Three rockets were fired in the area of the Iraq-Kuwait border on Friday. Reuters quotes an Iraqi official as saying that they landed inside Iraq and were not aimed at Kuwait or the disputed Mubarak port. "The rockets targeted the (former) Bucca prison building, which is used by foreign companies," Ali al-Maliki, head of the Basra […]
The current world focus is on Libya, with AKE now ranking Tripoli as being much more hostile a working environment than Baghdad. However, conditions are still fluid and unstable in Iraq, and levels of violence have crept up in the country for the third consecutive week. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in […]
The Deputy Chairman of Iraq’s Integrity Commission had demanded Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sack the Chairman of the Haj (Pilgrimage) Commission, Mohammed Taqi al-Moula, following charges of corruption. “There are documents and dossiers, being studied since over one month by the Integrity Commission, that had agreed that the said official was involved in corruption,” Ahmed […]
A US Army captain was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in federal prison for taking bribes to steer Army contracts in Iraq. Courthouse News reports that Bryant Williams demanded and got more than $30,000 in bribes to steer more than $930,000 worth of contracts while he served with the Army's 101st Airborne Division in […]
Up until Monday, the past week was turning into one of the quietest so far this year, but then a series of mass casualty attacks swept the country, leaving dozens of people dead and injured. Provincial government buildings and security force installations and patrols were the most common targets of the attacks, although civilians were […]
Iraq’s oil wealth is massive, with significant economic potential for years to come. Unfortunately, development is being hampered by endemic violence and ongoing instability. However, the main reserves are not evenly distributed around the country and neither is the violence. By avoiding the violent hotspots companies can still make significant profits with minimal exposure to […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. IRAQ INSIGHTS, published by Ideas sYnergy aims to consolidate and build intellectual capital on private sector development, empowering stakeholders to address issues of access and structural reforms on a diverse range of topics impacting inclusive […]
Levels of violence neither escalated nor decreased significantly in Iraq over the past week, although thankfully conditions are currently quieter than earlier in the summer. Across the country there were no reported kidnappings or suicide bombings, which is a welcome change from normality. It is likely that militants are lying low at present, partly because […]
Reuters reports that Iraq’s government has admitted to being duped when it signed multi-billion dollar power plant contracts with foreign companies that it later discovered were either bogus or had lied about their financial status. The announcement is embarrassing for Nouri al-Maliki’s government as it tries to lure foreign investors into Iraq. “These contracts damaged […]
In Iraq almost all official records are kept on paper. So what better way to kill the paper trail that corruption investigators are tracking, than burn the evidence? A rash of fires inside government buildings has led to calls for further investigation. A recent rash of small fires inside the offices of various ministries and […]
Iraqi politician Ayad Jamal ad-Din was injured in a rocket attack on his home earlier in the week. The weapon, believed to have been fired from southern Baghdad, slammed into his house in the normally quiet district of Jadriyah. He may be the latest victim of a string of attacks targeting politicians, mid-level ministry employees […]
Levels of violence rose slightly in Iraq over the past week although conditions remain quieter than much of the year so far. Fewer than 50 people were killed, which is a moderate figure by Iraqi standards, albeit still abhorrently high. A notable number of the dead and injured were caught up in a double suicide […]
