iraq: 六月 2011

2011年6月26日星期日

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,463 (AP)

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在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

As of Tuesday, June 21, 2011, at least 4,463 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action.

At least 3,515 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The AP count is four fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Monday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 32,120 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department's weekly tally.

___

The latest identifications reported by the military:

_Spc. Marcos A. Cintron, 32, of Orlando, Fla.; died June 16 at a medical facility in Boston, Mass., of wounds suffered June 6 at Baghdad, Iraq, when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

_Two soldiers died June 13 in Wasit province, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device; they were assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed were Staff Sgt. Nicholas P. Bellard, 26, of El Paso, Texas; and Sgt. Glenn M. Sewell, 23, of Live Oak, Texas.

___

Online: http://www.defense.gov/news/

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Blasts rip through western Baghdad, killing 40 (AP)

BAGHDAD – Four bombs ripped through Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad Thursday evening, killing at least 40 people in the worst violence the capital has seen in months, Iraqi officials said. An American civilian aid specialist working to improve education in Iraq was killed in a separate attack.

The violence underscored the fragile nature of the security gains in Iraq at a time when American forces are preparing to withdraw by the end of this year and the challenges facing the State Department personnel and American contractors who would continue on after the U.S. military is gone.

The first three bombs went off in quick succession in a southwestern Baghdad neighborhood shortly after 7 p.m. One targeted a Shiite mosque, another exploded just outside a popular market, while the third went off inside the market where people were doing their evening shopping ahead of the Muslim weekend, Iraqi police officials said.

The officials said 34 people died and 82 others were injured in the three blasts. An official from Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital confirmed the casualty figures.

An Iraqi resident, Jabir Ali, said he was about 200 yards (meters) away when one of the bombs went off near a barber shop where his cousin works.

"I saw many people killed and injured. I went to see my cousin. The glass at his shop was broken and he was injured in his head, chest and hand by the glass," said Ali, who drove his cousin to the hospital.

About an hour later, a parked car bomb targeting a police patrol killed six people, including one policeman and five bystanders in a different neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad, said hospital officials.

The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq generally tend to target Shiite mosques and neighborhoods and Iraqi security forces.

It was the worst attack in the capital since a parked car bomb exploded near a mourning tent in a northern Baghdad neighborhood in January, killing 48 people.

The American civilian killed earlier Thursday was Dr. Stephen Everhart, said a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland.

"Dr. Everhart was an American citizen who was working in Iraq for an implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development's Mission in Iraq. He was killed while working on a project to introduce a new business curriculum to a Baghdad university in a program supported by the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education," she said in a statement.

"We are saddened by this tragedy and extend our thoughts and prayers to Dr. Everhart's family and loved ones, and to the three other injured victims and their families," she said.

Everhart worked at the American University in Cairo, where he was associate dean of the Business School and a finance professor. Before joining AUC, he worked extensively with the World Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. government agency designed to help businesses break into developing markets.

He also wrote articles on topics like international aid, corruption and financial markets.

Officials at Georgia State University said Everhart listed San Antonio, Texas, as his hometown on his registration paperwork. Everhart got both his master's and doctorate in economics at Georgia State in Atlanta.

Mary Beth Walker, dean of the School of Policy Studies, said Everhart met his wife, Stephanie, while in graduate school there. She described him as a "hard worker" with a good sense of humor.

Walker said Everhart had contact with Georgia State faculty members in the last two weeks about his work in Iraq and said he was planning to move to Vietnam soon to work at a university there.

The State Department gave no information about how he was killed, but an Iraqi police official said the American contractors were visiting a satellite office of Mustansiriyah University in eastern Baghdad when they were hit by a roadside bomb.

It was not known whether the assailants knew Americans were in the convoy or not. It is extremely rare for an American working so closely with the State Department to be killed.

Shiite militias who operate in the nearby neighborhood of Sadr City have stepped up attacks against the U.S. military in recent months and threatened violence against other American targets. Nine American soldiers have been killed in Iraq so far this month, one of the highest death tolls in two years.

The U.S. military has also accused Shiite militias of lobbing mortars and rockets at the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone.

Shiite militias are trying to claim they are driving the U.S. military from Iraq and make the U.S. think twice before agreeing to have U.S. troops stay in the country past the Dec. 31 date by which they're slated to go home.

The attack against Everhart and the other contractors could have serious repercussions for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the ability to conduct operations in the country. Already, U.S. Embassy staff and contractors working with agencies such as USAID generally travel in armored vehicles with guards and sometimes with U.S. military assistance.

Earlier this week, a convoy carrying French Embassy staff was targeted by a roadside bomb in the Karradah neighborhood. No one was killed in that incident.

Associated Press writer Saad Abdul-Kadir in Baghdad and Dorie Turner in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Iraq blasts kill at least 23, scores wounded (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Three bombs exploded near a busy street market and a religious site in a mainly Shi'ite area of southwestern Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding scores of others, security sources said.

A parked car bomb exploded a short time later in the Iraqi's capital's southern Abu Dsheer district, killing two people and wounding 10.

Iraq's police and army have ramped up security in the run-up to a major Shi'ite religious occasion that climaxes next week.

The first explosions occurred in quick succession in the al-Shurta al-Rabaa district of Baghdad, and one of the blasts struck near a Husseiniya, a place of worship for Shi'ites.

An Interior Ministry source put the toll at 23 dead and 107 wounded, but sources at three local hospitals said a total of 35 people had been killed, with another 80 wounded.

"I was on my way to the market when the first bomb blew up, said Sijad, a teenager who lives in the area. "People ran to see what was going on and the second one blew up. Suddenly there were bodies everywhere around me, most of them women and children, and their things were scattered everywhere."

Iraqi security forces are on high alert in Baghdad, where Shi'ites, Iraq's majority community, have already started trekking through the streets for an annual pilgrimage to commemorate the death of Shi'ite holy man Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.

Shi'ite pilgrims have been frequent targets of a stubborn Sunni Islamist insurgency in recent years. Shi'ite religious rites were banned under Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

A series of attacks during the pilgrimage last year killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds. In 2005, rumours of a bombing on the Bridge of the Imams near the Imam Kadhim shrine in Baghdad touched off a stampede that killed 1,000 people.

An Interior Ministry source said the bombers struck at the street market's busiest hour, employing wooden carts usually used for merchandise to transport their explosives.

Ali al-Haidari, who suffered a shrapnel wound in his back, said he tried to rescue two children at the scene.

"There was a big explosion. Dust was everywhere. I was running to the place of the explosion and then (when I was) a few yards away, the second explosion happened," he said. "I didn't feel that I was wounded until I reached the hospital."

"Bodies were everywhere. I carried two children in my arms. One of them was dead and the other one, a girl, was seriously wounded."

Violence has dropped since sectarian slaughter peaked in 2006-07 but Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaeda and rival Shi'ite militias still carry out bombings and other attacks.

Insurgents have targeted Iraqi security forces in recent weeks. Four people were killed and nearly three dozen were wounded on Wednesday in a series of attacks on police in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul.

(Additional reporting by Reuters Television; writing by Jim Loney; editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Iraq probes missing $17B reconstruction funds (AP)

BAGHDAD – Iraqi lawmakers say they are trying to figure out what happened to about $17 billion that was supposed to be used for reconstruction.

Iraq's parliament speaker is to meet Wednesday in Washington with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss several issues, including the missing Iraqi money administered by the U.S.

Bahaa al-Araji, the head of parliament's integrity committee, said Iraqi auditors and general inspectors have been investigating how the money was spent and found huge irregularities.

Iraq's new figure for the unaccounted funds is much higher than the $8.7 billion mentioned in a report last year by the U.S. watchdog for reconstruction spending.

The money had come from Iraqi oil sales and frozen Saddam Hussein-era assets.

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Fuel theft hits Iraq power grid: inspector (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Large volumes of diesel fuel destined for Iraq's power stations are stolen each month by transportation contractors in cahoots with electricity ministry officials, an inspector said on Thursday.

Such theft is exacerbating life in Iraq where ordinary citizens receive no more than six hours of state-supplied electricity a day in winter and fewer than four hours in the summer.

Those who can afford it get added supplies from private generators.

"Very large volumes of the fuel sent by tankers to power stations never make it to their destinations and disappear en route," said Alaa Mohieddin, an inspector general at the electricity ministry.

"The theft leads to shortages of about 300 to 400 megawatts of electricity per day," he told AFP.

Mohieddin said that according to a continuing year-long investigation, the theft was being carried out by several senior electricity ministry officials working together with contractors running the transportation network.

"We are still trying to figure out the scale of the theft and exact volumes involved, but this is very big theft," he said.

The official cited one example where 120 tankers carrying fuel in the north from the Baiji refinery to the city of Samarra had been diverted, and the fuel stolen.

In another case the same month, inspectors had found that fuel from 260 tankers had gone missing en route in Baghdad.

"We tried to put a strict inspection process in place to control the theft, but faced harassment from groups inside the electricity ministry and from contractors," Mohieddin said.

Meanwhile, electricity ministry spokesman Musa al-Mudares said that four million litres of the fuel for power stations is supplied by the oil ministry, and three million litres by Iran and private companies.

He added that Iraq had signed a contract with Iran to buy 1.5 million litres of diesel a day.

"We signed the contract yesterday (Wednesday) with the Iranian oil ministry to provide 1.5 million litres of diesel per day, but the Iranians had already begun providing us with the fuel about two weeks ago," he said.

Mudares added that the fuel, which would generate 250 megawatts of electricity per day, would run the Sadr power station in northern Baghdad.

Iraq's total electricity needs are 12,500 megawatts per day, but production is currently at 6,000 megawatts, with another 1,000 megawatts supplied together by Iran and Syria.

Iraq's entire electricity network -- from generation plants to hub stations and transmission lines -- took a beating under the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, the 1991 Gulf War, more than a decade of UN sanctions that followed, and finally by the US invasion in 2003 and subsequent insurgent attacks.

Angry Iraqis staged violent demonstrations last summer in several southern cities over power rationing as temperatures reached 54 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit) and air conditioners sat idle.

Poor public services, official corruption and government inefficiency have also been behind nationwide protests since mid-February.

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For Baghdad's poor, city garbage brings in the bread (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq's leaders hope the country's still largely untapped oil wealth can one day rival Saudi Arabia and provide a decent living to its citizens after years of conflict and chaos.

But for 12-year-old Abbas Mohammed and his family, it is used plastic bottles and empty aluminum cans that keep them alive. Mohammed spends his school summer holidays picking through a Baghdad garbage dump so he can sell the discarded items and help support his family.

In the refuse dump near Abbas's home in the Iraqi capital's impoverished district of Sadr City, men, women and children swarm over the stinking piles of garbage.

Mohammed, a slim boy dressed in grubby clothes, runs with other children to greet the arrival of trucks carrying fresh rubbish, waiting anxiously for them to unload so they can start raking through the refuse despite the smell and the dirt.

"We earn our living through this garbage," shrugged Mohammed, holding a big sack and a metal hook.

"We start work in the morning, we collect Pepsi cans, plastic bottles and then we sell them. I have been working in this place since I was three years old," he told Reuters.

Sadr City, a warren of narrow streets and low-built slums housing more than 3 million people, is a sprawling area of poverty east of the Tigris river in the Iraqi capital.

Once known as Saddam City, the Shi'ite stronghold suffered years of neglect under the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Oil producer Iraq, which is still struggling to emerge from years of war, chaos and sectarian bloodshed triggered by the invasion, has an official unemployment rate of 15 percent and another 28 percent of the workforce are in part-time jobs.

Despite its huge untapped oil and gas reserves and steadily rising oil output and revenue, 23 percent of the population live below the poverty line, according to the Ministry of Planning.

For Mohammed, life in Sadr City means long days during his school holidays scrabbling through the refuse in the scorching summer heat before selling his daily haul to a middleman.

He sells each kilogram (2.2 lb) of plastic bottles or soda cans for 250 Iraqi dinars (around 20 U.S. cents), earning between 2,000 to 4,000 dinars ($1.50-$3) a day.

His mother and one of his brothers work with him in and around Sadr City. The three of them bring in around $250 to $400 a month, meager earnings to support a large family. The brothers only work during school holidays, but other children at the dump have left school behind to work full-time gathering garbage.

Mohammed's mother, Zubaida Khazaal, a mother of 12, said they were obliged to be garbage pickers because they are poor and her husband is unemployed because he cannot work.

"We do not have anything, we live in a mud house and my husband is sick," said Khazaal who wore an improvised cloth mask against the stench as she emptied a sack of bottles.

"We wish the government could help us."

CHILDREN MOST VULNERABLE

Popular anger over power outages, food ration shortages, corruption and government ineffectiveness is heating up the political climate in Iraq as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's shaky cross-sectarian coalition considers whether to ask U.S. troops to stay on past an end-year withdrawal deadline.

Sadr City is a powerbase for Moqtada al-Sadr, a fiercely anti-American Shi'ite cleric whose Mehdi Army insurgents once battled U.S. and Iraqi troops during the peak of the sectarian conflict in 2006-2007. He opposes U.S. troops staying on and has threatened "military resistance" if they do.

Security officials expect insurgents and militias to try to test Iraq's forces when the U.S. troops prepare to leave.

As Iraq battles to emerge from the ruins of war, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF estimates nearly a quarter of Iraq's children -- over three million youngsters, the most vulnerable group in society -- scrape by on an income of less than $2.20 a day. One child in nine is working.

A recent International Labor Organization report listing dangerous jobs in which children are engaged across the world mentioned collecting garbage as one of the activities in which minors risked suffering violence and injury.

Mohammed wears a glove over his left hand to protect himself from sharp objects in the dump and his mother says she fears he could catch a disease. But she says she needs him to work.

At a location near the dump, a middleman supervises the operation of a machine which compresses the plastic bottles into a wire-wrapped pack weighing around 300 kg (660 lbs).

The package will be sold to an Iraqi trader who exports the packs of plastic to Turkey and Syria. No industry has existed in Iraq to recycle bottles and cans, business experts say.

In Baghdad, the trade for export is a lifeline: "There are no jobs, so what else can I do but this. A lot of families depend on this business," said Haider Muhsin, 36, as he stood by the machine compacting plastic bottles.

Iraq has around 40,000 private small and medium-sized factories, but 90 percent of them are idle, said Hashim al-Atrakchi, chairman of the Iraqi Federation of Industries.

The 10 percent, or 4,000, which are functioning are not at full capacity after years of war and economic sanctions put in place two decades ago after Saddam invaded Kuwait.

Plastic manufacturing is patchy partly because many industries are just restarting and also require a stable supply of electricity. Iraq's national power sector is still in ruins and coping with frequent outages is a hefty business expense.

From the garbage heap of Sadr City, however, Mohammed dreams of a better future, when he can quit his garbage-picking job and spend more time on school work: "I want to complete my studies," he said, "And become a teacher."

(Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Alastair Macdonald)

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Alstom in deal to build high-speed rail in Iraq (AFP)

LE BOURGET, France (AFP) – French engineering group Alstom is in exclusive talks to build a high-speed rail line between Baghdad and Basra in Iraq, French junior transport minister Thierry Mariani said Friday.

"Alstom and the Iraqi railway have signed a memorandum of understanding to build a high-speed rail line between Baghdad and Basra," Mariani told journalists at the Paris International Airshow.

The two will hold exclusive talks for 12 months to try to wrap up a final agreement.

An Alstom spokesman confirmed the agreement, and said they were seeking a deal that would include the construction of the rail line plus trains and service.

The spokesman said the 650-kilometre rail network would handle speeds of up to 250 kilometres per hour (135 mph).

The network would include a 150 kilometre link between Baghdad and Basra and serve the cities of Karbala, Najaf, Moussayeb and Samawah.

Mariani said he would travel to Iraq in September or October to discuss the possible deal.

No financial details were immediately available.

In May, Alstom announced a separate preliminary deal to build a 25 kilometre elevated commuter train network in Baghdad.

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Iran, Iraq to shut down Camp Ashraf (AFP)

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran and Iraq have formed a joint committee with the Red Cross to shut down Camp Ashraf in Iraq which houses thousands of outlawed Iranian opponents, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Saturday.

"The camp will be shut down by the end of this year," Talabani said on the sidelines of a counter-terrorism summit in Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"For this, a tripartite committee has been set up by Iraq, Iran and the International Red Cross to make decisions and follow up on necessary measures to shut down the camp of this terrorist group," IRNA quoted him as saying.

The People's Mujahedeen established Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when now-executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was at war with Iran -- as a base from which to launch military action against the Islamic republic.

Camp Ashraf is now home to around 3,400 people.

The People's Mujahedeen, which describes itself as both left-wing and Islamic, opposed the shah of Iran and now seeks to oust the clerical regime that took power in Tehran in the 1979 revolution.

Iranian intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi said the Mujahedeen was on the verge of "collapse," and added that his agencies were taking "measures" to speed up the process, the Mehr news agency reported.

"On this issue, (the intelligence apparatus) have had discussions with officials in Iraq to resolve the future of the camp Ashraf as soon as possible," Moslehi said, also speaking on the sidelines of the summit.

But he also extended an olive branch to Mujahedeen members who part ways with the group.

"Islamic leniency awaits those members of this terrorist group who leave it or escape Camp Ashraf and return to the arms of the Islamic republic of Iran's regime," Moslehi said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari had proposed during a Tuesday visit to Tehran the formation of a tripartite committee to "resolve the issues of Camp Ashraf."

"We have asked international organisations and European parliaments to encourage the (group's) members to leave Iraq, and to facilitate (the movement of) those members who seek to go to those countries," Zebari said.

The announcement was met with a "vigorous" condemnation by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the broad grouping that includes the People's Mujahedeen.

The NCRI said allowing Iran to "interfere in the issue of Ashraf is a red line that should not be crossed," and urged the International Committee of the Red Cross "not to lose credibility by participating in this plan of repression."

"The UN and the US government must take responsibility to protect the unarmed and defenceless people at Ashraf, and they will be held responsible for any attack that will target them," the NCRI warned in a statement.

Camp Ashraf has become a mounting problem for the Iraqi authorities since US forces transferred security for the camp in January 2009, and amid pressure from Tehran to hand over the members of the militant group.

On April 8, Iraqi security forces carried out a deadly raid on the camp, killing 34 members of the group.

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2011年6月25日星期六

Iran and Iraq to discuss future of Camp Ashraf (AFP)

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran and Iraq will discuss with the Red Cross the future of an outlawed armed Iranian opposition group living in Iraq, visiting Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Tuesday.

"We have proposed the formation of a joint committee between Iran, Iraq and the (International Committee of the) Red Cross to resolve the issue of (People's Mujahedeen of Iran) at Camp Ashraf," Zebari said at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi.

The committee "will discuss the requests of the members of this group who live in Camp Ashraf, particularly those who seek to return to Iran without any pressure or difficulty," Zebari said.

The People's Mujahedeen set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when now-executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was at war with Iran -- as a base from which to operate against Tehran.

The group, which describes itself as both left-wing and Islamic, opposed the Shah of Iran and now seeks to oust the clerical regime that took power in Tehran in the 1979 revolution.

He insisted the Iraqi government is adamant that the base be shut down by the end of the year.

The camp has become a mounting problem for Iraqi authorities since US forces handed over security for the camp in January 2009, and amid pressure from Tehran to hand over the members of the militant group.

Meanwhile, Salehi said Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi will travel to Iraq to sign agreements as the two neighbours seek to increase their trade volume.

Six agreements have been prepared to be signed between the two sides during Rahimi's visit, Salehi told the press conference.

The joint Iran-Iraq economic commission will be chaired by Rahimi and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on July 6, with an aim of boosting bilateral investments and trade volumes, Salehi said.

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Iraq's moribund manufacturing sector appeals for help (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Standing beside the dust- covered machines of his idle biscuit and sweet factory in eastern Baghdad, Fadhil al-Abboudi says Iraq's small private manufacturers are feeling abandoned.

Despite government announcements of ambitious plans to expand Iraq's oil sector, whose huge energy reserves invite comparisons with Iran's, Iraqi entrepreneurs see no such support for moribund small and medium-sized private industries.

With their businesses shattered by years of chaos and war, lacking government support and unable to compete against a flood of cheap imports, thousands of Iraqi manufacturers have sold or mothballed their plants or converted them into storage sites.

Power and water shortages, security worries in a war-ravaged country where shootings and bombings remain daily occurrences and high customs tariffs all compound the dismal picture for the private Iraqi SMEs whose factories used to manufacture everything from food to fabrics, metal and plastics.

Abboudi's dreams of re-equipping his factory are dead, and he despairs of restarting his business and reconquering a share of the Iraqi market now swamped with foreign imports.

"At one time, the foreign products couldn't match ours in price. Now it's the other way around," Abboudi told Reuters.

All around eastern Baghdad, hundreds of similar small factories are also inactive. Many display 'For Sale' signs.

Abboudi reckons he would need roughly 1 million Iraqi dinars ($855) to buy the diesel needed to restart his machinery and rehire his workers. But even if he does, he does not think he can match the prices of imported goods without making a loss.

"The government asks us to compete with the imported items but they don't support us with loans nor protect our products with laws. What is happening now is that the market is being flooded with imports," Abboudi said.

There are around 40,000 privately owned small and medium sized enterprises across the country but 70 percent of these had already come to a halt even before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and triggered years of turmoil and sectarian slaughter which disrupted economic activity.

Eight foreign firms, including French and Japanese companies, have so far invested in various sectors under Iraq's Industry and Minerals Ministry, according to an official.

In early 2010, the ministry of industry awarded a $200 million contract to France's Lafarge SA to rehabilitate Kerbala cement factory, while Japan's Marubeni Corp and Kawasaki Heavy Industries won a contract in 2009 for the Kubaisa cement factory in Anbar province.

Many of Iraq's 240 factories were looted in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. invasion. Some are outdated or located in areas still controlled by Islamist insurgents.

Sectors open for investment range from construction, engineering, petrochemicals and fertilizers to food, drugs and textiles.

"REFUSE DUMP" OF CHEAP IMPORTS

Private manufacturers hoped the fall of Saddam might revive their fortunes, but they have been disappointed.

The rate of paralysis of private manufacturing increased in the post-Saddam period to 90 percent and the remaining factories are operating at reduced capacity, some as low as 10 percent.

"We used to have developed and sophisticated machinery compared to neighboring countries and we met our local demand," Hashim al-Atrakchi, chairman of the Iraqi Federation of Industries, told Reuters.

But economic sanctions in the Saddam era followed by eight years of conflict and sectarian bloodshed, coupled with diversion of resources to the military have robbed Iraq's private manufacturing sector of any competitive edge.

Both Atrakchi and Abboudi complain the government has not adopted a clear policy to charge tariffs and taxes on imported products. These had existed under Saddam's government to protect local manufacturing.

But there are some signs that the grievances of local businessmen are being heard in the national parliament.

Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said last month the 325- seat assembly would work to draw up laws that would crack down on imports of poor quality products from dubious origins.

"The Iraqi market has become a refuse dump for such products," Nujaifi said.

In 2010, Iraqi's government approved four laws that introduced import tariffs, protections for local products and consumers and anti-monopoly laws.

But this is small comfort for machine-maker Raad Qassim who says the laws have had little real impact on revitalizing local manufacturing. "Neighboring countries buy my own machines and use them and then send us their products," he said.

Abboudi said he and other factory owners were considering suing the U.S. and Iraqi governments in international courts for damages and losses they had suffered in the eight years since the U.S.-led invasion, and for the current lack of support. They were planning to ask for at least $6 billion in compensation.

"We've reached a state of despair about the government doing anything for us," Abboudi said.

(Writing by Khalid al-Ansary; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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Why the Muslim Brotherhood Are Egypt's Best Democrats (Time.com)

After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, many Western commentators were surprised at the ease with which Iraq's religious movements adapted to multiparty democracy. The Shi'ite groups, in particular, were quick to organize themselves into political parties, set up grassroots organizations across the country and form practical coalitions ahead of elections. Long assumed to be ideologically opposed to democracy, these groups showed they were in fact brilliantly adaptable. Their leaders, despite having little experience in kissing babies, campaigned like seasoned pros.

In contrast, Iraq's liberal parties were rank amateurs. Their leaders, despite having spent decades in exile in Western democracies (whereas most Islamist exiles were confined to places like Iran and Syria), seemed not to understand how democracy works: people like Iyad Allawi and Ahmed Chalabi had an air of entitlement, assuming that people would vote for them merely because they were modern, progressive and famous. They didn't bother to create a national party infrastructure, nor cared to campaign. Instead, they held all-day salons in the manner of medieval monarchs giving audience to the elite.

(Photos: "Mass Demonstrations in Egypt.")

Something very similar is unfolding in Egypt. Of all the political groups to have emerged since the fall of Hosni Mubarak - including the myriad youth movements, secular parties, Leftists and remnants of the old National Democratic Party - the Muslim Brotherhood seem to have the best understanding of how democracy works. The Islamist group may have taken a back seat to the liberal youth movement that brought down the dictator, but it's wasted little time preparing for the post-Mubarak era. Although the generals in charge of Egypt's transition have not yet announced a date for parliamentary elections (it's expected sometime in the fall), the Brotherhood is already campaigning vigorously, in Cairo and the countryside. The youth movement, on the other hand, seems unable to break out of protest mode.

The gap between them was exposed in the mid-March referendum on constitutional reforms, when the Brotherhood mobilized a massive "Yes" vote to ensure that any meaningful reforms would take place after the parliamentary elections. The liberals were split, unsure whether which scenario they feared more: a constitution written by a military-appointed panel before the elections, or one written by a Brotherhood-dominated parliament afterward. It was a rout: 77% voted Yes.

(Photos: Turmoil in Egypt)

The gap has not closed. Since the referendum, many liberals have sought to undermine the result by trying to force through reforms before the election. Their great champion, former UN nuclear watchdog (and Bobel laureate) Mohammed ElBaradei, is arguing that the constitution can't wait for people's elected representatives. The youth leaders agree and are threatening to return to Tahrir Square if they don't get their way. They claim the referendum doesn't matter because the Brotherhood misled Egyptians by portraying it as a vote on religion. (The Islamists deny this, and some neutral observers say both sides played fast and loose with the facts.)

This carping makes the liberals look like sore losers, and far from democratic. Critics accuse them of trying to buy time: a postponement in the election would give liberals more time to get their political house in order and hopefully catch up with the Brotherhood's organizational lead. Even Alaa al-Aswany, the novelist and strong Brotherhood critic, acknowledges that it ill behooves the liberals to attempt an end run around the referendum. "The people made a choice, and we have to respect it," he says.

The Brotherhood, meanwhile, is sitting pretty. It is offering to form a broad coalition with liberals and Leftists in the election, and promises there will be no attempt to hijack the constitutional reform process afterward. "The new constitution has to be written by all Egytians," says Essam Erian, a top Brotherhood leader. "No one group should have a louder voice than the others." This makes the Islamists look responsible and conciliatory, and is likely to play well with voters. (More on the Brotherhood's election strategy in posts to come.)

In Iraq, it took the liberals years to catch up with the religious parties in organization and campaigning skills. In the last election, Allawi finally cobbled together a coalition that won more seats than any other group, only to be outmaneuvered in the post-election horse-trading. If Egypt's liberals aren't careful, a similar fate awaits them.

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Sadr supporters ready for attacks on US troops (AFP)

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) – Supporters of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr have offered to carry out suicide attacks against US troops in Iraq, his office said Saturday, as a year-end deadline for a US pullout looms.

"Thank you, my dear friends, and God bless you," Sadr wrote in reply to the offer from loyalists of his disbanded Mahdi Army militia, a statement from his office in the central shrine city of Najaf said.

The message came from "a group from the Mahdi Army who say they are ready to place themselves under his command to carry out suicide attacks to defend Islam and Iraq, targeting the occupying infidels without hitting civilians or public institutions," Sadr's office said.

In April, Sadr threatened to reactivate the Mahdi Army, which he formally disbanded in 2008, if US forces do not withdraw at the end of the year as scheduled under the terms of a bilateral security pact.

Nearly 50,000 American troops are still in Iraq, down from a peak of more than 170,000 after the invasion of 2003.

US officials have repeatedly asked Baghdad if it wants some troops to stay beyond 2011, but threats and pressure from Sadr have made calling for an extension a difficult decision for Iraqi leaders.

The once powerful Mahdi Army, which fought repeatedly against Iraqi and US-led coalition forces between 2004 and 2007, has been identified by the Pentagon as the main threat to stability in Iraq.

Before it was disbanded, the militia numbered some 60,000 fighters with fierce loyalty to Sadr.

The anti-US cleric, who has been pursuing off-and-on religious studies in the Iranian clerical centre of Qom, is the son of revered Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated by the regime of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein in 1999.

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Iranian oil delegation attacked in Baghdad (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Gunmen attacked an Iranian oil delegation visiting Baghdad on Wednesday, the Iranian Oil Ministry said.

"The delegation was attacked by terrorists but they are not harmed and have no problems," the ministry's Shana website said.

"The delegation was visiting Iraq to hold talks about exporting fuel to Iraq. They came under gunfire when heading to the Electricity Ministry building."

An Iraqi Interior Ministry source said the convoy was attacked in central Baghdad and two Iraqi guards were wounded.

The head of the Iranian delegation said a contract was signed between the two neighboring countries.

"We signed a contract to export 1.5 million liters of fuel to Iraq," said Alireza Zeyghami, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, without giving further details.

Another Iraqi government source said it was an Iranian technical team visiting Baghdad as part of meetings to discuss border demarcation and investment in joint oilfields.

Iran did not say who was behind the attack and no group has taken responsibility for the attack yet.

Iraq became a base for many Shi'ite and Sunni armed groups after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and all of these groups are active in most areas of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

Al Qaeda affiliates and many Sunni armed groups, some Shi'ite militias, and Baathists, some of whom ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein, consider the Iranian government akin to a second occupier of Iraq.

They put Iranian visitors, officials and facilities in Iraq high on their priority lists for attacks. Many of these groups are active in Baghdad.

Iraq is also home to a base of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), which the United States, Iraq and Iran consider a terrorist group.

The PMOI has for decades advocated the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in place since 1979.

The fate of the base at Camp Ashraf, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, has been in question since the U.S. military turned it over to Baghdad in 2009 under a bilateral security agreement.

In April, Iraqi forces moved against the camp in what they said was an attempt to reclaim land and return it to farmers. Some 34 people died in clashes, according to U.N. investigation.

The United States has proposed a temporary relocation of Ashraf's residents within Iraq, pending eventual resettlements in third countries, but the PMOI's umbrella group -- the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) -- rejects this.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad and Mitra Amiri in Tehran; Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Paul Taylor)

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Iraq's Maliki wants to downsize government (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday he wanted to shrink his government and fire weak ministers to meet protesters' demands for improved government services.

In a final evaluation of his fragile government coalition following the passing of a 100-day deadline to improve performance, Maliki said most ministries had performed well, but weaker ones needed to be eliminated, and called on political blocs to support him.

"The shrinking of the government and all unnecessary and honorary posts at the state has become an urgent necessity," Maliki said in a speech broadcast on state television.

In late February, Maliki told his ministers they had 100 days to step up reforms or face the sack. The deadline came and went earlier this month with few signs of improvement.

Inspired by unrest across the Middle East and North Africa, Iraqis hit the streets in nationwide protests earlier this year to demand their new, elected government improve electricity, food rations and other basic services.

Maliki's government is a fractious coalition of Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions that came together in December after more than nine months of political wrangling following a March 2010 election that produced no clear winner.

Maliki said from the start he was not satisfied with his cabinet of 43 ministers, complaining he was forced to accept some just to appease coalition partners.

He has no authority to cut ministries or change any of the cabinet members without the blessing of parliament.

"I faithfully call on the political blocs to cooperate as soon as possible to meet these necessary demands," Maliki said.

Maliki did not offer details on how many or which ministries he wanted to cut. His mainly Shi'ite State of Law bloc has previously said he could trim most of the 15 ministers without portfolio without affecting the political balance.

Maliki's opponents will object to any change to the government that appears to consolidate his power -- particularly if he tries to eliminate ministers from his main rival, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc.

Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, won the most seats in the 2010 election but was unable to muster a governing coalition. As part of the government formation deal, Allawi was promised a share of power with the leadership of a strategic policy council.

Allawi and Maliki have since clashed over the job, the council has not been formed and Allawi has accused Maliki of reneging on the deal.

Increasing political tensions could hamper the governing coalition as it decides whether to ask some U.S. troops to stay in Iraq beyond an end-year deadline for their withdrawal.

Violence has ebbed since the peak in 2006-2007 but Sunni Muslim insurgents and Shi'ite militias still carry out attacks, killings and bombings daily in the OPEC oil producer.

(Editing by Jim Loney and Andrew Heavens)

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Four dead, dozens hurt in attacks on Iraqi police (Reuters)

MOSUL, Iraq, June 22 – Militants attacked Iraqi police with guns and explosives and lobbed a mortar round at a security headquarters Wednesday, killing four people and wounding dozens in the latest assault on security forces.

Insurgents deployed roadside bombs, a car bomb and a hand grenade as they launched at least eight attacks on police in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and northern Mosul, an al Qaeda stronghold, where three people were killed.

Militants are testing Iraq's army, police and fragile governing coalition as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by a year-end deadline, more than eight years after the invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

"I think political instability is the main reason why violence has escalated recently," said Abdul Rahim al-Shimmari, head of the Nineveh provincial council's security committee.

"Some political parties own armed militias and huge funding and they use the worsening security situation as a pretext to create the legitimacy for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq."

Violence has fallen sharply in recent years after the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07 but a tenacious Sunni Islamist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and rival Shi'ite militias still carry out scores of bombings and other attacks every month.

Iraqi government officials and security forces are under attack as the remaining American troops, about 47,000, prepare to leave the OPEC oil producer by the end of December.

Wednesday's spate of attacks killed at least one policeman and three civilians, and more than a dozen police were among 32 people wounded.

The mortar shell fired at the Nineveh security center, a headquarters used by the army and police, missed the target and hit a house, killing one person and wounding another in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Attackers threw a grenade at a police patrol in Mosul, wounding four people, and killed an officer at a security checkpoint, while a roadside bomb near a patrol killed a bystander and wounded two people, including a policeman.

In the capital, a local police chief and five officers were wounded when two roadside bombs struck their convoy in the western Amiriya district, an interior ministry source said.

In the western Ghazaliya district, a parked car bomb exploded near a police patrol, the source said, killing a bystander and wounding nine people, including three police.

Bombs targeting police wounded three officers and five civilians in the Zayouna and Jadiriya areas, the source said.

A senior Iraqi security official who asked not to be named said the recent escalation of attacks was expected.

"I think our security forces are still unfit to have complete control of the security situation," the official said. "More combat training and more expertise are needed."

Near Iraq's southern oil hub, Basra, a U.S. military convoy was struck by a bomb blast, police said. A U.S. military official said no one was hurt.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Iraq PM says bloated government must be trimmed (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday it was imperative to trim the size of the government, the biggest in Iraq's contemporary history.

He also added that official graft must be seriously tackled, and called on parliament to expedite bills he said were lagging, and hampering his government's work.

"Reducing the size of the government and all unnecessary positions has become an urgent need," Maliki said in a televised address.

"Changes also are necessary in the number of ministries," he said, suggesting the 45 ministries now in government were too many.

On February 27, Maliki had given all ministers a 100-day deadline to prove themselves, warning their work would be assessed during that period and "changes will be made."

But the day before the deadline was set to expire, he indicated no top politicians would be dismissed for poor performance, insisting his remarks had been misunderstood.

His comments ignited demonstrations in many parts of the oil-rich nation by people complaining they were tired of poor living conditions and the lack of basic services such as electricity and clean water.

Maliki said that the need to reduce the number of ministries and the size of the bureaucracy were some of the findings of the 100-day assessment.

A 2009 UN survey found that nearly half of Iraq's working-age population was employed in government jobs. It said that 43 percent of all jobs were in the public sector.

Maliki formed a national unity government in December after months of bickering that followed an inconclusive March 2010 election. Ministries and jobs were then doled out along party lines.

Maliki said that official graft was another serious issue that needed to be addressed.

He added that the parliament, in which his Shiite alliance holds a majority but other Kurdish and Sunni parties also wield considerable power, must not drag its feet on passing laws.

"I renew my call for the parliament to accelerate the passing of laws," he said. "The passing of laws by parliament is very slow, and negatively affects the performance of the government."

Maliki is under considerable pressure, with his government facing nearly weekly demonstrations somewhere in the country since the beginning of the year.

His task is made more difficult because US forces, in Iraq since 2003, will pull out of the country at the end of this year according to a bilateral agreement, handing security duties entirely to Iraqi forces.

Attacks against government officials and facilities have shot up in recent months, as leaders bicker over key security posts still vacant after Maliki formed his government last December.

Maliki remains the interim head of the ministries of defence, interior and national security.

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Italy probes ENI for corruption in Iraq, Kuwait (AFP)

MILAN (AFP) – An Italian prosecutor is investigating the country's largest energy group ENI and two of its executives over suspected corruption related to projects in Iraq and Kuwait, the company said Wednesday.

The Milan prosecutor's office is probing whether the executives took kickbacks from Italian engineering and construction firms in exchange for subcontracts to drill for oil in Iraq's Zubair and Kuwait's Jurassic fields.

Prosecutors are investigating for "international corruption" both the company, the two executives and three people who acted as intermediaries.

"ENI and (its subsidiary) Saipem have taken immediate disciplinary and precautionary action against the individuals involved," ENI said in a statement, adding that the two companies were also "offended parties."

"ENI and Saipem also intend to carry out all actions to safeguard their own interests and reputation, with particular attention to actions against all individuals and corporate bodies which will result involved," ENI said.

A source close to the investigation said the inquiry was also looking into the Italian firms Bonatti, Ansaldo, Renco, Elettra Energia and Elettra Progetti over suspected bribes or promises of kickbacks.

ENI has since 2009 headed a consortium drilling in Iraq's Zubair field while Saipem last year was awarded a contract to engineer and construct oil and gas treatment facilities in Kuwait.

Saipem and five of its management have been on trial in Milan since April related to alleged kickbacks they gave in 1995-2004 to obtain contracts in Nigeria, where they were part of an international consortium including the US giant Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR).

ENI and its subsidiary were fined $365 million last year by US authorities.

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Baghdad market bomb blitz kills 21 (AFP)

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Explosives packed into three shopping carts ripped through a crowded market in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 21 people and wounding 107, an interior ministry official said.

And in other violence an American contractor was killed and four Iraqis died in separate attacks in the country.

But the bloodiest was the market bombing which came at rush hour on the eve of the Iraqi weekend.

"Explosives loaded in three shopping carts killed 21 people and wounded 107 at the Shurt al-Raba market," the official said, adding that the attack happened at 6:45 pm (15:45 GMT) when the area was crowded with shoppers.

"There were a lot of people at the market because it is Thursday, the evening before the weekend" which begins on Friday, he said.

The American contractor working for USAID was killed and another US citizen wounded in a bomb attack as their armoured vehicle was leaving a Baghdad university, the US embassy and witnesses told AFP.

The attack that killed the American was an improvised bomb that penetrated their armoured vehicle, a witness said.

"An American civilian working with an implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development in Iraq was killed in a terrorist attack today in Baghdad," said David J. Ranz, a US embassy spokesman.

"Three additional civilians were wounded in the attack, including one American citizen," he said, without giving any details of the attack.

A witness said that attack took place at the capital's Al-Mustansariyah University, just as the delegation was leaving the college in the reinforced vehicle.

In other violence in central and northern Iraq on Thursday, car bombs and improvised explosives killed four people, two of them security personnel, and wounded 17 others, seven of them soldiers or policemen.

The latest attacks came at a time of surging violence in Iraq, with three assaults against foreign officials in four days.

On Wednesday, gunmen fired on a visiting Iranian oil delegation in Baghdad that wounded two Iraqi guards, but the foreigners were unharmed.

On Monday, a roadside bomb exploded next to a French embassy car in southern Baghdad. Four French security personnel inside the armoured vehicle were unhurt, but seven Iraqis were wounded.

Eight US soldiers have been killed on duty this month.

Violence is dramatically down in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks against government officials and institutions, including security forces, have risen in recent months, as Iraqi leaders bicker over key security posts left vacant since a March 2010 general election.

On Tuesday, two suicide car bombs ripped through a guard post killing 26 people outside the provincial governor's home in the city of Diwaniyah in the centre of the country.

The surge in the number of attacks comes with only months to go before US forces are due to complete a pullout under the terms of a 2008 security agreement.

British private security firm AKE Group said this month that attacks have been on the rise since the start of the year, with violent incidents averaging more than 10 a day in May, up from four to five a day in January.

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Ex-KBR firefighter denies raping woman in Iraq (AP)

HOUSTON – An ex-KBR firefighter told jurors on Thursday he had consensual sex with a Texas woman who says she was drugged and sexually assaulted in Iraq at the hands of co-workers.

Jamie Leigh Jones, 26, is one of several women who worked for KBR and former parent Halliburton Co. who say they were sexually assaulted or harassed while working for the companies in Iraq.

Jones says she was raped in 2005 while working for KBR at Camp Hope, Baghdad. She has sued KBR, Halliburton and a former KBR firefighter, Charles Bortz, whom she says was one of her rapists. The Houston-based companies and Bortz deny Jones' allegations. The alleged sexual assault was investigated by authorities but no criminal charges have been filed.

The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday that Bortz, 34, told jurors he and Jones had intercourse in her room after they shared a drink at a party with several other KBR workers. He said the only time Jones asked him to stop was when she became concerned that he already was seeing another woman.

"I told her I was fine, and we continued," Bortz said.

Jones has testified at the trial that she was in shock the morning after the allege rape and couldn't remember what had happened to her because she believes she was drugged with Rohypnol, known as the "date rape drug," just before she was sexually assaulted by several KBR firefighters. Jones said she is unable to name her other alleged attackers because of her limited memory of the incident.

But Bortz, who told jurors he is a trained first responder, said Jones did not seem like she was in shock the next morning.

Bortz's attorneys have told jurors that testing done by the Department of the Army of a urine sample from Jones that was taken within 24 hours of the alleged sexual assault detected no Rohypnol.

The Associated Press usually doesn't identify people alleging sexual assault, but Jones' face and name have been in media reports and she has promoted her case on her own website.

Bortz, who has not been charged, said he was not disciplined by the company for the alleged rape and that he quit KBR in May 2006, 10 months after Jones' allegations surfaced. He has filed a countersuit against Jones that the jury also will decide at the trial.

Jones has accused KBR officials of locking her in a trailer after she told them about the rape and not letting her call her family. Her attorneys have also accused KBR of having a long history of not protecting workers who were sexually assaulted or harassed.

KBR and Halliburton were unsuccessful in having Jones' case settled through arbitration as stipulated in her contract.

Due in part to Jones' case, federal lawmakers in 2009 approved a measure prohibiting contractors and subcontractors that receive $1 million in funds from the Department of Defense from requiring employees to resolve sexual assault allegations and other claims through arbitration.

Jones is asking for unspecified damages from KBR and Halliburton, which split in 2007.

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