Taliban claim assassination of Karzai brother

Updated at: 1429 PST, Tuesday, July 12, 2011
KABUL: Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination of President Hamid Karzai's younger brother on Tuesday, calling it "one of our biggest achievements" in nearly a decade of war.

Taliban spokesman Usuf Ahmadi told by telephone that the group had recently assigned a gunman to kill Ahmed Wali Karzai, a hugely powerful and controversial figure in the Afghan south. (AFP)

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his half brother's assassination reflects the suffering of all Afghan people.

Karzai said Tuesday in a press conference that Ahmed Wali Karzai's death is a pain he shares with all Afghans.

Officials say Ahmed Wali Karzai was assassinated by a bodyguard at his home in Kandahar.

The president says "in the houses of the people of Afghanistan, each of us is suffering and our hope is, God willing, to remove this suffering from the people of Afghanistan and implement peace and stability."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai's powerful half brother, a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Afghan government, was assassinated by a bodyguard Tuesday at his home in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was head of the Kandahar provincial council, had become a political liability for the Karzai government after a series of allegations, including that he was on the CIA payroll and involved in drug trafficking. He denied the charges, and the president repeatedly defended him, denouncing accusations that his brother was involved in criminal activities in the restive south.

Ahmed Wali Karzai's death was confirmed by Zalmai Ayubi, the spokesman for Kandahar province, and Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. A member of Karzai's private security team killed him with an AK-47, according to a person who witnessed the killing. The individual declined to be identified.

Rangina Hamidi, a resident of Kandahar and daughter of the city's mayor, said Ahmed Wali Karzai is survived by five children — two sons and three daughters. She says his youngest son was born about a month ago.

"It is his one-month-old child who is never going to see his father that I cry about," she said sobbing on the phone. "How many orphans and widows are we creating in this country?"

Ahmed Wali Karzai has been the reported target of multiple assassination attempts.

In May 2009, his motorcade was ambushed by insurgents firing rockets and machine guns in eastern Nangarhar province. One of his bodyguards was killed, but he was not harmed.

That attack came less than two months after four Taliban suicide bombers stormed Kandahar's provincial council office, killing 13 people in an assault that Ahmed Wali Karzai said was aimed at him. A Taliban spokesman said the attack targeted the general compound. The president's half brother had left the building a few minutes before that attack.

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and one of the most powerful men in southern Afghanistan was shot dead at his home on Tuesday, apparently by a senior and highly trusted bodyguard, officials said.

Ahmad Wali Karzai was a controversial figure, but his assassination will leave a dangerous power vacuum in Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace and a focus of recent efforts by a "surge" of U.S. troops to turn the tide against the insurgency.

He also played a critical role in shoring up his brother's influence in the south, and President Karzai may find his reach there is now limited.

"My younger brother was martyred in his house today. This is the life of all Afghan people. I hope these miseries which every Afghan family faces will one day end," Karzai said at a news conference in Kabul. He gave no more details.

Ahmad Wali Karzai was shot dead by Sardar Mohammad, a senior member of his security detail who once guarded the president, a source at the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence agency, told Reuters.

"Sardar Mohammad was a senior bodyguard to Wali Karzai and highly trusted. He had been with Karzai's family for the last ten years," the source said, adding Ahmad Wali Karzai had died almost instantly because he was shot in the head and chest.

Mohammad was shot dead by other bodyguards moments after opening fire, the source said.

The killing cast a pall over the city of Kandahar. Police had set up extra checkpoints, security forces flooded into the city and shops were closed down in the central areas.

"MANY ENEMIES"

The Taliban claimed responsibility for one of the most high-profile assassinations of the last decade after news of his death became public. They have in the past taken responsibility for attacks that security services question their role in.

Years in power and his sometimes ruthless operating methods meant there might be many other people keen to target Karzai who was often known simply by his initials, AWK.

"I'm not sure whether I would assume that this was the Taliban because he had a lot of enemies down there," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

Officials in Kabul and Kandahar declined comment on whether they thought the killing was personal, connected to the insurgency or driven by other grievances.

Ahmad Wali Karzai had survived several other assassination attempts. He said in May 2009 he had been ambushed on the road to Kabul by Taliban insurgents who killed one of his bodyguards.

In November 2008, he escaped unscathed from an attack on government buildings in his home province which killed six, and in 2003 there was an explosion outside his home.

CRITICAL POWER BROKER

A half brother of the president, Ahmad Wali Karzai returned to Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban government, leaving behind a career as a restaurateur in Chicago to eventually become probably the most powerful man in Kandahar.

His power came not from his position as head of the provincial council -- a largely consultative role which normally carries limited influence -- but from his tribal and family connections and the fortune he accumulated.

He had been accused of corruption and ties to Afghanistan's huge opium trade that helps fund the Taliban-led insurgency. Ahmad Wali Karzai had strongly denied the accusations.

Foreign officials saw him as a polarizing figure who could complicate their efforts to win over the population and supplant the Taliban by bringing improvements to the way the province is governed.

But they also recognized his huge reach and worked closely with him despite misgivings.

"I'm certain that the killing of AWK will have profound political consequences, but it is too early to assess this more concretely now," said a senior Western diplomat in Kabul, who asked not to be named.

"We need to know more about the underlying motives of the killing and which actors now will move in to fill the lacuna after AWK."

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Jonathon Burch and Michelle Nichols in Kabul; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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Q+A-The impact of Ahmad Wali Karzai's death

13 Jul 2011 12:26

Source: reuters // Reuters

By Emma Graham-Harrison

KABUL, July 13 (Reuters) - Ahmad Wali Karzai, the younger half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and most powerful man in southern Afghanistan, was killed by a close associate on Tuesday.

His death leaves a dangerous power vacuum in southern Kandahar province, birthplace of the Taliban and focus of recent efforts by a surge of U.S. troops to turn the tide against the insurgency.

Below are questions and answers about Ahmad Wali Karzai and his role in southern Afghanistan.

Q: WHY DID HE MATTER?

A: Ahmad Wali Karzai was arguably the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan, who acted as a regent and enforcer for his brother across the volatile region. His influence belied his modest official title, as head of the provincial council.

Critics said he was tainted by brutality and corruption that helped drive ordinary Afghans into the arms of insurgents. He was reported variously to have ties to the opium trade, private militias and the CIA -- all charges he strongly denied.

But even enemies admitted he also brought a degree of ruthless control to a violent area through his unrivalled network of tribal and family connections and the personal fortune he was rumoured to have amassed and used deftly for political ends.

Short-term there is almost certain to be infighting among rivals to his crown; longer term the political structure of the south is likely to be irrevocably changed.

Q: WILL HIS DEATH HURT PRESIDENT KARZAI?

A: Analysts say Ahmad Wali Karzai all but won two presidential elections for his brother through his patronage and security networks, and ensured some continued, if not always enthusiastic, support for his rule.

Another Karzai brother has been chosen to succeed him as a senior elder of the Popalzai tribe, in what is likely an early bid by Karzai to curb the extent of the coming power struggle.

Shah Wali Karzai is respected but relatively unknown; he may eventually be able to build up a power base that matches his younger brother's, but for now President Karzai is likely to be diminished in an area that should be his natural heartland.

Q: WILL HIS DEATH HAVE A WIDER IMPACT ON SECURITY?

A: His death will almost certainly cause a short-term deterioration in the already fragile security situation in Kandahar, by fraying or shattering the complex patronage networks he presided over.

Kandahar City already saw over half of all assassinations nationwide in the second quarter of the year.

If fighting for a share of his power or wealth is protracted, it may sap energy from the battle against Taliban insurgents or further alienate locals exhausted and disillusioned by years of violence and corruption.

This could threaten recent security gains made by foreign forces around the city, particularly at a time when they are preparing to start a gradual, years-long security handover to the Afghan police and army.

In Kabul, senior officials warned that the psychological impact could be as significant as the actual impact, because the death of someone as powerful and well protected as Ahmad Wali Karzai implies no one can really be safe.

Q: WHO WILL REPLACE HIM?

A: Ahmad Wali Karzai had several roles, and his official title as head of the provincial council was the least important. Normally a consultative position, it may return to that status if a low-key successor is chosen.

Another Karzai brother has been anointed to fill a second role, as a leading elder of the Popalzai tribe and presumably as Karzai's unofficial representative in southern Afghanistan.

Shah Wali Karzai is a businessman and trained engineer, two years older than his murdered brother, who used to travel frequently between Dubai and Kandahar and kept a much lower profile. He may struggle to entirely fill his brother's shoes.

So Ahmad Wali Karzai's title as the uncrowned "King of Kandahar" may still be available for other ambitious and powerful leaders like Gul Agha Sherzai, currently governor of eastern Nangahar province but once Kandahar governor.

His transfer in 2004 allowed Ahmad Wali Karzai to consolidate his power, but Sherzai is reportedly interested in returning to his former base, and as a sometime ally of President Karzai might be favoured for the post.

Another powerful Kandahar player is the recently appointed Kandahar police chief Abdul Razeq.

Q: WHAT WERE HIS TIES WITH THE WEST LIKE?

A: Perturbed by the persistent reports of corruption and drug and militia links, some Western diplomats and soldiers dealing with Kandahar had misgivings about his role.

Ultimately though they seem to have decided that his influence was so ubiquitous, and his hold over politicians, officials and tribal leaders so strong that they were better working with him than against him.

Western ambivalence about him was summed up last year by British Major General Nick Carter, then the commanding officer for southern Afghanistan, at a news conference.

"It's also my sense that, in relation to Ahmad Wali Karzai, he would tell you -- and he's either a candidate for an Oscar or he's the most maligned man in Afghanistan -- that he is trying to help his country, that he's trying to help us and he's trying to help his people," he said.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols)

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Five French soldiers killed in Afghanistan -statement

13 Jul 2011 12:06

Source: reuters // Reuters

PARIS, July 13 (Reuters) - Five French soldiers were killed after a suicide attack in Afghanistan on Wednesday, and four others were seriously wounded, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement.

"The French soldiers were protecting a council meeting in the Tagab valley," the Elysee said. "A terrorist set off a bomb close to the soldiers wounding four other French soldiers seriously and three Afghan civilians."

The statement said one Afghan civilian was also killed in the attack. (Reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and John Irish)

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Pakistan's ISI chief heads to U.S. as ties founder

13 Jul 2011 11:22

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Pasha to discuss intelligence matters

* Visit follows deteriorating ties after bin Laden's death

* Prime minister says concerned over military aid suspension (Adds military official's, prime minister's comments)

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's powerful spy agency headed for Washington on Wednesday for unscheduled talks, the military said, days after the United States suspended a third of military aid over deepening tensions in their relationship.

Few details were available about Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha's one-day trip, but it comes at a time when the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the military's intelligence wing, is under intense pressure to sever ties with militant groups including those it has long nurtured as assets in Afghanistan and India.

Relations between the intelligence establishments of the two countries have been on a downward spiral since January after a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis with joint operations against militants suspended soon after.

Then, in May, the killing of Osama bin Laden in a secret raid by U.S. special forces further damaged the relationship, with Pakistan branding the operation a violation of its sovereignty.

Pasha was going to Washington to "coordinate intelligence matters", the military said in a one-line statement and an official said it signalled efforts to patch up ties.

"Relations have not broken down. Intelligence sharing is going on... We are talking to each other despite difficulties," the senior military official said on condition of anonymity.

Incensed over the bin Laden raid, Pakistan drastically cut the number of U.S. military trainers allowed in the country and also set clear terms for U.S. intelligence activities in the country.

Washington responded by saying it would hold back $800 million -- a third of $2 billion in security assistance -- in a show of displeasure over the cutback of military trainers, limits on visa for U.S. personnel and other bilateral irritants.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani expressed concerns over the U.S. suspension of some of the assistance.

"It is our military. We have concerns about (the suspension of) aid because we are in the middle of the war on terrorism and extremism," Gilani told a news conference in the southwestern city of Quetta.

"It's our own war but we are fighting this war for the entire world. For the peace, prosperity and progress of the whole world. The entire world is benefiting from this war."

Gilani's concern ran counter to a statement by the Pakistani military which played down the impact of the U.S. aid suspension saying that it would fight the militants with its "own resources".

Relentless missile strikes by U.S. drone aircraft in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border are also a major bone of contention.

Despite protests by Pakistan in public, the United States has continued the strikes, killing at least 48 suspected militants this week, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign. (Editing by Chris Allbritton and Sanjeev Miglani)

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Afghan suicide bombing kills five French troops

13 Jul 2011 13:15

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Four other soldiers seriously injured, 1 Afghan killed

* Attack comes day after Sarkozy details withdrawal plans

* Worst attack against French troops since 2008

(Recasts with French confirmation, details, background)

By Ahmad Qiam

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan, July 13 (Reuters) - A suicide attack killed five French soldiers and seriously wounded four others in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the French president's office said on Wednesday, France's biggest one-day troop loss since 2008.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had visited Afghanistan on Tuesday and detailed his plan to withdraw 1,000 troops by the end of 2012, around a quarter of France's troop commitment to Afghanistan.

"The French soldiers were protecting a council meeting in the Tagab valley," Sarkozy's office said. "A terrorist set off a bomb close to the soldiers wounding four other French soldiers seriously and three Afghan civilians."

The statement said one Afghan civilian was also killed.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had earlier confirmed there had been an insurgent attack in Kapisa causing foreign casualties.

Most foreign troops based in Tagab in Kapisa province, 50 km (30 miles) outside the Afghan capital, are French.

"The head of state expresses France's determination to continue to operate at the heart of ISAF to establish peace and stability in the country and to contribute to its development," Sarkozy's office said.

Abdul Hakim, the district governor of Tagab, said earlier three foreign soldiers had been killed in the attack, and two Afghan civilians and a policeman had also been wounded.

He said the suicide bomber walked up to the soldiers who were standing next to their armoured vehicles before detonating his explosives.

Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst since U.S.-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001. More than 2,500 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan since the war began almost 10 years ago.

The attack on the French troops was the worst since 2008 when 10 soldiers were killed and 21 injured in a major battle against Taliban insurgents.

France has 4,000 troops in Afghanistan and has now seen 69 of its soldiers killed since it joined the U.S.- and NATO-led Afghanistan operation in 2001. The latest casualty was killed on Monday by an accidental shot from his own camp in Kapisa.

An opinion poll after the death of former al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in May showed more than half of French people support a withdrawal from the nearly decade-old military campaign against Taliban insurgents. (Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi in Kabul, John Irish and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris; Writing by Jonathon Burch and John Irish)


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MP, top Karzai aide feared killed - police official

17 Jul 2011 18:02

Source: reuters // Reuters

(Adds details, background)

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL, July 17 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a top advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a member of the country's parliament in a residential district of Kabul on Sunday, just days after the president's brother was gunned down at home, officials said.

The spokesman for Kabul's police chief said two or three armed men started a gun battle around 8 o'clock at the house of Jan Mohammad Khan, a former governor of southern Uruzgan province and close aide to the president.

"The battle between gunmen and security forces is still going on," spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said, adding that the attack began around 8.00 pm local time (1530 GMT).

Lawmaker Hashim Watanwal was also killed, said Stanekzai and Obaidullah Barekzai, a member of parliament from Uruzgan province who had seen the bodies of both men being brought out.

Hours after the attack began, gunfire could still be heard in western Karte Seh district, home to the country's parliament, many Afghan politicians and media and some embassies.

There was a heavy presence of security troops in the area and the streets leading to Khan's home were cordoned off.

The attack came on the day that Afghanistan began a long-promised transition to control of its own security, but the process kicked off in the relatively peaceful central province of Bamiyan, half a day's drive from Kabul.

A surge of U.S. troops has helped improve security in the south of the country over the last year, but there has been spreading insecurity in once peaceful northern areas, fiercer fighting in the east and record civilian casualties.

The first half of this year was the deadliest six months for civilians in the last decade of conflict, with nearly 1,500 killed, the United Nations said in a recent report.

(Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison, editing by Myra MacDonald)

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Karachi violence: With 100 dead, govt seeks institutional shakeup

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By Irfan Ghauri
Published: July 9, 2011

Bodies of victims from the fourth day of violence in Karachi lie at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital morgue. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ATHAR KHAN
ISLAMABAD:

As the death toll exceeded 100 after four days of violence in Karachi, the federal and Sindh governments have decided to respond not just with 1,000 extra paramilitary troops but also fundamental changes in the way the city is governed.

At a meeting held at the Presidency in Islamabad on Friday night, senior officials from both the federation and Sindh – including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah – convened to discuss the situation in Karachi and agreed upon a series of steps to help stem the violence.

The government has decided to change the way the country’s largest city is governed by bringing in a local government system that will be a hybrid between the one dominated by elected officials (introduced in 2001) and the one dominated by unelected federal civil servants (the system that had been in place between 1979 and 2001), according to sources familiar with the matter. The president’s spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, said that it has been left to the Sindh government to decide on whether to proceed with the changes through legislation in the provincial assembly or through an ordinance promulgated by the governor.

However, according to sources familiar with the matter, the government appears to have decided to consult both the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), the two parties with strong political bases in Karachi, before finalising its decision.

The restoration of an elected local government system has been a long-standing demand of the MQM, which ran the last such government in Karachi and Hyderabad between 2005 and 2009. The Pakistan Peoples Party, which is in office in both the federal and Sindh governments, has been dragging its feet on the restoration of the system, even though it has at least formally committed to elected local governments.

The difference stances of the two parties are reflected in the differing advantages of the two systems. The pre-2001 system was dominated by district commissioners who were federal civil servants from the powerful district management group. The only elected officials who had any sway over local governments then were the provincial and national legislators, which suits the PPP since it has traditionally been able to dominate the Sindh legislature.

The MQM, meanwhile, prefers the system that gave power to elected local officials. While the party has never won a majority in the Sindh Assembly, it can dominate Karachi and Hyderabad, allowing it to serve its constituents directly without having to rely on the largess of the PPP as a senior coalition partner.

The elected local government system was introduced by the Musharraf administration in 2001 and expired in 2009, following which it could have been revived (with or without modification) by the provincial assemblies, none of which has thus far chosen to do so.

Meanwhile, the government has also decided to improve its own ability to prosecute those most directly responsible for the violence in Karachi by filling vacant judges’ positions on anti-terrorism courts and by increasing the staff of the public prosecutor’s office.

Controversially, the government may also decided to bring back former Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, who had been removed from his position after strong pressure from the MQM. It is not yet clear what capacity Mirza will be returning in, though it appears that he may not get the home ministry back. .

Several reports on Friday night suggested that Manzoor Wassan of the PPP might be brought in as Sindh home minister but government officials refused to confirm or deny these reports.

“The provincial government will announce these administrative changes,” said the president’s spokesperson.

(With additional reporting by Hafeez Tunio in Karachi)

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2011.

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PAKISTAN: Violence rocks Karachi

11 Jul 2011 12:24

Source: Content partner // IRIN

KARACHI, 11 July 2011 (IRIN) - The wave of ethnic and political tension in the Pakistani city of Karachi which left 90 people dead [ http://tribune.com.pk/story/205202/karachi-violence-live-updates/ ] within four days last week has raised fresh fears that some minority groups could be the target.

�My two sons are not going to their tuition classes or to the martial arts club they regularly attend, and my wife calls me in fear if I am even five minutes late getting home from work,� said Haider Ali, 40, a Pukhtoon, and a member of the minority Shia Muslim sect, who have been repeatedly targeted.

�I feel especially vulnerable due to both these factors, but we have nowhere else to go," he added. "My family moved here three generations ago; I have a good job here and this is the only home I know.�

The government of Sindh Province (in which Karachi is located) issued shoot-on-sight orders to law enforcers in a bid to control the situation, but the killings continued.

�I am running out of the packaged cereals my nine-month-old baby eats, and also out of sufficient milk for the two older children [but] it is too risky to even walk to the corner shop,� said Asiya Khan, 27, a mother of three. The family is ethnically Pukhtoon, hailing from the northern province of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, and this puts them at risk amid tensions between Pukhtoons and Mohajirs - a group of people who migrated to Pakistan at the time of the partition of the sub-continent in 1947.

Tensions are stoked by the affiliation of the two groups to rival political factions. Karachi, the country�s largest city, is made up of many diverse ethnic groups [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91685 ] who have migrated to the metropolis mainly in search of jobs. In the past, violence has broken out between these ethnic groups. [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91685 ]

There have also been repeated incidents of sectarian killings. [ http://archives.dawn.com/archives/156721 ] According to the autonomous Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), 490 people were killed in Karachi because of ethnic, sectarian or political reasons in the first six months of 2011. [ http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/06/targeted-killing-claimed-490-lives-in-six-months-hrcp.html ]

Some 748 people died in similar killings in 2010, while 272 died in 2009, according to HRCP.

�Terrible fear among children�

�Another cycle of the now familiar violence has erupted in Karachi," Zohra Yusuf, the HRCP chairperson, said in a statement. [ http://www.hrcp-web.org/showprel.asp?id=218 ] "Karachi is no stranger to violence or the absence of law and order. However, it is scandalous that the alarm and indignation that such a heavy toll on human lives should evoke, is absent."

Sharfuddin Memon, a spokesperson for the Sindh interior ministry, told IRIN that some suspects had been detained and "police and paramilitary troops are patrolling troubled areas to control things.�

By the weekend, barricades and checkpoints set up by security forces could be seen along many streets, with people being stopped regularly for questioning. �The fact, however, is that when there are gunmen roaming streets and shooting at random, or ambushing vehicles, there is very little we can actually do to protect people. The criminals are better armed than us in many cases,� said a policeman who asked not to be named.

Ahsan Maqbool, a primary school teacher, warned that the situation could create distrust and hatred among children belonging to different ethnic groups and could result in �more violence as children grow up in such an environment�.

�This situation has created terrible fear among children," he added. "Some of them have seen bodies lying on the streets - and their sense of trauma is reflected in their writings and drawings.�

kh/eo/cb

� IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

Texas woman loses Iraq rape case against KBR

By PAUL J. WEBER and MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press – 2 hrs 23 mins ago

HOUSTON – A former KBR Inc. employee who said she was drugged and raped while working in Iraq lost her lawsuit against the military contractor Friday.

The jury of eight men and three women rejected Jamie Leigh Jones' claims a day after starting deliberations in a Houston federal courthouse. Jones, 26, said she was raped in 2005 while working for KBR at Camp Hope, Baghdad.

Jones sued KBR, its former parent Halliburton Co., and a former KBR firefighter, Charles Bortz, whom she identified as one of her rapists. The Houston-based companies and Bortz denied her allegations.

The alleged sexual assault was investigated by authorities but no criminal charges were filed.

"I was going up against a monster," Jones, sobbing loudly, told The Associated Press. "I'm devastated. I believe I did the right thing coming forward."

KBR applauded the jury's verdict, which in addition to rejecting Jones' claims that she was raped also denied her fraud claim against the company.

"Since 2005, KBR has been subjected to a continuing series of lies perpetuated by the plaintiff in front of Congress, in the media, and to any audience wishing to lend an ear to this story," spokeswoman Sharon Bolen said in a statement.

When the jury decided that Jones hadn't been raped, a number of the questions before them were rendered moot, including accusations against Halliburton, said KBR attorney Daniel Hedges.

Jones said the civil trial wasn't a fair fight. She said she felt she lost because the jury wasn't allowed to hear details of her attacker's past but were allowed to hear hers. Bortz said the sex was consensual.

Jones said she believed her bruises and the description of the rape would have swayed jurors.

"I just thought that the physical evidence would help. I guess the fact that my entire life was on display and (his) wasn't" made a difference, Jones said.

Her attorney had asked jurors to award her as much as 5 percent of KBR's net worth in actual or punitive damages. That would be more than $114 million, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Attorney Ron Estefan, in his closing arguments, accused KBR of neglecting to enforce its policies against sexual harassment for years by its contract workers in Iraq. The neglect facilitated Jones' rape, he said.

Lawyers for Bortz and the companies argued that Jones concocted her story out of fear of gossip among co-workers at the camp.

Jones' mother, Breanna Morgan, said she worried that the outcome might discourage future rape victims from coming forward, saying her daughter, "had to go through so much and she did it to help others."

"I feel like, because she did that and then there was this verdict, others won't want to," Morgan said. "I feel it sends a clear message."

Bolen, the KBR spokeswoman, said the "outcome of this jury trial as judged by her peers is the same result that the State Department got in 2005; that the Justice Department found in 2008. We are deeply gratified that the justice system has worked."

Jones, who had been a clerical worker in Baghdad's Green Zone, testified that she was drugged and then raped by a group of KBR firefighters. She said Bortz was in her room the next morning. During four days on the stand, she told jurors she has no memory of what happened because she believed she was drugged with Rohypnol, known as the "date rape drug," just before she was sexually assaulted.

The Associated Press usually doesn't identify people alleging sexual assault, but Jones' face and name have been in media reports and she has promoted her case on her own website.

Bortz's attorney tried to show that after the alleged rape, Jones did not appear to act like she had been attacked but instead went to work as normal, joked around and talked about camp gossip. Bortz no longer works for KBR.

Joanne Vorpahl, one of KBR's attorneys, tried to portray Jones to jurors as someone with a history of being dishonest on resumes and job applications, including not disclosing in a medical questionnaire she filled out before leaving for Iraq that she had been treated in prior years for various things, including depression, dizziness and kidney and bladder problems. Jones said those were simply mistakes and she never intended to be dishonest.

Jones also accused KBR officials of locking her in a trailer after she told them about the rape and not letting her call her family. She testified she's been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, takes medications for anxiety and had to have reconstructive surgery for her breasts, which were disfigured in her attack.

KBR and Halliburton, which split in 2007, were unsuccessful in having Jones' case settled through arbitration as stipulated in her contract.

Due in part to Jones' case, federal lawmakers in 2009 approved a measure prohibiting contractors and subcontractors that receive $1 million in funds from the Department of Defense from requiring employees to resolve sexual assault allegations and other claims through arbitration.

__

Weber reported from San Antonio. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in San Antonio contributed to this report.

What’s in a Name?

Posted on 04 July 2011. Tags: branding family names iraq, branding in iraq, family names in iraq, re-branding rationale, reasons to re-brand in iraq, The Brand Foundation

In the Arabic world family name is important – family names are ‘brands’ with real stories, history, notoriety and respect. This is particularly the case in Iraq, a nation very much at the beginning of an onslaught of international brands – some seeking associations with the big family names of Iraq and others planning strategies to apply local relevance to their global brands with the objective of penetrating the Iraqi market.

Recently, I asked an Iraqi businessman why they had removed their family name from the business and adopted a western/international brand name. I expected them to retort with; ‘It was part of our strategy to go global and attract international investors,’ which in part it was, or is now, but the predominant reason, which, incidentally was made about 7 or so years ago came as a bit of a surprise to me.

They went on to explain that in Saddam’s era kidnapping was big business, and by using your family name as your brand name (as was the norm) you were essentially handing the would-be kidnappers an ideal target list; ‘Hello, my name is Mr So-and-So, our business is very successful… come and find us, we can afford to pay your ransom fee’. Targeting successful family businesses was a fairly safe bet for those in the business of kidnapping for money.

As one would expect, in some instances Iraqi businessman distanced the family name from the business. From a branding point of view, it could be considered an absolute disaster – take away the name – take away the history, right? Of course, not everybody removed the family name altogether, but for those that remained in Iraq, creating a distance between your family name and your business was a necessary, protective measure. Some went further than that and fled the country altogether.

Brands are forever changing names, adding extensions and developing sub-brands as strategic facilitators, but in the historical context of Iraq the reasons were altogether more fundamental. Whoever thought branding was merely a commercial activity, free from the influence of politics and in Iraq’s case, crime – might be rudely awakened. If ever there was a strong rationale for a re-brand, surely this was it!

An ironic twist of fate is that as Iraqi brands now seek to establish stronger local and overseas associations, the brand revisions they implemented for sheer familial safety in the past may very well assist them in their future endeavors.

Lisa Knight is Creative Director & Founder of The Brand Foundation, a UAE-based branding agency. Prior to that, Lisa led the creative team of the UK’s governing political party, firstly under Rt. Hon Tony Blair and latterly, Rt. Hon Gordon Brown. Lisa’s career spans 17 years and numerous industries; arts & entertainment, business & finance, fashion, travel, youth, sport & international development.

Many U.S. heart stents inappropriate - study

http://www.jamacareercenter.com/



06 Jul 2011 13:09

Source: reuters // Reuters

By Frederik Joelving

NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters Health) - One in eight U.S. patients who have non-emergency stenting(An opening in a wall in a coal mine.) procedures to clear blocked arteries in the heart are likely to see more harm than good from the procedure, according to a new study.

The findings stoke concern about overuse of the invasive treatment, which costs the nation some $12 billion a year and offers few benefits over drug therapy unless the patient has suffered a heart attack.

"More than half of the inappropriate cases were in patients who didn't have any symptoms at all," said Dr. Paul Chan, whose results appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"If they are not benefiting, that's a problem," Chan, a cardiologist at Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri, told Reuters Health.

Each year in the United States, about 600,000 stents -- small metal mesh tubes -- are inserted into ailing hearts to prop open blocked arteries, according to the new report.

While they are life-saving for patients with heart attacks and for some patients with severe chest pain even at rest, stents are no better than drugs at preventing new heart attacks or death in patients with stable heart disease.

Apart from a hefty price tag of about $20,000, the stenting procedure carries risks of complications like major bleeding and tears. And after leaving the hospital, people need to take clot-buster medications, which also increase the chance of bleeding.

Chan and his colleagues used data from more than 1,000 hospitals across the country. They checked that data against guidelines developed by several medical groups in 2009 to judge whether the hospitals' stent use was appropriate or not -- that is, whether the benefits were likely to outweigh the harm.

Of about half a million stenting procedures, about 71 percent were done during emergencies such as heart attacks.

Nearly 99 percent of those were deemed appropriate, although the researchers had to exclude more than 100,000 cases that didn't include sufficient information.

"In the acute setting, we are doing a very good job," Chan told Reuters Health.

But when patients had stents inserted for less-pressing reasons, the picture was not as pretty.

Almost 55,000 of those procedures, or 38 percent, were of uncertain benefit and 16,838, or 12 percent, were inappropriate. That's consistent with earlier research suggesting doctors in the United States are quicker than others to use stents in patients with stable heart disease.

HOSPITALS VARY

In just over half of the inappropriate cases, the patients didn't have any symptoms of heart disease at all, and Chan speculated that a doctor might have sent them to get a stent based on screening results.

That makes little sense, however, because the only proven benefit of stents over drugs in stable heart disease is pain relief.

The researchers also found a lot of variation between hospitals. In one quarter of them, less than six percent of stenting cases were inappropriate, whereas in another quarter of the hospitals, more than 16 percent of stenting procedures were unwarranted.

"This represents an opportunity for those hospital to look at how they perform" stenting, said Dr. William B. Borden, of the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, who was not involved in the new work.

However, he said, not all of the cases deemed inappropriate will necessarily do more harm than good. It's possible, for instance, that a patient might have had a lot of pain even with all the guideline-recommended drugs -- beta-blockers and calcium-channel blockers, among others -- and would have been a candidate for stenting.

But another expert, Dr. William Boden of Kaleida Health in Buffalo, New York, said the number of inappropriate cases might actually be an underestimate.

Twelve percent "is a low estimate," he told Reuters Health by email, "because it uses a liberal (American College of Cardiology) definition of what is 'appropriate.'"

(Source: http://bit.ly/nHTYOj Journal of the American Medical Association)

Massive dust storm sweeps through Phoenix area

APBy MARY HUDETZ - Associated Press | AP – 2 hrs 47 mins ago





A giant dust storm covers Phoenix, Ariz., Tuesday, July 5, 2011. (AP Photo/The Arizona …
-- ADDS DATE AND OBJECT NAME -- A dust storm known as a "habub" rolls into downtown Phoenix on Tuesday night, July 5, 2011, bringing strong winds and low visibility. Habubs are part of Arizona's annual monsoon season, which is now in full swing. (AP Photo/Amanda Lee Myers)

-- ADDS DATE AND OBJECT NAME -- A dust storm known as a "habub" rolls into downtown …

PHOENIX (AP) — A massive dust storm descended on the Phoenix area, drastically reducing visibility and delaying flights as strong winds downed trees and left thousands of residents without power.

The dust cloud that moved across the Phoenix valley Tuesday night had formed in an afternoon storm in the Tucson area, and then rolled north across the desert before sweeping over the city like an enormous wave, said National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Iniguez.

Radar data showed the storm's towering dust wall had reached as high as 8,000 to 10,000 feet, or nearly 2 miles, he said.

"This was pretty significant," Iniguez told The Associated Press. "We heard from a lot of people who lived here for a number of storms and this was the worst they'd seen."

By the time the dust cloud neared the metropolitan area, it had started to dissolve but it still towered over the city with a wall of at least 5,000 feet, according to the weather service.

KSAZ-TV in Phoenix reported the storm appeared to be roughly wide in some spots. It briefly covered the city's downtown at around nightfall.

The storm was part of the Arizona monsoon season, which typically starts in mid-June and lasts through September.

The National Weather Service says strong winds with gusts of up to more than 60 mph in some places rapidly moved the dust cloud northwest through Phoenix and the surrounding cities of Avondale, Tempe and Scottsdale. More than a dozen communities in the area also were placed under a severe thunderstorm watch until 11 p.m.

Some 8,000 Salt River Project utility customers were left without power, KNXV-TV reported late Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said on its website that because of low visibility in the area, no Phoenix-bound flights were allowed to leave Las Vegas or Los Angeles airports until 9 p.m., and flights at the airport were delayed for about an hour.

SPE Petroleum Resources Management System

1
SPE Petroleum Resources Management System
Guide for Non-Technical Users
_________________________________________________________
This guide is to help non-technical users understand how the petroleum industry assesses and quantifies
the major driver of value for exploration and production companies – oil and natural gas reserves and
resources. Clear terms and definitions that result in reliable and easily comparable reserves estimations
are essential for investors, regulators, governments and consumers not only in assessing a petroleum
company’s current and future value, but in determining the outlook for the world’s energy supply.
Completed in 2007, the PRMS provides updated definitions and the related classification system for
petroleum reserves and resources that reflect advances in technology, the international expansion and the
increasing role of unconventional resources in the industry. These updated definitions establish a
universal language which can be used for estimating and classifying quantities of oil and gas discovered
in a reservoir.
SPE’s Role in Developing the PRMS
For decades, the SPE has been a leader in developing the technical definitions that have become the
industry standard for evaluating petroleum reserves and resources. The SPE historically draws together
the scientific and engineering expertise of the global oil industry in this effort. The PRMS is the result of
more than two years of collaboration by the SPE, the World Petroleum Council (WPC), the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE),
with considerable input from the industry at large. The new system builds on the previous set of
definitions and incorporates best practices identified in other international petroleum and mineral
classification systems. These technical definitions are offered for any company, agency, country or other
stakeholder to use.
Fundamentals of the PRMS
Oil and gas reserves and resources are defined as volumes that will be commercially recovered in the
future. Unlike the inventory of a manufacturing company, reserves are physically located in reservoirs
deep underground and cannot be visually inspected or counted, but rather are estimates based on the
evaluation of data that provides evidence of the amount of oil and gas present. There is no definitive
answer until the end of a reservoir's producing life. All reserve estimates involve some degree of
uncertainty. The estimation of reserves volumes is generally performed by highly-skilled individuals who
use their experience and professional judgment in the calculation of those volumes.
To take into account this uncertainty, the PRMS incorporates a central framework that categorizes
reserves and resources according to the level of certainty associated with their recoverable volumes
(horizontal axis in the figure below), and classifies them according to the potential for reaching
commercial producing status (vertical axis).
2
Contingent
Resources
Reserves
Production
Prospective
Resources
Unrecoverable
Discovered
Sub-commercial Commercial
Undiscovered
Unrecoverable
chance of
discovery
Categorize based primarily on technical uncertainty
of sales quantities associated with a project
Classify by
Chance of
Commerciality (Risk)
of project applied
chance of
development
PROVED PROBABLE POSSIBLE
When applying PRMS, technical specialists must determine a specific project that will be used to recover
the reserves and resources and determine the chance that it will be commercially successful, then must
estimate the volume expected to be recovered from the “project.” It is important to remember when
applying the PRMS that, as shown above, reserves are a subset of resources.
Differences in Classes (Vertical Axis)
The four major recoverable resources classes defined by the PRMS are production, reserves, contingent
resources, and prospective resources. There is also a distinct class for unrecoverable petroleum. These
classes are shown on the vertical axis of the PRMS framework.
Production is the quantity of oil and natural gas that has been recovered already (by a specified date).
This is primarily output from operations that has already been produced for use by consumers.
Reserves represent that part of resources which are commercially recoverable and have been justified for
development, while contingent and prospective resources are less certain because some significant
commercial or technical hurdle must be overcome prior to there being confidence in the eventual
production of the volumes.
3
Contingent resources are less certain than reserves. These are resources that are potentially recoverable
but not yet considered mature enough for commercial development due to technological or business
hurdles. For contingent resources to move into the reserves category, the key conditions, or contingencies,
that prevented commercial development must be clarified and removed. As an example, all required
internal and external approvals should be in place or determined to be forthcoming, including
environmental and governmental approvals. There also must be evidence of firm intention by a
company’s management to proceed with development within a reasonable time frame (typically 5 years,
though it could be longer).
Prospective resources are estimated volumes associated with undiscovered accumulations. These
represent quantities of petroleum which are estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable
from oil and gas deposits identified on the basis of indirect evidence but which have not yet been drilled.
This class represents a higher risk than contingent resources since the risk of discovery is also added. For
prospective resources to become classified as contingent resources, hydrocarbons must be discovered, the
accumulations must be further evaluated and an estimate of quantities that would be recoverable under
appropriate development projects prepared.
Some petroleum will be classified as “unrecoverable” at this point in time, not being producible by any
projects that the company may plan or foresee. While a portion of these quantities may become
recoverable in the future as commercial circumstances change or technological developments occur, some
of the remaining portion may never be recovered due to physical or chemical constraints in the reservoir.
The volumes classified using the system represent the analysis of the day, and should be regularly
reviewed and updated, as necessary, to reflect changing conditions.
A project may have recoverable quantities in several resource classes simultaneously. As barriers to
development are removed, some resources may move to a higher classification. One of the primary
distinctions between resources and reserves is that while resources are technically recoverable, they may
not be commercially viable. Reserves are always commercially viable and there is intent development
them.
Differences in Categories (Horizontal Axis)
Within any resource class other than production, volumes are placed into different categories based on
their certainty of eventually coming out of the ground. Decisions to upgrade volumes to any category
within a class are generally based on the technical certainty of recovering the volumes. In this discussion,
the focus is on the reserve class, as these volumes are commonly the focus of public discussions of oil and
gas company producing assets.
The highest valued category of reserves is “proved” reserves. Proved reserves have a “reasonable
certainty” of being recovered, which means a high degree of confidence that the volumes will be
recovered. To be clear, reserves must have all commercial aspects addressed. It is technical issues which
separate proved from unproved categories.
“Probable” or “possible” reserves are lower categories of reserves, commonly combined and referred to
as “unproved reserves,” with decreasing levels of technical certainty. Probable reserves are volumes that
are defined as “less likely to be recovered than proved, but more certain to be recovered than Possible
Reserves”. Possible reserves are reserves which analysis of geological and engineering data suggests are
less likely to be recoverable than probable reserves.
4
The term 1P is frequently used to denote proved reserves, 2P is the sum of proved and probable reserves
and 3P the sum of proved, probable and possible reserves. The best estimate of recovery from committed
projects is generally considered to be the 2P sum of proved and probable reserves. Note that these
volumes only refer to projects that are currently justified for or already in development. Total value of
any resource base must include an assessment of the contingent and prospective resources as well as
reserves.
In order for volumes to move from one category to the next, the technical issues which cause them to be
placed in less certain categories must be resolved. In the majority of cases, this requires that additional
data must be obtained before any greater certainty can be recognized. This may include, among other
things, the drilling of additional wells, the monitoring of current production to better understand
performance or the implementation of a pilot to have greater confidence in the volumes that full scale
development projects may eventually produce.
Conclusion
The PRMS is designed to provide a framework for the classification of oil and gas volumes which a
company may have associated with its portfolio of assets. It is not specific to any particular geographic
location and can be applied to both conventional and unconventional reserves and resources anywhere in
the world, in any fiscal regime.
When summarizing these volumes, some key points must be kept in mind:
1) All oil and gas reserve and resource volumes are not the same, and should generally not be added
together without taking into consideration the risk and uncertainty associated with each volume. Some
volumes are clearly less certain and more risky than others. Whether the focus is only on reserves, or
on the resource base as a whole (remember, reserves are a subset of resources!), expressing these
volumes as one number may be misleading.
2) Risk and uncertainty are key but significantly different concepts. Risk is primarily associated with the
classification of volumes and is a measure of the certainty of a project progressing to production.
Uncertainty is the driver for categorization and is a measure of the technical factors impacting the
volumes ultimate producibility.
3) The PRMS was developed as a collaborative system, designed to support a wide group of
stakeholders. Throughout the early drafting stages, advice and input was sought not only from the
petroleum industry, but from the financial, accounting, governmental sectors, in addition to the mining
industry.
The PRMS is available on the SPE website at
http://www.spe.org/spe-app/spe/industry/reserves/index.htm.
It is highly recommended that users visit the website to gain a deeper understanding of the terms and
definitions, learn more about the system and its application, and other aspects of reserves and resources
estimation.