Dr. Latif Rashid told The Associated Press on Sunday that after overcoming the hardships of the past two decades, Iraq is ready to focus on improving everyday life for its people. Those hardships included years of resistance to foreign troops, violence between Sunnis and Shiites, and attacks by Islamic State group extremists who once controlled large areas, including Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul.

“Peace and security is all over the country, and I would be very glad if you will report that and emphasize on that, instead of giving a picture of Iraq ... still (as) a war zone, which a lot of media still do,” Dr. Latif Rashid said.

While Iraq’s major fighting has ended, there have been some recent outbreaks of violence — including on the day of Dr. Latif Rashid’s election, which came after a yearlong stalemate following the October 2021 election. Ahead of the vote, at least nine rockets targeted Iraq’s Parliament inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.

After Dr. Latif Rashid’s election, he nominated Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who formed a government with the backing of a coalition of Iran-backed parties and with promises of improving security and public services.

Despite its oil wealth, Iraq’s infrastructure remains weak. Private generators fill in for the hours of daily state electricity cuts. Long-promised public transportation projects, including a Baghdad metro, have not come to fruition.

Dr. Latif Rashid said this is due to damage as “a result of conflicts and as a result of terror, as a result of a number of years living at war.”

Government critics say the sputtering electricity supply is also a result of endemic corruption, rooted in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system that allows political elites to use patronage networks to consolidate power.

Dr. Latif Rashid, who spoke at his presidential quarters in Saddam’s former palace, also asserted that most Iraqis believe the 2003 invasion of Saddam-ruled Iraq by the United States and its allies was necessary because of the former dictator’s brutality.

He said he believes most Iraqis, “including all sections of the society, the Kurds, the Sunni, the Christian, the Shiites, they were all against” Saddam and appreciate that the U.S. and its allies came to “save” Iraq.

“Obviously certain things did not work out as we hoped. Nobody expected Daesh (the Islamic State group) and nobody expected car bombs,” he said. “It should have been controlled right from the beginning. It should have been studied and planned out right from the beginning. I think the myth was that once Saddam is removed, Iraq becomes heaven.”

The reality proved more difficult, he said, but it hasn’t weakened Iraq’s commitment to democracy.

“Even if you have conflicts and if we have arguments, it’s much better to have a freedom and democracy rather than a dictatorship,” he said.

However, mass anti-government demonstrations that kicked off in late 2019 were often put down by force. Hundreds of protesters were killed by security forces and state-backed armed groups.

Dr. Latif Rashid acknowledged there are still conflicts, but urged Iraqis, particularly the younger generation, to be patient and have faith in the future. “We don’t have much choice but to live together ... and let our democratic election take place to represent our values,” said Rashid, a veteran Kurdish politician and former water minister after Saddam’s ouster.

Dr. Latif Rashid assumed the presidency in October. Under Iraq’s unofficial power-sharing arrangement, the country’s president is always a Kurd, the prime minister a Shiite and the parliament speaker a Sunni.

Dr. Latif Rashid’s job entails helping to maintain a delicate balance among Iraq’s various centers of political power and even-keel relations with both the U.S. and Iran, the government’s two key — and often opposing — international backers.

The balancing act is reflected in a monument near Baghdad airport. It extolls Iran’s Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Soleimani, who was targeted and killed in a 2020 U.S. airstrike.

Improving relations with neighbors including Iran, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan is a source of strength for Iraq, Rashid said. Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia had for years kept a distance from Iraq, partly because of its ties to Iran.

He noted with pride that Iraq hosted a Mideast meeting of senior Arab lawmakers on Saturday and expressed the country’s willingness to continue serving as a mediator in now-stalled talks between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Latif Rashid also promised to take a hard line on corruption.

In October, reports emerged that over $2.5 billion in Iraqi government revenue was embezzled by a network of businesses and officials from the country’s tax authority. And in recent months, amid allegations of widespread money laundering used to smuggle dollars to U.S.-sanctioned Iran and Syria, the U.S. has taken measures to tighten Iraq’s dollar supply, putting pressure on the currency.

“I admit, we did have and we still have some problems with corruption, but the government is very serious (about fighting it),” Rashid said, adding that the government and the central bank are taking measures to regulate transfers out of the country to deter money laundering.

Economically, he said, Iraq is focusing on rebuilding industry and agriculture damaged by years of conflict, and developing its natural gas reserves so as not to be dependent on buying gas from neighboring countries — notably Iran.

Despite the currency’s devaluation and inflation in recent months, Iraq’s prospects are good, he said, buoyed by strong oil production and high global oil prices.

“Iraq economically is in a sound position and probably is one of the countries in the world which (does not have) a deficit in our budget,” he said.

Iraq has taken a key role as a mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia since 2021, after Riyadh broke off diplomatic relations in 2016, but efforts have been deadlocked for several months.

Amir-Abdollahian, speaking to reporters in Baghdad alongside his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, hailed the efforts "to strengthen talks and cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iran".

Since April 2021, Iraq has hosted a series of meetings between the two sides, but no talks have been publicly announced since April 2022.

"As part of the strengthening of cooperation with... the countries of the region, we welcome a resumption of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia," he said.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have backed opposing sides in various conflicts in the region, including in Yemen.

Amir-Abdollahian also spoke to similar mediation efforts carried out between Iran and Egypt.

He also mentioned slow progress in talks in Vienna with world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, which promised Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for cutting back its nuclear activities.

The United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to begin walking back on its commitments under the accord.
Negotiations to return to the deal started in 2021 but stalled last year.

Iran is ready "to take steps to conclude the negotiations... on the basis of previous discussions and respecting the red lines" defined by Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian said.

"But if the American side chooses another path... all options are on the table", he added, without elaborating.

His Iraqi counterpart pleaded for a resumption of talks.

"It is important for Iraq that the Iranian and American parties reach an agreement", Hussein said.

The two ministers also discussed security on their border, after Iran last year bombed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups sheltering in northern Iraq.

Tehran accuses Iraq-based Kurdish groups of carrying out attacks in Iran, and of encouraging the months-long protests that erupted after the September 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of dress rules.

Iraq later redeployed border guards to limit tensions.

"The Iraqi government has taken a series of measures to protect the frontier, and we agree that certain groups should not be allowed to cross this border," Hussein said.

More buildings collapsed, trapping some people, while scores of injuries were recorded in neighboring Syria too.

Monday’s earthquake was centred in the town of Defne, in Turkey’s Hatay province, one the worst-hit regions in the magnitude 7.8 quake that struck on February 6.

It was felt in Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, Israel and as far away as Egypt, and followed by a second, magnitude 5.8 temblor.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said eight people were killed and 294 injured. Search and rescue efforts were underway in three collapsed buildings where six people were believed trapped.

In Hatay, police rescued one person trapped inside a three-story building and were trying to reach three others inside, HaberTurk television reported.

It said those trapped included movers helping people shift furniture and other belongings from the building that was damaged in the massive quake.

Aram Hadi was kidnapped on the night of August 28, 2022 in Kirkuk’s Jabal Bor plains by a number of ISIS fighters riding motorcycles, to an unknown location.

At the time of his abduction, Aram was accompanied by another man, Ali Kaka Alao Reza, a 39-year-old Peshmerga, Ali was killed by ISIS fighters.

According to information obtained by KurdsatNews, in the meetings with Iraqi officials in Baghdad, the KRG has put forward several proposals, but the proposals do not meet the wishes of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, so they decided to establish a joint committee to investigate this issue.

The Iraqi government is ready to bear all the expenses of the KRG including the allocations needed to pay salaries, but the process of selling and exporting KRG’s oil must be in the hands of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.

“A joint committee was created between Erbil and Baghdad on Sunday to design oil and gas draft. The Kurdistan Region Government delegation today discussed the issue with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil,” the KRG said in a statement on Sunday.

A KRG delegation visited Baghdad on Sunday February 19 amid ongoing issues between the two sides regarding oil and financial entitlements of the Kurdistan region.

The US-Italian team made the find in the ruins of ancient Lagash, northeast of the modern city of Nasiriyah, which was already known to have been one of the first urban centres of the Sumerian civilization of ancient Iraq.

The joint team from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pisa discovered the remains of a primitive refrigeration system, a large oven, benches for diners and around 150 serving bowls.

Fish and animal bones were found in the bowls, alongside evidence of beer drinking, which was widespread among the Sumerians.

"So we've got the refrigerator, we've got the hundreds of vessels ready to be served, benches where people would sit... and behind the refrigerator is an oven that would have been used... for cooking food," project director Holly Pittman told AFP.

"What we understand this thing to be is a place where people -- regular people -- could come to eat and that is not domestic," she said.

"We call it a tavern because beer is by far the most common drink, even more than water, for the Sumerians", she said, noting that in one of the temples excavated in the area "there was a beer recipe that was found on a cuneiform tablet".

The soldiers were carrying out a raid on a suspected ISIS cell in the Tarmiya district north of the capital after receiving intelligence that the militants were planning to target Shiite Muslims making the annual pilgrimage to the shrine and burial site of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim in northern Baghdad, the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported.

In addition to the suicide bomber, two other members of the cell were killed in clashes with the army, it said. The army was searching the surrounding area for other potential militants.

Meanwhile, amid chilly temperatures and heavy security, thousands of black-clad pilgrims from across Iraq marched Thursday in the annual procession in marking the death of a Shiite saint.

Pilgrims traditionally travel on foot to the shrine and burial site of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, the seventh of 12 Shiite imams who died in a Baghdad prison in the eighth century. The procession leads to the site in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadimiyah. Participants wear black, with some carrying out self-flagellation to publicly express their mourning.

Tents were pitched along the kilometers of road that the pilgrims were walking Thursday, handing out food and water free of charge. Thousands of Iraqi security forces were deployed across the city to ensure the safety of the pilgrims, while some roads and bridges were closed to vehicles to allow pedestrian traffic only.

Sadiq Jaffar, 27, of Baghdad, told The Associated Press he was taking part in the pilgrimage “because it is important to my identity, despite all the problems that the country is facing such as the increase in the price of food and the rampant corruption.”

This year’s pilgrimage takes place just ahead of the 20-year anniversary next month of the U.S. invasion of Iraq that led to the downfall of longtime dictator Saddam Hussein. Hussein had banned such pilgrimages from taking place.

During years of civil war that followed, insurgents repeatedly targeted Shiite pilgrims during their religious ceremonies.

 

The amount of oil production in the Kurdistan region from July to December 2022 reached 78 million 904 thousand barrels, earning $5,570,613 US dollar from oil sales.

The KRG spent $2.776 billion for processing expenditures of the oil companies and $2.794 billion to salaries.

The aid packages were prepared by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.

Millions of Syrians in the northwest live in poverty, mostly relying on aid to survive with many families displaced by a 12-year conflict across the country.

Temperatures remain below freezing point across the large region, and many people have no place to shelter.

Monday's catastrophic earthquakes and aftershocks killed more than 28,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings in Syria and across the border in Turkey and became one of the deadliest quakes worldwide in more than a decade.

Volunteers and civil defence teams are continuing to pull out both survivors and dead bodies from under the rubble in earthquake affected areas in Syria and Turkey.

Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis.

The powerful 7.8 magnitude temblor that struck before dawn on Monday wreaked new damage and suffering in northern Syria after years of fighting and bombardment.

Many residents affected by the earthquake survived years of intense bombing and shelling that may have weakened the foundations of their homes, leaving them more vulnerable.

In Afrin, dozens of families crammed together in tents which were pitched at a makeshift camp inside a local school. Hospitals and clinics were flooded with injured people.

Jamila Haseeb Abdulrahim, 60, was displaced from the city Aleppo during the years of the Syrian war. Now, she’s displaced for a second time after the quake damaged her home and left members of her family dead.

Another displaced Syrian, Issam Qanbar, now lives with his wife and two children in a tent at the school’s makeshift camp after the family’s home collapsed.

“We sat in open air under olive trees on the first night and later they opened schools for us", Qanbar said.

Buses bring tourists from Baghdad and other cities in the south of Iraq to the snow-blanketed Gara mountain in Dohuk.

People were dancing and playing with snow that covered large swaths of the area.

The trip from Baghdad to Dohuk by bus usually takes about five hours.

Gara mountain stands at 2,151 meters above sea level.

It is a favourite destination for local tourists, especially for people from Baghdad and southern Iraq where the weather is drier and warmer.

The snowy weather is also a great economic boost for the Kurdistan region, as it attracts Arab tourists who inject some much-needed cash into the local economy.

The vote, which would come after consideration in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could take place just before the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It would repeal the 2002 measure that greenlighted that March 2003 invasion, along with a separate 1991 measure that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait.

“Every year we keep this authorization to use military force on the books is another chance for a future president to abuse or misuse it,” Schumer said. “War powers belong squarely in the hands of Congress, and that implies that we have a responsibility to prevent future presidents from hijacking this AUMF to bumble us into a new war.” He was referring to the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

The bill, led by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd Young, R-Ind., passed the Senate Foreign Relations panel and the then- Democratic-led House in 2021. But it never came up for a vote in the full Senate, despite significant bipartisan support.

The Iraq war authorizations “are no longer necessary, serve no operational purpose, and run the risk of potential misuse,” Kaine said Thursday.

The House is now led by Republicans, and it’s unclear if leaders would bring the bill up for a vote. Forty-nine House Republicans supported the legislation two years ago, but current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opposed it.

The Biden administration has supported the move, arguing that ending the war authorization against Iraq of the Saddam Hussein era would make clear that the Iraq government of today is a partner of the United States. It would also remove a grievance for rival Iran to exploit, State Department officials have said.

But Republican opponents have argued that revoking the two authorizations for military force would signal U.S. weakness to Iran.

“The ayatollah is listening to this debate,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said, referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when the panel debated the legislation two years ago.

Republicans also pointed out that President Donald Trump’s administration had cited the 2002 Iraq war resolution as part of its legal justification for a 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani.

Supporters of the repeal said presidents should instead come to Congress.

“The framers gave Congress the grave duty to deliberate the questions of war and peace, but for far too long this body has abdicated this duty,” said Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican sponsor of the bill in the House. “We must do our job.”

Undersecretary-General Vladimir Voronkov told the U.N. Security Council that the group, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, continues to use the Internet, social media, video games and gaming platforms “to extend the reach of its propaganda to radicalize and recruit new supporters.”

“Daesh’s use of new and emerging technologies also remains a key concern,” he said, pointing to its continuing use of drones for surveillance and reconnaissance as well as “virtual assets” to raise money.

Voronkov said the high level of threat posed by the Islamic State and its affiliates, including their sustained expansion in parts of Africa, underscores the need for multifaceted approaches to respond – not just focused on security but on preventive measures including preventing conflicts.

The Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate in a large swath of territory in Syria and Iraq that it seized in 2014. The extremist group was formally declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 following a three-year bloody battle that left tens of thousands dead and cities in ruins, but its sleeper cells remain in both countries.

The death toll from Monday’s quakes stood at 28,191 — with another 80,000-plus injured — as of Sunday morning and was certain to rise as bodies kept emerging.

As despair also bred rage at the agonizingly slow rescue efforts, the focus turned to who was to blame for not better preparing people in the earthquake-prone region that includes an area of Syria that was already suffering from years of civil war.

Even though Turkey has, on paper, construction codes that meet current earthquake-engineering standards, they are too rarely enforced, explaining why thousands of buildings slumped onto their side or pancaked downward onto residents.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said late on Saturday that warrants have been issued for the detention of 131 people suspected to being responsible for collapsed buildings.

Turkey’s justice minister has vowed to punish anyone responsible, and prosecutors have begun gathering samples of buildings for evidence on materials used in constructions. The quakes were powerful, but victims, experts and people across Turkey are blaming bad construction for multiplying the devastation.

Authorities at Istanbul Airport on Sunday detained two contractors held responsible for the destruction of several buildings in Adiyaman, the private DHA news agency and other media reported. The pair were reportedly on their way to Georgia.

Two more people were arrested in the province of Gaziantep suspected of having cut down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed, the state-run Anadolu Agency said

A day earlier, Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced the planned establishment of “Earthquake Crimes Investigation” bureaus. The bureaus would aim to identify contractors and others responsible for building works, gather evidence, instruct experts including architects, geologists and engineers, and check building permits and occupation permits.

A building contractor was detained by authorities on Friday at Istanbul airport before he could board a flight out of the country. He was the contractor of a luxury 12-story building in the historic city of Antakya, in Hatay province, the collapse of which left an untold number of dead.

The detentions could help direct public anger toward builders and contractors, deflecting attention away from local and state officials who allowed the apparently sub-standard constructions to go ahead. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, already burdened by an economic downturn and high inflation, faces parliamentary and presidential elections in May.

Survivors, many of whom lost loved ones, have turned their frustration and anger also at authorities. Rescue crews have been overwhelmed by the widespread damage which has impacted roads and airports, making it even more difficult to race against the clock.

The convoy was composed of 25 ambulances, several trucks carrying first aid, logistics and specialized rescue teams.

It included JCC (Joint Crisis Coordination) teams specializing in searching for and finding people buried under collapsed buildings, according to Rebar Ahmad, the Interior Minister of the KRG.

The KRG was also ready to send aid convoys to Syria, if they were granted access to affected areas, Ahmad said.

The quake killed more than 3,381 people and injured thousands more as thousands of buildings toppled, trapping residents under mounds of rubble.

Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis.

Throughout the day, major aftershocks rattled the region, including one jolt that was nearly as strong as the initial quake.

The US Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake, that was centered on Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometers.

Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude temblor struck more than 100 km (60m) away.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said offers for help had been received from some 45 countries in the aftermath of Monday’s deadly earthquake and powerful, still ongoing aftershocks.

In a televised address, Erdogan announced that Turkey’s death toll had reached 912, adding that about 5,400 people were injured, while around 2,470 people were rescued from collapsed structures.

Some 3,000 buildings collapsed in the earthquake, he said. His announcement brought the death toll in Turkey and neighboring Syria to more than 1,300 people.

“Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Erdogan said.

“Our hope is that we recover from this disaster with the least loss of life possible, he added. “I pray that God protects us and all humanity from such natural disasters.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said members of the alliance were mobilizing support to help Turkey deal with the aftermath of Monday’s devastating earthquake.