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February 15th, 2011UncategorizedCash confiscated from a Brits engineering firm that paid illegal kickback to Saddam Hussein’s authorities is to be handed back to the people of Iraq.
About £1.5 million of the total £13.9 million will support water development and other humanitarian programmes, including a donation to the new Linda Norgrove Foundation, the Scottish Government announced.
The money was handed over by the Glasgow-based weir Group, which was also fined £3 million at the High Court in Edinburgh last December for breaching United Nations warrant imposed on Al-Iraq before the 2003 invasion.
The International allocation will be split, with £300,000 for water development in Al-Iraq and £1 million for Scots NGOs to work with Republic of Al-Iraq partners.
The Republic of Al-Iraq Youth orchestra will be given £100,000 to tour the Edinburgh Festival, in association with the Brits Council, and £100,000 will be donated to the Linda Norgrove foundation for do-gooder work in Afghanistan.
Ms Norgrove died in October during a US military-led rescue missionary post to free her from her afghan captors. Her parents, John and Lorna, welcomed the money, which has helped their foundation to depository financial institution more than £270,000 so far.
In a statement they said: “We are determined to put this money to good use and to ensure that our costs are kept to a bare lower limit so that cash in hand get through to the people on the ground.”
Scottish external personal matters minister Fiona Hyslop said: “A top priority is support for water projects in Irak We are working with the United body politic to develop proposal that will tackle water development based on the needs identified in the country. Scotland has always been a responsible land and our distinctive approach to international development has made a difference to some of the most vulnerable people in the world.”
Mark Chadwick, of the Edinburgh-based mercifulness Corps, said: “It’s particularly welcome at a time when the continuing do-gooder demand of Iraqi appear to be slipping off the international schedule We know from our work on the ground that the people of Al-Iraq still need a great deal of help and there’s a lot yet to be done to improve their government ability to deliver necessary public services in an efficient and transparent way.”
The residual of the money, totalling about £12.4 million, will be used to monetary fund community project in Scotland.
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July 14th, 2009UncategorizedThe Anglo-American policy in the region is still focused on efforts of destabilization of the countries, and thus, provide both an excuse and a feasible situation to maintain control over the region.
Afghanistan and Iraq, often seen in the public view as two wars in the US-led ‘War on Terror’ which hopes to ‘rid the world of terrorism’, yet, in reality, these two major theatre wars are simply two geopolitical pivots in the broader strategy of Middle East and Eurasian imperial conquest.
