Thursday, 8 May 2003  
The widest coverage in Sri Lanka.
World
News

Business

Features

Editorial

Security

Politics

World

Letters

Sports

Obituaries

Archives

Government - Gazette

Silumina  on-line Edition

Sunday Observer

Budusarana On-line Edition





US names new envoy to Iraq, accuses Saddam's kin of heist

WASHINGTON, Wednesday (AFP) The United States appointed a new top envoy for war-ravaged Iraq, and accused Saddam Hussein's relatives or henchmen of snatching 900 million dollars from the central bank shortly before the US invasion.

Career diplomat and counter-terrorism expert Paul "Jerry" Bremer will head US civilian efforts to rebuild Iraq and set it on course for democracy, according to an announcement made by President George W. Bush. Bremer will outrank the US civil administrator for Iraq, Jay Garner, and Zalmay Khalilzad, who will still lead reconstruction efforts and coordinate political reforms with Iraqis, officials said.

"In selecting Jerry Bremer, our country will be sending one of our best citizens. He's a man with enormous experience. He's a person who knows how to get things done. He's a can-do type person," Bush said in the Oval Office.

"He is the senior coalition civilian official in Iraq," said a senior administration official, who declined to be named. Army "General (Tommy) Franks will maintain command of coalition military personnel."

A Defense Department official also confirmed the new chain of command, saying that "Bremer is going to be leading."

Bremer, 61, will report directly to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, through whom he will advise Bush "on policies designed to achieve American and coalition goals in Iraq," said a senior administration official.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said that members of Saddam Hussein's regime and family stole nearly one billion dollars from Iraq's Central Bank shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq began in March.

Spokesman Richard Boucher said US Treasury Department officials now in Baghdad learned of the theft from their Iraqi counterparts. The charges appeared to be backed up by the discovery last month of massive amounts of cash in one of Saddam's houses and inside an armored vehicle.

"We are working to hunt down the assets that were stolen by the regime," Boucher said. "We'll actively follow up on all the leads. The United States also raised the possibility it had uncovered long-sought evidence of a weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq, as President George W. Bush appointed a new top civilian administrator for the war-ravaged country.

A defense official said here that a tractor trailer seized by US forces last month in northern Iraq appears to be part of a mobile lab for making chemical and biological weapons. "The preliminary review of this piece of equipment reveals it could possibly be part of this mobile chem-bio facility," said the official, who asked not to be identified.

If confirmed, the find would be the first hard evidence of an alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction program that was the primary justification of the US-led invasion of Iraq. u.The truck and its equipment fit the description of the mobile labs that Secretary of State Colin Powell charged Iraq had in a February 5 presentation to the UN Security Council arguing for tough action to disarm Iraq, the official said.

"It had a variety of equipment that we are taking a look at," the official said. In Baghdad, Iraqi groups named by the United States to take the lead political role after the fall of Saddam Hussein held talks to prepare the formation of an interim government in the next few weeks.

"Our efforts now are aimed at solving the problems of the people and forming an interim government," said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, deputy leader of a main Shiite Muslim group, the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI).

Iraqis are angry at the lack of leadership amid the chaos gripping the country since Saddam's ouster on April 9. US officials urge patience but Garner said the next weeks were "key" to restoring order and basic services. Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main Kurdish factions, said the five would hold another round of talks with US officials in Baghdad on Thursday.

The other groups are the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani, the US-backed Iraqi National Congress of Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Accord movement of Iyad Alawi.

"They are going to bring in leaders from inside Iraq and see if we can't form a nucleus of leadership as we enter into June," Garner said Monday.

The five formed a leadership committee under the aegis of the United States in February, at a meeting in Kurdish-held northern Iraq before the war to oust Saddam was launched.

But in an indication that the task of doing away with remnants of the old regime was not finished yet, the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday that its staff in Baghdad had obtained an audiotape allegedly recorded this week by deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

In the recording, allegedly made by Saddam on Monday, a "tired-sounding" voice calls on Iraq's people to unite in an underground war against the US-led occupying forces, the paper reported.

 

www.peaceinsrilanka.org

MAHAPOLA HIGHER EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP TRUST FUND

www.crescat.com

www.srilankaapartments.com

www.2000plaza.lk

www.eagle.com.lk

www.helpheroes.lk


News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |


Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager


Hosted by Lanka Com Services