-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the opening battle of a major drive to tame the violent capital, the Iraqi army reported it killed 30 militants Saturday in a firefight in a Sunni insurgent stronghold just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking only hours earlier at a ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the Iraqi army, announced his intention for the open-ended attempt to crush the militant fighters who have left Baghdad in the grip of sectarian violence.
Hassan al-Suneid, a key aide and member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said the Iraqi leader had committed 20,000 soldiers to the operation and would call upon American troops and airpower only when needed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070106/...q_070106201153
We're not doing it, it's the troops that we have trained going in to the fight. We can do back up for now and leave when all is secure.......anyone see anything wrong with having a friends back?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
What friend do you refer to? The pro iranian shia theocracy which rules southern iraq?
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by andruejaysin
What friend do you refer to? The pro iranian shia theocracy which rules southern iraq?
Is it really so hard to say, "Hey, this is progress. At least our troops aren't the wons on the front line."
Get use to the feast.....there will be much more coming in the future.:D
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
So when we are done IRAQ will be the Same religion as IRAN. Glad we made them Friends. Sounds like USA is makeing a mess IMO. When we are done Not only are all the Suni's going to mad at us ( wich if I'm right is the Majority of Muslims), But we also have set up another State to become like Iran (wich also hates Jews and USA for helping them)
Sweet Sounds like all the Big Business in WAR and Oil Will be getting Big Pockets.
INVEST and become rich because if your poor your getting Drafted:( This war will not stop anytime soon.
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krogith
So when we are done IRAQ will be the Same religion as IRAN.
Please provide a link that states anything on that order. The Kurds don't even follow Islam. There were provisions put into the Constitution to protect that right.
Glad we made them Friends. Sounds like USA is makeing a mess IMO. When we are done Not only are all the Suni's going to mad at us ( wich if I'm right is the Majority of Muslims), But we also have set up another State to become like Iran (wich also hates Jews and USA for helping them)
When a 12 mill man Basij Army comes across the sands from Iran the Sunni will be more than happy to allie with us....just as they did during the Iran/Iraq war. Most the Sunni dominate countries in that area supplied the cash, we supplied the arms and security in the Persian Gulf. If I recall, we took out half of Irans navy at the time after an attack.
Sweet Sounds like all the Big Business in WAR and Oil Will be getting Big Pockets.
Irans oil industry has been neglected for over 20 years and is in terrible shape. After a war, it would be like starting from scratch. By the way, how many U.S. oil companies are in Iraq as compared to lets say Norwegian and Canadian?
INVEST and become rich because if your poor your getting Drafted:( This war will not stop anytime soon.
Draft? No way.....this won't be a ground war.
Also, the Shi-ites in Iraq are not like those in Iran. Sadr is the closest thing Iran has for an allie and his time is coming soon. The rest are actually moderate.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krogith
Mubaraks comments don't suprise me.......the Sunni side of the middle east are afraid of just what was stated. If that were the case though, wouldn't have Sistani backed Sadr's actions?
Now for the photo op......you didn't post what was under the photo:
Fancy meeting you here! On his first official visit to Tehran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki is greeted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
On a diplomatic trip isn't it considered normal to be seen shaking hands with the other countries leader? They have a million man army not to mention the 11 million in the Basij. It would be a good idea to try to create diplomatic ties.
Actually Mobaraks comments are nice to see. It means that the Sunni region will realize that a stable Iraq means less of a chance for an Iran/Iraq Shiite allience.
I still hold that if the Shiite hit the fan, the Sunni's would call on the Militay Industrial Complex for assistance.:D
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Even so, the underlying dynamic of closer ties between the two countries remained intact. Indeed it received a boost when in the general election held under Iraq??s new constitution in January 2006 resulted in the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) of Shiite religious parties winning 80 percent of the seats reserved for Shiites.
Earlier the UIA had succeeded in inserting a clause in the new constitution stating that no Iraqi law shall violate the principles of Islam. This makes Iraq an Islamic republic in all but name.
Significantly, the first foreign leader greeted by the Maliki government, installed on May 20, was Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki. He met Maliki as well as Zebari, who retained the foreign ministry in the new government.
??We do not want WMD [weapons of mass destruction] next door, but Iran??s program is for peaceful purposes,? said Zebari. ??We believe in the wisdom of the Islamic Republic leadership in handling the subject, and we are against any tension with the Islamic Republic.?
In the final analysis, only a home-grown variety of democracy can take root in the countries of the Middle East, not a Jeffersonian model imposed by America. The fallout of the US intervention in Iran 1953 and Iraq 50 years later has virtually ensured rejection of the American model.
you might of stoped reading but heres my points
Sounds like there on the Same side
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krogith
Even so, the underlying dynamic of closer ties between the two countries remained intact. Indeed it received a boost when in the general election held under Iraq??s new constitution in January 2006 resulted in the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) of Shiite religious parties winning 80 percent of the seats reserved for Shiites.
Earlier the UIA had succeeded in inserting a clause in the new constitution stating that no Iraqi law shall violate the principles of Islam. This makes Iraq an Islamic republic in all but name.
Significantly, the first foreign leader greeted by the Maliki government, installed on May 20, was Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki. He met Maliki as well as Zebari, who retained the foreign ministry in the new government.
??We do not want WMD [weapons of mass destruction] next door, but Iran??s program is for peaceful purposes,? said Zebari. ??We believe in the wisdom of the Islamic Republic leadership in handling the subject, and we are against any tension with the Islamic Republic.?
In the final analysis, only a home-grown variety of democracy can take root in the countries of the Middle East, not a Jeffersonian model imposed by America. The fallout of the US intervention in Iran 1953 and Iraq 50 years later has virtually ensured rejection of the American model.
you might of stoped reading but heres my points
Sounds like there on the Same side
I read it all...... they are creating their own version of democracy....it won't be just like ours but it'll be a hell of alot better than Saddam and Sons.
As for the WMD thing, their right next door and not in a position to create a conflict. Some things are better left unsaid.......
Womens rights and other things IN the constitution doesn't really agree with the principles of Islam. I recall it was a fight with the Kurds on getting the proper wording in order to pass.
Here's a chart on the diversity of the Legislature. Of course due to population they have a majority but it seems that they can't push items through without either Kurdish votes or Sunni votes.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
P.S. Still gotta say that it's a good thing that their troops are getting to the point of doing these missions.
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Sweet Sounds like all the Big Business in WAR and Oil Will be getting Big Pockets.
Irans oil industry has been neglected for over 20 years and is in terrible shape. After a war, it would be like starting from scratch. By the way, how many U.S. oil companies are in Iraq as compared to lets say Norwegian and Canadian?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
Future of Iraq: The spoils of war
he US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.
The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. "So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he said.
Posted Jan 6, 2007 05:12 PM PST
Category: IRAQ
So the American troops who are fighting and dying in Iraq are not fighting and dying because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, or because Saddam Hussein was in any way a threat to the US: they are dying for oil.
NewsIndependent.UK
So tell us again how this is about .... what .... freedom and democracy .... not oil?:toilet_claw: :stupid: :madnoel:
:noel:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
SHHHHHHHHH.....nobodys has informed you that Canadian and Norwegian oil interests in that country far exceed ours at the present?
Love how you people shift the debates from what the thread starter was all about........"IRAQ launches drive to subdue Baghdad." Spearheaded with Iraqi forces and the U.S. forces are working back-up.
When theres a glimmer of light leave it to some to break out umbrellas.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
LoL--Trust me Y'all, youll not get anywhere discussing this Iraq thing with P4B it just will not work i've tried over a year already and still cant knock any sense into his reasoning behind it , maybe its that dinar......but its a good try doh..;)
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
LoL--Trust me Y'all, youll not get anywhere discussing this Iraq thing with P4B it just will not work i've tried over a year already and still cant knock any sense into his reasoning behind it , maybe its that dinar......but its a good try doh..
__________________"I certainly will go along with this, He must have stock in Haliburton or some other subsidiary"
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by medicinal
LoL--Trust me Y'all, youll not get anywhere discussing this Iraq thing with P4B it just will not work i've tried over a year already and still cant knock any sense into his reasoning behind it , maybe its that dinar......but its a good try doh..
__________________"I certainly will go along with this, He must have stock in Haliburton or some other subsidiary"
some denial
some ego
some brainwashing
pro american rhetoric
corporate sponsored/ pro military media
and my bets are he(p4b) is a white male.
dai*ma:stoned:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by medicinal
He must have stock in Haliburton or some other subsidiary
LOL.......something like that. Lets just say that I gave a loan to the Iraqi government. Want to explain it all eg?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
.......something like that. Lets just say that I gave a loan to the Iraqi government. So did I, Against my will though! and I'm sure I'll never be paid back! Man, I should have bought Haliburton stock as soon as G.W. was put in power by the USSC.
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Man P4B put stock on the Iraqi Dinar he's making millions off it, if that country ever gets right he could buy Cannabis.com and get rid of us for good.. lol
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Zubaidi on this subject : Monetary value of the Iraqi dinar must revert to the previous level, or at least to acceptable levels as it is in the Iraqi neighboring states.
Undersecretary to Minister of Finance:
The rise in the value of the Iraqi currency against the dollar would reduce the value of imports, and raising the value of exports. As exports are negligible, the economy will benefit from the policy of raising the rate of the Iraqi dinar.
Central Bank of Iraq
Official Exchange Rate
as of 01/08/06
1320 NID = 1 USD
PREVIOUS RATES
12/28/06 - 1325
12/27/06 - 1325
12/26/06 - 1338
12/25/06 - 1345
12/24/06 - 1352
12/21/06 - 1360
12/20/06 - 1373
12/19/06 - 1380
12/18/06 - 1388
12/17/06 - 1400
12/14/06 - 1411
12/13/06 - 1414
12/12/06 - 1416
12/11/06 - 1419
12/10/06 - 1422
12/07/06 - 1424
12/06/06 - 1426
12/05/06 - 1429
12/04/06 - 1430
12/03/06 - 1433
11/29/06 - 1435
11/28/06 - 1437
11/27/06 - 1439
11/23/06 - 1441
11/22/06 - 1444
11/21/06 - 1446
11/20/06 - 1449
11/19/06 - 1452
11/16/06 - 1454
11/15/06 - 1455
11/14/06 - 1460
11/09/06 - 1465
11/08/06 - 1466
11/07/06 - 1468
10/29/06 - 1470
10/22/06 - 1473
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
SHHHHHHHHH.....nobodys has informed you that Canadian and Norwegian oil interests in that country far exceed ours at the present?
I didn't see any Canadian or Norwegian countries on the list .... source?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Love how you people shift the debates from what the thread starter was all about........"IRAQ launches drive to subdue Baghdad."
It had a lot to do with this so-called drive .... the illegitimate bush regime merely wants to escalate the chaos so they can continue to loot the treausury unabated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Spearheaded with Iraqi forces and the U.S. forces are working back-up.
When theres a glimmer of light leave it to some to break out umbrellas.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
There's no glimmer of light ..... for the contractors yeah .... but not the Iraqis or the soldiers.
Care to place a friendly bet .... that this will not work?:toilet_claw: :buzz_saw:
:noel::rastasmoke:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Norway:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security...kurdishoil.htm
Canada & Turkey:
http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/864
Now show me a source about oil exploration rights awarded to U.S. companies.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Executive order number 13303 [signed by George Bush, in May 2003] states ??any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void?, with respect to ??all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein.?
With this, Bush granted Iraqi oil a lifetime exemption provided US companies are involved in the oil's production, transport, or distribution. This order applies to Iraqi oil products that are ??in the United States, hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons.? (Under US law, corporations are ??persons.?)
??In other words, if ExxonMobil or ChevronTexaco touch Iraqi oil, anything they or anyone else does with it is immune from legal proceedings in the US,? explained Jim Vallette, an analyst with the Sustainable Energy & Economy Network of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC.
??Anything that has happened before with oil companies around the world -- a massive tanker accident; an explosion at an oil refinery; the employment of slave labor to build a pipeline; murder of locals by corporate security; the release of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; or lawsuits by Iraq's current creditors or the next true Iraqi government demanding compensation -- anything at all, is immune from judicial accountability,? he says.
??Effectively Bush has unilaterally declared Iraqi oil to be the unassailable province of US oil corporations,? Vallette added.
?? Pratap Chatterjee and Oula Al Farawati, To the Victors Go the Spoils of War; British Petroleum, Shell and Chevron Win Iraqi Oil Contracts, CorpWatch, August 8, 2003Into June 2004, IPS also also adds that lack of transparency in the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is leading to unaccountability:
Groups critical of the lack of transparency in the CPA's spending have been particularly angry that the authority is using Iraqi money to pay for questionable contracts -- some awarded without a public tendering process -- with U.S. companies.
Washington has restricted the most lucrative reconstruction contracts in Iraq to gigantic U.S. companies that appear set to rack up profitable contracts, fuelling accusations that the Bush administration is seeking to benefit a select few U.S. companies rather than find the best, and possibly the cheapest, options to help the Iraqi people rebuild.
?? Emad Mekay, Charity Finds Billions Missing In Iraqi Oil Revenues, Inter Press Service, June 28, 2004
Missing Billions of Iraqi Money that U.S.-led Coalition Cannot Account For
At the end of June 2004, just when the new interim government was to be announced, the British charity and development organization, Christian Aid noted that:
The US-controlled coalition in Baghdad is handing over power to an Iraqi government without having properly accounted for what it has done with some $20 billion of Iraq's own money...
Christian Aid believes this situation is in flagrant breach of the UN Security Council resolution that gave control of Iraq's oil revenues and other Iraqi funds to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)....
Resolution 1483 of May 2003 said that Iraq's oil revenues should be paid into the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), that this money should be spent in the interests of the Iraqi people, and be independently audited. But it took until April 2004 to appoint an auditor - leaving only a matter of weeks to go through the books.
?? Fuelling suspicion: the coalition and Ira
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Executive order number 13303 [signed by George Bush, in May 2003] states ??any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void?, with respect to ??all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein.?
With this, Bush granted Iraqi oil a lifetime exemption provided US companies are involved in the oil's production, transport, or distribution. This order applies to Iraqi oil products that are ??in the United States, hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons.? (Under US law, corporations are ??persons.?)
??In other words, if ExxonMobil or ChevronTexaco touch Iraqi oil, anything they or anyone else does with it is immune from legal proceedings in the US,? explained Jim Vallette, an analyst with the Sustainable Energy & Economy Network of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC.
??Anything that has happened before with oil companies around the world -- a massive tanker accident; an explosion at an oil refinery; the employment of slave labor to build a pipeline; murder of locals by corporate security; the release of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; or lawsuits by Iraq's current creditors or the next true Iraqi government demanding compensation -- anything at all, is immune from judicial accountability,? he says.
??Effectively Bush has unilaterally declared Iraqi oil to be the unassailable province of US oil corporations,? Vallette added.
?? Pratap Chatterjee and Oula Al Farawati, To the Victors Go the Spoils of War; British Petroleum, Shell and Chevron Win Iraqi Oil Contracts, CorpWatch, August 8, 2003Into June 2004, IPS also also adds that lack of transparency in the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is leading to unaccountability:
Groups critical of the lack of transparency in the CPA's spending have been particularly angry that the authority is using Iraqi money to pay for questionable contracts -- some awarded without a public tendering process -- with U.S. companies.
Washington has restricted the most lucrative reconstruction contracts in Iraq to gigantic U.S. companies that appear set to rack up profitable contracts, fuelling accusations that the Bush administration is seeking to benefit a select few U.S. companies rather than find the best, and possibly the cheapest, options to help the Iraqi people rebuild.
?? Emad Mekay, Charity Finds Billions Missing In Iraqi Oil Revenues, Inter Press Service, June 28, 2004
Missing Billions of Iraqi Money that U.S.-led Coalition Cannot Account For
At the end of June 2004, just when the new interim government was to be announced, the British charity and development organization, Christian Aid noted that:
The US-controlled coalition in Baghdad is handing over power to an Iraqi government without having properly accounted for what it has done with some $20 billion of Iraq's own money...Christian Aid believes this situation is in flagrant breach of the UN Security Council resolution that gave control of Iraq's oil revenues and other Iraqi funds to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)....
Resolution 1483 of May 2003 said that Iraq's oil revenues should be paid into the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), that this money should be spent in the interests of the Iraqi people, and be independently audited. But it took until April 2004 to appoint an auditor - leaving only a matter of weeks to go through the books.http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolit...Rebuilding.asp - 6
?? Fuelling suspicion: the coalition and Ira
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Those links show a legal purchase from Iraqis .... plus it doesn't say anything about getting more oil than the US.
Where does the US get the right to hand out oil contracts from Iraq to US companies?
I gave you my source in my orginal post.
:rastasmoke: :noel:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Doesn't cut it..........I agree. I gave you links to actual contracts put into place and you give a link on speculation that hasn't even passed the Iraqi Legistature? Come on now, we can do better than that I hope.
Which oil fields do U.S. oil companys have contracts on? Please provide links.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
medicinal, alot of this was guidelines set up right after the invasion for us to follow. As of now, they don't mean much since the power was transferred to the Iraqi Government from the CPA.
Anything more recent??
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrowRebel
Those links show a legal purchase from Iraqis .... plus it doesn't say anything about getting more oil than the US.
Where does the US get the right to hand out oil contracts from Iraq to US companies?
I gave you my source in my orginal post.
:rastasmoke: :noel:
there is oil to be bought all over the market.
This war isnt, nor was about, access to oil.
This war was about control.
This war also made it so israel has access to Iraqi oil. thats another crime within the crime unleashed by the usa capitalist pigs.
dai*ma:stoned:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by daima
This war also made it so israel has access to Iraqi oil. thats another crime within the crime unleashed by the usa capitalist pigs.
We've been requesting links as of late........got one?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Psycho, now we've gone through this b4 but theres been links about this very subject posted here, but am not going to search it out just letting others know this subject and its links been brought up b4 by me & pisshead.so if any1 wants to take p4bs up on this just do a search in politics...i gots your links right here below doh, mmmmm:D
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
We've been requesting links as of late........got one?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
Halliburton being one.
They dealt in oil long before dealing in feeding, rebuilding, etc etc.
No bid contracts
If you do your research, and quit asking others to do it for you, you will see that before bush/cheney, halliburton was in trouble with taxes, and was on the brink of collapse after being offshore to avoid taxes for quite some time.
What did cheney have to worry about? worthless stock.
He now gets his 17,000$ per month "retirement" from halliburton and it seems as though because of the no bid contracts handed out by the vp and the "prez, halliburton no longer faces bankrupt, nor any tax evasion charges.
All coincidence? I'll leave that up to those who actually do the reaseach themselves and allow them their own conclusions.
cheney hel secret meeting in his office with the energy companies and the contractors that ended up in Iraq, and they now refuse to allow the public to view those meetings to see what was done. Hopefully we will get access to those records and bushs records, his dads records, clintons records, all which bush put into hiding for life during his first few days in office.
All public record. Go look it up and read some of it, instead of reciting bill oreilly and hannity rhetoric.
Let me know if you find any inaccuracies in my post. I'd be happy to address them with you.
dai*ma:stoned:
go to google and type in any question that asks "what american companies/corporations, are making cash in iraq, and where the oil will finally end up."
I'd suggest a few books, but your willingness to blame a "liberal" author would make it useless.
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by daima
If you do your research, and quit asking others to do it for you,.
Ya know, when I'm asked to supply links for my posts I provide them. Of course, there are some smug people that feel they don't need to provide links.......just bullshit rhetoric.
If you can't supply a link showing what U.S. oil companies have been awarded contracts as of today for exploration and/or drilling just admit it. Why the hell is it always "Prove me wrong."..........San Fran right?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by eg420ne
Psycho, now we've gone through this b4 but theres been links about this very subject posted here, but am not going to search it out just letting others know this subject and its links been brought up b4 by me & pisshead.
LOL........prisionplanet? Sorry, I meant "credible" links.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Doesn't cut it..........I agree. I gave you links to actual contracts put into place and you give a link on speculation that hasn't even passed the Iraqi Legistature? Come on now, we can do better than that I hope.
Which oil fields do U.S. oil companys have contracts on? Please provide links.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
It's not speculation ..... the law is being drafted .... are you saying it will not pass? Why not?
Which oil fields do the Canadian and Turkey have a contract on?
:noel:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
There are no signed contracts as of this date, you are right, But, there are a lot of things going on under the table and you can bet that the USA and big oil Wont let the Iraqi oil slip through their fingers![COLOR="Red"]Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil (Part Two)[/COLOR]By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted October 17, 2006.
The Bush administration has co-opted the compassionate language of debt relief to ensure that Big Oil gets its way in Iraq. Editor's note: This is the second part of a series on the struggle for control of Iraq's oil resources and self-determination. Go here to read the first installment.
With 140,000 U.S. troops on the ground, the largest U.S. embassy in the world sequestered in Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone" and an economy designed by a consulting firm in McLean, Va., post-invasion Iraq was well on its way to becoming a bonanza for foreign investors.
But Big Oil had its sights set on a specific arrangement -- the lucrative production sharing agreements that lock in multinationals' control for long terms and are virtually unheard of in countries as rich in easily accessible oil as Iraq.
The occupation authorities would have to steer an ostensibly sovereign government to the outcome they desired, and they'd have to overcome any resistance that they encountered from the fiercely independent and understandably wary Iraqis along the way. Finally, they'd have to make sure that the Anglo-American firms were well-positioned to win the lion's share of the choicest contracts.
Dealing with the most likely points of opposition began almost immediately. While the Oil Ministry, famously, was one of the few structures the invading forces protected from looters in the first days of the war, the bureaucracy's human assets weren't so lucky. With a stroke of the pen, Coalition Provisional Authority boss L. Paul Bremer fired hundreds of ministry personnel, ostensibly as part of the program of "de-Baathification." But, as Antonia Juhasz, author of "The Bush Agenda," told me, "it wasn't an indication that they were a party to Saddam Hussein's crimes ? they were fired because they could have stood in the way of the economic transformation." Some fraction were certainly hard-core Baathists, but they were all veterans of the country's oil sector; they knew the industry, they knew what the norms in neighboring countries were and they had no loyalty to the occupation forces. Some had to go.
That was true at the top as well. Serving as oil minister in the Iraqi Interim Government was Thamir Ghadbhan, a British-trained technocrat who at one time had been chief of planning under Saddam Hussein and was widely respected for his political independence and his opposition to the previous regime (Saddam had ended up imprisoning him at Abu Ghraib). But despite working closely with American advisors, Ghadbhan was replaced with Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a close associate of Ahmed Chalabi, the exile favored by some war planners to run the country as a kindler and gentler -- but no doubt just as corrupt -- version of Saddam Hussein.
According to Greg Muttit, an analyst with the British oil watchdog Platform, Uloum at first seemed to be a malleable figure. He told the Financial Times that he personally favored PSAs and giving priority to U.S. oil companies "and European companies, probably."
But Uloum would later publicly protest the elimination of fuel subsidies, a key provision of the country's economic restructuring, saying, "This decision will not serve the benefit of the government and the people. This decision brings an extra burden on the shoulders of citizens." He was, as the Associated Press reported, given "a forced vacation." It was, in the end, a permanent vacation; Chalabi, who was deputy prime minister at the time, took over the job himself (as "acting" minister for 30 days, but his term would last a year). Chalabi had no previous experience in the oil biz, but was a reliable, pro-Western figure with little in the way of nationalist zeal to get in the way of being a good lap dog. As leader of the Iraqi National Congress, he had said he favored the creation of a U.S.-led consortium to develop Iraq's oil fields. "American companies will have a big shot at Iraqi oil," Chalabi told the Washington Post in 2002.
According to Alexander Cockburn, Chalabi also orchestrated the ouster of Mohammed Jibouri, executive director of the state's oil marketing agency, who had offended the Swiss giant Glencore by telling its executives that they couldn't trade Iraqi oil after their extensive dealings with Saddam Hussein.
An emerging, although still fragile, civil society was another source of potential trouble. Iraqi trade unions were a thorn in the side of the CPA -- shutting down the port of Khor az-Zubayr in protest of a rip-off deal with the Danish shipping giant Maersk, halting oil production in the south to demand the rehire of laid-off Iraqi workers and kicking Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root out of their refineries. Perhaps it's not a coincidence, then, that the only significant law that Paul Bremer left on the books from the Hussein era was a prohibition against organizing public-sector workers. Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi analyst with the NGO Global Exchange, told me, "They're having a lot of legal problems."
Of course, none of that guaranteed that the Iraqis would stay on the preferred path, especially after the election of an ostensibly sovereign government.
And that's where the most common -- almost ubiquitous -- tool of neocolonialism, debt, came into play. In this case, massive, crushing debt run up by a dictator who treated himself and his cronies to palaces and other luxuries, spent lavishly on weapons for Iraq's war with Iran -- fought in part on behalf of the United States -- and owed Kuwait billions of dollars in reparations for the 1990 invasion.
To put Iraq's foreign debt in perspective, if the country's economy were the size of the United States', then its obligations in 2004, proportionally, would have equaled around $55 trillion, according to IMF figures (and that doesn't include reparations from the first Gulf War).
Clearly, that amount of debt was unsustainable, and the Bush administration launched a full-court press to get creditor nations to forgive at least part of the new government's debt burden. Former Secretary of State James Baker, long the Bush family's "fixer," was dispatched on a tour of the world's capitals to cut deals on behalf of the Iraqis.
The administration raised eyebrows in the NGO community when it adopted the language of debt-relief activists to frame their pitch. Bush, and Baker, called it "odious" debt, debt that financed the whims of a brutal dictator and used against the interests of the Iraqi population. Under international law, "odious" debt, in theory at least, doesn't need to be forgiven; it's written off as a dictator's illicit gains. As one might expect, wealthy creditor nations have long resisted the concept.
Debt-relief activists Basav Sen and Hope Chu wrote that the move "seemed inexplicable at first." But it soon became clear that Iraq's debt-relief program was, in fact, a way of locking in Iraq's economic transformation.
The largest chunk of debt, $120 billion, was owed to the Paris Club, a group of 19 industrialized nations. Baker negotiated a deal whereby the Paris Club would forgive 80 percent of Iraq's debt, but the catch -- and it was a big one -- was that Iraq had to agree to an economic "reform" package administered by the International Monetary Fund, an institution dominated by the wealthiest countries and infamous across the developing world for its painful and unpopular Structural Adjustment Protocols.
The debt would be written off in stages; 30 percent would be cancelled outright, another 30 percent when an elected Iraqi government accepted an IMF structural reform agreement and a final 20 percent after the IMF had monitored its implementation for three years. This gave the IMF the role of watchdog over the country's new economy, despite the fact that its share of the country's debt burden was less than 1 percent of the total.
Among a number of provisions in the IMF agreement, along with privatizing state-run companies (which resulted in the layoffs of an estimated 145,000 Iraqis), slashing government pensions and phasing out the subsidies on food and fuel that many Iraqis depended on, was a commitment to develop Iraq's oil in partnership with the private sector. Then-Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mehdi said, none too happily, that the deal would be "very promising to the American investors and to American enterprise, certainly to oil companies." The Iraqi National Assembly released a statement saying, "the Paris Club has no right to make decisions and impose IMF conditions on Iraq," and called it "a new crime committed by the creditors who financed Saddam's oppression." And Zaid Al-Ali, an international lawyer who works with the NGO Jubilee Iraq, said it was "a perfect illustration of how the industrialized world has used debt as a tool to force developing nations to surrender sovereignty over their economies."
The IMF agreement was announced in December of 2005, along with a new $685 million IMF loan that was to be used, in part, to increase Iraq's oil output. The announcement came a month after Iraqis went to the polls to vote for their first government under the new Constitution in order, according to the Washington Post, to spare Iraqi "politicians from voters' wrath." That was a wise idea; immediately following the agreement, gas prices skyrocketed and Iraqis rioted.
The icing on the cake is that the deal James Baker negotiated with the Paris Club refers to Iraq as an "exceptional situation"; no precedent was set that would allow other highly indebted countries saddled with odious debt from their own past dictators to claim similar relief.
The deadline the Iraqi government must meet for the completion of its final oil law in December is a "benchmark" in the IMF agreement.
In an investigation for the Nation, Naomi Klein discovered that Baker had pursued his mission with an eye-popping conflict of interest. Klein discovered that a consortium that included the Carlyle Group, of which Baker is believed to have a $180 million stake, had contracted with Kuwait to make sure that the money it was owed by Iraq would be excluded from any debt-relief package. When Baker met with the Kuwaiti emir to beg forgiveness for Iraq's odious debt, he had a direct interest in making sure he didn't get it.
Another major creditor was Saudi Arabia. The Carlyle Group has extensive business dealings with the kingdom and Baker's law firm, Baker Botts, was representing the monarchy in a suit brought by the families of the victims of 9/11.
The most recent IMF report (PDF) shows how successfully he failed: "While most Paris Club official creditors have now signed bilateral agreements, progress has been slow in resolving non-Paris Club official claims, especially those of Gulf countries," it says. It's likely that Iraq, a country occupied for three years, devastated by 12 years of sanctions and with a per capita GDP of $3,400, will end up paying reparations to Kuwait, a country with a per capita GDP of over $19,000, for the five months Saddam occupied his neighbor in late 1990 and early 1991.
Iraq will still face a mountain of debt even if it meets all of the "benchmarks" required of it -- the IMF expects the country's debt service to equal five percent of its economic output in 2011 and warns that even a minor price shock in the oil market "would require significant borrowing from the international markets to close the financing gaps."
"Sovereign" debt is transferable between governments; if a new strongman arises or Iraq becomes a loose federation, the debt will remain on the books and defaulting on it, while a possibility, has serious long-term consequences.
All of this is about bringing different forms of pressure onto Iraq's nascent government, not controlling it, and it's an important distinction. Before and since the "handover" to Iraq's government, the Green Zone has been overrun with "advisers" from Big Oil. Aram Roston wrote, "It's clear that there is not just the one Iraqi Oil Ministry, but a parallel 'shadow' ministry run by American advisers." In business, that's known as "positioning."
Phillip Carroll, a former chief executive with Royal Dutch/Shell and a 15-member "board of advisors" were appointed to oversee Iraq's oil industry during the transition period. According to the Guardian, the group "would represent Iraq at meetings of OPEC." Carroll had been working with the Pentagon for months before the invasion -- even while the administration was still insisting that it sought a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis -- "developing contingency plans for Iraq's oil sector in the event of war." According to the Houston Chronicle, "He assumed his work was completed, he said, until Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called him shortly after the U.S.-led invasion began and offered him the oil adviser's job." Carroll, in addition to running Shell Oil in the United States, was a former CEO of the Fluor Corp., a well-connected oil services firm with extensive projects in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and at least $1.6 billion in contracts for Iraq's reconstruction. He was joined by Gary Vogler, a former executive with ExxonMobile, in Iraq's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.
After spending six months in the post, Carroll was replaced by Robert E. McKee III, a former ConocoPhillips executive. According to the Houston Chronicle, "His selection as the Bush administration's energy czar in Iraq" drew fire from congressional Democrats "because of his ties to the prime contractor in the Iraqi oil fields, Houston-based Halliburton Co. He's the chairman of a venture partitioned by the ? firm."
The administration selected Chevron Vice President Norm Szydlowski to serve as a liaison between the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Now the CEO of the appropriately named Colonial Pipeline Co., he continues to work with the Iraq Energy Roundtable, a project of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, which recently sponsored a meeting to "bring together oil and gas sector leaders in the U.S. with key decision makers from the Iraq Ministry of Oil."
Terry Adams and Bob Morgan of BP, and Mike Stinson of ConocoPhillips would also serve as advisors during the transition.
After the CPA handed over the reigns to Iraq's interim government, the embassy's "shadow" oil ministry continued to work closely with the Iraqis to shape future oil policy. Platform's Greg Muttit wrote that "senior oil advisers -- now based within the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) in the U.S. Embassy ... included executives from ChevronTexaco and Unocal." After the handover, a senior U.S. official said: "We're still here. We'll be paying a lot of attention, and we'll have a lot of influence. We're going to have the world's largest diplomatic mission with a significant amount of political weight."
The majors have also engaged in good, old-fashioned lobbying. In 2004, Shell advertised for an Iraqi lobbyist with good contacts among Iraq's emerging elites. The firm sought "a person of Iraqi extraction with strong family connections and an insight into the network of families of significance within Iraq." According to Platform, just weeks after the invasion, in a meeting with oil company execs and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in London, former British Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind promised to personally lobby Dick Cheney for contracts on behalf of several firms, including Shell.
Meanwhile, major oil firms were positioning themselves so that they'd have the best contacts in the new government. According to the Associated Press, "The world's three biggest integrated oil companies" -- BP, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch/Shell -- "struck cooperation or training deals with Iraq" in 2005. "It's a way to maintain contact and get the oil officials to know about them," former Iraqi Oil Minister Issam Chalabi told the AP. And it seems to have worked; in May, Iraq's current oil minister, Husayn al-Shahristani, said that one of his top priorities would be to finalize an oil law and sign contracts with "the largest companies."
Washington has its hands all over the drafting of that law. Early on, in 2003, USAID commissioned BearingPoint, Inc. to submit recommendations for the development of Iraq's oil sector. BearingPoint was the firm that designed the country's economic transformation under a previous USAID contract, so it was no surprise that its report reinforced the preference for PSAs that "everybody [kept] kept coming back to" during meetings of the State Department's "Future of Iraq Project."
In February, just months after the Iraqis elected their first constitutional government, USAID sent a BearingPoint adviser to provide the Iraqi Oil Ministry "legal and regulatory advice in drafting the framework of petroleum and other energy-related legislation, including foreign investment." According to Muttit, the Iraqi Parliament had not yet seen a draft of the oil law as of July, but by that time it had already been reviewed and commented on by U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, who also "arranged for Dr. Al-Shahristani to meet with nine major oil companies -- including Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips -- for them to comment on the draft."
All of these points of pressure are only what we can see in the light of day. There is certainly much more occurring under the table. Raed Jarrar told me that he "was personally familiar with the kind of intimidation that can be brought by both the U.S. military and civilian" personnel, and that he would be shocked if "multiple millions of dollars in bribes" were not changing hands. The IMF noted in its latest report (PDF) that "corruption related to the production and distribution of refined fuel products was rampant." Last March, 450 Oil Ministry employees were fired for suspected corruption, and Mohammed al-Abudi, the Oil Ministry's director general for rrilling, said that "administrative corruption" was pervasive. "The robberies and thefts are taking place on a daily basis on all levels," he said, "committed by low-level government employees and by high officials in leadership positions of the Iraqi state." The same day that the U.N. legitimized the occupation, George Bush signed Executive Order 13303 providing full legal immunity to all oil companies doing business in Iraq in order to facilitate the country's "orderly reconstruction."
Yet, despite a five-year effort, Big Oil still sits on the sidelines, wary of the disorder and violence that's plagued the country. Ironically, it appears that China may well receive the first deal in post-Saddam Iraq (although it's one negotiated with Hussein's government before the war). The Kurdish autonomous zone has signed three PSAs -- none with the majors -- although there is some dispute about their validity (and, at this writing, there are reports that the Kurds are in negotiations with Royal Dutch/Shell and BP, among others).
At this point, the situation is very fluid. Last week, Iraqis were shocked when a controversial measure that might lead to the country's effective breakup was passed by Parliament by one vote. The major Sunni parties and Muqtada al Sadr's ministers boycotted the vote in outrage. Muddying the waters further is a heated debate about whether a somewhat ambiguous provision in the Iraqi Constitution already gives provincial governments the right to hold on to oil revenues rather than send them to the central government. The results of all of these debates will have an enormous impact on Iraq's chances to build an autonomous and potentially prosperous country down the road.
It's possible that the administration and its partners badly overplayed their hand. Iraq's new government stands on the verge of a complete meltdown, faced with a crisis of legitimacy based largely on the fact that it is seen as collaborating with American forces. Overwhelming majorities of Iraqis of every sect believe the United States is an occupier, not a liberator, and is convinced that it intends to stay in Iraq permanently. "If you go in front of Parliament, Raed Jarrar told me, "and ask: 'who is opposed to demanding a timetable for the Americans to withdrawal?' nobody would dare raise their hand." The passage of a sweetheart oil law could prove to be a tipping point. It's also possible Iraq's government won't make it to December; at this writing, rumors of a "palace coup" are swirling around Baghdad, according to Iraqi lawmakers.
What is clear is that the future of Iraq ultimately hinges to a great degree on the outcome of a complex game of chess -- only part of which is out in the open -- that is playing out right now, and oil is at the center of it. It's equally clear that there's a yawning disconnect between Iraqis' and Americans' views of the situation. Erik Leaver, a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, told me that the disposition of Iraq's oil wealth is "definitely causing problems on the ground," but the entire topic is taboo in polite D.C. circles. "Nobody in Washington wants to talk about it," he said. "They don't want to sound like freaks talking about blood for oil." At the same time, a recent poll asked Iraqis what they believed was the main reason for the invasion and 76 percent gave "to control Iraqi oil" as their first choice.Correction: an earlier version of this article identified BearingPoint, Inc. as a company spun off from Arthur Anderson Consulting. It is a spin-off from KPMG, LLC. alternet.org
Tagged as: iraq, oil, bush, cartel
Joshua Holland is an AlterNet staff writer.
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
LOL........prisionplanet? Sorry, I meant "credible" links.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
Sorry Psycho but them links id posted wernt from prisonplanet, heres 2 of em to check out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...940250,00.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0423/p11s01-coop.html
For some reason or another the links from the israel internet sites been deleted, hmmmmmmmm:confused:
Israel's National Infrastructure Minister Joseph Paritzky was quoted in a March 31 Ha'aretz article saying that Israeli and Jordanian officials would soon meet to discuss reviving the line. Built by the British in the 1940s, the line crossed west from Iraq through Jordan to British-ruled Palestine (today's Israel). Upon the 1948 birth of Israel and the immediate eruption of war with Iraq, Jordan and other Arab neighbors forced its shutdown and the diversion of Iraqi oil through a branch line to Syria..
But then it says this: Arabs reacted with predictable fury to Mr. Paritzky's suggestion that the oil of a post- Hussein Iraq could flow to the Jewish state, to be consumed or marketed from there. Jordan's information minister instantly declared the story about Israel-Jordan meetings "devoid of truth," because Jordan's "relations with Israel are now very cold."
Flipflopping just like the demopublicans
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by eg420ne
Sorry Psycho but them links id posted wernt from prisonplanet, heres 2 of em to check out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...940250,00.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0423/p11s01-coop.html
For some reason or another the links from the israel internet sites been deleted, hmmmmmmmm:confused:
If you know the thread post it.......I'll check out and see what happened to the links. As for myself, VERY, VERY little has EVER been deleted in here by me. You think I'm crazy? DON'T answer that! LOL
Israel's National Infrastructure Minister Joseph Paritzky was quoted in a March 31 Ha'aretz article saying that Israeli and Jordanian officials would soon meet to discuss reviving the line. Built by the British in the 1940s, the line crossed west from Iraq through Jordan to British-ruled Palestine (today's Israel). Upon the 1948 birth of Israel and the immediate eruption of war with Iraq, Jordan and other Arab neighbors forced its shutdown and the diversion of Iraqi oil through a branch line to Syria..
But then it says this: Arabs reacted with predictable fury to Mr. Paritzky's suggestion that the oil of a post- Hussein Iraq could flow to the Jewish state, to be consumed or marketed from there. Jordan's information minister instantly declared the story about Israel-Jordan meetings "devoid of truth," because Jordan's "relations with Israel are now very cold."
Flipflopping just like the demopublicans
They got pipelines leading to Turkey, through Syria to Lebanon, and the one half way through Jordan which the way it sounds.....won't happen. I don't buy this oil for Israel garbage. Sorry.:D
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by medicinal
There are no signed contracts as of this date, you are right, But, there are a lot of things going on under the table and you can bet that the USA and big oil Wont let the Iraqi oil slip through their fingers!.
I'm sure we'll eventually have companies in there but as for now.....it's not the U.S. We'll see what the Iraqi Legislature does with this. The way it looks.....I think compromises are still in the future.
The Bush administration has co-opted the compassionate language of debt relief to ensure that Big Oil gets its way in Iraq. Editor's note: This is the second part of a series on the struggle for control of Iraq's oil resources and self-determination. Go here to read the first installment.
Good article.......gave a little different spin on the debt relief. I recall initially that the Arab States wouldn't do debt relief untill there was an actual elected government recognized by the U.N. Then they stated that they wouldn't do it unless the exchange rates for Iraqi currency were somewhere in the mid-range of that region....between .33:1 to 3.29:1. Also, recently at a meeting with the League of Arab Nations it was a unanimous vote for the recommendation for complete debt forgiveness.......I'll try to find the link. LOL
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Ya know, when I'm asked to supply links for my posts I provide them. Of course, there are some smug people that feel they don't need to provide links.......just bullshit rhetoric.
If you can't supply a link showing what U.S. oil companies have been awarded contracts as of today for exploration and/or drilling just admit it. Why the hell is it always "Prove me wrong."..........San Fran right?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
exxon, chevron, both have deals now that allow them access to Iraqi oil.
when you have a commader in thief that hides records it becomes more difficult to prove a point, sooooo, just follow the money.
I was watching c-span this morning and they had a guy who served with bush when he was in the air national gaurd.
This guy says "when bush flew in from texas to lousiana he got so drunk that we hd to wait for him to sober up to ship out on our next mission. I knew then that we had a guy that didnt really care about his fellow soldier"
google supplies many many links. go look. You typing in google makes it a lot easier for this old man than typing in all the sites they post for you.
Dont be afraid to go look. Its easy. www.google.com
Have you ever been in the military? ever been shot at? do you know what its like to watch a person have their head blown completely off? or do you just support these kind of activities in your name? come on mr america, tell us about it.
I know that you have been through two wives, but thats not really combat.
dai*ma:stoned: 5 year military vet
my son a Marine
My dad a tank commader in ww2
My uncle in Korea war
My brother in Vietnam war
Two cousins(twins) who are both airforce officers/pilots
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
LOL........prisionplanet? Sorry, I meant "credible" links.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
what makes them not credible? iyo.
dai*ma:stoned:
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud
Ya know, when I'm asked to supply links for my posts I provide them. Of course, there are some smug people that feel they don't need to provide links.......just bullshit rhetoric.
If you can't supply a link showing what U.S. oil companies have been awarded contracts as of today for exploration and/or drilling just admit it. Why the hell is it always "Prove me wrong."..........San Fran right?
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
look up the , Carlyle Group, an entity run by g bush sr and his friends and get back to me on what you read and what they sell.
This should be interesting. And then , Bechtel.
And its not just limited to republicans. Diane feinstein husband is a contractor in iraq making tens of millions of your tax dollars, on a war she voted for.
dai*ma:stoned:
war doesnt decide who's right.
war only decides who's left.
unfortunately the only the dead see an end to wars.
We have people in our government, who decide wherther to go to war, or not, making money off the ways they start and or participate in.
Wouldnt you know? the bush family friends are the ones now making drug testing kits so you and your loved ones can be drug tested by them.
just keep waving that flag and one day its gonna hit you right smack in the head. if it hasnt already.
-
Iraq launches drive to subdue Baghdad
Quote:
Originally Posted by daima
look up the , Carlyle Group
Quote:
Originally Posted by daima
Should prove interesting when YOU decide to post the link.
Have a good one!:jointsmile:
