A former U.S. civilian contractor has pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of North Carolina to conspiring to steal military generators in Iraq in 2011 and selling them on the black market, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker for the Eastern District […]
The head of Iraq's Integrity Commission, Judge Ala’a Jwad Hameed, has said that rooting out corruption is the duty of all honest Iraqis, and expressed his optimism for increased cooperation between the Commission and government agencies. At a meeting with the governors of Najaf, Karbala and Babel, he emphasised the need to create a culture […]
Israel is said to be particularly concerned about the Pentagon’s approval for the sale of 36 Lockheed Martin F- 16 multi-role combat aircraft to Iraq. “We are carefully watching the developments in Iraq,” an IDF officer told the Jerusalem Post. “The possible developments there are not immediate, but since the US withdrawal from Iraq we do […]
By Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile. Without doubt the security situation has improved significantly since I was last in Iraq, and made great strides in the south, where the first time I worked in Basra in 2007 we were never allowed into the city of Basra […]
Aswat al-Iraq reports that the cost of clearing the estimated 25 million mines from Iraq will be around $12 billion. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had highlighted the work of United Nations mine action personnel around the world in preventing landmines and unexploded ordnance from causing harm long after conflicts have ended, and transforming danger zones into […]
Levels of violence rose in Iraq last week. Security measures were gradually relaxed following the conclusion of the Arab League Summit which appeared to grant militants slightly more opportunity to conduct attacks. At least 29 people were killed and 19 injured in nationwide incidents. Tactics A total of 20 bomb attacks left 10 people dead […]
By Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile. The Ministry of Construction in Iraq has just spent $250 million on weighbridges from a company based in the British Midlands, for use at border crossings; as Iraqis buys more and more overseas goods, it is important to ensure that […]
The United Nations special representative to Iraq, Martin Kobler, has issued his second address to the United Nations Security Council. He addressed security issues, improving relations with Kuwait, and the country's Chapter VII status: Please click here to download a full transcript of the statement. (Source: UN)
Marking the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the United Nations calls for an Iraq free of all landmines by 2018, and reaffirms its commitment to support the country’s Mine Action programme. “Each year on 4 April, countries around the world raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication. In […]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has issued the following statement regarding proposed new law on "information technology crimes". (Please click here to download an English translation of the bill by the Centre for Law and Democracy): More than a year after the start of the "Arab Spring," large portions of the Middle East remain in […]
Levels of violence fell last week amid the extensive security measures implemented for the Arab League Summit. Nonetheless, some attacks still took place, highlighting the fact that the measures at the disposal of the Iraqi authorities remain far from exhaustive. Normal patterns in militancy are also likely to resume once the security measures currently in […]
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 Business News. […]
