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We Won!The rest of the world apparently doesn't read the U.S. Mainstream Media. Or listen to Congressional Democrats, Harry Reid or Code Pink, either. Companies from around the world are rushing into Iraq to do business, due to the improved security climate in that country. Over a half-billion dollars worth of investments from countries that, in many cases, didn't support the U.S. in its efforts to improve Iraq's security. European and Asian companies are beating their American rivals into Iraq now that security has improved the investment climate, Iraq and U.S. officials say. "It's starting to turn … and the...

BAGHDAD, June 6, 2008 – When Army Capt. Shawn Carbone first took a good look at the economy in Iraq’s southern Baghdad province, he found it similar to his studies of America during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hussen Jowd, a butcher in Arab Jabour, Iraq, serves a sandwich at his newly renovated butcher shop and food stand. Jowd received micro-grants that enabled him to increase his stock and expand his business. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "Most of the historically strong businesses were gone," said Carbone, economics team leader...

BAGHDAD, May 28, 2008 – More than 70 Iraqi business owners gathered in the Babylon Hotel on the Karadah Peninsula in southeastern Baghdad for the inaugural Rebuilding Karadah Expo and Conference, May 23-24. Karadah district business owners display their products to Iraqi patrons during the Rebuilding Karadah Expo and Conference in Baghdad’s Babylon Hotel, May 23, 2008. More than 70 businesses took part in the Iraqi Chamber of Commerce and Industry event, and officials estimate more than 2,000 visitors attended the expo. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jeremy Todd, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Entrepreneurs...

Iraq's financial free ride may be over. After five years, Republicans and Democrats seem to have found common ground on at least one aspect of the war. From the fiercest war foes to the most steadfast Bush supporters, they are looking at Iraq's surging oil income and saying Baghdad should start picking up the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country. "I think the American people are growing weary not only of the war, but they are looking at why Baghdad can't pay more of these costs. And the answer is they...

The continuing military operations in the oil hub Basra have slowed down Iraq's crude-oil production and exports from southern oil fields, an Iraqi official with the South Oil Company and a shipping agent said Thursday. Meanwhile, a bomb Thursday struck the key Zubair-1 crude pipeline -- the largest pipeline to the Basra export terminal -- and will likely affect exports "heavily," the South Oil Company official said.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's crude oil exports in January inched up to 59.6 million barrels, a six per cent increase from the previous month, the Oil Ministry said Tuesday. Iraq's average production was 2.4 million barrels per day in January while exports stood at an average of 1.92 million barrels per day, the ministry's figures showed. December's exports averaged 1.81 million barrels per day. But there was still an enormous difference in output between the southern port of Basra, which exported an average of 1.54 million barrels daily, and the northern city of Kirkuk, which exported nearly 380,000 barrels per day....

Iraqis received a rare piece of good news this week, when the International Monetary Fund predicted that the country would see an overall growth rate of 7 percent in the coming year. The country will benefit from oil prices reaching record highs and the forecast that Iraq's own oil production would go up by 200,000 barrels a day, to a daily output of 2.2 million barrels, the IMF predicted. The optimism is visible everywhere on the streets of Baghdad. The shops are full of produce and electronics and clothes and dry goods. People are out with their families, and they...

IMF Predicts Good News for Iraq's Economy, but Growth Depends on Security Iraqis received a rare piece of good news this week, when the International Monetary Fund predicted that the country would see an overall growth rate of 7 percent in the coming year. The country will benefit from oil prices reaching record highs and the forecast that Iraq's own oil production would go up by 200,000 barrels a day, to a daily output of 2.2 million barrels, the IMF predicted. The optimism is visible everywhere on the streets of Baghdad. The shops are full of produce and electronics and...

House prices on the up and increased banking business are not readily associated with Iraq. Yet as Humphrey Hawksley reports, there are entrepreneurs who see good times in the horizon. "This is the entrance hall," said Naimah Abdul Jabbah, throwing open a huge pair of wooden double doors. "How much?", I asked. "$1m. Maybe some negotiation. But $1m, I reckon." He turned to my interpreter to confirm the dollar exchange rate to the dinar, because in recent months Iraq's currency has been creeping up in value. Business playground Naimah, in his early 40s, is a leading Iraqi estate agent. He...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 7, 2007 – Troops from Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, and a civil affairs team from 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion handed out $10,000 in micro-grant funds to an Iraqi small business and a home for mentally handicapped children. A baker whisks hot bread out of an oven while troops from the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, get ready to hand $5,000 to the bakery's owner as part of a micro-grant program in Baghdad’s Qadisiyah neighborhood, Dec. 1, 2007. Photo by Spc. Alexis Harrison, USA  (Click photo for...

Navy Capt. John Dillender (right), economics and industrial advisor for Baghdad 5 Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, which operates north of the Iraqi capital with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, mimics the sanding technique used by a furniture factory worker near Taji, Iraq Nov. 11. The Henning, Tenn. native helped facilitate (200) pieces of furniture purchased from the State Company for Furniture Industry-Baghdad to be delivered to area schools. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Shejal Pulivarti, 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div. PAO. CAMP TAJI — The State Company for Furniture Industry-Baghdad, located near Taji, recently filled its first...

New Berth Increases Umm Qasr Port Capacity Army engineers oversee berth project that was designed and built by Iraqis. By Mohammed AliwiU.S. Army Corps of EngineersGulf Region South District BASRAH, Iraq, Sept. 28, 2007 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has turned control over the newly completed “roll-on/roll-off” berth at Umm Qasr Port to the Iraqi Port Authority. "The Iraqi people can be proud of this project because it is theirs alone."Rebecca Wingfield, project engineer Known as a RoRo because it serves “roll-on/roll-off” ships that share the acronym, the $2.7 million berth project doubles the number of the...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 – New buildings constructed under the guidance of coalition forces are sparking prosperity for Iraqi citizens, a senior U.S. military engineer in Iraq said today. “It’s a concept of ownership,” Navy Capt. Joe Hedges told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Baghdad. “We’re using Iraqi funds to build Iraqi facilities.” Hedges is assistant chief of staff for the engineering directorate of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq. His team is currently working to build military bases, barracks, airfields, schools and a hospital on 12 different sites in Iraq. “I’m excited,” Hedges said. “I think...

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2007 – A task force designed to bolster Iraq’s industry has made “measurable progress,” placing scores of Iraqi workers in sustainable jobs since the program’s June 2006 inception, the deputy secretary of defense said today. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England leads off a press briefing on steps being taken to improve the economy of Iraq in the Pentagon , Sept. 4, 2007. Joining England for the briefing were Iraq's Minister of Industry and Minerals Fawzi Hariri, left, and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation Paul Brinkley. Defense Dept. photo by R. D. Ward  (Click...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2007 – Recent strides in Iraq’s economic development, including the reopening of a flour mill last week, are occurring as Iraqi and coalition forces disrupt al Qaeda and other terrorist elements, a senior military spokesman in Iraq said today. “Local production of flour in a previously dormant mill is a small but meaningful step in Baqubah that demonstrates that as al Qaeda in Iraq is driven out, economic growth emerges,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, deputy spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said at a news conference. The flour mill in Baqubah, closed for nearly a year,...

BAQOUBA, Iraq, Aug. 23, 2007 — The Baqouba public flour mill began processing wheat Aug. 20, after being closed for nearly a year, marking the local production of flour in the Diyala Province as a major step toward Iraqi self-sufficiency. "This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here. It's probably the most important thing we've done." Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "This is one more piece to the larger puzzle of providing normalcy here," said Lt. Col. Fred Johnson, deputy commanding officer of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2007 – Recent surge operations and a continued commitment to ownership by the Iraqi government are contributing to increased economic progress in Iraq, a senior officer responsible for economic development there said yesterday. During a conference call with online journalists and “bloggers,” Army Col. Tracy O. Smith, chief of the Economic Development Branch of Multinational Force Iraq, provided an operational update on economic progress being made in Iraq’s provinces. He explained that the recent surge of forces and operations has improved the ability of coalition forces to conduct non-traditional military operations in a number of areas simultaneously,...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 14, 2007 – Fagah Al Dhahab needs money -- about $4 million, to hear him tell it. Dhahab is the director general of the Hillah textiles company. His cluster of factories in the capital of Iraq’s Babil province represents one piece of a network of state-run industries that dotted Iraq under Saddam Hussein, providing jobs and consumer goods, but also impeding competitive growth as lynchpins of Iraq’s controlled economy. Dhahab’s operations are ongoing but suffering, victims of inadequate funding, supply shortages, understaffing and a paucity of electricity. In July, the factory’s output was 450,000 meters of fabric. Before...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2007 – Santa might be visiting Iraq this year to fill his holiday wish, as Iraq’s once-sagging textile industry gears up to export Iraqi-made clothing to the United States, a senior Iraqi government official said yesterday in Baghdad. Deputy Industry Minister Sami al-Araji joined Paul Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business transformation, and Iraqi Minister of Finance Bayan Jabr at a joint news conference to discuss plans to get Iraq’s factories up and running. Many of the 200-plus state-run factories have been idle more than four years, resulting in mass unemployment that officials say creates a...