War tours strain US military readiness

WASHINGTON: Strained by repeated war tours, persistent terrorist threats and instability around the globe, there is a significant risk the U.S. military may not be able to respond quickly and fully to new crises, a classified Pentagon assessment has concluded.

This is the third year that the risk level has been set at “significant” _ despite improved security conditions in Iraq and plans to cut U.S. troop levels there. Senior military officials spoke about the report on condition of anonymity because it is a classified document.

The risk assessment, drawn up by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, paints a broad picture of the security threats and hot spots around the world and the U.S. military’s ability to deal with them. Mullen has delivered it to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The assessment is prepared every year and routinely delivered to Congress with the budget. Because the threat is rated as significant, Gates will send an accompanying report to Congress outlining what the military is doing to address the risks. That report has not yet been finished.

source : jang.com.pk

OPEC should cut oil supply, if demand slow: Iraq

DOHA: OPEC should look to reduce oil supply further if demand is insufficient to absorb supplies, Iraq’s oil minister said on Tuesday.

“If there is not sufficient demand for OPEC crude we will have to consider a reduction,” Oil Minister Hussainal-Shahristani told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. OPEC, supplier of more than a third of the world’s oil, has raced to cut supply to match falling demand from a slowing global economy. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries next meets in March to discuss supply.

Shahristani said earlier this month he expected OPEC to reduce supply targets at the March meeting. The group pledged cutting 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) since September had stabilized the market, he said on Tuesday. “After our previous decision, it has not kept slowing down, “Shahristani said.

U.S. crude has fallen by more than $110 from its July peak to trade at under $37 a barrel on Tuesday. Oil has mostly traded in a $35 to $45 range since December.

source : jang.com.pk

German FM on surprise visit to Iraq

BAGHDAD: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier flew in on a surprise trip to Iraq on Tuesday, in the first such visit for more than 20 years ago, Iraqi officials said.

Steinmeier is due to meet President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during his trip, which comes exactly a week after a surprise mission by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Like France, Germany was an opponent of the US-led invasion of 2003, which toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime. Steinmeier was chief of staff to then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when the war broke out. Steinmeier was also expected to open a German consulate in Arbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan in the north of the country, according to the Kurdish press.

source : jang.com.pk

Turkish bombs kill 13 Kurdish rebels in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Turkish armed forces killed 13 Kurdish PKK rebels during an air strike last week in northern Iraq, the state-run news agency Anatolian reported on Friday. The air strike also badly damaged a PKK operations and logistics base, according to Anatolian. Kurdish separatist fighters use northern Iraq’s autonomous northern region as a base to launch attacks on targets in southeastern Turkey, and Turkish forces have frequently retaliated with air and artillery strikes. In early 2008, Turkey sent thousands of troops across the border in an attempt to flush out the PKK guerrillas and end their cross-border attacks. Ankara, like the European Union and United States, calls the PKK a terrorist organisation. Around 40,000 people have been killed since 1984, when the PKK took up arms with a view to establishing an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey