American Contractor

PM Maliki threatened the CoR that he would expose their corruption if the questioning of Ministers continues. After that statement from PM Maliki if I was a Parliament member I too would take a week off and really think about my position in my pursuit of the questioning of the Ministers. As you can see tensions were high in Iraqi CoR. PM Maliki made comments that he would uncover the corruption cases which he said involves 90% of the Iraqi Parliament. PM Maliki said he would rather not do this because it would hurt the Iraq's people confidence in the political process.

All political bodies such as the Supreme Judicial Council, the State, CoR, and Executive Authority are all allegedly succumbed to corruption. PM Maliki was saying “ Only 10% of the Parliament would go for this because the other 90% employs less than 10 actual bodyguards...rest are 'fictional names.'

PM Maliki is talking about one of the benefits of being a Iraqi Parliament member you get to have 30 bodyguards paid by the Iraqi government. Each bodyguard salary is 860,000 Iraqi dinars. Another benefit to being a Iraqi Parliament member is you get your own Armored vehicle that is exempt from traffic laws. Plus $50,000 USD to improve the Parliament member standard of living such as buying a house.

As you can see there are other great benefits to being a Iraqi Parliament member and they want to increase the current members of Parliament from 275 to 300 members.

You have seen reports of Iraqi's that want to stop the upcoming Oil bids to be announced on the 29th 30th of June by executives of Iraq South Oil Company and 20 other people who have submitted signed documents to stop the bids from being announced. They say the licensing will be selling 80% of the Iraqi reserves to International companies. I am not sure on the percentage of 80% but that is what the current reports are saying and will just have to wait and see what develops in the next few weeks. However, don't be shocked if the bidding process is postponed to a later date. The bidding contracts will be for 20 years.

The Iraq Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, is refusing to pay those oil companies for the projects that they have completed in the North. The companies that are expecting payment are DNO International – Norway, Addax Petroleum – Canada, Genel Enerji – Turkey. The Oil Minister has suggested that the KRG pay the companies from there 17% of the oil proceeds and the KRG have rejected that idea.

In April of this year it has been reported that Iraq is considering a third Stand-By loan with a total anywhere from 4-7 billion dollars and recently it has been reported that this deal has not been finalized as the Finance Minister and CBI Director have already met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials in the last few days.

The reason that there has not been any agreement between Iraq and the IMF in reference to their billion dollar loan is the CBI and the Iraqi government are waiting on the very soon planned of the sell of 5 billion dollars worth of Treasury Bonds (1 year T-Bonds). The Treasury Bonds will have interest rate or 2%. Just as I have written in the June 6, 2009 newsletter the information is all there. The sell of the bonds still has to be approved by the Iraqi Parliament and that has not been done as far as I know and with the CoR being off this week it will not be this week for sure.

Remember also that what ever amount is approved in regards to the Iraq Treasury bills by the Iraqi Parliament whether it is 4 billion or 5 billion Treasury Bonds to sell with a 1 Year expiration date will set the parameters of how much of the IMF loan Iraq would be willing to accept. I am sure the Iraqi government will want to get the least amount from the IMF if the Iraqi government has to go in that direction to minimize those IMF conditions that will be certainly be imposed on the Iraqi government and Central Bank of Iraq (CBI). Examples of conditions from the IMF, how about Oil and currency...get the picture.

The IMF loan the third SBA loan agreement is for next year 2010 so the Iraqi government has plenty of time to decide what exactly they are going to do as the 2009 fiscal year end 31 Dec.

Another factor in deciding to get the IMF loan or not is the rising oil prices. This would be considered and the higher the oil price the better it is for Iraq.

I will say that the Iraqi government is very nervous about the SBA loan from the IMF and they will take there time in deciding anything about this particular IMF loan.

RV UPDATE

There is no evidence of any pending RV or anything with the Iraqi Currency to date. If you look at the important Iraq dates at the top of this document the Iraqi government has a lot of work to do before they can even structure a currency policy shift. Some may think other wise and that is okay as I believe we can all learn from each other and seeing different point of views on the subject and I am definite not afraid to admit when I am wrong. I provide these newsletters as commentary/opinions only based on research and networking with professionals.

Chapter Seven, still no word or announcements my prediction is that it will be the end of the year 31 Dec when it will either be lifted or extended into 2010.

THIS IS AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN BAGHDAD NEWSPAPER AL BAYYNA AL JADIDAH NEWSPAPER JUNE 15.

The Parliament Is Busy With Its Own Interests Such As Property, Loans, Grants, And Travel While It Has Left The Iraqi People Starving In Poverty; What Has The Parliament Provided For The People So That They Are Now Calling To Increase Its Number Of Members?

We are grateful for the suggestion that Parliament should increase the number of its members to 300. This will allow its numbers to divide evenly amount the increasing population. However, the Parliament is semi-absent in its role and is pre-occupied with its self-interests and never even thinks about the Iraqi people.

The Iraqi people are suffering from the Parliament because most of its members are giving false statements and do not fulfill their promises regarding providing services, eliminating unemployment, and stopping bombings. The Parliament always issues statements that have no impact on the reality of Iraq. We wish that the Parliament would allocate a few hours of its precious time to look into the Iraqi people's problems and discuss laws that would decrease their suffering a little. The Parliament excels in delaying the discussion of many important issues, such as the retirement pension of employees, military pensions, housing projects, electricity, water, cell phone services, and the shortage in medicine. These vital issues have been delayed for over a year. Instead, the Parliament Members are running like dogs for their permanent diplomatic passports, their real estate, their 0% interest loans, their luxurious vehicles, and never ending supply of bodyguards. Meanwhile, the skin of the Iraqi citizens is being barbecued in the heat of day, being bitten by bugs at night, and there is a near complete lack of electricity and water. Additionally, the fortunate citizen must stay up all night to draw water from the grid. Then, he must pay over half of his salary to the local generator operators for maintenance of his generator. We won't even mention unemployment, which forces many of our youth to join hands with terrorists and gangs.

This is our glorious Parliament, who, with all of its benefits was unable to accomplish anything. After all the sacrifices and patience during the Saddam era, what did the Iraqis get from the Parliament... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

The Iraqi people wish that they could turn back time and undo their mistake of voting for these people.

And, it gets worse the Parliament is expanding. The people can no longer handle the cost of additional Parliament Members, either financially or mentally.

Increasing the number of Parliament members means one thing: screwing the Iraqi people let all the poor people go to hell as long as the Parliament President is safe what significance does a million Iraqis have in comparison with the Parliament elite?

We say stop this at once! The people are fed up! We never had this type of situation during the era of the dictator.

END OF ARTICLE

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