Head Of The OSCE/ODIHR Mission Hopes To See Progress At The Presiden

HEAD OF THE OSCE/ODIHR MISSION HOPES TO SEE PROGRESS AT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
10.01.2008 17:42

Head of the long-term observation mission of the OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) in Armenia,
Ambassador Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated in Yerevan today that "after
the presidential elections of February 19 we hope to register Armenia’s
further progress in making the election process meet the international
standards."

Fourteen groups of long-term observers will work over the whole
territory of Armenia. It is expected that on the day of elections
the number of short-term observers from the OSCE will reach 250,
not counting the representatives of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
and the Council of Europe.

"I believe that we will have enough people for carrying out observation
of the elections in Armenia," Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated. The Head
of the mission said that he had already met the Minister of Foreign
Affairs and the Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia
and had agreed on holding weekly meetings with the leadership of the
Foreign Ministry and the CEC. Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated that he
intends to meet all nine presidential contenders.

Before the elections, the OSCE ODIHR mission will present two interim
reports. The preliminary conclusion, as usual, will be publicized
the following day after the elections, and the final report – in the
course of two months after the elections.

Asked about the importance of the exit-polls planned to be held
on the day of elections upon the initiative of the US government
Geert-Hinrich Ahrens stated: "We will consider the data of exit-polls
as one of the sources of information, however we will not take these
as a basis for predicting the election results."

Geert-Hinrich Ahrens noted that today the OSCE ODIHR mission will
start the monitoring of the electronic and print media of Armenia. He
stressed that "the media sometimes play a decisive role in securing
democratic elections."

Geert-Hinrich Ahrens refused to make any comments concerning the
pre-election situation, noting that the mission has been working in
Armenia for two days only.

Armenia’s Transport Ministry: "RR" Concession Proposals On Managemen

ARMENIA’S TRANSPORT MINISTRY: "RR" CONCESSION PROPOSALS ON MANAGEMENT OF "AR" ADVANTAGEOUS

ARKA News Agency
Jan 10 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, January 10. /ARKA/. The concession bid proposals of the
"Russian Railroads" (RR) open joint stock company are very good,
Armenia’s Minister of Transport and Communication Andranik Manukian
said at the government briefing in commenting the transfer of "Armenian
Railroads" (AR) closed joint stock company for concession management.

He said that the RR is expected to repair the most dangerous sections
of the railroad and the infrastructures, Ayrum-Giumri, Dilijan-Ijevan
in particular.

The Minister reported that the RR suggest building a new branch line,
rehabilitating Akhurian terminal, bringing the Armenian railroads in
line with the modern technical requirements, increasing the volume
of transportation and capacity of the railroads.

The Minister also said that the Armenian Railroads will remain a
state-owned company that is managed by the Russian company. "In
our opinion, they will be more efficient managers, particularly
because we would not be able to make such extensive investments,"
the Minister said.

Manukian reported that 805 of 1,125 kilometers of Armenia’s railroads
are within the competence of the AR. The company provides steady
profit. In 2007, 3mln tons of cargos were transported through the AR
against 2.7mln tons in 2006.

Two companies – the "Russian Railroads" and Indian RITES (Rail
India Technical and Economic Services) – have been pre-qualified
for participation in the tender on concession management of the
"Armenian Railroads" closed joint stock company. Later RITES refused
to participate in the tender as it decided to take part in a tender in
Africa; consequently, the "Russian Railroads" became the only bidder
in the tender held in Armenia.

According to the investment package opened on December 21, the RR
plans to invest $570mln in the AR, including $230mln in the next five
years. If the blockade around Armenia is raised, the Abkhazian railroad
is opened and railway communication rehabilitated, investments will
reach $2bln 130mln.

In its bid package opened on January 8 the "Russian Railroads" offered
bulk payment of 1.7bln Drams concession fee to Armenia’s state budget
and this proposal is not under consideration currently.

The "Armenian Railroads" closed joint stock company is 100% state
company that owns the main part of the country’s rolling stock and
practically the entire railroad infrastructure (930.8 km as per the
information of Armenia’s National Statistical Service). ($1=307.09
AMD).

"Orinats Yerkir" Sure That The Presidential Elections In Armenia Wil

"ORINATS YERKIR" SURE THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA WILL BE COMPOSED OF TWO ROUNDS

Mediamax
January 7, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The presidential elections in Armenia will be
composed of two rounds, "since the candidate from the ruling party
does not have sufficient image for gaining victory in the first round".

Mediamax reports that the Heghine Bisharian, Head of the pre-election
staff of Artur Baghdasarian, the candidate for the position of the
President, Leader of "Orinats Yerkir" Party (OYP), said this in
Yerevan today.

According to her, "the victory of the candidate from the ruling party
in the first round is possible only in case of mass falsifications".

Bisharian stated the readiness of OYP to withstand "any undesirable
events in the process of the pre-election campaign".

"We count on the entry of our candidate in the second round of the
elections", Head of Artur Baghdasarian’s pre-election staff stated.

Turkey and France – the future of a centuries old conflict

American Chronicle, CA
Jan 3 2008

Turkey and France – the future of a centuries old conflict

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
January 3, 2008

In an earlier article under the title ‘Turkey vs. France: a Clash –
Part of the Freemasonic Plan for Europe’, we interpreted the present,
gravely Anti-Turkish, stance of France as part of a long plan,
initially addressed against the Ottoman Empire, and currently
implemented in order to produce – through sophisticated machinations
– a clash between European Union and a Russian – Turkish alliance. We
stressed the point that the only way for Turkey to possibly
outmaneuver this ominous plan is to deal with the Anglo-French
Freemasonic establishments in the same way they deal with Turkey.

As we viewed all the expressions of Anti-Turkish policy – from
opposition to Turkey’s presence in Northern Iraq to the fallacious
‘Armenian Genocide’ story promotion and from fueling terrorism and
secessionism among the so-called Kurds to partial attitudes toward
Kosova and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – as emanations of
the same vicious plan, we recommended a severe retaliation against
France and England. In the present article, we will focus extensively
on the subject.

Lessons to take from the Ottoman Empire Collapse

As the Anti-Turkish plans of the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge that
controls the Anglo-French political establishments are a simple
continuation of the demolition project of the Ottoman Empire, a
careful study of what happened and what did not happen then becomes
urgent.

As a matter of fact, the Ottoman Empire never counter-attacked the
Western European colonial powers that presented viciously alternating
faces, now anti-Ottoman (when entering in war in order to either
invade and detach Ottoman provinces or fuel supposedly local
anti-Ottoman rebellions) and after a while seemingly pro-Ottoman
(when they supported the Sultan against Russia).

As the Ottoman Empire was, as political entity, completely different
>From Turkey, involving different ideological backgrounds, we will not
analyze here the reasons of the quasi-inexistent Western European
policy of the Sultan; they mostly pertain to the ignorance, darkness,
and barbarism that had prevailed within Islam, the situation that we
currently attest in backward, failed countries like Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, etc. This
situation took an end in Turkey with the rise of Kemal Ataturk to
power, and thanks to his groundbreaking innovations that the
illiterate and ignorant tyrants of the so-called ‘Arabic-speaking
countries’ are unable to implement today, 70 years after Kemal
Ataturk’s death.

The Ottoman authorities never imagined that Knowledge is of
primordial importance in the clash between two inimical countries and
establishments.

The Ottoman authorities never understood that the only way for them
to be in a position to hit back was to know about their adversaries
as much as they had known about the Ottoman Caliphate.

The Ottoman authorities never realized that France and England were
also weak countries with their problems; and they never discovered
the very simple reality that if Ottoman specialists studied
thoroughly these problems, they would be able to figure out effective
ways of successfully using them against the Anglo-French
establishments.

If the Ottoman authorities had sent, at a certain moment during the
early 19th century, 100 students to France to study the local
languages, society, culture, politics, history, antiquities, and
religions, and to contact the various indigenous nations that had
been monstrously oppressed, tyrannized, depersonified, and
dehumanized for the needs of the French Freemasonic establishment,
after some time the Ottoman administration would have got enough
information to shape a correct decision.

This would imply Ottoman involvment in Ireland and Scotland against
England, and in Corsica, Brittany, Occitania, Catalonia, Bask country
against France. By keeping an adversary busy at home, you get relief
>From that opponent’s pressure on you on your own soil. If Ottoman
infiltration in Brittany and Corsica was strong enough, the explosive
situation at home would let the French understand that fueling
rebellion and secessionist movements in the Ottoman Empire would be
extremely costly. Either France would reconsider its anti-Ottoman
policies or the French engagement in areas of the Ottoman Empire
would be weaker due to the urgent need for resources an explosion in
the terribly oppressed provinces of Brittany or Corsica would
signify.

How Turkey’s French policy should be.

At this point, we will present the basic axes of a consistent French
policy of Turkey, geared to create grave problems to Paris, and
convince the perfidious French Freemasonic establishment that it will
be impossible to maintain in the future the current Anti-Turkish
stance and conspiracy.

Academic, financial, political and military authorities in Turkey
must understand that France and England are not powerful countries
that nobody can possibly target and damage. Of course, in terms of
GDP, trade, governmental budget, and nuclear weaponry, France and
England look more powerful than Turkey, but one should not judge
exclusively based on figures, and ignore ground realities.

In fact, France and England, are nowadays at their recent history’s
lowest point. Both countries exercise their influence by means of
proxies promoted either in other European countries or in their
former colonies. That’s why they perfectly market their universities
in order to have ignorant and unsuspicious foreign students enrolled
there and thus transformed into French and English proxies either
they realize it or not. They mostly rely on the efficiency of the
colonial system the structures of which remained intact until now
because no other countries duly identified, perceived and analyzed
the reasons of its functionality. Both countries benefitted
enormously from the fake European Union project because through this
vicious plan French and English companies bought up the economies of
small countries, thus rendering them mere political satellites.

But France and England are weak, and France is weaker than England,
thanks to the disastrous Mitterrand and the calamitous Chirac
presidency. Due to globalization, their economies lost pace, whereas
China’s and India’s cheap products invade one market after the other,
thus contributing to France’s and England’s de-industrialization.
Social clashes are grave, and not correctly reported in the world’s
mass media.

Their European, African and Asiatic minorities, formed following an
incredible influx of immigrants aspiring to become Gastarbeiter,
contributed to mayhem of all aspects, social, cultural, religious,
educational and political. Lower social strata of indigenous peoples
have merged with these minorities, joining them in an overwhelming
rejection of the ruling upper middle classes. The striking economic
differences that currently exist between the two parts of the local
societies (the upper and the lower) consist in an excellent
opportunity for Turkey (and any other) to exploit through proper
subsidizing and guidance. The so-called societies of two thirds are
extremely weak structures.

Turkey needs at least 100 specialists specialized in modern France
(involving various local languages, History, Religion, Politics and
Sociology) within the next few years; of course, proper guidance
should be given to them beforehand. They must have a general idea of
the terrible clashes between the Gaelic (Gaulois) and the Frankish
elements that characterized the medieval and modern history of the
treacherous country that shamefully portrays itself as the cradle of
the modern European Democracy.

All the conflicting elements must be highlighted, the correct
connections made, and proper support given to Corsicans, Bretons,
Basks, Catalans and Occitans who must be incited to rebelion, attacks
of all sorts against the criminal, French Freemasonic establishment,
and secession. What France created in the Iraqi Kurdistan against
Turkey, Turkey must produce, pertinently retaliating, in Brittany,
Corsica, and elsewhere on French territory.

National movements and social clashes must plunge France into an
unprecedented turmoil and totally exhaust the national resources of
that malignant, and viciously Anti-Turkish country.

Empty the Louvre!

Turkey must cause a lethal blow to France’s image of Embodiment of
Culture, Epitome of Education, and Epicenter of the Lights. Instead
of foreign governments asking the return of archeological treasures
stolen by the criminal French archeologists, local organizations set
up by correctly guided immigrants, destitute French of the lower
classes, and (culturally and nationally awaken) Britons, Occitans,
Catalans, Corsicans, Alsatians and Basks of France must demand the
morally imposed action.

An organization named "Do not visit the Louvre Genocide" must daily
mobilize protestations and manifestations outside the former royal
palace of France to prevent tourists from visiting the stolen
collections that the French have disreputably gathered there over the
past two centuries.

Another organization named "Money to France’s victims, not thieves"
should collect money from tourists ready to visit night clubs,
casinos and cabarets, and fund NGOs engaged in former French
colonies.

Independence for Catalonia, Bask Country, Corsica, and Polynesia

Even more aggressive against France the Turkish foreign policy should
be in cases of the still existing French colonies; French Polynesia
should become an immediate Turkish concern, and Turkey with its
allies in Oceania, Australia and New Zealand, should fuel strife and
clash, insurgence, and a successful outcome of the indigenous
people’s liberation movement.

A global effort of methodic and systematic defamation of France must
be undertaken – not to diffuse lies (as the typical French policies
would in similar cases) but to reveal the truth to billions of people
allover the world about crimes perpetrated by the France in Africa
and the Middle East, in Asia (particularly with respect to the
Eastern Christians, the Aramaeans, and the Armenians, whom French
gangsters masqueraded as missionaries either multi-divided or turned
them their own countries, namely the Ottoman Empire and Iran, with
the well-known disastrous consequences) and in Oceania. French
colonial crimes in America should not be forgotten either.

It is impossible for Turkey to get successfully engaged against
France without 100 Ph.D. published, publicized, commented and quoted
in more than 10 languages allover the world.

Remove French Cultural Centers from allover the world!

Another effort should be deployed in the former French colonies;
through the formation of bilateral NGOs (Turkish / Algerian, Turkish
/ Syrian), all French colonial deeds carried out and policies
implemented against the normal formation of National Identity (of the
various colonized peoples) and the elaboration of a true, locally
centered, historiography should be denounced.

Accordingly, these NGOs, as social groups of pressure, should demand
that all French institutes and colleges, universities and cultural
centers in Damascus or Sanaa, Cairo or Rabat be closed down, as
diffusing racist versions and visions of History.

As a matter of fact, Turkey needs a theoretical background to fight
at an academic – cultural – political level against France, denounce
the French colonial crimes (either in Morocco or in Corsica), and
mobilize local masses allover the world against France (either in
oppressed, Gaelic, Brittany or in semi-liberated Tunisia).

What the theoretical background of the Turkish attack against France
should be we will analyze in a forthcoming article.

ticle.asp?articleID=47799

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewAr

Funeral Held for Girl Denied Liver Transplant

City News Service
December 28, 2007 Friday 11:56 AM PST

Funeral Held for Girl Denied Liver Transplant

GLENDALE

More than 200 people, including members of an Armenian motorcycle
club, gathered in Glendale today to pay final tribute to a Northridge
teen who died after her insurance company delayed approving a liver
transplant operation for her.

Nataline Sarkisyan died Dec. 20 after being pulled off life support
at UCLA Medical Center. She had been suffering from a recurrence of
leukemia, and her doctors had recommended a liver transplant.

Cigna Healthcare initially said it would not pay for the operation
because its experts determined it would not have been "effective or
appropriate."

Friends and relatives — most wearing pink ribbons, armbands or
scarves – – filed into St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church today for
Sarkisyan’s funeral.

"She’s so big-hearted and always helping people out," the teen’s
cousin, Raffi Ganoumian, told ABC7. " … Everyone’s heard this many
times before, putting somebody else in front of her, but she was one
of those that did do that. And no matter what condition she was in,
no matter how much pain she was in, she never showed it. She still
moved forward and helped anybody else out around her. That’s why I
think her friends are so taken with this whole thing."

Family members said UCLA had a liver available for transplant, but
doctors would not perform the procedure because of Cigna’s refusal to
cover it.

Her family plans to sue Cigna, and their attorney, Mark Geragos, said
he will push for criminal charges against the company, alleging the
insurer twice took Nataline off the liver transplant list and
purposely waited until she was near death to approve the transplant
because the company didn’t want to pay for the procedure and her
after-care.

The girl’s plight made headlines around the world, and a member of
the California Nurses Association said the union will try to use
Nataline’s story to shine a light on problems with the American
health care system.

Nataline was diagnosed with leukemia at age 14. After two years of
treatment the cancer went into remission but came back this summer.

When doctors said Nataline could use a bone-marrow transplant, the
Sarkisyans discovered that her brother was a match, and he donated
his bone marrow the day before Thanksgiving.

However, Nataline developed a complication from the bone-marrow
transplant and, because her liver was failing, doctors recommended a
transplant, saying she had a 65 percent chance of living for at least
six months.

Cigna initially refused to fund the procedure, but reversed itself
after its decision drew protests and negative publicity. However, by
then the girl was too sick and she died hours later.

NKR: JSCs "Stepanakert bakery" and wheat grinding

Azat Artsakh Tert, Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Dec 26 2007

JSCs "Stepanakert bakery"and wheat grinding

By the words of the prime minister Harutyunyan "Alrakhats" had
debts for about 1 bln drams, 350 mln of which the company is indebted
to the population for wheat.
The fate of the strategic companies was discussed for long and
the only way was to let these enterprises be privatised by another
subject. The new owner was the mighty wheat importing company
"ERMI"in Armenia. The above mentioned objects were sold for 750 mln
of drams.
The government took the decision based on the growth of the wheat
which will male up 1000 tons in near future. The conditions must be
created for growing and realization of the product.The prime minister
hoped that the new privatisation will be successful.

President promises to name guilty for fluctuation of dram rate

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Dec 26 2007

Armenia’s president promises to name guilty for fluctuation of dram rate

YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan
promises to name those guilty for the fluctuation of the Armenian
dram rate towards the US dollar, recorded in current December.

The President’s press service told ARKA that during his traditional
meeting with 60 big entrepreneurs Kocharyan said that the
unreasonably abrupt fluctuations of the national currency that lasted
several days are among the most important events of 2007.

He said that necessary research has been conducted and the authors of
speculations will soon be revealed and will be accountable for that.

>From the beginning of the current year the American dollar has
devaluated towards Armenian dram by 16.39% – from AMD 363.5/$1 up to
AMD 303.91 as of December 20, 2007. From the beginning of December
the dollar has devaluated by 0.47%.

In the first decade of December, Chairman of the Central Bank of
Armenia Tigran Sargsyan said that the CBA will publish results of
investigation of the abrupt fluctuations of the currency rate in the
country after the presidential elections (February 19, 2008 – ARKA).

He said that the CBA conducted investigations and check-ups in the
exchange points and commercial banks, however taking into account the
heat of passion in the pre-election period, it was decided to make
the results public only after the presidential elections. -0–

Armenia Green Party To Support Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Candidacy

PARTY OF GREENS OF ARMENIA TO SUPPORT LEVON TER-PETROSIAN’S CANDIDATURE
IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. The Party of the Greens
(Socio-Ecological) of Armenia will support Levon Ter-Petrosian’s
candidature in the 2008 presidential elections. Noyan Tapan was
informed about it by the party’s Board.

The Board’s report mentioned that such a decision was made in
consideration of the fact that restoration of constitutional order in
Armenia, establishment of supremacy of law, legal formation of power,
society’s participation in country’s government through real elections
is needed for solving the problems faced by Armenia and its people.

Consumer Prices Rise by 6.6% in Armenia in 2007

CONSUMER PRICES RISE BY 6.6% IN ARMENIA IN 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, NOYAN TAPAN. Consumer prices rose by 6.6% in
Armenia in December 2007 on December 2006. In the indicated period,
prices of food commodities (including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes)
grew by 10.9%, of non-food commodities – by 2.5%, and service tariffs
grew by 3.2%.

1.5% inflation was registered in the Armenian consumer market in
December on November 2007. According to the RA National Statistical
Service, prices of food commodities (including alcoholic drinks and
cigarettes) grew by 2.5%, of non-food commodities – by 0.8%, whereas
tariffs of services fell by 0.1%.

The average monthly growth of consumer prices made 0.5% in
January-December 2007 – against 0.2% growth in the same period of 2006.

AP Interview: First Iraqi Cardinal Says Fear Still Pervades Country;

AP INTERVIEW: FIRST IRAQI CARDINAL SAYS FEAR STILL PERVADES COUNTRY; CALLS FOR EMIGRES’ RETURN

The Associated PressPublished
December 24, 2007

BAGHDAD: Fear still pervades life in Iraq despite a recent reduction
in violence, the spiritual leader of Iraq’s Catholics said Monday,
making a Christmas appeal for refugees who have fled the country to
return nonetheless.

The U.S. military has said there has been a 60 percent reduction
in violence since June, and the incessant sound of car bombs and
gunfire that used to fill the days in central Baghdad has clearly
abated. During the past few days of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha,
Iraq appears to been living through some of the most peaceful moments
since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

But security is still poor and many Iraqis fear to venture far
from home.

Armed gangs and militias roam city streets, car bombs and suicide
bombers attack markets, police patrols and liquor stores, and the
dead bodies of tortured kidnap victims turn up almost daily along
river banks or dumped on the streets.

"Let’s hope that it’s getting better, but I think that it’s the same,"
Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Church
and Iraq’s first cardinal, said in an interview with The Associated
Press on Christmas Eve. "Because everyone is still afraid to go
out. … Because of the car bombs, etc., and other things. Even small
animals are afraid of the danger."

As he spoke, a bomb hidden inside a minivan bus exploded a couple of
miles away near the Baghdad governor’s office, killing two people and
wounding six. The blast wasn’t audible at Delly’s guarded compound
in west Baghdad.

Giuliani hits rocky stretch as vote nearsHome on holiday, the Lebanese
say, what turmoil?Altadis revels, in private, on the mystique of
smoking"We hope that it gets better. … We are always the children
of hope. We must have this hope, and be always optimistic and not
pessimistic," said the red-robed Delly, the lights on a Christmas
tree twinkling behind him.

Christians have often been targeted by Islamic extremists, forcing
tens of thousands to flee and isolating many of those who remained
in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints. Less than
3 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people are Christians — the majority
of which are Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of
Roman Catholics.

Attacks against Christians peaked with a coordinated bombing campaign
in 2004 against churches in Baghdad, and several priests have been
kidnapped.

Anti-Christian violence also flared last September after Pope Benedict
XVI made comments perceived to be against Islam.

Delly, who was elevated to the rank of cardinal last month at the age
of 80, appealed to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled
the country to return.

"My message is always the message of our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught
us to love one another, to have charity towards everyone. And for
the emigrants to return home, to work for the good of their country
and their homeland despite the situation which their country is in,"
he said. "That is my hope."

The cardinal, who has been outspoken in the past about the need to
protect Christians, called for unity among Iraqis of all faiths.

"These days call us especially for love. Christmas is the celebration
of peace," said Delly.

"My message to (Iraqis), all of them, is a message of peace and
brotherhood and mutual cooperation because we are all the sons of
one family," he said.

"Yes, every person in this family has his own name, and his name
is dear to him, but all of us, we must all work to make this family
flourish, by fearing God and doing good."

Christians, Delly said, were as much a part of Iraq as anyone else.

"For 14 generations we’ve lived in brotherhood and equality with our
Muslim brothers. We are sons of this country, we are not foreigners,
we are not a minority," he said. "We are a small number, but not a
minority. We love this country and work together with one hand for
Iraq to flourish, now and in the future."

Iraq’s Christian community were generally left alone under Saddam. One
of them, Tariq Aziz, served as foreign minister and deputy prime
minister. He surrendered to U.S. forces in Baghdad shortly after
Saddam’s regime was toppled in 2003, and has remained imprisoned ever
since, despite appeals for his release.

Delly said he had tried repeatedly to visit the ailing Aziz for
religious reason, but was denied access.

"I pray for his sake and for the sake of all people imprisoned and
who remain in prison until this day," he said. "I ask from God that
all of them return to their homes, safely and in health."

Sectarian violence in Iraq has declined in recent months due largely
to a surge by thousands of U.S. troops, the help of Sunni Arab
irregulars who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq and are now on
the U.S. payroll, and a cease-fire by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.