AUGUST 2007

 DOES THIS TOLL INCLUDE THE MEXICANS WHOSE DEATH TOLL HAS NEVER BEEN EXPLICITLY MENTIONED SINCE THE MURDER OF MAZEN DA'ANA, NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER,WHO PHOTOGRAPHED THE SECRET BURIALS OF U.S.SOLDIERS IN THE DESERTS OF IRAQ?

Four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Wednesday. JUNE 18th.The US military's death toll since the invasion is now 3626, including 47 so far this month.

iraq, stop civil unrest and wake up to the oil policy crimes being enacted by your "government".

Who Will Control Iraq's Oil?
Antonia Juhasz and Raed Jarrar
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/27/who_will_control_iraqs_oil.php

National Sovereignty and Financial Security
The new oil law gives foreign corporations access to almost every
sector of Iraq's oil and natural gas industry. This includes service
contracts on existing fields that are already being developed and that
are managed and operated by the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC). For
fields that have already been discovered, but not yet developed, the
proposed law stipulates that INOC will have to be a partner on these
contracts. But for as-yet-undiscovered fields, neither INOC nor
private Iraqi companies receive preference in new exploration and
development. Foreign companies have full access to these contracts.

The exploration and production contracts give firms exclusive control
of fields for up to 35 years including contracts that guarantee
profits for 25-years. A foreign company, if hired, is not required to
partner with an Iraqi company or reinvest any of its money in the
Iraqi economy. It's not obligated to hire Iraqi workers train Iraqi
workers, or transfer technology.

The current law remains silent on the type of contracts that the Iraqi
government can use. The law establishes a new Iraqi Federal Oil and
Gas Council with ultimate decision-making authority over the types of
contracts that will be employed. This Council will include, among
others, "executive managers of from important related petroleum
companies." Thus, it is possible that foreign oil company executives
could sit on the Council. It would be unprecedented for a sovereign
country to have, for instance, an executive of ExxonMobil on the board
of its key oil and gas decision-making body.

The law also does not appear to restrict foreign corporate executives
from making decisions on their own contracts. Nor does there appear to
be a "quorum" requirement. Thus, if only five members of the Federal
Oil and Gas Council met-one from ExxonMobil, Shell, ChevronTexaco, and
two Iraqis-the foreign company representatives would apparently be
permitted to approve contacts for themselves.

Under the proposed law, the Council has the ultimate power and
authority to approve and re-write any contract using whichever model
it prefers if a "2/3 majority of the members in attendance" agree.
Early drafts of the bill, and the proposed model by the U.S. advocate
very unfair, and unconventional for Iraq, models such as Production
Sharing Agreements (PSAs) which would set long term contracts with
unfair conditions that may lead to the loss of hundreds of billions of
dollars of the Iraqi oil money as profits to foreign companies.

The Council will also decide the fate of the existing exploration and
production contracts already signed with the French, Chinese, and
Russians, among others.

The law does not clarify who ultimately controls production levels.
The contractee-the INOC, foreign, or domestic firms-appears to have
the right to determine levels of production. However, a clause reads,
"In the event that, for national policy considerations, there is a
need to introduce limitations on the national level of Petroleum
Production, such limitations shall be applied in a fair and equitable
manner and on a pro-rata basis for each Contract Area on the basis of
approved Field Development Plans." The clause does not indicate who
makes this decision, what a "fair and equitable manner" means, or how
it is enforced. If foreign companies, rather than the Iraqi
government, ultimately have control over production levels, then
Iraq's relationship to OPEC and other similar organizations would be
deeply threatened.

Democracy and Territorial Integrity
Many Iraqi oil experts are already referring to the draft law as the
"Split Iraq Fund," arguing that it facilitates plans for splitting
Iraq into three ethnic/religious regions. The experts believe the law
undermines the central government and shifts important decision-making
and responsibilities to the regional entities. This shift could serve
as the foundation for establishing three new independent states, which
is the goal of a number of separatist leaders.

The law opens the possibility of the regions taking control of Iraq's
oil, but it also maintains the possibility of the central government
retaining control. In fact, the law was written in a vague manner to
help ensure passage, a ploy reminiscent of the passage of the Iraqi
constitution. There is a significant conflict between the Bush
administration and others in Iraq who would like ultimate authority
for Iraq's oil to rest with the central government and those who would
like to see the nation split in three. Both groups are powerful in
Iraq. Both groups have been mollified, for now, to ensure the law's
passage.

But two very different outcomes are possible. If the central
government remains the ultimate decision-making authority in Iraq,
then the Iraq Federal Oil and Gas Council will exercise power over the
regions. And if the regions emerge as the strongest power in Iraq,
then the Council could simply become a silent rubber stamp, enforcing
the will of the regions. The same lack of clarity exists in Iraq's
constitution.

The daily lives of most people in Iraq are overwhelmed with meeting
basic needs. They are unaware of the details and full nature of the
oil law shortly to be considered in parliament. Their
parliamentarians, in turn, have not been included in the debate over
the law and were unable to even read the draft until it was leaked on
the Internet. Those Iraqis able to make their voices heard on the oil
law want more time. They urge postponing a decision until Iraqis have
their own sovereign state without a foreign occupation.

Passing this oil law while the political future of Iraq is unclear can
only further the existing schisms in the Iraqi government. Forcing its
passage will achieve nothing more than an increase in the levels of
violence, anger, and instability in Iraq and a prolongation of the
U.S. occupation.

PALESTINIANS IN IRAQ
BAGHDAD — Widowed, unemployed and struggling to support an 11-year-old son, Toman Marie, 49, is one of some 15,000 Palestinians who find themselves among the most loathed and endangered people in Iraq.Her ordeal began a year ago with the news that her 23-year-old son, Mohanned, had been found dead in Baghdad's Shi'ite ghetto, Sadr City.Within hours, she says, her husband, Salah Hassan, 52, and her two younger brothers, Mousa and Easan, set out on the 10-mile journey to recover the body. They never returned. Mrs. Marie, 49, assumes all four are dead but is too fearful of being kidnapped or killed to go and check the records at the city's morgue. "I couldn't even give them a funeral," she said, adding that her remaining son "can't even leave the house to go to school."

The Palestinians, most of them Sunni Muslims, enjoyed a favored existence under the rule of Saddam Hussein, who welcomed them as part of a pan-Arab policy in a bid to rebuild support after his 1991 invasion of Kuwait. Most Palestinians are Sunni Arabs, which made them useful additions to the population as Saddam's Sunni-led government sought to sustain its dominance of a large Shi'ite majority. The Palestinians, for their part, cheered Saddam when he used Scud missiles against a common enemy, Israel, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. But those same ties have made the Palestinians pariahs under the new Shi'ite-dominated order. In addition to the threats of violence, Palestinians complain today of widespread discrimination and government abuses.

"We're just waiting for death," said Ziad Nassir, a 35-year-old barber who has lived in Iraq for 16 years. "The only question is how we'll die."

While statistics are increasingly difficult to come by in Iraq, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says at least 186 Palestinians were slain in Baghdad between April 2004 and January 2007. The agency estimates that 19,000 Palestinians have fled Iraq during the past four years. In the Baghdad neighborhoods where they remain — such as Hurriyah, Isken and Baladiyat — the Palestinians complain of regular police and military searches for militants, weapons and criminal gangs. Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf denies that the government targets Palestinians. "We only target criminals, regardless of their background, and we deal with all Palestinians the same way we deal with Iraqis," Gen. Khalaf said in March. "We protect them." But Suad Saleh, 37, an Iraqi Red Crescent Society volunteer working in Baladiyat, said Iraqi police, military and local militias scrutinize the neighborhood so closely that Palestinian men between the ages of 15 and 50 won't leave their houses. "Only the women go out," Mr. Saleh said. "The men are too afraid of the checkpoints to enter the street."

Kamel Farras, a 50-year-old unemployed mechanic who lives in Baladiyat, said he no longer works because he fears arrest. "They look at us like we're insurgents," he said, referring to security and militia forces. Those Palestinians who do venture out, often concealing their identities, say they face deadly risks every day.

Mr. Nassir, the unemployed barber, said he carries three identification cards with three different names when he goes out — one Sunni, one Shi'ite and one Palestinian. Even then, he avoids revealing his Palestinian roots in the streets. "You can't mention you're Palestinian unless you're trying to get legal documentation from the government," Mr. Nassir said. "I'm afraid to register my children in school next year because the other students will abuse them when they find out they're Palestinians." Mr. Nassir said the government won't renew his residency permit because he is unemployed, so he remains in Iraq illegally. His alternative is a fearsome trek across the desert with his wife and two young children to a bleak refugee camp along the Syrian or Jordanian border. To make matters worse, the Palestinian passport Mr. Nassir holds is scarcely recognized outside his homeland, making it nearly impossible to seek refuge elsewhere. "Where can we go now?" asked Mr. Nassir, who fled to Iraq in 1991 from Kuwait when government forces began randomly arresting foreign nationals after the Iraqi army invasion. "We can't even go to hell."


'Baghdad Is A Smashed City'

From Dahr Jamail
7-19-7

 

Below is an email I have just received from my close friend and  translator Abu Talat. While he has fled Baghdad with his family and  is now a refugee in Syria, he recently had to return to Baghdad in  order to try to salvage what is left of his former life (his car,  belongings from his house, etc.) before returning back to Syria. His  note is instructive as to the current living conditions in the  capital city of Iraq. Here is the full text of his message:   Habibi ,Baghdad is a SMASHED city, no roads to drive on, most of them are  closed off by concrete obstacles with concertina wire. In addition,  the presence of the Iraqi military, who cover their faces with black  masks and hold their guns in such a way that when you see them you  will definitely be afraid that they will shoot you. The shops in most of the area I went to see are closed. I asked one  of the shop owners I know, 55-year-old Abu Fadhil, since I heard  that his shop was robbed. I found his door closed and locked and he  was nowhere to be found.    Later, on my way to Sadr City, I found that two of the three roads  which lead all the way from south to north Baghdad are either  partially or totally closed in some places. You still remember the  highways in Baghdad, well now most of them are closed, or at least  fenced off with obstacles, yet they say there is some progress in  the security situation inside the city! Everyday two or three cars  explode across Baghdad, killing big numbers of civilians.   When I returned to my neighborhood of al-Adhamiya, I couldn't get in  unless the soldiers checked my ID and my car, even though the guards  are from the same neighborhood and they know me personally. But they  had to check it to ensure that no car bombs might happen.    Nevertheless, daily mortars shell my neighborhood and those are out  of control, despite this concrete wall placed by the Americans which  now surrounds our neighborhood. Despite all that they do, they  cannot bring security to our small neighborhood.   Needless to say, Baghdad has been changed into THE CITY OF GARBAGE.  You can find it everywhere. You can smell the stench of dead bodies  wherever you go.   Talking of electricity, there is now only one hour daily. That's it.  From where we're staying in the city center, in Bab al-Muadham, I  can see from the balcony that people sleep nearly naked on their  rooftops because it is so hot and there is no electricity to run  fans or air conditioners. Thank God that there are two large  generators that maintain electricity in our building.    Everyday by 2-3 pm the buildings where we are staying are closed so  that noone can leave or enter. That way it is kept secure, and this  is how it remains until the next morning.    As far as my family life in this condition, we are as though we are  in jail from 2-3 pm until the second morning where the doors are  opened at 7 am.   My son goes to the hospital to work, but for the last two days he  finds it without any running water. [His son works in Baghdad  Medical City, the largest hospital in Iraq] For the last 2 weeks, as  he told me, the hospital has been without any air conditioning and  almost without patients, although it's the biggest hospital in Iraq. My sons wife, who is also a doctor, has to go to another hospital  just to try to assist since there is a drastic lack of  Gynecologists. She stays in her hospital for three days  continuously before my son picks her up with his car on the fourth  day to bring her home, in order to insure her safety so she doesn't  have to take a bus or taxi.   As for my daughter, she has not passed out the doorway of this  apartment where we are staying for the last week except for one time  for some work she had to accomplish.   My wife left here only once, when she went to her job (which she has  been on leave from since we left to Syria) in order to apply for a  full year vacation. Thank God she got it.   As for me, I found my car ruined, so I had to repair it. For that I  called the mechanic to come to my home and repair it, since I  couldn't take the car to him since all the mechanics shops are  closed and there is no place to have a car repaired. All of those  shops are totally closed.   When I saw the mechanic he said, "We cannot live anymore, and there  is no job we can find."   Dahr, this short letter gives you just a glance of the current  situation in Baghdad. With the next letter I will tell you some more.   http://dahrjamailiraq.com