American Contractor
Iraq Weekly Brief
May 23, 2009
A brief summary of events that are occurring in Iraq for the week. This is a limited view of all
things happening in Iraq. There is a lot more to write about then what I have written in this
The Iraqi Trade Minister has been accused of corruption by the Iraqi Parliament members
which held a no confidence vote while in session. The Minister, Abd al-Falah al-Sudani
denies the allegation which have been made by political opponents and or disgruntle
employees. The Trade Minister brother has been arrested in connection with the corruption
scandal.
The Seven Way committee from the Iraqi Council of Representatives operating in Kirkuk
and have not reached an agreement on the issue of Power Sharing. Expect more delays on
other Iraqi legislation.
The Interior Ministry Official says 219 ministry employees face corruption charges. Major
General Abd-al-Karim Khalaf, Director of the National Command Centre at the Interior
Ministry, has referred 219 officers and members of the ministry to the Iraqi courts on
financial corruption charges.
There is a brave Parliament member that has called for Oil Minister Hussein al-
Shahristani’s, resignation. Parliament member Jabr Khalifia Al Jabr, whom is the Oil and
Gas committee Recorder has called for the Oil Minister resignation before he is questioned
by the Iraqi Parliament within one week. The Parliament member has proof of the
corruption and will be presented upon al-Shahristani’s questioning in front of Parliament.
At the moment the Iraqi Parliament has called for his questioning in front of Iraqi
Parliament which 140 members have already signed a petition for the Oil Ministry al-
Shahristan questioning.
In the months to come your going to see a lot of the Iraqi Parliament exert there legislative
authority to hold people who have been placed in office held accountable as you are already
seeing this with the Ministries of Trade, Oil, Electricity. The other Ministry that the Iraqi
Parliament will be questioning is the Electricity Ministry, as to why Iraq does not have more
electricity then it does.
This all coincide with the PM Maliki calling for a yet another Cabinet shuffle and I do
believe this will happen as PM Maliki will make changes to fix the ongoing problems with
his cabinet who are inept and lacking in skills to lead Iraq. And also the National Elections
on January 30, 2010. In regards to the cabinet shuffle the Deputy Prime Minister Barham
Salih will post his resignation.
PM Maliki will be heading to the United States to meet with obama in mid June. I am sure
the shuffle of the cabinet will happen before he meets obama.
All this with the No confidence vote is nothing new and the Iraqi Parliament wanted this to
happen for over a year. The Iraqi Parliament didn’t have the political will and or backing
due to not having a strong Parliament Speaker to get things done.
One more note in reference for to removing a Ministry from office this can only occur with
absolute majority. My source says the Iraqi Parliament members who did not sign the No
Confidence vote Petition will most likely vote no on the removal of the Minister. It will
remain to be seen next week if the Oil Minister al-Shahristani will show up and be
questioned by the Iraqi Parliament members or resign before him coming to the Iraqi
Parliament.
The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was passed by Parliament last December 2008 and
in the agreement and this was the main reason it was passed by the Iraqi Parliament is that
there would be a vote by the Iraqi people on the security agreement between the United
States and the Iraqi government and the vote would be held before July 31, 2009.
As the July date is getting close you will see shortly the Iraq Election Commission issue a
call for a law for the Referendum to take place as agreed in July. In order to have this vote
your going to need funding and organization to get this done.
U.S. Dollar no more in Iraq?
There are some people out there that think that the US Dollar is no longer going to be in
Iraq because of a letter from the U.S. Military Finance advising all it troops that U.S. Dollar
will be no longer available. Well, maybe for the US Military however, all other contractors
and other Iraqi businessmen will still be using the U.S. Dollar. You have to keep in mind
the Iraq Dinar is not a regionally accepted currency for business transactions. The Iraq
Dinar is still a fully convertible currency in all the major currencies inside Iraq for all debts
public and private. So the notion of the US Dollar is no longer available inside Iraq is just
plain false.
An attempt will be made to publish this newsletter on a weekly basis and also as time goes
on to publish more content as time permits.
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American Contractor
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Note: Information based on Open Source information and contacts over the years.
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reprinted with permission from americancontractor.com
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