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IRAQ WARS
US funds may have helped Iraq insurgents: watchdog
by Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) May 1, 2012

April oil exports highest since 1989: Iraq
Baghdad (AFP) May 1, 2012 - Iraq's crude exports in April were the highest monthly figure in more than 20 years, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said on Tuesday.

Overall Iraqi oil exports reached the highest level since 1989, he said, and brought in $8.8 billion in revenues for the government, which depends on crude sales for the lion's share of its income.

Overall oil exports last month averaged 2.508 million barrels per day (bpd), equating to 75.25 million barrels over the course of April.

By comparison, Iraq exported 71.827 million barrels of oil in March, at an average daily rate of 2.317 million bpd and generating $8.475 billion in revenues.

"Our goal is to export 2.6 million barrels per day, and we are about to reach this point," Jihad told AFP by telephone.

"The reason for this is the two new oil platforms which contributed significantly to creating export facilities for Iraqi production."

Iraq's second of five planned floating Gulf oil terminals came online last month, after one began exporting in March, increasing the country's export capacity from the south to 3.5 million bpd.

The country currently produces upwards of three million bpd, and Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi has said it plans to increase output and exports this year to 3.4 million bpd and 2.6 million bpd respectively.


Some US commanders believe funds available for relief and reconstruction during the country's war in Iraq may have ended up benefiting insurgents, a report released by a US watchdog said.

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) surveyed officers and officials associated with the Commander's Emergency Response Programme (CERP), a fund used by US military officers for projects to boost rebuilding in their areas of responsibility.

The US Congress has allocated nearly $4 billion since 2004 for CERP.

"Some commanders indicated that the diversion of CERP project funds may have benefited insurgents," SIGIR said in the report published on Monday detailing the results of the survey.

"Money... was found during raids on insurgents (along with) admission from contractors that they paid money 'for protection,'" the report quoted one US commander as saying.

"There was substantial evidence that the local authorities ... were stealing right off the top," another said. "Additionally, governors were offering insurgents money that was to pay for CERP activities to NOT attack certain CERP-funded programmes."

The number of US forces in Iraq peaked at nearly 170,000 several years after the 2003 US-led invasion, but the vast majority pulled out at the end of last year. Now, around 150 remain under the authority of the US embassy.

SIGIR found that graft also posed a problem for the dispersal of CERP funds.

"Corruption is an integral feature of Iraqi society and politics. Battling corruption in the Iraqi system is a Sisyphean task... It was generally understood and accepted as common practice," one commander said.

"When you pay $40,000 to a contractor to have a well dug and 10 percent goes to the contractor, and 10 percent more goes to the local tribal leader, we call that corruption. But that was the cost of getting things done," another said.

"I never saw US personnel commit fraud, but in Iraqi culture there were many hidden costs."

Another officer said: "I believe that contractors that were used for certain projects were required to pay off Iraqi officials. Incidents occurred when these contractors did not pay off officials, such as threats and attacks.

"Additionally, some Iraqi officials, political and military, attempted to force us to use certain contractors. The assumption was that these contractors were providing kickbacks to the Iraqi officials."

The report noted: "About 76 percent of those surveyed estimated that at least some of the money their battalions spent on CERP was lost to fraud and corruption."

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Iraq death toll in April rises
Baghdad (AFP) May 1, 2012 - The number of Iraqis killed in April increased from the previous month, but stayed near its lowest level since the 2003 US-led invasion, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

In total, 126 Iraqis -- 88 civilians, 18 policemen and 20 soldiers -- died in attacks nationwide, figures compiled by the ministries of health, interior and defence showed.

That compared with 112 Iraqis in March, the lowest monthly figure since the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

A total of 271 people were wounded in violence last month, including 132 civilians, 89 policemen and 50 soldiers. The figures also showed that 25 insurgents were killed and 185 arrested.

Last month's worst violence took place on April 19, when a wave of coordinated shootings and bombings in seven different provinces killed 38 people. The attacks were claimed by Al-Qaeda the following day.

On April 26, a suicide car bombing near a cafe and another bomb attack inside it killed eight people in central Iraq, while bomb attacks in Baghdad killed four others.



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Iraq violence kills seven: officials
Baghdad (AFP) April 30, 2012
Violence killed seven people in Iraq on Monday, including a mother and her three children who were stabbed to death in their home and an army major killed by a bomb, officials said. A mother, her 13-year-old boy, and girls aged five and seven were killed in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Kamaliyah after the woman's husband, who works at the ministry of health, left for his office, security and ... read more


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