Reconciliation Conference Highlights Iraq’s Deep Political and Religious Fissures

by Erica Goode and Ahmed Fadam (The New York Times)

It was billed as a national “dialogue” that would bring Iraq’s disparate and warring factions together to discuss their differences and emerge with a blueprint for peaceful coexistence.

But if the national reconciliation conference held here on Tuesday revealed anything, it was that the deep political and religious fissures that run through this battered country are nowhere close to healing. Three of the most important political blocs boycotted the conference.

Posted on: 03/19/08

Iraq Asylum Seeker Numbers Double in 2007

by Agencies

Twice as many Iraqis applied for asylum in developed countries in 2007 compared to the year before, increasing the number of new asylum seekers worldwide for the first time since 2002, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

In a detailed report, the UNHCR said the number of formal asylum seekers from Iraq more than doubled to 45,200 last year, making up the largest proportion of the 338,000 applications received by 43 industrialised states around the world.

Posted on: 03/19/08

Millions of Iraqis Lack Water, Healthcare: Red Cross

by Stephanie Nebehay (Reuters)

Five years after the United States led an invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are still deprived of clean water and medical care, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.

In a sober report marking the anniversary of the 2003 start of the war … the humanitarian body said Iraqi hospitals lack beds, drugs and medical staff. Some areas of the country of 27 million people have no functioning water and sanitation facilities, and the poor public water supply has forced some families to use at least a third of their average $150 monthly income buying clean drinking water.

Posted on: 03/19/08

Profits from Stolen Oil Help Sustain Insurgency in Iraq

by Richard A. Oppel Jr. (International Herald Tribune)

The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation and then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to U.S. military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated—and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week.

"It’s the money pit of the insurgency," said Captain Joe Da Silva, who commands several platoons stationed at the refinery.

Posted on: 03/19/08

Strategic Regional Thinking Required

“If you reflect back on those five years, I think it’s been a difficult, challenging, but nonetheless successful endeavor; that we’ve come a long way in five years, and that it’s been well worth the effort.”
–Vice President Richard Cheney, remarks at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, March 17, 2008

VS.

“If you look at the United States military presence in Iraq, particularly after the Saddam Hussein regime was taken out, in classical strategic terms, our military has been in what is called a holding action. The United States military is not capable in and of itself of bringing major political change. Without a larger strategic umbrella, a regional umbrella in terms of international diplomacy, and without the ability of the Iraqi government to come to some sort of agreement on its future, it’s not going to have the kind of long-term impact that people are hoping for.”
–Senator James Webb (D-VA), former assistant defense secretary and secretary of the Navy, Weekend Edition Saturday, March 15, 2008