little evidence that education benefits yielded higher pay or better advancement.
The report blamed the poor prospects partly on inadequate job networks and lack of mentors after extended periods in war. The study said employers often had misplaced stereotypes about veterans' fitness for employment, such as concerns they did not have adequate technological skills, or were too rigid, lacked education or were at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.
It urged the federal government to consider working with a private-sector marketing firm to help promote and brand war veterans as capable employees, as well as re-examine education and training such as the GI Bill.
"The issue of mental health has turned into a double-edged sword for returning veterans. More publicity has generated more public awareness and federal funding for those who return home different from when they left. However, more publicity — especially stories that perpetuate the 'Wacko Vet' myth — has also made some employers more cautious to hire a veteran," said Joe Davis, spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"The federal government needs to accelerate its hiring and training of these young veterans to fill the ranks of the retiring Boomer generation," he said.
A VA spokesman declined to comment, saying the report spoke for itself. Last November, the VA announced the initial hiring of 10 full-time staff as part of an effort to help veterans find jobs at the department.
Separately, a Labor Department report obtained by the AP showed that formal job complaints by reservists remained high, citing concerns about denied jobs or benefits after their tried to return to their old jobs after extended tours in Iraq. Reservists filed 1,357 complaints with the department in 2006, the latest figures available, down from nearly 1,600 in 2005, when complaints reached the highest level since 1991.
While complaints declined in 2006, the Labor Department report noted for the first time that figures in the previous years might have been inflated. That's because in some cases a single complaint was double counted after the case was closed in one state and then reopened in another state.
"The military has worked on assisting service members in completing and translating their skills to match equivalent civilian job descriptions; however, training for marketability may require much more preparation than having the ability to improve a resume," the VA study said.
"The federal government may need to reevaluate how it serves the needs of returning service members," it said.
Charles Ciccolella, the Labor Department's assistant secretary for veterans' employment and training, said the department provides a wide variety of services to veterans seeking jobs, including workshops that focus on resume writing and interview skills. Staff also are educating reservists about their job rights as well as seeking to connect veterans to new jobs, he said.
"The Department of Labor is constantly working to better assist transitioning service members and veterans as they enter or re-enter the civilian work force," Ciccolella said.
The two reports come as Congress and the Bush administration seek ways to improve veterans' health care and benefits in light of a protracted Iraq war.
A Pentagon survey of reservists released last year found increasing discontent among returning troops about the government's performance in protecting their legal rights after taking leave from work. Some legal experts have said those numbers may grow once the Iraq war winds down and more troops come home after an extended period in combat.
In recent weeks, some veterans groups and lawmakers have called for an overhaul of the GI Bill, which provides veterans with money to help them further their education.
The difficulty that veterans have had in finding jobs at higher wages has been going on for some time.
The latest VA study, numbering 199 pages, tracked a statistical sample of 1,941 veterans between the ages of 17 and 61, more than half of whom served in the Army. It found that from 1991 to 2003, about 9.5 percent of recent veterans were unemployed within two years of separation from active duty, compared with 4.3 percent for non-veterans of comparable age, gender and education.
The veterans also tended to have lower wages, although total income was often similar when factoring in disability pay and other government benefits, and to be in low-income families (under $29,000) for up to eight years after separation.
Citation: Hope Yen. "Study: New War Veterans Face Job Woes," The Associated Press, 07 February 2008.
Original URL: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gv35MuN9LA0a5Jmf_W8749e5kaGAD8ULOT501
The Associated Press, 07 February 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Strained by war, recently discharged veterans are having a harder time finding civilian jobs and are more likely to earn lower wages for years due partly to employer concerns about their mental health and overall skills, a government study says.
The Veterans Affairs Department report, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, points to continuing problems with the Bush administration's efforts to help 4.4 million troops who have been discharged from active duty since 1990.
The 2007 study by the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. found that 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year. Many had taken advantage of government programs such as the GI Bill to boost job prospects, but there was little evidence that education benefits yielded higher pay or better advancement.
The report blamed the poor prospects partly on inadequate job networks and lack of mentors after extended periods in war. The study said employers often had misplaced stereotypes about veterans' fitness for employment, such as concerns they did not have adequate technological skills, or were too rigid, lacked education or were at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.
It urged the federal government to consider working with a private-sector marketing firm to help promote and brand war veterans as capable employees, as well as re-examine education and training such as the GI Bill.
"The issue of mental health has turned into a double-edged sword for returning veterans. More publicity has generated more public awareness and federal funding for those who return home different from when they left. However, more publicity — especially stories that perpetuate the 'Wacko Vet' myth — has also made some employers more cautious to hire a veteran," said Joe Davis, spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"The federal government needs to accelerate its hiring and training of these young veterans to fill the ranks of the retiring Boomer generation," he said.
A VA spokesman declined to comment, saying the report spoke for itself. Last November, the VA announced the initial hiring of 10 full-time staff as part of an effort to help veterans find jobs at the department.
Separately, a Labor Department report obtained by the AP showed that formal job complaints by reservists remained high, citing concerns about denied jobs or benefits after their tried to return to their old jobs after extended tours in Iraq. Reservists filed 1,357 complaints with the department in 2006, the latest figures available, down from nearly 1,600 in 2005, when complaints reached the highest level since 1991.
While complaints declined in 2006, the Labor Department report noted for the first time that figures in the previous years might have been inflated. That's because in some cases a single complaint was double counted after the case was closed in one state and then reopened in another state.
"The military has worked on assisting service members in completing and translating their skills to match equivalent civilian job descriptions; however, training for marketability may require much more preparation than having the ability to improve a resume," the VA study said.
"The federal government may need to reevaluate how it serves the needs of returning service members," it said.
Charles Ciccolella, the Labor Department's assistant secretary for veterans' employment and training, said the department provides a wide variety of services to veterans seeking jobs, including workshops that focus on resume writing and interview skills. Staff also are educating reservists about their job rights as well as seeking to connect veterans to new jobs, he said.
"The Department of Labor is constantly working to better assist transitioning service members and veterans as they enter or re-enter the civilian work force," Ciccolella said.
The two reports come as Congress and the Bush administration seek ways to improve veterans' health care and benefits in light of a protracted Iraq war.
A Pentagon survey of reservists released last year found increasing discontent among returning troops about the government's performance in protecting their legal rights after taking leave from work. Some legal experts have said those numbers may grow once the Iraq war winds down and more troops come home after an extended period in combat.
In recent weeks, some veterans groups and lawmakers have called for an overhaul of the GI Bill, which provides veterans with money to help them further their education.
The difficulty that veterans have had in finding jobs at higher wages has been going on for some time.
The latest VA study, numbering 199 pages, tracked a statistical sample of 1,941 veterans between the ages of 17 and 61, more than half of whom served in the Army. It found that from 1991 to 2003, about 9.5 percent of recent veterans were unemployed within two years of separation from active duty, compared with 4.3 percent for non-veterans of comparable age, gender and education.
The veterans also tended to have lower wages, although total income was often similar when factoring in disability pay and other government benefits, and to be in low-income families (under $29,000) for up to eight years after separation.
Citation: Hope Yen. "Study: New War Veterans Face Job Woes," The Associated Press, 07 February 2008.
Original URL: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gv35MuN9LA0a5Jmf_W8749e5kaGAD8ULOT501
Sadr tells militia to maintain Iraq ceasefire
By Aseel Kami
Reuters, 07 February 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his feared Mehdi Army on Thursday to maintain its six-month ceasefire as members of the militia clashed with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad.
Shi'ite Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi said the ceasefire, which expires later this month and has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq, should continue to be observed until militia members are told it is over or has been renewed.
Some members of Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend the August 29 freeze on the Mehdi Army's activities.
"Any member of the Mehdi Army who conducts violent acts during the ceasefire, the Sadr office declares they will no longer be part of the Mehdi Army," Sadr said in a statement read to Reuters by Ubaidi.
He said Sadr had issued the statement in response to rumors the ceasefire was about to come to an end. He declined to say whether it would be extended when its term lapses.
Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since June 2007 after a series of security crackdowns. A return to hostilities could seriously jeopardize those gains.
A new report by the International Crisis Group think-tank said the respite offered by the ceasefire was "exceedingly frail" and that Sadrists -- many of whom complain they are targeted by security forces -- remain extremely powerful.
"Among Sadrist rank and file, impatience with the ceasefire is high and growing," the report said.
Police said Mehdi Army fighters had clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers early on Thursday in Sadr City, the sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeast Baghdad and one of Sadr's power bases.
They said three people, including a woman and a child, were hurt, and 16 detained. A U.S. military spokesman said one person was killed and another injured in the raids.
Sadr, who led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, ordered the Mehdi Army ceasefire so he could reorganize the splintered militia. Ubaidi has said Sadr is gauging the mood of senior figures before deciding whether to extend the truce.
DEADLOCKED
Washington has been urging Iraq to take advantage of improved security and move ahead with a series of laws aimed at reconciling majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs.
But several of those laws, including the 2008 budget and another that would release thousands of mainly Sunni Arabs from Iraqi jails, remained deadlocked.
"The delay in the budget is harming everyone," Iraq's Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi told a news conference.
Votes which had been expected on Thursday did not take place. Lawmakers have refused to ratify the $48 billion budget because of disputes over allocations, mainly the 17 percent for the largely autonomous and stable Kurdistan region.
Taha al-Luhaiba of the Sunni Arab Accordance Front said a vote could take place on Sunday or Monday, but Muna Zalzah, a finance committee member from the Shi'ite Alliance, feared the budget might not be voted on for at least another week.
Some fear that failure to pass the budget would hold up vital spending at a time when Washington is urging the government to take advantage of improved security and jumpstart the oil-dependent economy.
"Even if the parliament voted today, the budget will not be implemented until March. We have lost a lot of time," Abdul-Mahdi said.
The law that would free prisoners who have not been charged with or convicted of major crimes, like murder or treason, is also seen as a step towards reconciliation because most of the 23,000 people held in Iraqi jails are Sunni Arabs.
Freeing prisoners has been one of the preconditions for the Accordance Front, the main Sunni Arab bloc, to return to cabinet after it quit last month, fracturing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led unity government.
But Luhaibi said new disagreements had delayed that law, with his bloc wanting it expanded to include provisions for new trials for prisoners who may have made forced confessions.
Citation: Aseel Kami. "Sadr tells militia to maintain Iraq ceasefire," Reuters, 07 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1880448320080207?sp=true
Reuters, 07 February 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his feared Mehdi Army on Thursday to maintain its six-month ceasefire as members of the militia clashed with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad.
Shi'ite Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi said the ceasefire, which expires later this month and has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq, should continue to be observed until militia members are told it is over or has been renewed.
Some members of Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend the August 29 freeze on the Mehdi Army's activities.
"Any member of the Mehdi Army who conducts violent acts during the ceasefire, the Sadr office declares they will no longer be part of the Mehdi Army," Sadr said in a statement read to Reuters by Ubaidi.
He said Sadr had issued the statement in response to rumors the ceasefire was about to come to an end. He declined to say whether it would be extended when its term lapses.
Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since June 2007 after a series of security crackdowns. A return to hostilities could seriously jeopardize those gains.
A new report by the International Crisis Group think-tank said the respite offered by the ceasefire was "exceedingly frail" and that Sadrists -- many of whom complain they are targeted by security forces -- remain extremely powerful.
"Among Sadrist rank and file, impatience with the ceasefire is high and growing," the report said.
Police said Mehdi Army fighters had clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers early on Thursday in Sadr City, the sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeast Baghdad and one of Sadr's power bases.
They said three people, including a woman and a child, were hurt, and 16 detained. A U.S. military spokesman said one person was killed and another injured in the raids.
Sadr, who led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, ordered the Mehdi Army ceasefire so he could reorganize the splintered militia. Ubaidi has said Sadr is gauging the mood of senior figures before deciding whether to extend the truce.
DEADLOCKED
Washington has been urging Iraq to take advantage of improved security and move ahead with a series of laws aimed at reconciling majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs.
But several of those laws, including the 2008 budget and another that would release thousands of mainly Sunni Arabs from Iraqi jails, remained deadlocked.
"The delay in the budget is harming everyone," Iraq's Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi told a news conference.
Votes which had been expected on Thursday did not take place. Lawmakers have refused to ratify the $48 billion budget because of disputes over allocations, mainly the 17 percent for the largely autonomous and stable Kurdistan region.
Taha al-Luhaiba of the Sunni Arab Accordance Front said a vote could take place on Sunday or Monday, but Muna Zalzah, a finance committee member from the Shi'ite Alliance, feared the budget might not be voted on for at least another week.
Some fear that failure to pass the budget would hold up vital spending at a time when Washington is urging the government to take advantage of improved security and jumpstart the oil-dependent economy.
"Even if the parliament voted today, the budget will not be implemented until March. We have lost a lot of time," Abdul-Mahdi said.
The law that would free prisoners who have not been charged with or convicted of major crimes, like murder or treason, is also seen as a step towards reconciliation because most of the 23,000 people held in Iraqi jails are Sunni Arabs.
Freeing prisoners has been one of the preconditions for the Accordance Front, the main Sunni Arab bloc, to return to cabinet after it quit last month, fracturing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led unity government.
But Luhaibi said new disagreements had delayed that law, with his bloc wanting it expanded to include provisions for new trials for prisoners who may have made forced confessions.
Citation: Aseel Kami. "Sadr tells militia to maintain Iraq ceasefire," Reuters, 07 February 2008.
Original URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1880448320080207?sp=true
01 February 2008
Iraq conflict has killed a million Iraqis: survey
By Luke Baker
Reuters, 30 January 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.
The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in face-to-face interviews, found that 20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.
The last complete census in Iraq conducted in 1997 found 4.05 million households in the country, a figure ORB used to calculate that approximately 1.03 million people had died as a result of the war, the researchers found.
The margin of error in the survey, conducted in August and September 2007, was 1.7 percent, giving a range of deaths of 946,258 to 1.12 million.
ORB originally found that 1.2 million people had died, but decided to go back and conduct more research in rural areas to make the survey as comprehensive as possible and then came up with the revised figure.
The research covered 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Those that not covered included two of Iraq's more volatile regions -- Kerbala and Anbar -- and the northern province of Arbil, where local authorities refused them a permit to work.
Estimates of deaths in Iraq have been highly controversial in the past.
Medical journal The Lancet published a peer-reviewed report in 2004 stating that there had been 100,000 more deaths than would normally be expected since the March 2003 invasion, kicking off a storm of protest.
The widely watched Web site Iraq Body Count currently estimates that between 80,699 and 88,126 people have died in the conflict, although its methodology and figures have also been questioned by U.S. authorities and others.
ORB, a non-government-funded group founded in 1994, conducts research for the private, public and voluntary sectors.
The director of the group, Allan Hyde, said it had no objective other than to record as accurately as possible the number of deaths among the Iraqi population as a result of the invasion and ensuing conflict.
(Reporting by Luke Baker; editing by Andrew Roche)
Citation: "Iraq conflict has killed a million Iraqis: survey," Reuters, 30 January 2008.
Original URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSL3048857920080130?sp=true
Reuters, 30 January 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to research conducted by one of Britain's leading polling groups.
The survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in face-to-face interviews, found that 20 percent of people had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, rather than natural causes.
The last complete census in Iraq conducted in 1997 found 4.05 million households in the country, a figure ORB used to calculate that approximately 1.03 million people had died as a result of the war, the researchers found.
The margin of error in the survey, conducted in August and September 2007, was 1.7 percent, giving a range of deaths of 946,258 to 1.12 million.
ORB originally found that 1.2 million people had died, but decided to go back and conduct more research in rural areas to make the survey as comprehensive as possible and then came up with the revised figure.
The research covered 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Those that not covered included two of Iraq's more volatile regions -- Kerbala and Anbar -- and the northern province of Arbil, where local authorities refused them a permit to work.
Estimates of deaths in Iraq have been highly controversial in the past.
Medical journal The Lancet published a peer-reviewed report in 2004 stating that there had been 100,000 more deaths than would normally be expected since the March 2003 invasion, kicking off a storm of protest.
The widely watched Web site Iraq Body Count currently estimates that between 80,699 and 88,126 people have died in the conflict, although its methodology and figures have also been questioned by U.S. authorities and others.
ORB, a non-government-funded group founded in 1994, conducts research for the private, public and voluntary sectors.
The director of the group, Allan Hyde, said it had no objective other than to record as accurately as possible the number of deaths among the Iraqi population as a result of the invasion and ensuing conflict.
(Reporting by Luke Baker; editing by Andrew Roche)
Citation: "Iraq conflict has killed a million Iraqis: survey," Reuters, 30 January 2008.
Original URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSL3048857920080130?sp=true
Rights eroded in Iraq in 2007 with civilians targeted: HRW
Agence France-Presse, 31 January 2008
NEW YORK (AFP) - Human rights in Iraq deteriorated for much of 2007 while sectarian violence targeting civilians swelled the number of displaced to around 4.4 million, half of them abroad, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
"Attacks on civilians by various insurgent and militia groups continued," HRW said in a bleak assessment of Iraq in its annual report.
This included the single deadliest attack since the war began in 2003, which in August targeted the Yazidi minority "resulting in the deaths of almost 500 civilians."
It said the "sectarian cleansing" of Baghdad by both Sunni and Shiite groups proceeded despite a US troop "surge" aimed at halting the killings.
"US military operations continued against Shiite and Sunni insurgents throughout the country, leading to an unknown number of civilian casualties."
Civilians were the targets of attacks by Sunni and Shiite armed groups across the country, though the number of such attacks decreased following the US and Iraqi security offensive.
"Many attacks appeared to be intended to cause the greatest possible civilian casualties and spread fear, notably those occurring in marketplaces, schools, and places of worship," the report said.
It said Iraq's government grew "more fragmented and dysfunctional."
"Legislation on oil revenue, one index of the chances of a cohesive national government, languished in a paralysed parliament.
"Defections from the government left its political and sectarian base even narrower, and made the prospect of national political reconciliation seem distant."
Due to the US-Iraqi security offensive in Baghdad, the number of detainees increased sharply, Human Rights Watch said.
"Iraqi detention facilities strained to accommodate them, and the justice system often foundered in reviewing their cases, leading to a backlog in Iraqi detention centres where reports of physical abuse and torture were common."
The government executed former President Saddam Hussein in late December 2006 and his one-time intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti two weeks later "following deeply-flawed trials", the New York-based rights group said.
"The manner of the executions further inflamed minority Sunni apprehensions about the Shiite majority government."
The killing of at least 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of US-based security firm Blackwater in September, the report said, "focused attention on the impunity with which private contractors operate in Iraq."
Citation: " Rights eroded in Iraq in 2007 with civilians targeted: HRW," Agence France-Presse, 31 January 2008.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080131/wl_mideast_afp/rightsiraq
NEW YORK (AFP) - Human rights in Iraq deteriorated for much of 2007 while sectarian violence targeting civilians swelled the number of displaced to around 4.4 million, half of them abroad, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
"Attacks on civilians by various insurgent and militia groups continued," HRW said in a bleak assessment of Iraq in its annual report.
This included the single deadliest attack since the war began in 2003, which in August targeted the Yazidi minority "resulting in the deaths of almost 500 civilians."
It said the "sectarian cleansing" of Baghdad by both Sunni and Shiite groups proceeded despite a US troop "surge" aimed at halting the killings.
"US military operations continued against Shiite and Sunni insurgents throughout the country, leading to an unknown number of civilian casualties."
Civilians were the targets of attacks by Sunni and Shiite armed groups across the country, though the number of such attacks decreased following the US and Iraqi security offensive.
"Many attacks appeared to be intended to cause the greatest possible civilian casualties and spread fear, notably those occurring in marketplaces, schools, and places of worship," the report said.
It said Iraq's government grew "more fragmented and dysfunctional."
"Legislation on oil revenue, one index of the chances of a cohesive national government, languished in a paralysed parliament.
"Defections from the government left its political and sectarian base even narrower, and made the prospect of national political reconciliation seem distant."
Due to the US-Iraqi security offensive in Baghdad, the number of detainees increased sharply, Human Rights Watch said.
"Iraqi detention facilities strained to accommodate them, and the justice system often foundered in reviewing their cases, leading to a backlog in Iraqi detention centres where reports of physical abuse and torture were common."
The government executed former President Saddam Hussein in late December 2006 and his one-time intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti two weeks later "following deeply-flawed trials", the New York-based rights group said.
"The manner of the executions further inflamed minority Sunni apprehensions about the Shiite majority government."
The killing of at least 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of US-based security firm Blackwater in September, the report said, "focused attention on the impunity with which private contractors operate in Iraq."
Citation: " Rights eroded in Iraq in 2007 with civilians targeted: HRW," Agence France-Presse, 31 January 2008.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080131/wl_mideast_afp/rightsiraq