Massive Bombing In Iraqi Oil Area

By Staff, Iraq Oil Report
Posted on December 11, 2008, Printed on December 25, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://iraqoilreport.com//112118/

Plus:
*Iraq’s Oil Money
*Challenging Corruption
*A Mahdi tour of Baghdad
*Iraq Press Roundup

Representatives of Iraq’s two main Kurdish parties and the members of the Arab council of Kirkuk province’s western district were among the nearly 50 people killed in a restaurant bombing in the northern oil capital of Kirkuk.

McClatchy Newspapers’ Yaseen Taha and Adam Ashton have a great first look at this tragedy, which took place during a busy lunch time at the end of the Eid al Adha holiday.

The officials were meeting immediately prior to a planned visit by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Kirkuk is Iraq’s second most important oil area, and the scene of dispute between Iraqi Kurds and Arabs. Violence has been reduced over the past year, but an attack of this magnitude underscores how volatile the fight over control of Kirkuk is.

Iraq’s Oil Money

President Bush has urged the United Nations to extend its immunity for Iraq’s oil funds from creditors and those who have or will bring lawsuit against Iraqi money, stemming from actions of Saddam Hussein. Steven Lee Myers and James Glanz report for The New York Times on Bush’s pressure to freeze all claims on the funds.

While Iraq continues to pay five percent of its oil revenue into a U.N. mandated compensation fund, and makes regular payments including to the Kuwaiti government, billions of dollars cannot be touched. Not only is there a U.N. immunity on the oil revenue – due to expire Dec. 31 – but U.S. presidential decree giving immunity, which expires in May.

The funds are held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (per U.N. mandate) and are audited, overseen and monitored by an international body called the International Advisory and Monitoring Board.The IAMB will likely be abolished after this year, regardless of new immunities, and oversight will be done by the Committee Of Financial Experts (COFE).

Corruption and Progress in the New Iraq

Iraq is highlighted in “The Petroleum and Poverty Paradox: Assessing U.S. and international community efforts to fight the resource curse,” a report to the members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Stephen F. DiAngeles in his Enterprise Resilience Management Blog notes the importance of efforts to contain and then decrease corruption throughout Iraq’s governments. DiAngeles, the head of Enterra Solutions, looks at long-term progress in a developing country by addressing a multitude of factors, from good governance and security to basic services to citizens.

With the Iraqi parliament having recently approved a new security pact with the United States and a change of administrations just around the corner, there has been a lot of speculation about Iraq’s future. The bedrock of a brighter future is, of course, security; but dealing with corruption is almost as critical. …

There has undoubtedly been abuse on both sides (i.e., incompetent inspectors and corrupt officials) — power has a corrupting influence all its own. The key is to find honest, respected, and fair oversight officials. The worse thing that the Iraqi government could do is dismantle the oversight system and let corruption run rampant. …

When corruption is uncovered in high places, the government should pride itself in having done its job rather than being embarrassed by the revelation that colleagues betrayed the public’s trust. Iraq’s government, like its businesses, need to gain the world’s trust. Operating transparently and adopting international standards are the best ways to earn that trust.”

The gas pipeline between Baiji and Baghdad cities was re-operated on Tuesday after a hiatus of more than two years, Voices of Iraq reports.

Songs for the Mahdi Army: An Iraqi militia tour of Baghdad, Nir Rosen in Mother Jones dives into the vision of Moqtada Sadr’s supporters in Baghdad.

Read what Iraqis read: The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Alaa Majeed.

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