Monday, April 21, 2003

 
Bush, Iraq and North Korea News Summaries

Garner Arrives in Iraq for Reconstruction (Associated Press) Retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who is overseeing Iraq's reconstruction after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, arrived Monday in the Iraqi capital. "We will be here as long as it takes. We will leave fairly rapidly," he said. Garner heads the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, which was set up by the Bush administration to help rebuild Iraq and prepare for an eventual interim government made up of Iraqis.
 
America plans military bases in Iraq to apply pressure on Middle East (UK Telegraph) The United States is planning to establish up to four long-term military bases in Iraq. The proposal would transform America's ability to project its power in the Middle East. Future arrangements depend largely on who takes over as leader of Iraq. However, Baghdad International Airport, Tallil in southern Iraq, the H-1 airstrip in the west and Bashur airfield in Kurdistan have been identified as potential bases. "There will be some kind of a long-term defence relationship with a new Iraq, similar to Afghanistan," a senior Bush administration official said. "The scope of that has yet to be defined - whether it will be 'full-up' operational bases, smaller forward operating bases or plain access."
 
Iraq Faces Up To $200B In Debt (CBS) Iraq's reconstruction needs are expected to be enormous, ranging from $20 billion annually for the first several years to $600 billion over a decade. Iraqis have more to clear away than the rubble of war. Saddam Hussein's regime ran up billions of dollars in debts that must be settled before the country's shattered economy can fully recover. The United States is making debt relief a cornerstone of its postwar reconstruction plan. But many hurdles remain, including the lack of an Iraqi government and a cool reception from some creditor nations. No one is sure how much debt has stacked up, though estimates range to $200 billion, making Iraq one of the world's most indebted developing countries.
 
The Saddam Files (Newsweek) Saddam's Baathist henchmen kept records. Last week, at the Baghdad headquarters of the Mukhabarat, the secret police, an Iraqi man went up to photographers from NEWSWEEK and the Los Angeles Times carrying a bulging, grimy white rice sack. "Tell the world what happened here," he said. Inside were more than 200 cassette tapes, videos and passports, photographs and negatives, CDs and floppy disks, as well as a fat binder thick with documents addressed TO THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE.
 
SADDAM AIDES CAPTURED (Sky News) Another two members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle have been captured in Iraq, according to reports. US-led forces said they had seized Saddam's minister of higher education and scientific research, Abdul-Khaleq Abdul-Ghafur. Iraqi opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, said Saddam's last surviving son-in-law had surrendered to them. "He is the first close member of the family to be detained," said INC spokesman Zaab Sethna, noting that Jamal had served as Saddam's private secretary right up until the end.
 
Iraqi Police Arrest Ex-Finance Minister (Washington Post) Officers from Iraq's newly reconstituted police force arrested Saddam Hussein's former finance minister here and turned him over to U.S. authorities, who hope he can provide information about the millions of dollars the ousted Iraqi leader allegedly stashed away, U.S. military officials said today. Azzawi was arrested by Iraqi officers on Friday and turned over to U.S. Marines, the U.S. Central Command said today at its field headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The U.S. military also took into custody two people here who could aid in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction and terrorists. Emad Ani, one of Iraq's top chemical-weapons scientists who is believed to be the architect of the country's nerve agent program, turned himself in to U.S. forces on Friday. Khala Khader Salahat, a member of the Abu Nidal terrorist organization, also surrendered to U.S. troops in Baghdad on Friday.
 
Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert (NY Times) A scientist who claims to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program for more than a decade has told an American military team that Iraq destroyed chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment only days before the war began, members of the team said. They said the scientist led Americans to a supply of material that proved to be the building blocks of illegal weapons, which he claimed to have buried as evidence of Iraq's illicit weapons programs. The scientist also told American weapons experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology to Syria, starting in the mid-1990's, and that more recently Iraq was cooperating with Al Qaeda, the military officials said.

Biotoxins Fall Into Private Hands (Washington Post) In three days of secret meetings last July, the man known throughout South Africa as "Doctor Death" astounded U.S. law enforcement officials with tales of how the former white-minority government carried out unique experiments with chemical and biological weapons. Wouter Basson, the bearded ex-commander of South Africa's notorious 7th Medical Battalion, spoke candidly of global shopping sprees for pathogens and equipment, of plans for epidemics to be sown in black communities and of cigarettes and letters that were laced with anthrax. He revealed the development of a novel anthrax strain unknown to the U.S. officials, a kind of "stealth" anthrax that Basson claimed could fool tests used to detect the disease. But most disturbing was the question Basson could not answer: Who controls the microbes now?
 
IRAQI MINISTER CAPTURED (Sky News) Iraqi finance minister Hikmat al-Azzawi has been captured by Iraqi police in Baghdad and handed over to the US military, a Central Command spokesman has said. Al-Azzawi was grabbed on Friday in Baghdad, Central Command said. The US military believes al-Azzawi can shed light on the inner workings of the Iraqi regime and where its wealth was hidden. "One would think that the former finance minister would possess detailed information about where the regime had kept the people's money," said Captain Stewart Upton, a spokesman at the command in Doha, Qatar.
 
Lifting of Sanctions Linked to U.N. Role (Washington Post) Russia, France and other key Security Council members set the stage today for a new battle over Iraq, signaling that the United States must give the United Nations a broader role in reconstruction efforts before sanctions can be lifted. U.N. diplomats said that differences in the council are likely to delay agreement on a resolution lifting sanctions at least until June 3, when the latest temporary U.N. mandate permitting Iraqi oil exports expires. 
 
US and UK single out France for 'punishment' (FT) The US and Britain appear intent on continuing to "punish" France for its anti-war stance, in spite of recent gestures of conciliation by Jacques Chirac, the French president. The diplomatic pressure on Mr Chirac contrasts with a softer tone towards Germany and Russia, the other two leading members of the "coalition of the unwilling". The difference in approach was evident on Friday in a newspaper interview in which Tony Blair, prime minister, said the failure to secure a second UN resolution had put British soldiers' lives at risk. Downing Street believes that Mr Chirac's threat to veto such a resolution made difficult negotiations with countries such as Russia and Germany "impossible".
 
German spies offered help to Saddam in run-up to war (UK Telegraph) Germany's intelligence services attempted to build closer links to Saddam's secret service during the build-up to war last year, documents from the bombed Iraqi intelligence HQ in Baghdad obtained by The Telegraph reveal. The revelations come a week after The Telegraph reported that Russia had spied for the Iraqis, passing them intelligence about a meeting between Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister. Both the British and Italian governments have launched investigations.
 
Schroeder Tries Again to Mend Ties (Reuters) German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday that he deeply regretted "exaggerated comments" critical of U.S. moves against Iraq that soured his relations with President Bush. In a further attempt to repair relations strained by his outspoken criticism, Schroeder said he was confident that the dispute over Iraq would not cause long-term problems between the United States and Germany. "I deeply regret there were exaggerated comments -- also from Cabinet members of my previous government," Schroeder told Der Spiegel magazine when asked if there were "grounds for self-criticism" for damage he caused to U.S.-German relations.
 
Syria: Won't allow weapons inspections (UPI) Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa said Thursday that his country won't allow international inspections of its military arsenal, which the U.S. claims include chemical weapons. "No, Syria will not allow any inspection. We will only cooperate with countries of the Middle East to make the region free of weapons of mass destruction and deprive the U.S. of this alibi," Sharaa said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He said a meeting of Iraq's neighbors, in addition to Egypt, which is to convene in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Friday, will call for ending foreign occupation and giving Iraqis the chance to form a national government without foreign interference.
 
President Praises Efforts By Syria (Washington Post) President Bush ended his administration's three-week escalation of warnings to Syria today and praised Iraq's neighbor for new cooperation in the hunt for senior aides to Saddam Hussein. "It seems like they're beginning to get the message," Bush said as he left an Easter service with two Army helicopter pilots taken prisoner in Iraq. "I'm confident the Syrian government has heard us, and I believe it when they say they want to cooperate with us." A senior administration official said Bush's softened stance resulted from a steady increase in help from Damascus throughout last week, including efforts to seal the border with Iraq, locate fugitive aides to Hussein and deny airline boarding to possible war criminals. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had said he planned to visit Syria but had not set a date. The official said the trip is now likely in early May.
 
Aiding Iraqi People Is Priority, Poll Finds (Washington Post) Most Americans are satisfied with U.S. and British efforts to restore civil order in Iraq, and they now rank humanitarian needs as the top priority there -- more important than searching for Saddam Hussein or banned weapons -- according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Roughly 8 in 10 backed the war effort, and more than 6 in 10 said the United States is doing its best to restore order after the collapse of Hussein's government. President Bush's job approval rating remains high, at 74 percent. Fifty-eight percent said the war will decrease the risk of terrorism, up 10 percentage points from the days before the invasion of Iraq began on March 20.
 
Only 3 in 10 Americans Believe War Is Over (Gallup News) A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that relatively few Americans think the war with Iraq is over. About half still see some minor fighting left for the United States, while one in six believe there are still major battles to be fought. Overall support for the war remains high, with 73% saying the situation in Iraq is worth going to war over. Seven in 10 Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, roughly where this measure has been since the war began.
 
Koreas to resume talks amid nuke dispute (UPI) South Korea said Monday it had accepted North Korea's offer of high-level talks next week in hopes of discussing a standoff over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program. In a message to his North Korean counterpart, South Korea's Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said he would lead a delegation to Cabinet-level talks in the North's capital, officials said. The talks are scheduled to begin Sunday and conclude on Tuesday. "We will try to focus negotiations on the nuclear issue and persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear development program, while discussing humanitarian aid to the North," a senior Unification Ministry official told United Press International.

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posted by Thomas Ball 8:58 AM