Former military industries may switch to civilian products
(Al-Sabah) The Ministry of Industry and Mines has studied the possibility of changing the production of the former military industrial board companies into civil products to serve the private and general sectors along with the ministries. Head of the General Board for Development and Industrial Research Mohammed al-Ani said the minister has made many tours to different ministries to exploit the productive powers of the companies for producing civil products instead of military products.
(Al-Sabah is a daily independent publicly owned newspaper.)

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Hezbollah leader released
(Al-Mada) Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan al-Yasiri has been released after two days' detention by Iraqi security forces. Yasiri said: "late Sunday Iraqi security backed by American forces assaulted our party headquarters in Baghdad and arrested us. They took us to an unknown place and interrogated us about the building and the reason why we occupy it." Al-Yasiri added that those who have been arrested with him were still in jail. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih has expressed the government's regrets about the incident and promised him that quick measures were underway to investigate the issue in detail.
(Al-Mada is issued daily by Al-Mada institution for Media, Culture, and Arts.)

Governors disagree with central government policies
(Al-Taakhi) The Basra Province media manager said the Iraqi government has excluded Basra deputy governor Salam al-Maliki for supporting the Sadrists and for his latest announcement about the southern region federalism. Meanwhile, Misan Deputy Governor Sheikh Raheem al-Saidi yesterday resigned in protest against the tragic crisis of Najaf.
(Al-Taakhi is issued daily by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.)

Conference spilt over lists of nominees
(Al-Sabah al-Jadeed) The National Conference has witnessed disputes about the two lists of the nominees for the National Assembly. The democratic group presented its list under the name of "the democratic forum" including 81 members representing different Iraqi groups like tribal leaders, independent figures and religious currents. The other list was presented under the name of "the national list". It included parties represented in the Iraqi government, which provoked concerns that it was a government list being imposed on the Conference. The supervising committee objected to both lists for not containing the representative percentage of women which was 25% of the nominees.
(Al-Sabah al-Jadeed is an independent daily paper.)

Sadr backs down
(Asharq Al-Awsat) A few hours after the strongly worded announcement of the Minister of Defence and the strong threat of Prime Minister, Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to withdraw with his militia from the Imam Ali shrine and other sites, to drop their weapons and to change into a political movement. He asked for a ceasefire to execute the demands of the National Conference. Muqtada spokesman Ahmed al-Sheebani said the latter has agreed on all the suggestions carried by the Conference delegation. He wondered about the fiery announcements of the Minister of Defence who told the journalists about the zero hour of the big military operation to be carried out in Najaf.
(London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.)

Mahdi splinter group claims responsibility for oil fire
(Addustour) A group claiming to have a connection with Muqtada al-Sadr has announced responsibility for setting a southern oil well on fire. They said they would target the main pipelines in the south if US forces did not leave Najaf. In a statement on the internet dated August 16, and signed by "the covert action group" of the Mahdi Army, members threatened to attack the main southern pipelines if the Americans did not depart Najaf and end the siege of the city. It is worth mentioning that the southern pipelines have been closed since the August 9 when they were attacked by some saboteurs.
(Addustour is an independent daily published by former journalist Basim al-Sheikh.)