Sunday, May 18, 2003
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Russia, China and France have made it clear that they want major changes in a U.S.-backed resolution to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq. In Deauville, France, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, John Snow, sought on Saturday to expand international efforts to work out the exact size of Iraq's huge debts, estimated in the tens of billions of U.S. dollars. Mr. Snow and other Finance Ministers from the Group of Eight nations were to discuss Iraq's debts again in a meeting on Saturday at this resort on the Normandy coast. The Paris Club of 19 creditor nations, which includes the U.S., is already studying the extent of Iraqi debts. But Washington wants to survey countries that are members of that group to find out how much Iraq owes them, according to a U.S. official. In Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, U.S. President George W. Bush's new chief civilian administrator for Iraq, wants Bernard Kerik, who led the New York City police through the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, to ``assist in the establishment of security, stability and law and order in Iraq,'' a U.S. Defence Department statement said. Mr. Bremer himself has just taken over from retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, whose administration was criticised for failing to stem the breakdown in law and order and restore basic services in Baghdad and other cities. U.S. authorities have blamed their security problems on the fact that Saddam emptied Iraq's prisons in the dying days of his regime, putting thousands of hardened criminals back on the streets. Late on Friday, Mr. Bremer met for the first time with the seven political leaders likely to form the nucleus of a new government and said they found common ground. He said they agreed on three priorities: restoring security, building democracy and rooting out the remnants of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. Even though Baghdad police have begun returning to work — and the U.S. Army sent in 2,000 military policemen — many of the 5 million residents of the capital are afraid to venture out at night. Reports still stream in of kidnappings, rapes and carjackings. U.S. troops are ``trying to keep the bad guys off the streets so the good guys can have normal lives.'' 2nd Lt. Cody Williams, whose squad was patrolling the streets. Most of those arrested were former prisoners who ``are making their way back to prison,'' he said. At the United Nations, Security Council members finished a paragraph-by-paragraph review of the nine-page revised U.S. draft resolution late Friday. Many called for a stronger U.N. role in post-war Iraq and greater transparency by the occupying powers, the U.S. and Britain, diplomats said. — AP
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