Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Oil and blood, the two things that flow in the streets of Iraq

 Violence continues in Iraq.  All Iraq News reports a western Baghdad car bombing has claimed the lives of 2 Iraqi soldiers and left six more injured.  Alsumaria adds a Baghdad roadside bombing killed 1 person, a Mosul roadside bombing has left one police officer injured, a Kirkuk shootings has left one police officer wounded, and overnight in Baghdad one person was shot dead.  AFP offers, "A roadside bomb targeted a convoy carrying an MP from the secular, Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc in Madain, south of Baghdad, wounding four people but not the politician, while a magnetic 'sticky bomb' on a civilian car wounded two people in Mansur in west Baghdad, they said." So that's 4 reported dead and 14 reported injured today.  National Iraqi News Agency reports 1 farmer and 1 Sahwa were kidnapped in Tikrit.  Iraq Body Count counts 82 deaths when the tolls of Monday and Tuesday are combined.  They count 269 violent deaths for the month so far through Tuesday.


Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) explores recent violence:

 The first development signified that al-Qaeda, which will probably have claimed responsiblity for the operation by the time this article goes to press, sent a very clear message that it was capable of reaching any target it wanted to strike. In this case, that target was a city in the extreme southern and Shiite dominated part of the country that seldom falls victim to major security attacks.
The message brings to the forefront the true nature of the support environment through which al-Qaeda operates. It raises questions of whether it is really centered in the Sunni part of Iraq, or rather spread in different environments where it infiltrates and exploits security weaknesses wherever they may be.
The significance of the second development, where a car bomb successfully reached Baghdad airport, lies in the fact that it had to cross at least three main checkpoints without being detected. And if the car originated far from the airport or from another province, as security communiqués seem to indicate, then it would have had to traverse at least 20 checkpoints to reach its target at the entrance to the airport!
This fact is appalling, and invites the same question that has followed every other bombing in Iraq: How can an organization which is supposedly “besieged,” as security reports indicate, whose members and leaders are apprehended by the dozens every day, execute all these attacks, simultaneously in wide-ranging areas of Iraq?
This question, in turn, leads to the third previously mentioned point as to why the security forces never were able to offer any justification for the lapses in security, and never announced the discovery of any facts, except to say, a day or hours even after each bomb attack, that the perpetrators had been apprehended.
It thus is only logical for the inhabitants of Baghdad, whose city was rocked by seven simultaneous car bomb explosions, and more than 40 such explosions since the beginning of the year, to ask: Why are the Iraqi security forces transforming our lives into a daily hell of waiting for hours at checkpoints that conduct perfunctory half-hearted searches on blocked-off streets, amid useless fortifications?


Katie Nguyen (AlertNet) explores the impact of violence on mental health today and reminds:


 The only mental health survey of recent years, the Iraq Mental Health Survey carried out in 2006-2007, recorded the damaging effects of the violence on Iraqi people.
It showed that mental health disorders were prevalent in 13.6 percent of Iraqis aged 18 and above. Anxiety disorders were the most common type of mental disorder followed by mood disorders, which might manifest themselves as depression.
The survey showed that 56 percent of the population had been exposed to trauma. The most common causes were raids by police or the army, followed by shooting, internal displacement, being a witness to killing, exposure to bomb blasts and the death of a close relative or friend.

Someone should explore the impact of violence on the mental health of reporters because you have to wonder about those who insist upon using the extreme violence of 2006 and 2007 as the yardstick to measure violence in Iraq today.  It allows many to avoid noting that violence has been increasing in Iraq for the last two years.


The only thing other than blood that flows freely in Iraq is oil.  Afeef Nessouli (CNN) offers his take on Iraq's oil situation which includes:
  

Iraq currently pumps around 3 million barrels per day (bpd), but the International Energy Agency recently suggested that it could in fact generate more than any other supplier if the major causes of uncertainty – governance, deteriorating infrastructure and insufficient water supplies – are overcome.
To surpass Russia and even Saudi Arabia, though, would require an about $530 billion investment in the country’s infrastructure, according to the IEA. But even if it is able to muster this level of investment from oil revenues, Baghdad faces some unique and potentially crippling political challenges as well, including tensions between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
The effects of disputes over oil contracts and infrastructure holdups, stifling its development, were underscored earlier this year, when the Kurds halted exports following a dispute with Baghdad over the KRG’s right to sign contracts and sell petroleum – exports through the Kirkuk pipeline tumbled from 325,800 bpd in December to 264,500 the following month.
The dispute between the two sides essentially revolves around Kurds demanding the right to sign oil contracts independently, while Baghdad’s oil ministry resists over fears of Kurdish autonomy. About 10 percent of Iraq’s oil is produced from Kurdish areas, and a hypothetical Kurdistan would be rich in resources. But the central government, sensitive to the perceived danger of secession, believes that any oil contract signed with the KRG without its approval is illegal.


For a government sitting on billions in oil each month, Nouri's government is awfully skittish.  For example, despite a public face of indifference with regards to northern neighbor Turkey, turns out Nouri's government's been a little bit worried.  Serkan Demirtas (Hurriyet Daily News) reports Turkish officials and Iraqi officials met this month in London to discuss the oil situation, as Iraq's request, and Demirtas explains:
The Daily News also learned that both parties have agreed to continue dialogue, despite having differences on many issues. Al-Maliki’s attacks against leading Sunni politicians, which caused the expulsion of former Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, who has sought refuge in Turkey since 2011, are one of the most important reasons for the tension between Ankara and Baghdad. The Iraqi Prime Minister also recently targeted Finance Minister Rafaie al-Issawi, another senior Sunni politician, who had to step down on March 1.
Ankara believes that court cases opened against Sunni politicians are purely political and initiated upon the direct order of al-Maliki. On the other hand, al-Maliki believes that Turkey is using all its cards to weaken his power.


Meanwhile Orhan Coskun and Humeyra Pamuk (Reuters) report, "Iraqi Kurdistan will be ready to export its crue doil directly to world markets via Turkey within months after a new pipeline is completed, a move likely to deepen a row with Baghdad over the distribution of Iraq's hydrocarbon revenues."  From Erbil, Hawsar Said offers some reality in a Tweet


 
1h
As produces Oil, the Iraqi citizens pay 1$/liter for petrol. Income goes to minister pockets as all Iraqi gasstations are governmental
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