powerclown

I don't agree here...
Here is proof for something. Something positive..
It's a start.

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- Election. Says Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi, the head of the Electoral Commission: "These are the first free, multi-party elections since 1954 and I can tell you that according to our 6,000 electoral agents throughout the country, there is a real fervour [to vote] even in the Sunni regions." Nearly 14 million voters are eligible to go to the polls.

Iraq is spending 250 million dollars for this landmark election. Voting papers are being printed in Switzerland to avoid counterfeiting, and a company will distribute them to the 9,000 polling stations which will be equipped with 40,000 ballot boxes.

Adds Hindawi: "We have banned any emblem showing violence or religious symbols. . . . Under this rule, we have rejected one list which depicted a tank, another which opted for a Koran with a sun, and a third which had mass graves."

-Legal. Two seminars on the rule of law in Iraq were held in October as part of a university partnership led by DePaul University to improve legal education in Iraq. The first seminar was titled "The New Iraqi Constitution" and was held in Baghdad.

-Women's Rights. Iraqi women, meanwhile, continue with their struggle for greater rights and freedoms in the new Iraq. Zainab Al-Suwaij and Ala Talabani, two Iraqi feminist activists, work on behalf of their countrywomen. Al-Suwaij, who went into exile in the U.S. after the failed Shiite uprising in 1991, "created the American Islamic Congress with the goal of promoting moderation and tolerance within and outside the Islamic community. After the American occupation of Iraq she has also spent 14 months there working to develop projects focused on improving the educational system--her schools for dropouts have a 97 percent rate of success--and empowering Iraqi women."

-Humanitarian. Thirty-four Iraqi medics, academics and police officers arrived in Britain in October to study forensic archaeology at Bournemouth University so they could identify their dead and gather evidence of genocide in their homeland. Seven of the group agreed to be interviewed about the project, paid for with nearly £1 million [$1.9 million] of British Government funds, on condition their identities were protected. Iraq will also receive other valuable foreign assistance to help deal with the tragic legacy of dictatorship.

-Economics. Alan P. Larson, the undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs, provides an useful overview of the economic situation in Iraq before and after the liberation: In 1979 Iraq had a per capita living standard on a par with Italy. By the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, Iraq had the GDP of an impoverished developing country and had become the most heavily indebted nation in the world. This grim legacy, compounded by a serious security situation, poses big hurdles to economic development.

Despite these problems, the Iraqis are persevering and succeeding. Iraqi policies made it possible for economic output in the first ten months of 2004 to be 51.7% higher than in 2003. Per capita income in 2004 is projected to be $780, up from approximately $500 in 2003. The Iraqi government has set forth a solid medium-term economic plan. The newly independent Central Bank is keeping inflation in check, with the consumer price index rising only 5.7 percent in the first eight months of 2004 compared with 46 percent in 2003. The new dinar has appreciated 27 percent against the dollar in the past year.

Says Larson: "The economic progress Iraqis have achieved so far, under very difficult circumstances, testifies to their competence and courage. This holds especially true for the men and women who make up the new Iraqi government, who, at great personal risk, are busy building their vision of a democratic and free Iraq."

-Debt Relief. "The United States, Germany and other G7 nations agreed . . . to write off up to 80 percent or $33 billion of Iraq's Paris Club debt, which could pave the way for a wider international accord, officials said." That means, for example, that Australia will forgive Iraq $1.1 billion. The deal might have another good financial spinoff for Iraq: "The accord with the Paris Club, which holds about $42 billion in Iraqi debt, may help pave the way for Iraq to receive about $8 billion in aid from the [International Monetary Fund] and World Bank." The Kuwaiti government, meanwhile, will be asking the parliament to approve an 80% cut in Iraq's $16 billion debt, a reduction in line with the Paris Club decision. Iraq's debt to Russia will be reduced from around $10.5 billion to between $700 million and $1 billion. And Saudi Arabia has also expressed willingness to make substantial cuts in Iraqi debt.

-Financial. Despite security concerns, the Baghdad Stock Exchange continues to move ahead:
"There's a lot of interest," said Mazin Aziza, who represents one of the 13 Iraqi banks now listed on the exchange. "People like to buy and sell on the exchange. We wait for security to improve. Then there will be much more trading." . . .

-Oil. "Iraq, the fifth-largest oil producer in the Middle East, will spend more than $1 billion next year to increase oil production capacity by about 15 percent to 3.25 million barrels a day, an Iraqi official said. 'The budget is fixed for priority projects to build new export pipelines and complete modifications to our refineries,' Abdulilah al-Amir, a foreign relations adviser to Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir al-Ghadhban, said." The authorities plan to build a new refinery in the town of Zakho, in the Kurdish north, close to the Syrian and Turkish borders and along a pipeline route to Turkey. Iraqi officials also are conducting talks with Norway towards building greater cooperation in the oil industry. And the Ministry of Oil has announced that it has shortlisted five foreign companies to study the giant Rumaila oil field in the south and another four to study the oilfields around Kirkuk.

-Oil Industry. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, meanwhile, is onto the second leg of it Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO) program (the first stage consisted of renovation of existing oil infrastructure):

The new program goal is to increase liquid petroleum gas (LPG) production to 3,000 metric tons. "This is what we think of as propane," said [Marcia] Meekins, [oil engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' southern district]. "And, of course, the reason they (Iraq) want to increase their production is that now, they have to import it. They want to decrease their reliance on imports." One report concludes that "the Iraqi petroleum industry, despite frequent sabotage attacks and other disruptions, is managing to pump a steady stream of oil, providing a much-needed cushion to international markets and a silver lining to the insurgency-riven aftermath of the US-led invasion.

Problems still haunt the industry, including a major pipeline rupture last week. Even so, Iraq has been a reliable supplier this year." Arguably, this is at least partly due to hard work and determination of a new generation of experts who are trying to rebuild Iraq's oil production: Amid Iraq's rusty refineries, sabotage and fuel shortages, there is a new breed of savvy bankers, hands-on oil managers and western-educated engineers who believe oil can help build a dynamic, modern nation which will inspire the Middle East.

-Business. In Amman, Jordan, the Iraq Procurement 2004 forum and exhibition recently opened, "providing the opportunity for Iraqi businessmen to meet with representatives of global companies hoping to play a role in the rebuilding of the war-stricken state. . . . An exhibition hosting over 50 regional and global companies will be held on the sidelines of the forum, providing the companies with the chance to display their products. During the three-day event, certain projects in the fields of IT, healthcare, energy production, telecommunications, banking, agriculture, water and sewage system will be presented to foreign investors."

-Fallujah. Together, the United States and the Iraqi government have earmarked as much as $100 million for the reconstruction effort in Fallujah, according to Ambassador Bill Taylor of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office. . . . He said that the reconstruction will likely begin with infrastructure projects aimed at restoring basic services. Specifically, he identified a need to repair electricity distribution lines, sewage lines and water treatment facilities. Once basic services are restored, reconstruction efforts will turn to schools, clinics and solid waste management, he said.

The next invasion of this battered city has begun. Teams of reconstruction experts have set up shop in the municipal government complex downtown, having commandeered a former youth sports complex to serve as their headquarters. There, they have launched a crucial, large-scale effort aimed at rebuilding a city that was devastated during the U.S.-led offensive to take control of the longtime rebel stronghold.

-Transportation. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Programs and Contracting Office in Baghdad are also expected to issue contracts soon worth $36 million to Iraqi firms to renovate some 76 train stations throughout the country. Speaking of rail infrastructure, a USAID program is constructing a 45-mile railway line (link in PDF) between the southern port of Umm Qasr and Shuaibah junction near Basrah. The project should be completed by January 2005.

-Health Care. A large part of the effort to rebuild the country's health system consists of improving the skills of Iraqi doctors, who in most cases have been cut off for many years from the latest overseas medical developments. As part of that strategy, "the Japanese government will invite 10 doctors from the southern Iraqi city of Samawah and its vicinity to Japan from . . . for training in infectious disease prevention as part of its reconstruction assistance for Iraq." Already, "in March and October this year, Japan and Egypt jointly provided medical training for a total of 215 Iraqi doctors at Cairo University."

-Infrastructure. A new initiative to provide water and sanitation systems as well as hygiene awareness is improving sanitary conditions for the residents of 21 villages in eastern Kirkuk as well as the southwestern part of As Sulaymaniyah Governorate. This initiative is being implemented by an international NGO in partnership with USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. This project is supporting well drilling, construction of water storage and distribution networks, provision of household latrines, and is addressing health and hygiene education and awareness and delivering some basic health interventions.

-Medical. Just as Iraqi doctors need to catch up with the rest of the world after years of isolation, so do Iraqi academics and teachers. To help them, British academic institutions continue to provide assistance for Iraqi universities: The AOC-British Council Further Education Iraq Group was launched in February this year following discussions with Dr Hamadi and the president of the Iraqi Foundation for Technical Education.

Its vision is to help develop a "restructured, modernised and responsive" vocational education system along regional lines to support the skills needed to reconstruct Iraq. A total of ten UK FE colleges are so far involved in providing expertise in areas such as management, exchange programmes and standardised qualifications for teachers, and developing teaching and learning methods and the curriculum. Books and learning materials are also being provided by organisations such as British Education Suppliers Association and The British Publishers Association.

-Humanitarian Aid. It will clearly take years to repair the damage of decades of destruction and neglect. In the meantime, emergency aid continues to play a vital role, filling in the gaps. Assistance is coming for Iraqi hospitals:
More than eight tons of donated medical supplies will leave Detroit (DETROIT?!?!) next week bound for a storage depot in Baghdad, Iraq, to help the interim government there resupply war-torn civilian hospitals. . . . The materials were donated by doctors and hospitals. The shipment was organized by local Iraqis.

Wally Jadan, president and chief executive of the Southfield-based Arabic content radio and television network Radio and TV Orient, hopes to organize more shipments in the coming months along with a mission by Iraqi physicians living in Metro Detroit.