The number of slum dwellers is estimated at 3.3 million people living in 522,000 housing units.

​It has become obvious that corruption has settled in Iraq since its occupation in 2003. Corruption has multiplied and engulfed all aspects of life.

The emergence of slums in the land of Mesopotamia is but one of the manifestations of the disastrous consequences of occupation and the bottomless corruption of the successive administrations in Iraq. It joins phenomena such as hunger, unemployment and poverty to depict a depressing picture of what has befallen this venerable country.

It is a painful paradox that in the post-2003 period we find Iraqi citizens who have become homeless, living like wild animals in the open while historically Mesopotamia was the perfect haven for man.

Twenty-one prisoners, most of them members of Daesh jailed on terrorism charges, broke out of a prison in northern Iraq, Kurdish security officials said today. Fifteen were recaptured.

The fortified jail of Sosa is located near the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya and includes mainly militants of the hardline Islamist group who were captured during the fight against Daesh which started in 2014.

Kurdish security officials launched manhunt operations after the break-out late yesterday and 15 of the 21 were recaptured, two security officials said. The whereabouts of the other six remains unknown.
​
Although Sosa jail is located in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the federal government has full control over the prison.

At the close of the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was denounced as a ferocious villain for ordering his retreating troops to destroy Kuwaiti oil fields, clotting the air with poisonous clouds of black smoke and saturating the ground with swamps of crude. It was justly called an environmental war crime.

But months of bombing of Iraq by US and British planes and cruise missiles has left behind an even more deadly and insidious legacy: tons of shell casings, bullets and bomb fragments laced with depleted uranium. In all, the US hit Iraqi targets with more than 970 radioactive bombs and missiles.

It took less than a decade for the health consequences from this radioactive bombing campaign to begin to coming into focus. And they are dire, indeed. Iraqi physicians call it “the white death”-leukemia. Since 1990, the incident rate of leukemia in Iraq has grown by more than 600 percent. The situation is compounded by Iraq’s forced isolations and the sadistic sanctions regime, recently described by UN secretary general Kofi Annan as “a humanitarian crisis”, that makes detection and treatment of the cancers all the more difficult.
​
“We have proof of traces of DU in samples taken for analysis and that is really bad for those who assert that cancer cases have grown for other reasons,” said Dr. Umid Mubarak, Iraq’s health minister.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has ramped up efforts to provide warm clothes and life-saving supplies to more than 150,000 displaced children across northern Iraq whose lives are threatened by freezing temperatures.

Many families in the region have been left with next to nothing after being on the move for years due to conflict and resulting economic hardship. It is “impossible” for them afford fuel for heating and winter clothes to keep their children warm, the UN agency warned.

Flash floods last month worsened the situation, said Peter Hawkins, the head of UNICEF operations in Iraq.

“The devastating floods have made this winter even more difficult for displaced children who are extremely vulnerable to hypothermia and respiratory diseases,” he said, underscoring that every child “deserves to be warm and healthy.”
​
Upping its response, UNICEF is providing winter clothes, including boots, scarves, and hats to approximately 161,000 children in Sinjar, Erbil, Dohuk, Ninawa, Anbar, Diwaniya, Basra, Salaheddin, Baghdad and Suleimaniah, including through cash support.

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq needs at least two years to boost the country’s gas production to stop importing Iranian gas used to feed its power stations, a senior Iraqi energy official said on Thursday.

Hayan Abdul Ghani, head of state-run South Gas Co. (SGC), told reporters that Iraq’s gas output is expected to reach 1.3 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2020, an increase of 400 mcf/d from current levels.

“Iraq’s current production of gas is not enough to meet our power stations’ demand and therefore we are still importing gas from Iran. We need at least 24 months to operate new gas projects and start production,” he said.
​
The United States said last month that Iraq can continue to import natural gas and energy supplies from Iran for a period of 45 days as long as Iraq does not pay Iran in U.S. dollars. Sanctions on Tehran’s oil sector took effect on Nov. 5.

Iraq's broken electricity sector is planning a long-awaited overhaul to both meet US pressure to halt Iranian power imports and head off summertime protests over chronic cuts.

With a freshman at the helm, the electricity ministry is exploring options including revamping stations and lines to cut waste, importing power, and improving bill collection to boost revenues.

Baghdad hopes it will generate enough megawatts to feed demand by summer, when cuts can leave millions powerless for up to 20 hours per day.
​
But it also has an earlier deadline to meet.

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - The head of a powerful Iraqi militia wants a formal role for Shi’ite paramilitaries in securing the border with Syria, a move that could deepen U.S. worries about Iran’s growing sway over a strategic corridor of territory from Tehran to Beirut.

​Iraq’s Shi’ite militias, many of which are supported by Iran and oppose the presence of U.S. troops in the region, have sent reinforcements to the frontier after fighting flared between U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and Islamic State militants on the Syrian side.

Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, urged the government to provide a more formal, long-term border protection role for the militias.

“Securing Iraq’s borders with Syria is among the most important duties of the Popular Mobilization Forces right now,” he said in an interview with Reuters at his office in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf on Saturday.

The Iraqi government is refusing to comply with a second round of United States economic sanctions targeting Iran's crucial energy, shipping and banking sectors. “The decision isn’t international, Iraqi, or part of a United Nations resolution—it's an American one,” Iraq's Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi explained in reference to Baghdad's position to not “respect” the financial penalties. He added that Iraq "does not accept dictates" and is not obligated to fall in line with US foreign policy or any "aggression" against another country.

The announcement comes after Iraqi President Barham Salih over the weekend visited Tehran, where he discussed with his counterpart Hassan Rouhani ways to enhance bilateral ties as well as the potential establishment of free trade zones along the shared border. The trip raised eyebrows in Washington, which fears growing Iranian influence over Baghdad could offset a fifteen-year military and diplomatic effort to rebuild Iraq in its image.

“Tehran is a key player in Iraq in terms of ideology,” Raed Nearat, a Professor of International Relations at al-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus, conveyed to The Media Line. “In recent days the Iraqi-Iranian coziness is obvious, which explains the public shift in rhetoric and now policies.”

The US dollar is no longer used by Tehran and Baghdad in bilateral trade, giving way to the euro and local currencies, as well as direct barter of goods, head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce Yahya Ale-Eshagh has revealed.

​“[The] US dollar has been removed from the list of currencies used by Iran and Iraq in their trade transactions and they are using Iranian rial, euro and Iraqi dinar for financial transactions,” Ale-Eshagh said on Saturday, as quoted by local media.

​Apart from switching from the US dollar to alternative currencies, Iranian and Iraqi merchants have been engaging in barter operations, according to the official. The banking system, however, still needs improvements, since only a fraction of trade between the two countries actually goes through banks.

“Resolving the banking system problem must be a priority for both Iran and Iraq, as the two countries have at least $8 billion in transactions in the worst times,” Ale-Eshagh stated.

Iraq is the second country after China in terms of trade volume with Iran, according to the official. While exports to China are almost exclusively petrochemical products, Baghdad purchases a large variety of Iranian goods, helping to maintain high employment rates, Ale-Eshagh explained.

General Electric Co. learned from a consultant’s report this past summer of corruption allegations against key business partners in Iraq, where the company is trying to shore up its position in one of the most important foreign markets for its struggling power business.

The industrial giant said it has a robust compliance operation and doesn’t believe it has violated any federal laws, including ones covering foreign corruption. However, that confidential report, parts of which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, underscores the dilemma GE faces as it chases new business in one of the few places with demand for its multimillion-dollar heavy duty gas turbines.

The study, prepared for GE by corporate intelligence firm Hakluyt & Co., paints a portrait of widespread corruption and bribery in the Iraqi power sector, accusing high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Electricity, from which GE is currently vying with Siemens AG for $15 billion in new power contracts. Siemens declined to comment.
​
The Hakluyt report, based on interviews with business people and political officials working in the power sector, provides a broad overview of the corruption concerns in the industry and advises GE to distance itself from at least one of its contractors. Hakluyt’s staff includes former British MI-6 officers and strategic consultants from the business world.