Posted 3:15 PM by Dil
The allies' broken promises
10 May 2003

Oil

Tony Blair: 'We don't touch it, and the US doesn't touch it' MTV, 7 March

The reality: Yesterday's draft UN resolution gives total control of Iraq's oil revenues to the US and UK until an Iraqi government is established

The UN

George Bush: 'The UN will have a vital role to play' Belfast, 8 April

The reality: The UN is reduced to an advisory function on the ground in Iraq. All operational decisions will be taken by UK and US officials


Weapons

Jack Straw: 'Should the UN have a vital role to play in respect of weapons inspections? The answer to that is yes.' Interview, 25 April

The reality: No role for the UN inspectors 'for the foreseeable future'


Aid

Tony Blair: 'The UN should have a key role in administering the delivery of humanitarian aid' House of Commons, 18 March

The reality: US and UK to oversee aid effort with UN reduced to co-ordinating role


Government

Tony Blair: 'Military action is to uphold the authority of the UN and to make sure Saddam is disarmed' MTV, 7 March

The reality: A US and UK 'occupying power' will rule Iraq

Posted 3:14 PM by Dil
Iraq Inc: A joint venture built on broken promises
By David Usborne in New York, Rupert Cornwell in Washington and Phil Reeves in Baghdad
10 May 2003

America and Britain declared themselves yesterday to be the "occupying powers" in Iraq and produced a blueprint for the administration of the country that confined the United Nations to a co-ordinating role.

Although George Bush declared in Belfast last month that the UN would have "a vital role" in Iraq, there was great disappointment yesterday after the organisation was denied an operational role.

Britain acknowledged in a draft UN Security Council resolution that, with the United States, it intended to run Iraq for at least a year as a conquering power. Both countries urged the Council to agree to an instant lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq and accept that, as "occupying powers", they would have near-total control of the country's oil revenues for 12 months and maybe much longer.

Despite earlier promises that the UN should have an important role administering the delivery of humanitarian aid to the country, this task now goes to America and Britain, with the UN reduced to a co-ordinator. John Negroponte, the US ambassador to the UN, said yesterday that there would be no role for the team of UN weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix "for the foreseeable future".

Whatever the fate of the UN resolution, Washington has already started a secretive carve-up of the Iraq reconstruction pie in which all the slices thus far have gone to US companies – many of them with close connections to the Bush administration.

The impression that Iraq is becoming a carpetbaggers' free-for-all was reinforced at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Centre in Atlanta this week when lawyers, consultants and business people streamed in, all hoping for a piece of the action. They heard a presentation by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), which is handing out contracts worth $1.5bn (£0.9bn) to rebuild the healthcare system. The USAid contracts total about $70m. If America fulfils its sweeping promise to rebuild Iraq's entire infrastructure, the total may reach several hundred billion dollars. The contracts will be paid for from Iraqi oil revenues, controlled by America and Britain and audited by an international firm of accountants. Yesterday's appeal to the United Nations was contained in a baldly worded draft resolution tabled by Mr Negroponte. It was co-sponsored by Britain and Spain. The text, which makes clear that London and Washington would essentially run Iraq for at least a year, was expected to attract resistance from France and Russia. Controversially, the resolution relegates the UN to an advisory capacity on a board that will monitor the spending of Iraq's oil revenue on reconstruction. A "special co-ordinator", who would be appointed by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, would also orchestrate UN humanitarian efforts.

Observers believe America is calculating that the Security Council will be unwilling to allow a resurgence of the bitterness that characterised the weeks before the Allies' invasion of Iraq and will therefore, after wrangling, eventually acquiesce to the resolution. But those behind the resolution recognise it is controversial and are open to discussions on amendments. They expect a tough battle.

Sir Brian Urquhart, a veteran British diplomat and former UN under-secretary general, said: "Surely it would be better for everyone to push this through rather than reopen all the quarrels and instead do something to help the poor people of Iraq. I can't believe that they won't do that."

Yet France and Russia, the most vociferous opponents of the war may even vote for a redrafted resolution. President Jacques Chirac said his government would "undertake discussions on the future of [Iraq] in an open and constructive spirit". But a statement from the French Foreign Ministry said that a "strong involvement of the international community, through a central role of the UN, is indispensable to provide legitimacy" to any post-war Iraqi government.

At the resolution's core are provisions to lift the economic sanctions that were put in place in 1990 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. America argues that, without the resumption of full trade, the economic reconstruction of Iraq cannot hope to get off the ground.

France and Russia have insisted, by contrast, that sanctions cannot be lifted until the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been verified by UN weapons inspectors, as stipulated under several existing UN resolutions. The Anglo-American draft omits all mention of UN weapons inspectors.

Separately, the text envisions taking away UN control of Iraq's oil sales. This also runs directly counter to the view of several of the nations opposed to war, who have argued for keeping a UN hand on the Iraqi oil industry. Last night, the Russian envoy to the UN, Sergei Lavrov, said he had "lots of questions" on the text. Washington is asking that the UN oil-for-food programme, which currently takes in all oil revenues and distributes them for the purchase of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies, be wound up within four months. Control of oil revenues would pass to the "Iraqi Assistance Fund" to be held by the Central Bank of Iraq, managed by US and UK officials. An advisory board with the UN co-ordinator and envoys from other international financial institutions would oversee the disbursement of the revenues, and make recommendations.

The immediate reaction to the plans in Baghdad was negative. "This is very, very bad. We are in the same situation as we were with Saddam," said Bassen al-Khoja, 31. "[They] stole the oil money from the people and we got nothing and now the Americans and British are doing exactly the same. We are not going to see any benefit from it."

Similar disgust was expressed by Fareed Ismail al-Qaisi, 42, who is unemployed. "The United Nations should control the oil money, not the Americans," he said.

This is the first time that Washington and London have formally acknowledged that they consider themselves "occupying powers" in Iraq. It is a status governed by the Geneva Conventions that also lays out strict responsibilities and obligations for those powers under international law.

In Brussels, Poul Nielson, the European Union commissioner for development, voiced dismay at the text. He said Washington was "on its way to becoming a member of Opec", adding: "They appropriate the oil. The unwillingness to give the UN a legal, well-defined role also speaks a language that is quite clear."

Posted 3:32 PM by Dil
Hezbollah Leader: Grp May Help Iraqis In Fight Against US

BEIRUT (AP)--Hezbollah's leader implicitly suggested Thursday that his guerrillas who fought Israeli forces in southern Lebanon may help Iraqis if they decide to battle U.S. forces controlling their country and if conditions permit.

"It is a matter first for the Iraqi people to decide (on resistance)," Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

"All Arabs, Muslims and honorable people in the world should support a people that decides to resist the occupation. Hezbollah is part of the Arabs and Muslims," he said.

Nasrallah added that the time, place and circumstances are factors and that Hezbollah shouldn't be burdened with more than its capacity. Still, he said, " our position in principle is to support any oppressed people that is subjected to tyranny and occupation."

Until recently, the Shiite Muslim militant Hezbollah said it would stay out of the conflict in Iraq, which has a Shiite majority that was repressed under Saddam Hussein.

Hezbollah is seen as a legitimate resistance movement in Lebanon, where it fought Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon for 18 years until the forces withdrew in May 2000.

The group has nine elected members in Lebanon's parliament and runs social services, including schools and clinics, in Shiite areas of Lebanon.

The U.S. State Department regards the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Israel accuses the group of possessing thousands of rockets, including weapons that could strike deep into Israel.

Nasrallah also said his guerrillas wouldn't disarm as the U.S. is demanding.

"My information is that what was demanded is for the resistance to end and be disarmed," he said of demands made by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during a visit to Syria and Lebanon last week.

"This matter is out of the question," Nasrallah said on the Qatar-based Al- Jazeera.

He said the U.S. wants Hezbollah to turn to politics and give up its guns.

"So are we supposed to confront the Israeli aggression by speeches?" he said in the lengthy interview which included telephone calls from viewers. "People without weapons are helpless....All they can do is stage a demonstration."

In Powell's visit to Lebanon and Syria, he "emphasized strongly" U.S. concern about the "continuing terrorist activities" of Hezbollah, said calm must be maintained along the Lebanese-Israeli border and that the Lebanese army should deploy to the border and end the armed Hezbollah presence.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was approached by the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks in Washington with an offer to take it off the terrorism list, support its involvement in Lebanese politics and help finance projects in the country in return for ending the resistance and engaging in security cooperation with the U.S..

The group rejected the offers because Hezbollah doesn't bargain on its principles, Nasrallah said.

The guerrilla leader has previously said Hezbollah was approached by the U.S., but Thursday's disclosure was the most detailed.

Posted 2:32 AM by Dil
US hawks eye unlikely allies on Iran
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: May 8 2003 23:01 | Last Updated: May 8 2003 23:01

Donald Rumsfeld has said he does not do diplomacy. But some of the neo-conservatives in the Pentagon, emboldened by victory in Iraq, are trying to construct an improbable alignment of interests to effect regime change in neighbouring Iran.


The Defence Department is trying to muster support both from exiled Iranian fighters of the People's Mujahideen Organisation (MKO) and from Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran who ruthlessly suppressed the MKO before his own downfall.

The Pentagon's decision to negotiate a ceasefire with MKO members in Iraq, who were previously designated by the US as terrorists, has alarmed State Department diplomats and the British Foreign Office.

In late April, the US military forged a deal with MKO militants in eastern Iraq, allowing them to keep their weapons and uniforms. Weeks before, US bombers had blasted their camps.

The MKO, backed by Saddam Hussein, has fought the clerics ruling Iran since the early 1980s when the two sides fell out in the power struggle that followed the 1979 revolution. Before that, the MKO, with a potent mix of Marxism and Islam, killed US military personnel and civilians in Tehran and backed the 1979 takeover of the US embassy there.

Not only did the ceasefire alarm the ayatollahs in Tehran, it also shocked Colin Powell, secretary of state, who was kept out of the loop. Now the neo-conservatives in the Pentagon who authorised the truce are rustling up support for the MKO's former enemy, Mr Pahlavi.

Mr Pahlavi's backers believe he could play the same role in Iran as they hope Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress and another Pentagon favourite, will play in Iraq. "The shared objective is regime change in Iran, so they don't see the contradiction," said one analyst.

Hardline Iranian newspapers have used the issue to stir up anti-American sentiment. One claimed MKO troops in US uniforms were policing the border with Iraq. Iran's state news agency quoted the UK foreign office as saying the MKO would not be allowed to operate inside Iraq and that US forces were bringing the group under control.

According to Iranian government sources, Saddam Hussein tried in negotiations with Iran to use the MKO as a bargaining chip, offering to hand them over as part of a broader deal.

Posted 9:57 AM by Dil
MADGE'S FRENCH BLISS!


MADONNA has thanked France for its opposition to the Iraqi war, during a private performance for 200 guests of a radio station in PARIS.

The star performed the title track to her new album, 'American Life' at the exclusive event, held at the city's Nobel restaurant.

For those not invited to the venue, the concert was broadcast by the radio station live over the Internet and to nine European countries.

As she thanked the French for opposing conflict in Iraq, she told fans: "Here in France I feel at home."

Posted 9:57 AM by Dil
Doctor: former POW Lynch may never remember what happened to her in Iraq




By Pauline Jelinek
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:34 a.m., May 8, 2003

WASHINGTON – It's unlikely that Pfc. Jessica Lynch will ever remember what happened in Iraq when her Army convoy was ambushed and she was taken as a prisoner of war, her doctor said Thursday.

This incident has been shrouded in secrecy, with various versions only now emerging about Lynch's injuries nearly seven weeks ago and the commando raid that rescued her April 1.

Doctors have completed surgeries for various fractures and broken bones that the 20-year-old Army clerk suffered in the war and she is "progressing very nicely" in her rehabilitation, said Dr. Greg Argyros.

But she has "no memory whatsoever of any of the events from the time her convoy came under attack until she woke up" in an Iraqi hospital, said Argyros, assistant chief for the Department of Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and head of the team handling Lynch's care.

He said it's not a case of amnesia, which he defined as forgetting something you once knew. Rather, Lynch simply has no memory of the ambush March 23 that resulted in her capture.

"Anytime anybody goes through a traumatic event of any kind, there is the risk that they may have a period that they don't remember what happened" during that event, Argyros said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show.

Asked if she will ever remember, Argyros said there's only a small chance.

"It appears after the evaluations that we have done thus far, that there's a chance in the future that she may," he said. "But the likelihood is very low that she will remember any of the events from the time of the attack until the time she woke up in the Iraqi hospital."

Officials said last month that Lynch was rescued in a daring commando raid April 1 at the hospital in the southern town of Nasiriyah, with special forces breaking down doors and spiriting her away.

Since then, several news organizations reported differing versions of the rescue, citing doctors who said they had tried earlier to take Lynch to American forces but were fired on as they approached.

Those reports said that her Iraqi captors had left the hospital during the last days of March and that hospital medical staff took Lynch in an ambulance to a U.S. checkpoint but couldn't get close enough to hand her over.

A couple of days later, U.S. troops burst into the hospital, doctors said, adding that they could simply have walked in with no problem because there were no Iraqi guards left.

Military officials have said that Lynch's last memory of the attack is a rocket-propelled grenade hitting the vehicle she was riding in.

Some time after that, she suffered fractures in her upper right arm and in several ribs, along with injuries to her back, right foot and upper shoulder blade. She also suffered breaks in two portions of her left leg, part of her right leg and lacerations of her scalp, Argyros said.

Emotionally, she is doing very well.

"Her attitude is terrific, " he said. "She really is pushing to move forward... She is a resilient young woman."

Earlier Thursday, her brother, Army Spec. Greg Lynch told ABC's "Good Morning America" that he still wears an missing-in-action bracelet engraved "Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch, MIA, March 23, 2003, Iraq."

"I'll wear it til my wrist falls off," he said, standing in a hangar at Ft. Brag, N.C., where he is an Apache helicopter ammunition technician.

Posted 9:25 AM by Dil
Turkish premier brushes aside criticism by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz
By Associated Press, 5/7/2003 08:56
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday rejected U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's call that Turkey concede it made a mistake by not opening its doors to the U.S. military during the Iraq war.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/127/world/Turkish_premier_brushes_aside_:.shtml

Posted 5:21 AM by Dil