(Cross-posted at DailyKOS

When:           October 17-19, 2008

Sponsor:       Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Where:          Baghdad Convention Center,

                     Baghdad International Airport

Accommodations:    Rasheed Hotel, Baghdad, Iraq

                              Caravan Hotel (BIAP area)

You’re invited, if you’re in the oil business and have any expertise to offer, that is:

It is my pleasure to invite you all to the IRAQ ENERGY EXPO AND CONFERENCE, October 17-19, 2008.

The year 2008 marks a tremendous new opportunity for investment in Iraq’s upstream and downstream oil and gas infrastructure. To help facilitate this process, the Government of Iraq is working tirelessly to pass the new hydrocarbon law. As a result of this landmark legislation, companies from around the world will be able to participate in increasing Iraq’s oil and gas capacity in the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world.

As a result of this momentous achievement, and on behalf of the Iraqi Government and the Ministry of Oil, we would like to invite all international oil companies to participate in this historic event. The location for this international exhibition will be the newly constructed Baghdad Convention Center at the Baghdad International Airport.

The Ministry of Oil and its technical staff are very interested to see the latest technologies in this ever-changing industry. In return, the Ministry is prepared to provide detailed explanations of its needs for the coming years. Your participation at the expo is essential to helping us understand your company’s capabilities. We look forward to seeing you there.

Dr. Hussein Al-Shehrestani

Minister of Oil

(emphasis mine)

Dear All,

As I see a certain “friend” of mine is occupying the top spot, on this the day after his birthday, to which so many of us have been celebrating, his mere existence, in fact, and with absolutely no wish to intrude, pre-empt or diminish the importance of the latest episode of “Through the Darkest of Nights,” of which episodes, I am a great fan, I really feel a great need to give you all something to think about — on this terribly sad eve of Memorial Day.  

***********

First, I want to alert you all to a fact — I tried 5 times to post the following on www.johnconyers.com (I had successfully posted one just before this attempt).  I received a pop-up message, as follows (was not able to copy), but wrote it down:

“Windows Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site http:/www.johnconyers.com/comm…

Operation aborted.”

As I said, I attempted to diary the information listed below five times:  sumting wong!

As everyone knows, the NIE (“National Intelligence Estimate”) advised that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.  Bush was aware of this as far back as August, 2007, and probably sooner, if the truth be known.

Nonetheless, nothing has stopped him from continuing his rant about how dangerous Iran is to us and the world.  And in December, 2007, and this month, January, 2008, his efforts increased.

His trip to the Middle East of January 8, 2008, supposedly predicated on a wish to help the peace effort between Palestine and Israel, and a meeting with both leaders (for the first time), also included Kuwait to meet with U.S. troops [to prep them?], Amb. Cocker and Gen. Petraeus and [hold onto your seats] to hold round-table discussion on democracy with Kuwaiti women, Bahrain for meeting with King Hamad and visits with U.S. Navy 5th fleet, United Arab Emirates, to meet with Pres. Sheikh Khalifa and deliver a speech in Abu Dhabi, then to Dubai and to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah, then meetings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Sharm el-sheikh, Egypt, to meet with Pres. Hosni Mubarak and then return to the U.S. on Jan. 16th.

. . . . Bush hopes to spur negotiations among Israeli and Palestinian leaders vowing to make peace and lay the ground work for two independent states by year’s end. . . . .

and this is the best:

. . . . Bush, also touring several Arab nations, will address more than the role they can play in encouraging reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. He also will explain his vision for democracy in Iraq and his concern about the potential security threat posed by Iran. . . .(emphasis mine)

The article goes on at great length about the so-called efforts Bush hopes to make toward the Israeli – Palestinian conflict and peace negotiations.  Doubt as Bush set to visit Mideast — Chances called slim for breakthroughs as final year begins.  

More:

(Admitting to some timidity – this is my first effort!)

On the weekend of September 1, 2007, a group of leaders from both the Sunni and Shi’a Iraqis met in Finland, at an undisclosed location at closed meetings to discuss and draft peace principles with leaders of Northern Ireland and South Arica, utilizing protocols similar to peace settlements of those countries.

The meeting was sponsored by the Finnish Crisis Management Initiative [CMI] and the McCormack Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts and, although, the British and American authorities knew of and sanctioned this meeting, they were prohibited from having presence there.

Tom Hayden, in an article published in The Nation said,

Chairing the closed meetings near Helsinki were Martin McGuinness, the former Irish Republican Army commander, lead negotiator with the British, and now Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, and Roelf Meyer, former leader of the pro-apartheid National Party in South Africa’s peace negotiations. The Irish delegation also included former IRA hunger striker Leo Green, minister Jeffrey Donaldson, former Stormont speaker Lord Alderdice, and former loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Hutchison. South African participants included ANC leaders Mac Maharaj and Rashid Ismail, key participants in the military and political negotiations in South Africa. [Read more “here.

Names of the Iraq delegations’ have not been released but reportedly included six Sunni and nine Shi’a who signed a statement of principles. About thirty Iraqis were present, including Akram al-Hakim, minister of national reconciliation for the Baghdad government, representatives of Moktada al-Sadr, Sunni leader Adnan al-Dulaimi, and Humam Hammoudi, the Shi’a chairman of the Baghdad parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Did you see anything in the media giving us knowledge of this important meeting?

It appears that the Iraqis were enthusiastic about this meeting.

The Iraqis saw former military enemies–McGuinness and Hutchison, for example, or South African apartheid leaders and ANC guerilla commanders–chairing meetings together on how sharply divided communities can coexist.

The key question for the Iraqis, who are circulating the draft at home, is whether the major parties believe their armed strategies have reached a stalemated point of no return, or whether one side [and foreign sponsors like the US and UK] still hopes for a military victory. In South Africa and Northern Ireland, secret peace discussions were initiated while the wars were proceeding, but eventually grew into the peace processes as the rival parties concluded that armed struggle [or military occupation] had reached its limits.

There were notable highlights at the meeting.

when Irish and South African representatives told stories of how their militarized strategies ultimately led to stalemate and the prospect of endless war. “The most remarkable impression on the Iraqis was McGuinness, once evil incarnate to the Protestants”, who now sits as vice-minister to First Minister Ian Paisley, the right-wing fundamentalist preacher trained at Bob Jones University who swore that the Catholic Church was the “whore of Babylon.” A meaningful peace process “only emerged in both countries when all parties agreed that those who adhered to violence had to be brought into negotiations, and that those parties adhering to violence had accepted that violence could never lead to accommodation. One could see Iraq heads nod in agreement.” [Padraig O’Malley: September 24 op-ed piece in the Boston Globe]

The so-called “Helsinki principles” which were agreed to, with each Iraqi signatory praying “In-sha’Allah” as they signed their names, are very general and appear utopian, but so were the early framework agreements in Ireland and South Africa. Most importantly, all parties agreed to continue the discussions towards a settlement.

A set of 12 principles were mapped out in order to start work toward a nationally mutual effort toward a permanent peace.

Among the points were:

Aside from promising to resolve political differences peacefully, the agreement commits the Iraqi parties to consider the creation of a disarmament commission, and the formation of a group to deal with the legacy of Iraq’s past.

They also seek an end to international and regional interference in Iraq’s affairs(emphasis mine)

This to me is the most positive and dynamic effort I have heard of with regard to the Iraq catastrophe.  I’m not sure how we can keep tabs on progress, but going to sources outside the U.S. is probably the answer.

While I feel strongly about this, I am also concerned about the extent to which the Bush Administration will attempt to derail these negotiations, since I firmly believe that they have no interest in there being peace in Iraq!  They have continually funded the Sunnis (the Al Qaeda in Iraq), the Shi’ites and other factions ensuring the continuation of strife throughout the country. The reasons?  I’m sure you have a very good idea!