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Iraq Says US Pledges to Speed Support in Fight Against Islamic State Wall Street Journal (subscription) WASHINGTONThe U.S. pledged Monday to speed up its support to Iraq in the fight against Islamic State, Iraq's prime minister said following a White House meeting with President Donald Trump. We have been given assurances that the support will not ...

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Iraq Says US Pledges to Speed Support in Fight Against Islamic State - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Social media is abuzz with U.S. military veterans posting their photos and memories of the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom, when U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003.

Camp Pendletons 1st Marine Division was part of the drive from Kuwait up into Iraq, and the San Diego cruiser Bunker Hill was one of the U.S. warships that fired Tomahawk missiles toward the Iraqi capital.

The Navy posted a video of the Bunker Hill unloading its Tomahawks that day.

The war began with airstrikes before dawn on March 20, 2003. By the time the U.S. military pulled out of Iraq in December 2011, nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 120,000 Iraqis had lost their lives.

A military region, San Diego shared in the pain: 68 service members who hailed from San Diego died in combat -- most of them during the first half of the conflict.

Another 389 of the dead were stationed here, most at Camp Pendleton, according to a U-T analysis of data from the Pentagons Statistical Information Analysis Division.

Fourteen years later, some veterans are sounding off with pride that they served.

Veterans are remembering friends they served with. We will never forget, said the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in a Tweet.

Joe Plenzler, a former Camp Pendleton Marine who is now a spokesman for the American Legion, posted a photo of himself with now-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in Iraq. Mattis was in command of Pendletons 1st Marine Division at the time.

Others commented on the wars utility and cost.

Others noted that U.S. troops are still in Iraq.

A few thousand American troops are in an advise and assist role, trying to help Iraqi forces defeat the jihadist group known as the Islamic State, or ISIS.

That behind-the-scenes effort still has been deadly for U.S. forces.

As one person on Twitter noted, Temecula resident Louis Cardin, a Marine Corps staff sergeant, was killed in northern Iraq just one day short of the invasion anniversary last year.

Were you there, 14 years ago today? Post your memories in the comments below, or on the @sdut Facebook page.

What do you remember most about that day?

Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

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Post your memories: On this day, Iraq war started 14 years ago - The San Diego Union-Tribune

JOE GIDDENS/PA

Iraqi forces are pushing to retake the west of Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, which was captured by the extremist group in 2014 and is their last major stronghold in the country.

Speaking through an interpreter at a Kurdish Zerevani forces camp in Bneswela, near Erbil, Brigadier General Yunis Mohamed Rashed said his troops have no mercy for ISIS fighters.

"Daesh is a very powerful terrorist organisation, they don't have humanity... they are monsters," he said.

"I have never seen such a thing as blowing themselves up, or cutting people's head off or cutting people's hand off.

"That is why we don't give them any mercy while we fight them, because against us they use everything - a lot of horrible things."

Alongside the threat of suicide bombers, he said improvised explosive devices (IEDs) left behind and disguised by the extremist group are also an issue.

"There is a lot of villages we have been controlling after Daesh left," he said.

REUTERS

1 of 12

An Iraqi special forces soldier checks men for explosive belts as they cross from Islamic State controlled part of Mosul to Iraqi forces controlled part of Mosul

[In one] we were searching and found a lot of buildings that were booby trapped - like a blanket on the ground, once you step on it, boom, it goes off."

Daesh is a very powerful terrorist organisation, they don't have humanity... they are monsters

Brigadier General Yunis Mohamed Rashed

He said that if his forces have a week with little fighting, "they know that Daesh are attacking", but that they have "faith" and "believe" they will win the war.

"Daesh is very weak right now, especially in Iraq," he said. "When Daesh was near to us it created a lot of threat."

With the Iraqi army controlling the east of Mosul and "soon the West", he added: "The threat is far away."

JOE GIDDENS/ PA

"We always put in mind that they might be stronger at any time or weaker at any time," he said after a passing-out parade at the end of a British-run course in how to detect and defuse devices.

He said his forces have learnt a lot from training by coalition forces, including the British, and they are "very thankful for their service".

Sergeant Tariq Aziz Mohammed, from the Zerevani first company, was injured last year by an IED hidden in a tunnel while fighting IS.

Talking during a training session at a half-finished housing development called Tiger Town, he said he remembered a "boom" and next thing he woke up in hospital.

He sustained a broken back and concussion and now finds he struggles mentally, often having to sit alone in a calm place.

JOE GIDDENS/ PA

Speaking through an interpreter he said: "This training makes you more aware... we have experience and have been soldiers before... but this kind of training teaches you how to protect yourself properly."

He thanked British forces for their "hard work and hard efforts" in training.

He praised medical training for treating injuries on the front line, and said building-to-building operational skills they have learned are also "important".

He added: "A lot of Peshmerga have been Peshmerga for 25 years, but they don't know all the skills and drills they have to do. Now we have learnt it.

"The IED training is amazing for us, and we extremely need the training about the IEDs on how to protect ourselves and how to defuse it.

"That is the most important thing, I think, for the Peshmerga."

Read more from the original source:
Islamic State weak in Iraq, says Peshmerga general - Express.co.uk

Positions and actions taken by Saudi Arabia and Iraq argue for an extension of the OPEC cut deal into the second half of the year. But will KSA agree to a rollover if its cut is being replaced by Iraq's production?

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said that OPEC would extend the cuts after they expire in June if oil stockpiles were "still above the five-year average." However, he said it was too early to know whether they would be down to that average by June.

Khalid al-Falih. Photo: Bloomberg.

Saudi Arabia will not allow itself to be used by others. My colleagues have heard that privately, and I am saying it publicly we will not bear the burden of 'free rides.'"

Mr. Al-Falih had said in a press conference in December, that KSA had limited its tanker nominations in-line with the agree-upon cuts. But U.S. import data show that crude oil from Saudi Arabia had jumped from the December baseline, and were significantly higher than a year ago. The data disprove what he said in December.

Furthermore, OPEC reported its production for February, and Saudi Arabia reported output at 10.011 million barrels per day, a gain of 263,000 b/d from January. The level was still in full compliance but underscored his recent message about not being used.

Although he said he did not know if the extension would be needed, data from OPEC and the Energy Department clearly show that OECD inventories will remain far above the 5-year averages, which are rising due to the persistence of high inventories.

Based on February production (as reported by the individual members), global demand and non-OPEC supply implies a "call" on OPEC oil. Assuming OPEC production continues at the February level as reported by members, global stocks would build by over 200 million barrels in the first half of 2017.

1Q

2Q

Demand

94.8

94.9

Non-OPEC

63.8

63.3

Call On OPEC

31

31.6

OPEC Prod

32.541

32.541

Stock Ch

1.541

0.941

Stock Ch

138.7

84.7

If the lower production level reported by secondary sources is used, inventories will still build by over 100 million barrels.

1Q

2Q

Demand

94.8

94.9

Non-OPEC

63.8

63.3

Call On OPEC

31

31.6

OPEC Prod

31.959

31.959

Stock Ch

0.959

0.359

Stock Ch

86.3

32.3

Projections by the U.S. Dept of Energy show that OECD stocks will build by 26 million barrels from December 2016 through the end of June. There is little doubt that an extension of the deal would be needed under the Saudi minister's criterion.

Finally, Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salmon met with President Trump last week. The "readout" from the meeting stated:

On energy, the two countries affirmed their desire to continue bilateral consultations in a way that enhances the growth of the global economy and limits supply disruption and market volatility."

I interpret this to mean that Saudi Arabia was agreeing not to push prices up much, if at all, with larger production cuts and supply disruption.

Iraq

In the months leading up to OPEC's "Vienna Agreement," Iraq's oil minister was quite blunt. Iraq's new oil minister, Jabar Ali al-Luaibi, had said, in effect, it is willing to play along but will not actually restrain production.

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi. Iraqi News File Photo.

The ministry has new ambitious plans to develop the oil sector Among them, the most important is to increase crude output to reach a level that suits Iraq's needs; we don't want to specify a ceiling for future production like in the pastIraq is seeking to play an active role in order to support oil prices while preserving a share that is proportionate to its reserves."

Meanwhile, a senior government official close to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told Reuters:

OPEC must submit to the fact that Iraq must stay away from any possible output cut deal because the country is in the middle of a tough war and every single dollar is needed to keep it standing on its feet."

Falah al-Amri, Iraq's OPEC governor and head of the country's state marketer SOMO, was even more direct in saying that Iraq would not cut production, "Not for OPEC, not for anybody else."

Oil majors BP (NYSE:BP), Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) and Lukoil (OTCPK:LUKOY) have agreed to resume investments in oil fields the foreign groups are developing, which was expected to raise the country's crude output by 250,000-350,000 barrels per day in early 2017, Reuters reported. Iraq's oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi pledged to work "day and night on increasing the national production of oil and gas."

According to the OPEC agreement, Iraq is required to cut 210,000 b/d from its October output levels, according to the table, for a quota of 4.351 million b/d. Iraq reported that its production averaged 4.6 million barrels a day over the first two months.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, Iraqi Ministry of Oil spokesman, Assem Jihad, said that the daily average national crude oil production in all oil fields in Iraq reached 4.665 million barrels per day. He confirmed that Iraq is committed to cutting national crude oil production in line with OPEC's agreement to support oil prices and take control over the abundance of oil supply in the global markets. With the agreement almost half over, Iraq is proving that it will comply verbally with the agreement, but it will not cut its production for OPEC.

Data on U.S. crude imports from Iraq show that it is picking up market share. Imports in the year-to-date are up 230% v. the same weeks in 2016.

In what may be a red herring, the Iraqi oil minister said the OPEC deal was based on exports and not production totals. "This time, for the first time, OPEC implied that production should be separate from export and their baseline is exports not production."

The agreement clearly states production, not exports. "All countries -- export," Luaibi said when asked whether only Iraq was required to reduce exports, not production, under the deal. "It's export."

He went on to state that production was on an upward trajectory, and by the end of this year "definitely we are going to reach the level of 5 million b/d." The latest addition to Iraq's production came from the Badra oil field, which is operated by Russia's Gazprom Neft. The company commissioned three new production wells earlier this month.

Iraq's long-term ambition is to double production to Saudi's level. Iraq recently awarded seven contracts to increase its production by over 4.7 million barrels per day (mmbd) in the years ahead. Lukoil, the largest oil firm in Russia, signed a deal to develop one of the world's largest untapped oil fields, the West Qurna-2 reservoir. Norway's Statoil (NYSE:STO) will share in the project. "We can announce that Lukoil has won the contract to develop the West Qurna-2 oilfield," Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said. The projected output for the field is 1.8 mmbd.

The equally large Majnoon field was auctioned to Shell and Petronas (OTC:PNADF). In total, seven deals were signed in a two-day auction process.

Conclusions

Global inventories will not be much closer to their 5-year average by the May OPEC meeting. Therefore, I believe the Saudis will want to extend it for the full year.

However, with Iraq only complying verbally, it is questionable whether the Saudis will tolerate their non-compliance. They may "torture" them by increasing their own production. It will be a tough call for the Saudis to make if Iraq is effectively offsetting their production cut.

If Iraq does increase its production to 5 million barrels per day, instead of decreasing it by the 210,000 b/d it had agreed to, OPEC's production cut would be reduced by about 650,000 b/d, to about 500,000 b/d. And that cut could even be offset by rising production in Libya and Nigeria.

Finally, the non-OPEC production cut of about 400,000 b/d (less than the 600,000 b/d cut agreed upon) may be replaced with American shale production by the end of 2017. And it may happen more quickly than that because the Dakota Access Pipeline is expected to be "fully line-packed and ready to go" prior to 1 June.

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Link:
Saudi Arabia And Iraq On A Collision Course In OPEC Deal Extension - Seeking Alpha

(Beirut) The Iraqi parliament should set penalties for the crime of domestic violence, remove provisions that prioritize reconciliation over justice, and improve victim protections in a domestic violence bill, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter and memorandum to the speaker of parliament.

Parliament is completing its review of the draft Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which was introduced in 2015. Parliament should make key amendments and then urgently approve the bill.

Demonstrators in Baghdad call International Women's Day a day of mourningin protest of Iraq's new draft Jaafari Personal Status Law, which would restrict women's rights in matters of inheritance, parental and other rights after divorce, make it easier for men to take multiple wives, and allow girls to be married from age 9. March 8, 2014. In March 2016, the Iraqi government told a UN treaty body that the draft Jaafari law has been withdrawn and the Iraqi Government has no plans to resubmit it, let alone adopt it.

2014 Iraqi al-Amal Association

A strong domestic violence law could help save Iraqi womens lives, said Rothna Begum, Middle East womens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. The Iraqi parliament should make sure the final bill includes essential provisions to prevent domestic violence, protect survivors, and prosecute the abusers.

Domestic violence is a global phenomenon and remains a serious problem in Iraq. The Iraq Family Health Survey (IFHS) 2006/7 found that one in five Iraqi women are subject to physical domestic violence. A 2012 Ministry of Planning study found that at least 36 percent of married women reported experiencing some form of psychological abuse from their husbands, 23 percent reported verbal abuse, 6 percent reported physical violence, and 9 percent reported sexual violence. While more recent national studies are not available, womens rights organizations continue to report a high rate of domestic violence.

The strengths of the draft bill include provisions for services for domestic violence survivors, protection orders (restraining orders) and penalties for their breach, and the establishment of a cross-ministerial committee to combat domestic violence. However, the memorandum identifies several gaps and approaches in the bill that would undermine its effectiveness.

Middle East womens rights researcher

The draft law calls for the parties to be referred to family reconciliation committees and for prosecutions of abusers to be dropped if reconciliation is reached. But women in Iraq are often under tremendous social and economic pressure to prioritize the family unit over their own protection from violence. United Nations guidance provides that mediation should be prohibited in all cases of violence against women and at all stages of legal proceedings because mediation removes cases from judicial scrutiny. Promoting such reconciliation incorrectly presumes that both parties have equal bargaining power, reflects an assumption that both parties may be equally at fault for violence, and reduces accountability for the offender.

By promoting family reconciliation as an alternative to justice, the draft law undermines protection for domestic violence survivors, Begum said. The government should send a message that beating up your wife wont be treated leniently through mediation sessions, but instead be regarded as a crime.

While the draft law defines domestic violence as a crime, it fails to set penalties. It also does not repeal provisions in the Iraqi Penal Code that condone domestic violence. These include provisions that husbands have a right to punish their wives and that parents can discipline their children. Those responsible for honor violence or killings can benefit from reduced sentences as the Penal Code provides for mitigated sentences for violent acts including murder for so-called honourable motives or if a man catches his wife or female relative in the act of adultery or sex outside of marriage.

Other recommended changes include:

The bill provides for the establishment of government shelters, but it should require coordination with local womens rights organizations on the administration, training, and operation of such shelters, and permit privately run shelters for survivors of domestic violence. This is particularly important given that womens rights nongovernmental organizations, which have provided such shelters, have often been subject to physical attack and threats by offenders and have faced hostility by some government officials, Human Rights Watch said.

Womens rights groups in Iraq have campaigned for years for legislation on domestic violence. The Iraqi constitution expressly prohibits all forms of violence and abuse in the family. But only the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has a law on domestic violence. Iraqs Anti-Violence against Women Strategy (2013-2017), and the National Strategy on Advancement of Women in Iraq, adopted in 2014, call for legislation on domestic violence/violence against women.

Iraq has international human rights obligations to prevent and respond to these abuses. Several international treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which oversees the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) treaty, have called for states parties to pass violence against women legislation. Iraq ratified the treaty in 1986.

Some members of parliament have voiced concerns that the bill might be against Islamic principles. However, womens rights organizations and some parliament members met in February 2017, with prominent clerics in Najaf, south of Baghdad, the capital, and found that they had no objections to the bill. Moreover, most Muslim-majority countries outside of the Middle East and North Africa region have adopted such legislation.

In recent years, several countries and autonomous regions in the Middle East and North Africa have also introduced some form of domestic violence legislation or regulation, including Algeria, Bahrain, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. These laws vary in the degree to which they comply with international standards. Several other countries, including Morocco and Tunisia, are considering draft legislation on domestic violence.

Iraq should ensure that its legislation on domestic violence is in line with international standards, as a model for the region, Begum said.

Read more here:
Iraq: Strengthen Domestic Violence Bill - Human Rights Watch