News, 30/9-6/10/01 (2)

NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

* Iraqi Kurds Reports Attack by Armed Islamic Groups
* Iraqi Kurds Brace for U.S. Attack
* KDP and PUK in Washington to jointly declare concern on situation in
northern Iraq
* Turkey shuts gateway to Iraqi Kurdistan 

URL ONLY:
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20011002-3530884.htm
* Look to the Kurds in Iraq
by Carole O´Leary
Washington Times, 2nd October

OIL

* UK/Iraq Oil prices: European prices approved
* War risk insurance dents Iraqi exports

IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

* Russian firms win $40b Iraqi deals [They must be desperate to get rid of
sanctions ...]
* Iraq raises objections over Pakistan wheat quality
* Wheat issue: top Pakistan team to visit Iraq shortly

CAMPAIGNING

* Sanctions on Iraq labelled terrorism [by activists in Canada]
* British and US planes attack Iraq again in battle that never ends [Good,
supportive piece in The Scotsman. Congratulations to CASI¹s Per Klevnas for
an effective interview, though anumal lovers among the peacenik boobies
won¹t regret too much that ^ÌTherefore the chicken farming industry dies¹.

IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

* UN: Iraq spends too little on food
* Iraq Denies UN Charge It Spends Too Little on Food

IRAQIS ABROAD

* Iraqi refugees become suspects in U.S. attacks
* Danes investigate Iraqi commander
* Iraqi man is ordered detained for remarks



NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=884E5FC5-B7F2-402F
AB551FC8E5AAA04D&Title=Iraqi%20Kurds%20Reports%20Attack%20by%20Armed%20Islam
ic%20Groups

* IRAQI KURDS REPORTS ATTACK BY ARMED ISLAMIC GROUPS
by Amberin Zaman
Voice of America, 30th September  

One of the main Iraqi Kurdish factions in northern Iraq says it is under
attack from an armed Islamic group with links to Osama bin Laden.

Behroz Galali is the Ankara representative of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), which has clashed with the extremist Islamic faction known
as Jund al-Islami (Soldiers of Islam).

Mr. Galali, who declined a recorded interview, told VOA that PUK forces have
been under attack from Jund Al Islami and another, Iranian-backed Islamic
group called the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan in and around the town of
Halabja, near Iraq's border with Iran. Last week PUK forces seized Halabja
from the Islamists' control after heavy fighting.

But Mr. Galali says the Islamic groups still control several villages in the
Bayana and Tawall districts, also bordering Iran.

Officials from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which administers the
northern two thirds of the Kurdish enclave, say that Jund al-Islami has
begun what they describe as a reign of terror.

In an attack against PUK forces last week the group shot dead and beheaded
PUK fighters and gouged out their eyes. Images of the slain fighters have
been repeatedly broadcast on PUK-controlled Kurdish Television.

The Islamic group has banned all radio and television broadcasts in areas
under its control, on grounds that they are un-Islamic. It has also
segregated schools, and women are no longer permitted to appear in public
without covering their heads.

Iraqi Kurdish officials say Jund al-Islami was formed only four months ago
and brings together some 300 members of various extremist Islamic groups
allegedly backed by Iran.

But according to PUK representative Galali, many Jund al-Islami fighters
were trained at Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan. Their aim, he says,
is to undermine the Iraqi Kurds' experiment with self-rule.

Northern Iraq has been controlled by the PUK and the KDP since 1991. That is
when the Gulf War allies established the "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq to
protect an estimated three million Iraqi Kurds against possible attack by
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces in the wake of their failed
rebellion against him.

Western diplomats who closely monitor developments in northern Iraq play
down alleged links between Jund al Islami and Osama bin Laden, saying there
is little evidence to support such claims.


www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2001/oct/02/100203217.html

* IRAQI KURDS BRACE FOR U.S. ATTACK
Las Vegas Sun, 2nd October

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Nervous Iraqi Kurds are stockpiling food and gasoline
in fear that the United States will attack Saddam Hussein in the campaign
against terrorism.

The group has also called on Washington to help wipe out the Jund al-Islam,
an Islamic extremist group the Kurds say Osama bin Laden is behind.

"A terrorist network is trying to destroy part of Iraqi Kurdistan," said
Barham Salih, a leading figure in the autonomous Kurdish area of Iraq. "I am
looking for help from every quarter we can get it. I am hoping that the
world will not be indifferent to this situation."

He said the Jund al-Islam was a creation of bin Laden, the terrorist
mastermind holed up in Afghanistan and held responsible for the Sept. 11
terror attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.

Salih, a key figure in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the PUK, travels to
Washington Wednesday to consult with U.S. officials about the expected
attacks on terror groups in the Middle East and Central Asia.

He said he would ask State Department and National Security Council
officials for aid in the PUK's fight against the Islamic group Jund
al-Islam.

Part of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq is ruled by PUK rival, the
Kurdistan Democratic Party. Both organizations have large, well-armed
militias and are regarded in Washington as the cornerstone to a potential
anti-Saddam alliance.

The United States stopped short of toppling Saddam in the 1991 Gulf War
fearing, as do U.S. allies in the region, that Saddam's absence could lead
to the country's disintegration along ethnic lines, with a powerful Kurdish
north and a Shiite south that might align with Shiite Iran.

Gasoline prices in northern Iraq have gone up 25 percent as people hoard
supplies and Iraq has cut back on sales to Turkish truckers who normally
deliver supplies in the Kurdish region.

Nizar Hasimoglu, a Turkish driver, said Tuesday he has not been able to
travel to Iraq since Sept. 18 when Iraq halted sales. A police officer at
the border said Tuesday that only 30 trucks carrying crude oil from Iraq
crossed the border on Tuesday, down from a high of 600 a day earlier this
year.


http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/2-10-01-tdn-kdp-puk-in-washington
talks.html

* KDP AND PUK IN WASHINGTON TO JOINTLY DECLARE CONCERN ON SITUATION IN
NORTHERN IRAQ 
Kurdistan Observer (from Turkish Daily News, Ankara), 2nd October

As all eyes turn on developments concerning Iraq in the aftermath of the
Sept. 11 attack against the United States, Washington is preparing for a
joint meeting with the representatives of the two rival Iraqi Kurdish
factions, the Celal Talabani-led Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Mesud
Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Barham Saleh of the PUK and
Hoshyar Zebari of the KDP will meet with various state department and
government officials. 

The Iraqi Kurds, in an aim to explore the new situation in the aftermath of
the Sept. 11 attack, will reportedly express their concerns regarding the
situation in northern Iraq. 

"It is not a trilateral meeting but this is a bilateral discussion between
the Iraqi kurds and the U.S. officials", Saleh told the Turkish Daily
News. 

"Turkey's attitude and policies are important for the security and stability
of our region. We want our Turkish friends to be aware of the situation in
the region," Saleh stated. 

On his way to Washington, Saleh stopped in Ankara and launched talks with
Turkish officials from the foreign ministry and the General Staff. 

"We need stability and we identify Turkey as a key regional player in
assuring our stability. We believe that our interest lies in close
partnership with the secular and democratic Turkey. Also we very well
understand Turkish security and political concerns. We are committed to
Iraqi territorial integrity. 

"There will be implications of the Sept. 11 attack for both the Kurds and
Iraq. We will seek the answers to the questions about possible U.S. policy
options." 

"Sept. 11 has had many implications for northern Iraq and it seems that one
of the major battlefields against terrorism will be the Middle East," a
leading Iraqi Kurdish official visiting Ankara told the TDN on Monday. 

Saleh, prime minister of the PUK-led government in northern Iraq, arrived in
Ankara to inform Turkish officials about recent developments in the area.
It was reported that evidence confirming Osama bin Laden's link with the
Jundul-Islam group in northern Iraq will be presented to Turkish officials
in Ankara. 

Reliable sources told the TDN that the PUK prepared a broad file confirming
bin Laden's links in northern Iraq. "A Syrian student, Abu Abdulrahman, a
personal envoy of bin Laden who resides in Beria in the PUK-controlled
area. is one of the senior members of the Al Qaeda organization. On the
other hand, it was found that 34 people of Iraqi-Kurdish origin received
military training in camps in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the establishment of
Jundul Islam was a part of the international terrorism network of the
Al-Qaeda organization." 

It was reported that some members of the radical fundamentalist Jundul Islam
group had been to Chechnya in 2000 and was ordered to return to northern
Iraq by bin Laden on Aug. 31, 2001. Abu Jundil, bin Laden's representative,
announced the formation of the Jundul Islam group. 

Abu Abdullah, Aso Hevlevi, Omer Bizyani, Abu Katada, Eyup Afgan and Mullah
Fad were among the militants who received training in camps on sabotage and
explosives and religious training. The foreign connections of the Jundil
Islam group with Al-Qaeda were also included in the report to be presented
to Turkish security officials. 

"Abu Passar and Abu Qatadifaliftben are known to be residing in London. Abu
Afra Al Mufri, on the other hand, who is an Egyptian citizen defined as bin
Laden's personal secretary, established connections with the Jundul Islam
group."


http://members.home.net/kurdistanobserver/4-10-01-ip-tky-shuts-border-to
kurdistan.html

* TURKEY SHUTS GATEWAY TO IRAQI KURDISTAN
Kurdistan Observer (from Iraqi press), 4th October

Zakho: Turkey has closed its border crossing point with Iraq for both
passengers and cargo.

The closure is a blow to a lucrative oil smuggling business which generated
millions of dollars for Iraq's hard cash-strapped coffers. 

The measure will also hurt the economy of the semi-independent Kurdish
enclave where local authorities relied on transit fees to pay their civil
servants.

It is not clear what prompted Ankara to close the crossing on the Khabur
river, one of Iraq's main gateways to the outside world. 

But the closure comes as the United States and allies are poised for massive
air and missile strikes on Afghanistan's Taliban accused of hosting Osama
Bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the September 11 terrorist attacks on
New York and Washington.

The measure also comes in the aftermath of reports of heavy clashes
involving Kurdish militias and a newly-formed Islamist faction accused of
having links with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.

No trucks or passengers are now allowed to enter Iraq. The border is only
open to Turkish citizens and vehicles leaving Iraq.

The situation in the Kurdish enclave is tense. Prices of essential
commodities have risen recently and the dinar notes in circulation in the
region have weakened against the U.S. dollar.

There is also an acute fuel shortage following an Iraqi government decision
to slash oil supplies to Iraqi Kurdistan.

[.....]


OIL

http://www.petroleumworld.com/story5384.htm

* UK/IRAQ OIL PRICES: EUROPEAN PRICES APPROVED
PETROLEUMWORLD, 1st October
by Masood Farivar, Dow Jones Newswires

Caracas: The U.K. and the U.S. lifted their objection to Iraq's proposed
prices for oil exported to the U.S. in September, but blocked prices for
Iraq's October oil exports to the U.S. market, Western diplomats said
Monday.

The action means traders may continue to lift Iraqi crude oil in October
without knowing how much they're going to pay for it, which was the case
with September exports.

"The approval of September prices should mean that people will be able to
pay for the oil," a diplomat said. "We realize that isn't an ideal way of
doing business. There are a number of ways of doing it. We're looking at
different alternatives to approving prices for 15 days."

Iraq's proposed prices for September exports, first submitted in late
August, never received the requisite approval by the U.N. Iraq Sanctions
Committee because of objections by U.S. and U.K. representatives on the
panel.

At the time, the two Western allies informed the committee that they'd
approve the proposed prices only for the first two weeks of September as
part of an effort to clamp down on Iraqi efforts to impose illegal
surcharges on its customers. Russia, Iraq's key U.N. ally, objected.

Western diplomats said their position on approving Iraqi oil prices remains
the same: they'll continue to insist on approving them more frequently in an
effort to prevent Iraq from earning hundreds of millions of dollars in
illegal surcharges it is believed to impose on its customers. Diplomats said
they'll look at alternative ways of approving prices. Prices could be
approved for the whole month and subsequently adjusted, if necessary, for
example.

"We want to consider (Iraq's proposed prices for the U.S.) further in light
of market conditions and also the oil overseers report, but the underlying
feature is we're looking at approving prices for 15 days," a Western
diplomat said.

Experts working for the sanctions committee, known as "oil overseers," told
the Security Council last week that Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization,
the country's export arm, has been charging a premium of "at least" 30 cents
a barrel on oil sales since December, compared with a more typical premium
of 5 cents a barrel earned by traders.

Western diplomats contend the extra money is often divided between shadowy
international oil traders and Iraq in violation of U.N. sanctions imposed on
Iraq in 1990. The sanctions require Iraq's oil sales through the U.N.
oil-for-food program go into a U.N. controlled escrow account.

The U.S.-U.K. proposal to review Iraqi oil prices more regularly has
encountered opposition from Russia, which contends setting export prices
more frequently would cause uncertainty in the market place.

The Security Council agreed last week to receive weekly updates on oil
prices from the oil overseers. The first report is due Tuesday. The goal is
to make sure proposed prices reflect prevailing market conditions, diplomats
said.

"This has always been a practice to make sure prices match changes in the
oil market," a diplomat said. "Sometimes you won't need to change, sometimes
you will."

Western diplomats said they agreed to approve the September prices for the
U.S. market because the oil overseers and their own oil industry experts
concluded that oil prices hadn't changed during the second half of the month
in a way that would allow Iraq to take advantage of them.

"If prices had risen, we'd be worried that the scope to make an extra profit
would have been larger," a diplomat said. "If anything, the scope for making
excess profit has narrowed.

Following are highlights of the approved European prices for the first two
weeks of October and prices for October exports to the U.S. :

- Basrah Light to Europe: Dated Brent minus $3.15

- Kirkuk Crude to Europe: Dated Brent minus $1.60

- Basrah Light to the U.S.: second-month West Texas Intermediate minus $7.30

- Kirkuk to the U.S., first-month WTI minus $6.15.


http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=27898

* WAR RISK INSURANCE DENTS IRAQI EXPORTS
Gulf News, 2nd October

Baghdad, Reuters: Iraq's crude oil sales from the Gulf suffered last month
from steep war risk insurance and October's flow rate is as yet unclear, an
Iraqi oil official said yesterday.

"There is no doubt the whole thing has impacted on our September (Basrah
Light) loadings," the official told Reuters.

"The uncertainty over shipments (in the region) caused delays in vessels
arriving and some liftings were pushed into October."

Basrah Light liftings from Mina Al-Bakr slumped to under 600,000 barrels per
day (bpd) during the last week in September - about half the average volume,
industry sources said.

But early indications show United Nations-supervised exports climbing back
to around one million bpd during the first week of October, they added.

War risk surcharges for ships loading at Iraq's Gulf terminal of Mina Al
Bakr remain high even though cover for many other Gulf ports has eased as
the potential fades for fast U.S. retaliation against Afghanistan, tanker
brokers said.

"We are monitoring the (war-risk insurance) situation," the Iraqi official
said.

The UN reported especially brisk Iraqi sales of 2.34 million bpd for the
week ending September 21, with Basrah Light exports touching 1.4 million bpd
and Kirkuk grade accounting for the remainder.

[.....]


IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=27821

* RUSSIAN FIRMS WIN $40B IRAQI DEALS
Gulf News, 1st October

Baghdad, Reuters: Iraq said yesterday that Russian companies had won deals
worth $40 billion to execute scores of oil and infrastructure projects.

It was not immediately clear if any of the projects could go ahead before
the United Nations lifts trade sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990
invasion of Kuwait.

Iraqi Trade Minister Moha-mmed Saleh, quoted by INA, said Russian firms
would carry out 72 projects, mostly in the oil sector, under a long-term
protocol.

"Iraq and Russia have agreed on a long-term economic cooperation programme
under which Russian companies will implement projects worth $40 billion in
Iraq," Saleh was quoted as telling a visiting Russian delegation.

He said 17 of the projects were in oil and gas, 15 in industry, 14 in
transport and communications, 11 in agriculture and irrigation, six in
petrochemicals, six in electricity and three in health. He did not say when
work would start.

[.....]

Saleh said Russia had won $4.4 billion of contracts with Iraq since the
oil-for-food deal began in December 1996.

Russian companies are already the largest lifters of Iraqi crude.


http://www.economictimes.com/today/01comm05.htm

* IRAQ RAISES OBJECTIONS OVER PAKISTAN WHEAT QUALITY
Economic Times, 1st October

SINGAPORE (Reuters): IRAQI grain authorities have ``raised objections¹¹ to a
wheat shipment from Pakistan on quality issues, Pakistani government sources
and traders said.

Although Pakistani government officials said they were hoping that the
issues would be resolved soon, wheat traders in Karachi and Singapore see
the development as a discouraging factor for Pakistan which is pinning its
export hopes on Middle East demand.

³Iraq has raised objections saying that the cargo contained more than
specified foreign matter. Their authorities are closely inspecting the cargo
now,² said a Pakistani government official who asked not to be identified.
The official said the shipment under inspection was a 35,000 tonne cargo.

``There was no problem with our previous wheat cargo which has already been
discharged. We hope things with this one will be sorted out. Another cargo
is also waiting for inspection. ¹¹Pakistani wheat traders insist that the
quality of shipments to Iraq were the ``best they could provide¹¹ and there
were no problems.

Iraq earlier this year rejected three wheat consignments from India, saying
they did not meet quality standards. Both India and Pakistan have been
battling to raise their share in the growing Iraqi wheat market.

Following the rejections, India set up cleaning facilities to ensure that
sales to Iraq resumes but the grain board of Iraq has not shown much
interest. Earlier this month, they cancelled a proposed visit to India to
inspect the grain cleaning facilities.

[.....]


http://www.dawn.com/2001/10/04/ebr12.htm

* WHEAT ISSUE: TOP PAKISTAN TEAM TO VISIT IRAQ SHORTLY
Dawn. 4th October

KARACHI (APP, Oct 3): A Pakistani delegation of senior officials will visit
Iraq by the end of this week to sort out the issue of wheat inspection by
Iraqi food authorities.
Trading Corporation of Pakistan chairman Syed Masood Alam Rizvi told APP
here on Wednesday that wheat in three holds of the Irani ship Adel was
cleared by the Iraqi authorities but the remaining two holds in the same
vessel were rejected.

"I think it is urgent and we must reach Iraqi port Umm-el-Qasr at Basra as
soon as possible to handle this issue before this ship is removed from the
berth", he observed.

Export Promotion Bureau chairman Tariq Ikram is likely to lead the
delegation. Rizvi said the first ship, Iran Shamran, had already off-loaded
its 35,000 tons of wheat while the second ship was discharging its wheat
when Iraqi food authorities raised the objection.

"I am surprised from where this red colour appeared in the wheat consignment
all of a sudden", Rizvi said. He said third ship was already in the queue.
If this objection is removed, the third vessel, Fabrou, will start
discharging its wheat, he added. He said every precaution was taken and
extra-ordinary measures were adopted by Pakistan Agriculture Supply and
Storage Corporation (PASSCO) and TCP to supply a good quality wheat to Iraq
which meets their specifications.


CAMPAIGNING

http://www.canada.com/edmonton/news/story.asp?id={2E8D37F6-6B8D-4CF8-9868
08DEA67835DA}LOCAL NEWS

* SANCTIONS ON IRAQ LABELLED TERRORISM
by Jodie Sinnema, Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton Journal, 30th September

David Swann isn't afraid to call sanctions against Iraq acts of terrorism
and genocide.

"At what point do you start calling it what it is?" he asked. "We have
poisoned the (Iraqi) people and starved them."

On Saturday, he joined about 50 others in Edmonton to rally against
sanctions and warn the Canadian government that if it silently supports the
United States, Canada will become the target of terrorism.

They marched down Whyte Avenue with placards reading "End the torture," and
"Sanctions are a Siege."

Some, like Swann, are part of a "peace caravan" travelling to 25 cities
across Canada.

Swann, a Calgary physician, visited Iraq in January 2000, bearing medical
supplies worth $1 million.

During his visit, he said, he saw children whose growth was stunted and
whose minds were slowed because their mothers were malnourished during
pregnancy. He saw people drinking water that hadn't been cleansed with
chlorine because the United States was afraid the chemical would be used for
warfare. He saw roads covered in garbage because truck parts weren't allowed
over the border for fear they would be used as weapons. Hospital hallways
remained cold and empty, useless except for those near death because of
intermittent electricity, outdated equipment and few drugs and vaccinations.

"They have lost hope after 11 years (of sanctions)," Swann said of the
Iraqis. He doesn't want the same to happen to the Afghans.

The peace caravan is meant to "educate" people about how sanctions against
Iraq, started in 1990 during the Gulf War, have slowly devastated a country
which once had an education and health system equal to that of Canada.

"They were bombed back to the stone age," Edmonton activist Patti Hartnagel
said.

Howaida Hassan, a member of Canadians for Equality and Peace for
Palestinians, said the rally's timing couldn't be more appropriate. "We
don't want any more war," she said. "We don't want another Iraq in
Afghanistan."

Swann said, "We're linking the events of Sept. 11 with the huge toll in Iraq
... Canada's complicity is putting us at risk. Our silence is support for
the U.S. The despair of the Iraqi people could turn into violence and that
will be aimed at us."

Over 1.5 million people have died because of the sanctions, Swann claimed.

"There's only one side people can take in a war -- and that's with innocent
people," added activist Malcolm Azania.


http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=113912&keyword=the

* BRITISH AND US PLANES ATTACK IRAQ AGAIN IN BATTLE THAT NEVER ENDS
by Jim McBeth (jmcbeth@scotsman.com)
The Scotsman, 6th October

ON TUESDAY and Wednesday of this week, British and US warplanes flew from
al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia to attack targets inside Iraq, the latest raids in
a war that never ends.

If Iraq is targeted in the First War of the 21st century, it will be no new
experience. It has been bombed relentlessly for a decade.

In this week¹s raids, two Iraqis died - a sudden, some might say merciful,
end compared to the slow death of a nation, in which bombs kill only the
few. United Nations Security Council Resolution No 661 of 1990, which
imposed an embargo on imports and exports, in the prelude to the Gulf
conflict, kills the majority.

In the villages and towns of a country which is a refugee camp with 22
million inhabitants, 498 civilians died on Tuesday and Wednesday - every
month 7,500 perish.

Poisoned by contaminated water, they suffer from mal-nutrition and succumb
to cancer, cholera, typhoid and malaria.

An estimated 600,000 children have died from preventable diseases such as
measles, mumps, diphtheria, polio and tetanus. These are figures from the
UN, which, under US British pressure, imposed the sanctions, and because of
recalcitrance on their part, cannot lift them.

The UN believed in 1990 that sanctions would last 90 days, long enough to
end Saddam¹s aggression. It didn¹t work and they continued.

Objectively, military analysts believe they succeeded in their aim of
ensuring Saddam was no longer a military threat; however, success was bought
with 1.2 million lives.

Bombs and restrictions have made Iraq poor, leaving the country denuded,
bereft of infrastructure and economically crippled.

Saddam does not suffer. Politically, he is strong because he controls the
"food baskets" - state handouts.

There can be no viable opposition to a regime with the capability to starve
a people who cannot generate wealth.

They cannot import computers, trucks or telecommunications because the UN
says they could be misused for military purposes.

The banned list even includes poultry vaccine as it could be turned into a
weapon of mass destruction. Per Klevnas, of the Campaign Against Sanctions
On Iraq, said: "Therefore the chicken farming industry dies."

Add to that a brutal dictator and an oppressive, uncaring regime and you
have a devastated country that is a refugee camp dependent on food baskets,
which Saddam uses as a political weapon.

"Lifting sanctions would not wave a magic wand, but it would allow
opportunity to regenerate economically and rebuild. There can no longer be
justification for sanctions because Britain and the US do not want to lose
face."

In a political game, it is the innocent who suffer.

May Al-Daftari, of Medical Aid for Iraqi Children, said: "In a country of 22
million, 600,000 children have been lost. Two million more are malnourished;
families are bereaved, youth has no hope."

According to UNICEF, 90,000 more children die each year than was the case in
1990. The same organisation estimates that millions of children under five
are malnourished.

Cancer is rife. In ten years, the number of cases admitted to hospitals,
which do not have the same facilities as they had in 1990, has quadrupled.

Ms Al-Daftari added: "Another major problem is the increase in mental health
patients, especially children. "

A World Health Organisation spokeswoman said: "We estimate the number of
patients attending clinics is 507,000, an increase of 157 per cent in ten
years."

The Gulf war killed 200,000 Iraqis and devastated the country¹s
infrastructure. That would have been a heavy enough burden, but the
sanctions halted inward investment.

Mr Klevnas said: "In 1996, Iraq was allowed to sell oil to buy food. They
didn¹t get money, just supplies. It sounds OK, but how can you move supplies
with no transport? How can you fight diseases if you have no laboratories."


IRAQI/UN RELATIONS

http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/10/01/iraq.un.humanitarian.reut/index
.html

* UN: IRAQ SPENDS TOO LITTLE ON FOOD
CNN, 2nd October

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- The United Nations chastised Iraq Monday for not
spending enough of its oil revenues on food and rapped countries like the
United States for blocking some $4 billion in goods Baghdad had ordered.

In a report on the "oil-for-food program," Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
said the $5.556 billion required for the plan for six months, ending in
November, fell short due to Baghdad's stoppage of crude oil last summer when
the 15-member Security Council debated changes to the program.

Annan's report said Iraq underfunded a targeted nutrition program because it
did not order the goods in time and because contractors were unable to
supply needed high-protein biscuits and therapeutic milk.

Vulnerable groups, such as female-headed households with young children,
were also neglected since Iraq made "little or no provision" for their
specific needs, he wrote.

Difficulties were compounded by what Annan called "the excessive number" of
contracts blocked, which this month reached more than $4 billion. The
"holds" on the contracts, mainly by the United States, greatly hindered a
rehabilitation of Iraq's dilapidated oil facilities, among other
infrastructure repairs, he said.

The oil-for-food program, which has expanded to cover infrastructure
repairs, was instituted in December 1996 to ease the impact on ordinary
Iraqis of sanctions, imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

The United Nations collects monies from oil sales and puts them into an
escrow account to pay suppliers of goods Iraq orders. Baghdad has long
complained about the cumbersome program, saying it says prolongs rather than
eases misery.

Iraq was also due to receive cash from its oil revenues so it could buy
local goods and pay salaries to repair power generators, medical equipment
and electric cables for hospitals.

But some 600 million euros (about $550 million) have been held up in the
council's Iraqi sanctions committee and prevented "the installation and
effective utilization of plant machinery, equipment and supplies," Annan
said.

The committee, which includes all 15 nations on the U.N. Security Council,
has been deadlocked for years on nearly every substantial issue concerning
Iraq.

Until now the oil-for-food program in the northern Kurdish areas, run mainly
by the United Nations rather than the Baghdad government, has had fewer
difficulties.

But recently Iraq denied or "inordinately" delayed visas to a variety of
U.N. personnel, particularly those involved in mine clearance. It has also
delayed the import of equipment and supplies, the report says.

In addition, local authorities say they are unable to pay the salaries of
civil servants, teachers and other officials and Annan asked for a survey on
this.


http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011004/wl/iraq_un_humanitarian_dc_1.html

* IRAQ DENIES UN CHARGE IT SPENDS TOO LITTLE ON FOOD
Yahoo, 4th October

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq denied on Thursday U.N. accusations that it had
spent too little of the money it is allowed under its ``oil-for-food'' deal
with the United Nations to buy food.

``The information (in a U.N. report) is incorrect,'' the official Iraqi News
Agency quoted a trade ministry official as saying.

A report by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Monday Iraq had
underfunded a targeted nutrition program because it did not order goods in
time.

Vulnerable groups, such as female-headed households, were also neglected
because Iraq made no provision for their specific needs, the report added.

The trade ministry official said Iraq had allocated $1.3 billion to cover
food purchases since July, an amount he said was enough.

He denounced the United States for blocking contracts for Iraq to buy goods
under the U.N. scheme, which allows Baghdad to sell oil worth $5.556 billion
over a six-month period in order to import humanitarian goods.

``We urge the world community to press on the American administration and
its ally Britain to stop such inhuman practices,'' the official said.

Annan also criticized countries, mainly the United States, for blocking some
$4 billion in goods Baghdad had ordered. An international sanctions
committee in New York has to approve all contracts Baghdad concludes under
the oil-for-food program.

The arrangement was reached in 1996 to ease the impact on ordinary Iraqis of
U.N. sanctions imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.


IRAQIS ABROAD

http://www.reuters.co.uk/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=261201

* IRAQI REFUGEES BECOME SUSPECTS IN U.S. ATTACKS
by Mona Eltahawy
Reuters, 3rd October

SEATTLE: Ten years ago Haider Tamimi and his family fled Iraq and eventually
he made his way to the United States as part of a resettlement program for
Gulf War refugees.

Now Haider, along with three other Iraqis living in Washington state, is
charged with conspiracy to obtain a fake license to transport hazardous
materials -- and his family is stunned that anyone would think he could harm
the country that gave him refuge.

Haider, one of 18 men of Iraqi descent rounded up across the United States
as part of investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and
Washington, spent a week in a detention center before being released on his
own recognizance on Tuesday. Prosecution lawyers said he was no longer
deemed a flight risk.

"Anyone who links these men with the terrorist attacks is mad," said
Haider's brother Abdul Tamimi. "We came here as refugees. We would never
hurt the country that took us in."

In 1991, Abdul, Haider now 27, and their extended family fled their hometown
of Kerbala, the ancient Shiite Muslim capital in southern Iraq, as President
Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi forces to the city to quell a Shiite uprising in
the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.

"We left our terrorist country and came here to live far away from that. We
wouldn't come here to commit terrorism," said Abdul Tamimi, a gas station
cashier who lives in Seattle.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the Iraqis "may have links" to
the men who hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into New York's World
Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field outside Pittsburgh.

A Seattle judge has last week denied bail to the younger Tamimi and a
co-defendant after prosecutors asked for more time to investigate why the
two men had sought commercial drivers' licenses when neither of them have
ever driven a truck. Two other arrested men, who work as truck drivers in
Washington, were released on bail.

Haider Tamimi smiled when the judge released him, but ordered him to return
to court on Wednesday for a further hearing on the charges. He and his wife
declined comment.

But speaking at his home in a housing project in Everett, north of Seattle,
Abdul Tamimi, 51, showed Reuters a vehicle registration deed that showed
Haider has owned a truck since 1999. He said his brother was considering
taking a job as a truck driver but that his girlfriend objected and he had
not seriously followed through on the idea.

Abdul said a middleman had taken money from Haider in return for helping him
obtain the license.

The Tamimis arrived in Seattle on Sept. 22, 1994, Abdul said. "I have
written all the important dates of our lives in a little notebook I keep,"
he explained.

For over two decades, most of those dates have been connected to violence or
upheaval. Recalling one of those dates, Abdul said that on July 9, 1977 his
father was killed while riding his bicycle when a car carrying an Iraqi
ministry license plate knocked him down.

"My father owned a grocery store in Kerbala and was a religious man who
wanted nothing to do with politics," Abdul said. "The government wanted him
to join the (ruling) Baath Party and to become an informer but he refused.
They killed my uncle a year later when he wouldn't stop talking about the
murder of my father."

When the U.S.-led multinational force launched the Desert Storm campaign in
January 1991 to end Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, then-president George Bush
appealed to the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force
Saddam out.

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in southern Iraq, only to be crushed
by Saddam's army attack helicopters.

Abdul said that on the night of March 9, 1991, "We woke our five kids and we
fled. We didn't take anything with us. The kids didn't even have any shoes
on. We took nothing. No money, no papers, nothing. We didn't even have time
to close the door to our house. We left only with the clothes on our back."

Abdul, who was a truck driver, drove the family to the Saudi Arabian border
for the safety of Rafha refugee camp. The family left Rafha in 1994, joining
some 12,000 Iraqis who were resettled in the United States after the war.

Abdul's wife Majda still shudders when she remembers life in the camp.
"There were sandstorms almost every day. Rats ran around between the tents
like insects," she said.

Abdul said his family chose resettlement in the United States rather than in
Europe because "America is open and free and humanitarian. The Americans
helped us in the camp. We liked the soldiers there. They treated us well."

"The Iraqis who came here from Rafha camp can never do anything to
jeopardize American security, not after the horrors we saw," Abdul said.
"Haider was 20 when we left the camp. How can a kid who saw such horrors
think of hurting this country which took him in?"

"We are very sad about what happened in New York and Washington because this
is our country now," Abdul said.


http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/10/04/denmark.inquiry/index.html

* DANES INVESTIGATE IRAQI COMMANDER
by Mads Scheibel
CNN, 4th October

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A former Iraqi commander-in-chief is to be
investigated by Danish authorities for crimes against humanity.

The claims date back to the 1980s in the Kurdish part of Iraq, including the
deaths of 5,000 Kurds in 1988.

The former general, who has not been named by officials, has been living in
Denmark as an asylum seeker for two years and is being guarded at his home.

The investigation began on Thursday. It is not known how long it will take.

In July, the commander was denied asylum in Denmark but he could not be
expelled because his life was judged to be at risk if he returned to Iraq.

Danish refugee authorities denied him asylum saying that as an Iraqi
commander-in-chief had committed crimes against humanity.

He had been recognised by a Kurdish refugee at a Danish language school for
refugees.

Now Denmark's government has promised to reform the laws in order to bring
alleged war criminals to justice.

Justice minister Frank Jensen, from the Social Democratic Party, has
proposed new procedures to stop alleged war criminals hiding in Denmark. He
has also said the police may be given more resources if needed.

The Association of Kurdish organisations in Denmark, Fey-Kurd, said it could
be hard to find witnesses in Denmark because of fears of reprisal.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134349481_indict04m.html

* IRAQI MAN IS ORDERED DETAINED FOR REMARKS
by Mike Carter
Seattle Times, 4th October

One of four men arrested by FBI agents investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks was ordered detained yesterday as a flight risk and "substantial
risk to the community" for statements authorities say he made during an
investigation into allegations he and others tried to obtain fraudulent
licenses to haul hazardous materials.

The nature of the comments allegedly made by Hussain Sudani was not revealed
at a hearing yesterday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Monica Benton, who referred to
the statements as "inflammatory" and was prepared to read them into the
court record, ordered a report containing them sealed after Sudani's
attorney, Allen Bentley, objected.

However, a federal law-enforcement source, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the remarks included statements suggesting Sudani may be
sympathetic to radical Islamic causes and ambiguous comments indicating he
had terrorist aspirations.

Sudani made the comments to associates who were questioned by the FBI,
officials said; he made no direct threats nor did he say anything related to
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Hamilton said an FBI investigation into
Sudani was continuing.

After the hearing, Bentley said his client, a naturalized U.S. citizen,
welcomed the additional investigation. "In the end, he will be vindicated,"
Bentley said.

Meantime, Sudani and three other Iraqi men from the Seattle area were
ordered to appear in Pennsylvania to answer indictments handed up yesterday
by a federal grand jury there alleging they had obtained fraudulent
commercial driver's licenses.

Mustafa Al-Aboody, Ala Alazawi and Haider Al Tamimi, had been ordered
released pending their being ordered back to Pennsylvania to answer the
charges. Prosecutors had said there was no evidence linking them to any
terrorist plot.

Attorneys for the men protested the last-minute indictments, saying they
were prepared to present evidence disputing the charges at a hearing
scheduled for yesterday afternoon. The grand-jury indictments obviated the
need for the hearing. Instead, the men were simply asked whether they were
the same individuals named in the indictments and ordered to Pennsylvania to
answer the charges.

The four were among 20 men, all Iraqi refugees, sought by the FBI after
Justice Department officials last week raised concerns that additional
terrorist attacks could be carried out using trucks loaded with hazardous
materials.

Those concerns were heightened when federal agents in Chicago arrested Nabil
Al-Marabh, 34, a former Boston cab driver who holds a commercial license and
is certified to transport hazardous materials. Al-Marabh is suspected of
being an associate of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, accused of being the
mastermind and financier of the Sept. 11 attacks.