BAGHDAD // Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al Maliki said today that Iraq had gained independence with the end of US combat operations and that its security forces would now deal with all threats, whether domestic or from abroad.
"Iraq today is sovereign and independent," Mr Maliki told Iraqis in a televised address to mark the US military's transition into a force that assists and advises rather than leads the fight against a Sunni Islamist insurgency and Shi'ite militia.
"Our security forces will take the lead in ensuring security and safeguarding the country and removing all threats that the country has to weather, internally or externally," he said.
The US President, Barack Obama, was due to mark the symbolic end of combat operations in a speech from the Oval Office at 8pm US time (3am UAE time), after visiting a base in Texas where he was scheduled to meet recently returned Iraq veterans.
He was also expected to speak by telephone with former president George W. Bush, who, backed by the UK, took the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, ousting dictator Saddam Hussein within weeks.
More than 4,400 US troops have died in the country since, a number that is dwarfed by the estimated 100,000 civilians that have been killed, according to Iraq Body Count.
A major troop pullout in past months has left fewer than 50,000 American soldiers in Iraq while a simultaneous surge in car bombings and shootings, many of which have targeted local security forces, has raised security concerns.
The US vice-president, Joe Biden, President Obama's point man on Iraq, landed in Baghdad last night and was due to meet the president Jalal Talabani, Mr al Maliki and the former premier and the winner of the recent Iraqi election, Iyad Allawi as well as other top politicians on the first full day of his trip, the White House said.
The vice-president will take part in a ceremony today to mark the start of Operation New Dawn, the US military's new "advise and assist" mission. Six US military brigades will remain in Iraq ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011 agreed in a bilateral security pact between the United States and Iraq, but their focus will be on advising and assisting Iraqis, not on fighting.
Iraqi citizens seemed unconvinced that the official end of combat operations would herald an improvement in security. "The situation will get worse especially as the withdrawal comes amid a political vacuum," said Salah Abu al Qassim, 36, a trader in Shorja Market in central Baghdad.
"If the politicians continue fighting on the chairs, the situation will get worse."
Mr Biden's trip comes almost six months after a closely-fought general election that was followed by protracted coalition negotiations which have yet to usher in a new government, causing alarm in Washington.
Tony Blinken, Mr Biden's national security adviser, said the current caretaker administration in Baghdad was not a durable solution.
"There is some growing sense of urgency that government formation move forward and certainly the vice president is going to urge the leaders to bring this process to a conclusion," Mr Blinken said.
Although unrest is not on the same scale as in 2006-2007 when sectarian conflict raged alongside the anti-US insurgency, about 300 people have been killed monthly this year, and July was the deadliest month since May 2008.
Mr Obama declared shortly after taking office last year that the US combat mission in Iraq would end on August 31 this year, after which American troops would take on a training and advisory role prior to a complete withdrawal in 2011.
There are now 49,700 American soldiers here, less than a third of the peak figure of almost 170,000 during the US "surge" of 2007, when the country was in the throes of brutal Shiite-Sunni violence that cost tens of thousands of lives.
The departing commander of US forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, has said the new force strength will be maintained "through next summer" before troop numbers fall towards zero by the end of the December 2011 withdrawal deadline.
He told the New York Times that failure to form a new government could undermine Iraqis' faith in democratic rule. "The longer that takes, the more frustrated they might get with the process itself," Gen Odierno said.
Iraq's top army officer, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, warned on August 11 that a complete withdrawal of US troops at the end of next year would be premature, and urged a change of tack from the country's politicians.
"If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020," Lieut Gen Zebari told AFP.
Mr Biden last visited Iraq in July, when he urged politicians to resolve their differences, but there was no breakthrough. Mr al Maliki was narrowly defeated by Mr Allawi in the March 7 election, but the vote was shared between an array of rival blocs forcing both men to look for coalition partners.
Neither Mr al Maliki, a Shiite who heads the State of Law Alliance, nor Mr Allawi, also Shiite but leader of a broadly secular coalition with strong Sunni Arab backing, has managed to secure a majority in the 325-seat parliament.
* Agencies
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
On sale: now
if you go
THE BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali
Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”
Favourite TV programme: the news
Favourite place in Dubai: Al Fahidi. “They started the metro in 2009 and I didn’t take it yet.”
Family: six sons in Dubai and a daughter in Faisalabad
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
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LUKA CHUPPI
Director: Laxman Utekar
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Cinema
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurana
Rating: 3/5
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group H
Juventus v Valencia, Tuesday, midnight (UAE)
Company%20profile
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Tales of Yusuf Tadros
Adel Esmat (translated by Mandy McClure)
Hoopoe
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
DMZ facts
- The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
- It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
- The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
- It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
- Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
- Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012.
- Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Scores:
Day 4
England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)
Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining
Company%20Profile
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Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now