Turning to Iraqi oil and, no, we're not interested in the "in two years, we'll meet . ." storylines. Iraq's pimped that claim every year of the war. But Iraq is leaving UN receivership status which Caroline Alexander and Nayla Razzouk (Bloomberg News) leaves open new issues: "The expiration today of United Nations protection of Iraq’s oil revenue from creditors seeking damages stemming from Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait may make the assets vulnerable to seizure, exacerbating tensions between the two countries." Kuwait is owed millions and would be the most obvious challenge; however, it is far from the only country claiming to be owed money. The US cancelled Iraq's debt in 2004 (over $4 billion) as did many other Western nations. Meanwhile Hemin Baban Rahim (Rudaw) reports on the oil industry:
In an interview with Rudaw, Iraqi member of parliament and former head of the parliamentary committee for gas and oil, Nuraddin al-Hiyali criticized the Iraqi oil policies, describing it as “unclear”. Al-Hiyali also said that the Iraqi government has failed in running the country’s oil sector properly.
“It is an unclear policy,” he said. “The Iraqi government has failed to manage the oil sector of Iraq.”
Regarding Kurdistan’s oil contracts, al-Hiyali said that the oil companies benefit from those contracts more than anyone else.
“A big portion of the oil income goes into the pocket of the foreign companies,” said al-Hayali.
Up to now, the Iraqi parliament has not ratified its oil and gas law and al-Hiyali attributes this to huge disputes over the details of the draft law. He admitted that neighboring countries are also a cause for this delay.
Meanwhile Al Rafidayn notes that the town of Nasinriyah is facing a large influx of counterfeit dinars. Also facing a large influx is Iraq's beleaguered health care system. Dahr Jamail reports for Al Jazeera:
"The hospital is crowded, the medical staff are overloaded, and we are deficient of medical staff because doctors continue to leave Iraq," Dr Yehiyah Karim, a general surgeon at Baghdad Medical City, told Al Jazeera, "There is still the targeting of doctors."
Dr Karim said that many Iraqi doctors are continuing to flee the country because kidnappings and assassinations are ongoing problems. Since the US invasion in 2003, doctors and other professionals in Iraq have been targets of these crimes in staggering numbers.
According to the Brookings Institute, prior to the US-led invasion in 2003, Iraq had 34,000 registered physicians. It is estimated 20,000 of those have left the country, and between 2007 and April 2009 only 1,525 had returned.
"Many doctors are still leaving the country because we are in danger," Dr Karim, whose hospital is the largest medical center in the country, added. "Last week we had three doctors kidnapped in Kirkuk. Following this, doctors there didn't go to work for two days. We always feel insecure about our safety."
Meanwhile Dar Addustour reports that Ali Khamenei's criticism of an alleged deal in Parliament (already made) to keep US forces in Iraq beyond 2011 has resuled in an MP stating that some leaders of political blocs have already promised the US that they will support the extension and Tareq al-Hashemi (one of Iraq's vice presidents) is quoted stating that the focus on the agreement is taking attention away from more serious matters such as the continued lack of ministers to head the security ministries (Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of National Security).
We'll close with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Murray Press Office
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 (202) 224-2834
Chairman Murray Applauds Committee Passage of Landmark Veterans Employment Legislation
Having unanimously passed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, the bill will now go to the full Senate for consideration
Watch Senator Murray discuss this important bill.
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, applauded the unanimous passage of her landmark veterans employment bill, the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 (S. 951) through the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Chairman Murray’s bill is the first of its kind to require broad job skills training for all service members returning home and comes at a time when more than one in four veterans aged 20-24 are unemployed. In addition to providing new job skills training to all service members, the bill will also create new direct federal hiring authority so that more service members have jobs waiting for them the day they leave the military, and will improve veteran mentorship programs in the working world.
Having unanimously passed the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, the bill will now go to the full Senate for consideration.
Read Senator Murray’s statement about the passage below:
“With today’s passage, this critical legislation moves one step closer to providing veterans with the broad job skills training and support they need to break down barriers to employment. For the first time, this comprehensive bill will require service members to learn how to translate the skills they learned in the military into the working world. It will also ensure that more veterans have jobs waiting for them when they leave the military by streamlining the path to private and federal employment.
“Our veterans sacrificed greatly to fight for our freedoms and they shouldn’t have to fight for jobs when they return home. I’m hopeful that this legislation will quickly make its way before the full Senate, and I look forward to fighting for it when it does.”
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Evan Miller
Specialty Media Director
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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