Washington: No weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, US soldier killed
Iraq-USA, Politics, 5/5/2003

One American soldier was killed in northern Iraq after he was hit by a bullet mistakenly fired from his own weapon, US military sources said.

The US central leadership in Qatar said that the soldier who belongs to contingent 173 which is deployed in Karkouk, was killed following wounds he suffered. No further detail was given.

Meantime, the US defense secretary Ronald Rumsfeld said yesterday that so far the US has not found mass destruction weapons in Iraq.

Both Rumsfeld and the US Secretary Of State Colin Powell told the CNN that Washington does not have any fundamental news to declare on finding any nuclear weapons in Iraq.

On the other hand, the commission in charge of rebuilding Iraq has assigned the Iraqi Thamer Abbas of running the Iraqi ministry of oil. An Iraqi official asked to be anonymous said that Philip Carol the former chairman of the Royal- Dutch Shell in the USA will preside over a consultation commission for the ministry.

Meantime, the US Treasury acting secretary for international affairs John Taylor said that nobody should expect Iraq to start repaying its huge debts this year or the year to come and that it might need to be treated like other countries which witnessed wars and got large exemptions of its debts. He explained that former Yugoslavia which was exempted of 66% of its debts after the war launched by NATO leaders, should be taken as an example.

Taylor said that it is necessary the debts exemption operation to cover all due debts on Iraq for non member states at Paris Club which started to collect data about the Iraqi debts which were not payed since the 1980s.

He expressed the possibility of reviving the economy in Iraq through investments of the private sector, stressing that the US view point on the need to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq. A matter which is opposed by certain member states at the UN.

However, despite the fact that there is no official figures, analysists estimate Iraq's total debts with due interest to be between 120 - 130 billion dollars.

One of Iraq's main debtors are France and Russia with each having 8 billion in addition to 35 billion under disputes loans from the Arab Gulf states.

Meantime, the UN opened a permanent headquarters in Basra, stressing that this part of Iraq suffers a grave crisis.

The UN operations coordinator in Basra area, Kim Buldack, said in conclusion of a meeting held with representatives of non governmental organizations working in Iraq and British military sides that work should be resumed in basic services, the infrastructure and ensuring job opportunities.

Meantime, the spokeswoman for the ICRC Nada Doumani called yesterday for permitting visits to all war prisoners and detained persons in Iraq by the occupation forces.

The spokeswoman said "so far the ICRC could not visit all prisoners and persons held in Iraq." She called on all sides to honor the Geneva agreement on prisoners.

Doumani quoted American sources saying that some 2000 persons ( Iraqis) were arrested over (political) rights in Baghdad since April 10th at the hand of the occupation forces.

Previous Stories:
  Larson says U.S. helping iraqis reclaim their future   (5/3/2003)
  American forces arrest three former Iraqi officials   (5/3/2003)
  Tension escalate in Falouja, Bush declares combats phase over in Iraq, US victory   (5/2/2003)

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