It seems a new tactic is being used in Iraq, attack the 600,000 strong Christian population.
Category: Iraqi War
That uranium thing
Where has all the oil money gone?
Paul Krugman asks a fair question, where has all the oil money gone? And why has so little money been spent? He asks:
Last month we learned that the United States, while it has spent vast sums on the war in Iraq, has so far provided almost no aid. Of $18.4 billion in reconstruction funds approved by Congress, only $400 million has been disbursed.
Almost all of the money spent by the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq until late June, came from Iraqi sources, mainly oil revenues. This revelation helps explain one puzzle: the sluggish pace of reconstruction, which has yet to restore many essential services to prewar levels.
But it creates another puzzle: Given that the authority was spending Iraq’s money, why wasn’t it more careful in its accounting?
He continues with some more staggering points:
Every important official with responsibility for Iraqi finances was a Bush administration loyalist. The occupying authority dragged its feet on an international audit, which didn’t even begin until April 2004.
When KPMG auditors hired by an international advisory board finally got to work, they found that no effort had been made to keep an accurate record of oil sales, and that accounting for the $20 billion Development Fund for Iraq consisted of “spreadsheets and pivot tables maintained by a single accountant.”
The auditors also faced a lack of cooperation. They were denied access to Iraqi ministries, which were reputed to be the locus of epic corruption on the part of Iraqis with connections to the occupiers. They were also denied access to reports concerning what they delicately describe as “sole-source contracts.”
Translation: They were stonewalled when they tried to find out what Halliburton did with $1.4 billion. By obstructing international auditors, by the way, the United States wasn’t just fueling suspicion about the misappropriation of Iraqi oil money – it was also breaking its word. After Saddam’s fall, the United Nations gave the United States the right to disburse Iraqi oil-for-food revenues, but only on the condition that this be accompanied by international auditing and oversight.
And here even more curious:
On the day the United States raided Chalabi’s offices, a British associate of Chalabi who had been promising to come out with a devastating report told London’s Daily Telegraph that a remarkably effective hacker attack had destroyed all his computer files, including the backup copies. After the United States’ falling-out with Chalabi, the oil-for-food investigation was taken out of the hands of Chalabi’s allies. But the new head of the investigation was assassinated on July 1.
Very strange indeed.
Egyptian envoy abducted in Iraq
An armed group in Iraq has kidnapped an Egyptian diplomat in Baghdad, the Egyptian embassy in the capital says.
Arab Al-Jazeera TV named the diplomat as Mohamed Mamdouh Qutb and said he had been abducted following comments by Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif.
Saddam the romancier: Jo Tatchell
Ever wonder about all those weird fiction books that Saddam wrote while he was in power, and why intelligence agencies were so interested? Jo Tatchell has written a good overview of his books.
Andrew Gilligan
Wow, Andrew Gilligan was certainly a nervous fellow interviewed by Gavin Esler on BBC Newsnight tonight. Still sticking to his guns though.
Iraq police swoop on 'criminals'
Sounds like the new Iraqi regime is trying to kick ass.
Police in Iraq have detained at least 525 suspected criminals in their biggest co-ordinated operation since the US invasion, officials say.
Some 500 Iraqi police staged a series of raids in Baghdad in an effort to clean up the capital’s streets, interior ministry sources said.
Captors seize Bulgarian hostages
An Islamic militant group in Iraq has threatened to kill two Bulgarian hostages – the latest to be captured. A videotape broadcast by al-Jazeera television shows two men with their hands tied, flanked by three gunmen.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is suspected to be behind it, but some Iraqi militias apparently have put a price on his head, after warning him to leave Iraq.
Keith Matthew Maupin beheaded?
News is circulating that Keith Matthew Maupin has also been executed, these executions are becoming an all too frequent occurence. Why the new tack? A video or pictures of the murder will likely become available soon, but is this propaganda counter-productive?
Islamic militants execute captured US Marine
The BBC is reporting that the captured US Marine, Cpl Wassef Ali Hassoun, has been executed. The report originated from al-Jazeera.