American Contractor

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.
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