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2007-03-02 Iraq
State Department Iraq Weekly Report
Unclassified Highlights
IP and Coalition Forces Discover Large EFP Cache:

• An informant’s tip led Iraqi Police (IP) officers from Judidah, in the Baquba area of Diyala province, and Coalition forces from the 1st Cavalry Division to a large improvised explosive device cache February 24 containing over 130 disks capable of producing Explosively-Formed Projectiles (EFPs) and two EFPs in various stages of assembly.
• Additionally, the cache contained one completed improvised mine and more than a dozen others in various stages of construction, more than two dozen mortar rounds and 15 rockets, six rocket launchers, five anti-aircraft rounds, over two dozen rocket-propelled grenade warheads, more than 400 plastic and steel containers in various stages of fabrication for Improvised Explosive Device (IED) construction, and large quantities of various IED-making material.

IA Detains 16 Suspects During Operations Against Rogue JAM:

• Special Iraqi Army (IA) forces detained 16 suspected militiamen during operations February 27 with Coalition advisers in Sadr City, targeting the leadership of several rogue Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) cells who allegedly direct and perpetrate sectarian murder, torture, and kidnapping. The wanted individuals are reported to operate out of Sadr City and are also linked to attacks on Coalition Forces (CF) and the supply of weapons and munitions which support continued rogue JAM violence.

IP Conduct Operation Shurta Nasir to Clear Hit of Insurgents:

• Nearly 500 IP from Hit in Anbar province recently conducted Operation Shurta Nasir (Police Victory) meant to clear the town of terrorists and identify locations for new police stations.
• IP planned and led this large-scale operation in western Iraq, which included nearly 100 recent graduates from the Jordanian International Police Training Academy. A combined force of 1,000 soldiers from both the Iraqi and US armies cordoned off the area to assist the police during the operation.
• During operations in the city of roughly 100,000, the Hit police captured 13 known terrorists, one large weapons cache, and began construction of two new police stations to meet the demands of the growing department.

Suspected AQI Emir and 11 Others Detained in Raids:

• CF detained 12 suspected terrorists, including a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) emir during raids the morning of February 27, targeting foreign fighter facilitators and the AQI network.

IA Sends Troops to Support Fardh al-Qanun:

• Soldiers from the 2nd Division Iraqi Army (IA), based in Iraq’s Kurdish provinces, arrived in Baghdad February 25 to train and eventually augment the 6th and 9th IA Divisions in protecting Baghdad as part of Fardh al-Qanun (Baghdad Security Plan). An Iraqi Air Force C-130 flew the troops into Baghdad International Airport where they conducted a brief ceremony before heading out for training in preparation for their Baghdad security missions.
Wait...An Iraqi Air Force plane? They have planes? Pilots? Does Congress know?

KRG President Ready to Confront PKK:

• The President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masud Barzani, says he is ready to discuss operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group with his Turkish counterparts. He made the comment during an interview broadcast February 26.
• Turkey, which previously threatened cross-border military action to quell the PKK threat, recently signaled that it would be open to talks to resolve the issue.

Senior Iraqi Official Narrowly Escapes Assassination Attempt:

• Iraq’s Shia Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when an explosion occurred near the government building he was visiting in Baghdad. He was taken to a hospital after suffering minor wounds in the blast at the Public Works Ministry.
• A second member of the Iraqi government, Public Works Minister Riyad Ghraib, also a Shia, is thought to have been seriously injured in the attack.

Electricity:

• The completed US Army-funded rehabilitation of the ED 400V overhead distribution network in the Muhalla 883 area of Karkh, Baghdad province, provides increased electrical capacity that will benefit more than 14,000 local residents.
Now there's a big step!
• The Ninewa Ministry of Electricity (MoE) provided positive feedback on the quality of workmanship and the high level of coordination between the MoE, Gulf Region North District, Gulf Region Division and ABB regarding the completion of ET-900 Mosul 400 kV Substation Rehab (URI 16032). The project’s objective was to rehabilitate the existing substation and expand its capacity to receive and distribute power from Turkey, Syria, the Mosul Dam, and the Mosul Gas Turbine generation plant. The substation will benefit over four million citizens across the region.
That's a bigger step!
• During the week of February 22-28 electricity availability averaged 6.2 hours per day in Baghdad and 9.7 hours nationwide. Electricity output for the week was 6% below the same period in 2006.

Council of Ministers Passes Draft Hydrocarbon Law:

• On February 26, the Council of Ministers approved a draft of the hydrocarbon framework law. The next step is for the draft legislation to be submitted to the Council of Representatives for deliberation. This law is a vital component necessary for long-term economic growth in Iraq.

GOI Announces Creation of New Budget Execution Task Force:

• Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, Finance Minister Bayan Jabr, and Minister of Planning and Development Ali Baban discussed the formation of a new budget execution task force with Ambassador Carney. They will lead the task force and will have a special focus on Sunni areas.
• They also announced a March 5 conference on ministerial and provincial spending agencies, as well as a March 7 conference in Anbar province to underscore Iraqi government support for local development.

KRG Reopens Borders to US Poultry:

• The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has re-opened the Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish border to US poultry imports, provided they are not sold locally in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. However, the permanence of this solution is unclear.
US poultry imports? The Iraqis can't grow chickens? There must be more than meets the eye, here!

Trade Bank of Iraq President meets with Ex/Im Bank:

• President Hussein al-Uzri of the Trade Bank of Iraq met with representatives from the Export/Import Bank in Washington, DC February 27. In addition to meeting with the Export/Import Bank, Uzri also met with US Department of Treasury officials, and with World Bank, International Finance Corporation and JP Morgan representatives.

• Weekly Average {oil production} (February 19 – 25) of 2.14 Million Barrels Per Day (MBPD)
This is the first time they've met their goal since I've been Reporting for Rantburg. They did lower the goal several weeks ago, perhaps because of some sort of reduced capacity - like maintenance or rehabilitation?

Iraq to Hold International Trade Exhibit:

• Iraq will hold its first international trade exhibit since before the start of the war in 2003, in an effort to gain international investment and reconstruction help. The event will be held March 24-26 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Center in Manama. The trade exhibit is being organized by the Iraq government in association with Bahrain's Magnum Events and Exhibitions Management.

Japan Announces Additional Iraq Funding through the UN:

• Japan will provide additional funding to Iraq through a number of United Nations agencies, with a total of $104.5 million being provided to the UN Development Program, the UN Children's Fund, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organization for humanitarian and reconstruction aid.
$104.5 million is barely enough to cover the cost of cocktails, caviar, and crackers.

Pakistan Hosts Summit on Iran, Iraq:

• Foreign ministers from seven Muslim nations: Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, met in Pakistan to discuss possible ways to resolve tensions in the Middle East - including in Iran and Iraq - and to curb the spread of terrorism.
That's easy; just 'wipe israel off the map'!

Neighbor’s Conference Planned for Iraq in March:

• The Iraqi Foreign Minister said that officials from regional states - including Syria and possibly Iran - will join US and British envoys at a meeting in Baghdad next month, which will seek ways to stabilize Iraq. Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the UN who are based in Baghdad confirmed they would also participate.
The UN? In Baghdad? Who knew?

Egypt Ends Transmission of Iraq Satellite Channel:

• An Information Ministry official said February 26 that Egypt has stopped its satellite transmission of the private Iraqi channel al-Zawraa. The chairman of the board of Egyptian government-owned satellite channel NileSat said the feed was cut for technical reasons and was not an act of censorship. Al-Zawraa's owner said the move was politically-motivated and plans to sue Egypt.
• Al-Zawraa’s pro-Sunni programming – which has come under criticism from both the US and Iraqi governments - has accused the Shiite-led Iraqi government of killing Sunnis and being a front for Iran. Al-Zawraa is also transmitted via ArabSat.

Here's some News You Can Use!Saddam’s Lawyer to Publish Book About the Former Dictator:

• Saddam Hussein’s former chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said February 25 that he plans to publish a book this year disclosing secret information about the former dictator.
• Dulaimi also said he would reprint as many as 300 personal letters, poems and other works penned by Saddam.
Posted by Bobby 2007-03-02 06:19|| || Front Page|| [10 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 US poultry imports? The Iraqis can't grow chickens? There must be more than meets the eye, here!

Breeding stock to improve Iraqi chickens in terms of meatiness and egg laying, perhaps? I see that they aren't allowed to be resold in the local markets.
Posted by trailing wife 2007-03-02 07:37||   2007-03-02 07:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Kurdistan and Turkey have been hard hit by the more virulent strains of bird flu. More here.
Posted by mrp 2007-03-02 07:53||   2007-03-02 07:53|| Front Page Top

#3 Short course at Rantburg U. Thanks.
Posted by Bobby 2007-03-02 08:24||   2007-03-02 08:24|| Front Page Top

#4 Outskirts of Moscow last week, Turkey and Kurdistan this week, Don't look good folks.
Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-02 09:40||   2007-03-02 09:40|| Front Page Top

#5 Raising chickens isn't as easy as most people think. It takes about five months for a newly-hatch poult to reach eating size. If you grow your own eggs, it's one per day per chicken, max. A chicken will brood between eight and fourteen eggs at a time, with about 80% hatching. There are more than 400 different breeds of chickens, with some doing better in some locations than others. Chickens need a certain amount of lime in their diet, or the eggshells are too thin and crack. They also need small gravel to work in their gizzard, helping digest food. Chickens are also susceptible to about 800 different infections, including a half-dozen that can be passed to humans, and vice-versa.

I think we're going to see oil exports grow slowly but steadily throughout the rest of this year. A friend of mine works for a company that has people over there. Apparently they're laying pipe to move oil out of the fields into the refineries or export hubs. There's also work being done to build larger storage facilities at both of Iraq's deep-water ports, and the plans for a pipeline to Kuwait to move oil to Kuwait's terminals. Production from Kurdish fields is expected to double in the next 18 months, mostly shipped through pipelines in Turkey.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2007-03-02 14:31|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2007-03-02 14:31|| Front Page Top

#6 Op's done be read the Egg & I but don't worry, it ain't that hard if you keep after 'em.

/Ma Kettle
Posted by Shipman 2007-03-02 17:20||   2007-03-02 17:20|| Front Page Top

#7 Ship - when I was about 14, my mother ordered 400 poults from Sears. We had chickens coming out our ears. I learned a LOT about chickens, fast. I also got pretty tired of chicken, in any form. We'd always had a couple of dozen Rhode Island reds, along with a dozen or so turkeys, so poultry wasn't "new" to me. I just hadn't realized until we got 400 of them at once, how much work they were.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2007-03-02 19:57|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2007-03-02 19:57|| Front Page Top

#8 Ha! Yeah, raising chickens for fun and profit has been with us for awhile.
Posted by Shipman 2007-03-02 20:19||   2007-03-02 20:19|| Front Page Top

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