Az-Zaman (international) headlined: “Hundreds of Dead and Wounded in an Inferno of Bombings in Baghdad." The newspaper reported that a double bombing struck the Mustansiryia University when a suicide bomber detonated himself at the main entrance of the university, and a van exploded across the street shortly thereafter. Az-Zaman said that 65 bystanders were killed, while Al-Mada said that ten students fell in the attack (the death toll has risen since the newspapers came out).
Other attacks also occurred throughout the city. A blast took the lives of over 15 civilians on a main street in Central Baghdad, followed by a second detonation in the same vicinity that killed thirteen bystanders. A fifth bombing had hit a central district of the capital earlier in the day. Az-Zaman put the combined toll of the attacks at an estimated 300 dead and wounded.
At the same time, newspapers reported, American and Iraqi forces have been surrounding neighborhoods in Eastern Baghdad and executing raids and arrests as a part of the new Baghdad security plan. Al-Mada reported that some of the main streets that traverse Al-Sulaikh and al-A`dhamiya and al-Qahira were closed while the American and government forces established checkpoints and arrested suspects. Az-Zaman also said that four American soldiers were killed in Mosul and an American base near Falluja was bombarded with two Katyusha rockets. The American army did not release any statements regarding the incident.
Az-Zaman said that American forces raided the city hall in al-Kut (southern Iraq) and arrested two members of the municipal council. The American forces also arrested a member of the Sadr Current in the same city.
Az-Zaman's (Iraq edition) frontpage story covered the controversies surrounding next year’s budget proposal. The daily’s headline read “The 2007 Budget Will Lead Iraq to the Abyss." Az-Zaman said that critics have been warning that the new budget will, if passed, “compound the current crisis and increase inflation and unemployment." Politicians have been attacking many articles in the proposed budget, calling them “unconstitutional” and “illegal." Wide criticisms have also been leveled against propositions to lift vital state subsidies. Az-Zaman quoted MP Husain al-Faluji, who called on the parliament not to ratify the budget. Al-Faluji said that many irregularities and transgressions clutter the text of the proposed budget and that it will result in “the creation of a small rich class that enjoys luxury, against a large poor class." Falluji also expressed fears about ongoing efforts to “pass the budget law in any way possible without discussing its details."
Al-Faluji made grave accusations regarding the financial integrity of the government, claiming that last year’s budget surplus “disappeared” from this year’s budget draft. He estimated the surplus to have been around 15 billion dollars. Al-Faluji also said that the new taxing policy disadvantages the poor by raising the general income tax and sharply decreasing the corporate tax. The $42 billion budget, al-Faluji said, does not allocate funds equitably and does not invest in the productive sectors. As an example, he cited the Ministry of Agriculture, “on which depends the livelihood of 65% of the Iraqis." Under the proposal, this ministry will only receive $500 million next year with a massive decrease in subsidies, though the governmental media network was allocated over $700 million. Al-Faluji also criticized the fact that the revenues of the Kurdistan region do not show up in the text of the budget, which al-Faluji saw as a blow to the government’s sovereignty. Al-Faluji claimed that much of the funds “will go to the pockets of the profiteers,” while the crisis of the Iraqi economy will deepen. He attacked the policy of over-borrowing from foreign sources, adding that Iraq “does not need loans as much as it needs economic reform."
Lastly, Az-Zaman quoted on its front page the fiery statements that Tariq al-Hashimi, Iraq’s vice president, made to the British Daily Telegraph. Among other things, al-Hashimi accused government ministers of supporting and aiding the militias, and asserted that Iran wants to “control” southern Iraq. The daily also claimed that “Iraqi intelligence sources” confirmed Iran's intent to “reap large financial profits” from the oil fields in southern Iraq, partly by preventing Western oil companies from working in the Basra area. Iraq’s largest oil reserves lie in the South, on the borders with Kuwait and Iran. Some of the largest fields that have been discovered there were never put into production because of the war with Iran and because, during the sanction years, the national oil company could not acquire the technology needed to exploit these fields. Last year, the Iraqi government said that it would allow foreign companies to work in Iraq for the first time since Iraq nationalized its oil industry in 1972.
