By John Lee. President Barack Obama has said that Iraq's Elaf Islamic Bank carried out "transactions worth millions of dollars" on behalf of Iranian banks that had been blacklisted because of their to Iran's nuclear programme. "We will expose any financial institution, no matter where they are located, that allows the increasingly desperate Iranian regime […]
By Ahmad Salama. This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The conflict with Syria is threatening to spill over borders, as Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad line up on opposing sides. Now the face-off has gone beyond […]
By Reidar Visser. The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq […]
By Gary Sandiford, Olive Group ’s Dubai based assessments manager. Olive Group is a leading provider of security and technology solutions and has operated continuously in Iraq since 2003. Overview Olive Groups Iraq statistics are drawn from multiple sources, including media reporting and direct liaison with in country assets. Included within the statistics […]
In keeping with Barack Obama's presidential campaign promise, the US has withdrawn its troops from Iraq and by the end of 2012 US spending in Iraq will be just five per cent of what it was at its peak in 2008. In a special two-part series, AlJazeera's "Fault Lines" program travels across Iraq to take […]
By John Lee. A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) has found that $206 million was wasted on a program to train Iraqi police that Baghdad says is neither needed nor wanted. The Police Development Program (PDP) was to be a five-year multibillion-dollar program to train Iraq’s police forces, and was […]
To overcome Iraq’s current political crisis and prevent the breakdown of the entire post-2003 order, Prime Minister Maliki (pictured) and his opponents both will have to agree to painful compromises, according to this report from the International Crisis Group: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS At first glance, the current Iraqi political crisis looks like just one […]
By John Lee. In the first half of this year, Iraq's courts have issued 754 judgments in cases dealing with corruption and fraud involving public money, claims the Commission on Integrity. The cases, referred to the courts by the Commission, resulted in 816 convictions. In some cases, those convicted will remain in jail following completion […]
By John Lee. An un-named Iraqi security official has reportedly accused the president of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani (pictured), of secretly buying a large supply of heavy munitions from a foreign country. Iran's PressTV says the arms included anti-tank missiles and large quantities of heavy weapons. The official said that Iraqi authorities have "all […]
By John Lee. Halliburton has begun internal investigations into alleged payments made to third-party agents related to customs matters in Angola and Iraq. Bloomberg reports that the world’s second- largest oilfield services provider alerted U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange officials that it had begun the inquiry after meeting with them about another internal […]
By John Lee. On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera, Jane Arraf sits down with Massoud Barzani to find out how far he is willing to go to protect and promote the interests of the Kurdish people: (Source: AlJazeera)
By John Lee. Iraqi Kurdish security forces have prevented Iraqi government soldiers from reaching a disputed area that borders Syria, according to this video from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh reports from the Fishkhabour border crossing between Iraq and Syria: (Source: AlJazeera)
