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[ This message has been sent to you via the CASI-analysis mailing list ] This is an automated compilation of submissions to newsclippings@casi.org.uk Articles for inclusion in this daily news mailing should be sent to newsclippings@casi.org.uk. Please include a full reference to the source of the article. Today's Topics: 1. Auditors criticize US management of 20-billion dollar Iraq fund (Mark Parkinson) 2. "Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now working in Kurdistan", in Iraq, "providing training for commando units," (=?iso-8859-1?q?The=20Iraq=20Solidarity=20Campaign?=) --__--__-- Message: 1 From: "Mark Parkinson" <mark44@DELETETHISmyrealbox.com> To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 19:22:35 +0100 Subject: Auditors criticize US management of 20-billion dollar Iraq fund By: AFP on: 22.06.2004 IRAQ - Auditors working for the United Nations have strongly criticised the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority for its management of the 20 billion dollar fund from oil sales, which it said is =93open to fraudulent acts,=94 the Financial Times said on Tuesday. KPMG International experts also =93encountered resistance from CPA staff=94 in its attempts to oversee the fund=92s spending, according to an interim KPMG report obtained by the financial daily. =93The CPA does not have effective controls over the ministries=92 spending of their individually allocated budgets, whether the funds are direct from the CPA or via the ministry of finance,=94 the report said. The Development Fund for Iraq, which channels oil revenues to reconstruction projects, is =93open to fraudulent acts,=94 the report added. The report was especially critical of the State Organization for Marketing Oil in charge of the sale of Iraqi oil, which has topped 10 billion dollars since the Iraq war ended and which goes to the US- controlled Defense Fund, the daily said. The Development Fund has taken in 20.2 billion dollars since May and has disbursed 11.3 billion, with 4.6 billion left in outstanding commitments; the daily said quoting the CPA. The KPMG argued with CPA administrators for most of last year over its responsibilities and began its work in earnest in April, officials told the daily. The KMPG report raised the possibility the auditors would be unable to complete their work before the transition of power in Iraq on June 30. =93If the auditors don=92t finish by June 30, they never will, because the CPA staff are going home,=94 an adviser to a member of the disbanded Iraqi Governing Council said of the report. =93I lament the lack of transparency and lack of involvement by Iraqis,=94 he added. The KPMG is answerable to the International Advisory and Monitoring Board that was set up in May 2003 by the UN Security Council and which includes staff from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, Mark Parkinson Bodmin Cornwall --__--__-- Message: 2 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 13:56:00 +0100 (BST) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?The=20Iraq=20Solidarity=20Campaign?= <mcr_coalition@DELETETHISyahoo.co.uk> Reply-To: MCR_Coalition@yahoo.co.uk Subject: "Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now working in Kurdistan", in Iraq, "providing training for commando units," To: mcr_coalition@yahoo.co.uk [ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] Issue of 2004-06-28 Posted 2004-06-20 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 20, 2004 THIS WEEK IN THE NEW YORKER http://www.newyorker.com/press/content/ PRESS CONTACTS: Perri Dorset, Director, Public Relations (212) 286-5898 Daniel Kile, Publicist (212) 286-5996 Current and former intelligence officials in the United States, the Middle = East, and Europe confirm that "Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan," in Iraq, "providing train= ing for commando units," Seymour M. Hersh reports in "Plan B," in the June = 28, 2004 issue of The New Yorker. The Israeli operatives include members of the Mossad, Israel's clandestine = foreign-intelligence service, "who work undercover in Kurdistan as business= men and, in some cases, do not carry Israeli passports," Hersh writes. Mark= Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, says, "The sto= ry is simply untrue," but a senior C.I.A. official tells Hersh that the Isr= aelis are indeed operating in Kurdistan, that the Israeli presence is widel= y known in the American intelligence community, and that the Israelis "thin= k they have to be there." Hersh reveals that "by the end of last year Israe= l had concluded that the Bush Administration would not be able to bring sta= bility or democracy to Iraq, and that Israel needed other options." =B7Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, took it upon himself last= fall to tell Vice-President Dick Cheney that America had lost in Iraq. According to an American close to Barak, Barak told Cheney that Israel "had= learned that there's no way to win an occupation" and that the only issue = was "choosing the size of your humiliation." Cheney did not respond to Bara= k; his office also declined to comment to Hersh. A former Israeli intelligence official assessed the situation this way: "It= doesn't add up. It's over. Not militarily-the United States cannot be defe= ated militarily in Iraq-but politically." =B7Hersh also reports on Iyad Allawi, who was recently appointed interim Pr= ime Minister. Allawi, who has been involved with anti-Saddam activities for= the past two decades, was, in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, a Baath = Party operative. "If you're asking me if Allawi has blood on his hands from= his days in London, the answer is yes, he does," Vincent Cannistraro, a fo= rmer C.I.A. officer, says. "He was a paid Mukhabarat agent for the Iraqis, = and he was involved in dirty stuff." A cabinet-level Middle East diplomat adds that Allawi was involved in a Muk= habarat "hit team" that sought out and killed Baath Party dissenters throug= hout Europe. Allawi's office did not respond to a request for comment. =B7Hersh also reveals that Israeli operatives have crossed the border into = Iran, accompanied by Kurdish commandos, to install sensors and other sensit= ive devices that target suspected Iranian nuclear facilities. "Look," a for= mer Israeli intelligence official explains, "Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way-as balance against Saddam= . It's Realpolitik. By aligning with the Kurds, Israel gains eyes and ears in= Iran, Iraq, and Syria." Nonetheless, Hersh writes, officials from several = countries "depicted Sharon's decision, which involves a heavy financial commitment, as a potentially reckless move that could create even more chaos and violence as the insurgency in Iraq continues to grow." =B7"Israel's immediate goal after June 30th is to build up the Kurdish comm= ando units to balance the Shiite militias-especially those which would be h= ostile to the kind of order in southern Iraq that Israel would like to see,= " one former senior intelligence official says. "Of course, if a fanatic Su= nni Baathist militia took control-one as hostile to Israel as Saddam Hussei= n was-Israel would unleash the Kurds on it, too." =B7Burgeoning Kurdish-Israeli co=F6peration could have a negative effect on= Israel's generally positive relationship with Turkey. One Turkish diplomat= tells Hersh, "We tell our Israeli and Kurdish friends that Turkey's good w= ill lies in keeping Iraq together. We will not support alternative solution= s." If in fact "you end up with a divided Iraq," a senior Turkish official = tells Hersh, "it will bring more blood, tears, and pain to the Middle East,= and you will be blamed.... From Mexico to Russia, everybody will claim that the United States had a secret agenda in Iraq: yo= u came there to break up Iraq." =B7If the June 30th transfer of sovereignty does not go well, "there is no = fallback-nothing," a former National Security Council member tells Hersh. "= The neocons still think they can pull the rabbit out of the hat" in Iraq, a= former intelligence official says. "What's the plan? They say, 'We don't n= eed it. Democracy is strong enough. We'll work it out.' " <http://www.newyorker.com/images/spacer.gif> <http://www.newyorker.com/images/spacer.gif> The Iraq Solidarity Campaign --------------------------------- Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail gives you the best spam protection= for FREE! 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