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Saturday,
March 22, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Kofi Annan for changes in
oil-for-food plan
US N-plants, airports put on alert Baghdad limps back to normalcy WINDOW ON
PAKISTAN |
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Kofi Annan for changes in oil-for-food plan United Nations, March 21 Annan, in a letter to the council, asked that the UN be allowed to spend the “oil-for-food” funds on both Iraqis inside and those who flee the country, set priorities for the items to be purchased and enter into contracts, renegotiate contracts and be given flexibility to enable it to meet any contingency. The programme, run jointly by the UN and Baghdad allowing Iraq to export oil and import humanitarian goods exempt from UN sanctions, was suspended on Monday when Annan ordered all the UN international staff to leave Iraq. The UN chief has stressed that the primary responsibility of providing food, medicines and other essential services would be with the USA when it occupies Iraq, but made several suggestions to enable the United Nations to play an effective role in providing humanitarian assistance. The United Nations food agency is also preparing to make an international appeal for around $ 1 billion to buy food for six months. Annan asked the Security Council to extend the UN’s function as distributor of emergency humanitarian relief from the Kurdish north to the whole of the country and said it should also be able to distribute relief to Iraq refugees who fled the country because of war. The council is expected to discuss the letter shortly and it would also have before it a resolution on humanitarian aid being drafted by the USA and Britain. The 15-member council, which was deeply divided over military action against Iraq, is united on providing humanitarian aid but it is yet to be seen how soon it is able to reach a consensus on the resolution. Those opposing the war do not want to do anything with the American-British resolution and want it to be based on Annan’s suggestions even though both proposals are expected to be more or less the similar. The USA has already pre-positioned food supplies and in the unexpected event of deadlock, it could provide the necessary assistance at least in the initial stages. Under “oil-for-food” programme, Iraq can sell any amount of oil but the earning is deposited in an escrow account run jointly by the UN and Baghdad and the contracts are negotiated by the Iraqi government. Under Annan’s suggestion, the UN should be able to negotiate contracts and operate the escrow account.
PTI |
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US N-plants, airports put on alert Washington, March 21 As the US assault on Iraq intensified, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told members of the Congress yesterday that there had been no incidents in the USA in retaliation. He said the “code orange” alert status imposed this week would stay in effect. In an attempt to head off a possible retaliation for the war, FBI agents fanned out across the country to interview thousands of people born in Iraq, the agency said. The FBI said it wanted to try to prevent hate crimes against the people of Iraqi heritage. The FBI’s 56 bureaus were put on a round-the-clock operation. “We are running down every lead, responding to every threat,” Director Robert Mueller said. Federal meat and poultry inspectors, in their routine inspections, began testing for chemical or biological agents that terrorists might use, said Jesse Majkowksi, head of the Agriculture Department’s food security office. The Food and Drug Administration increased testing for such potential agents in products it analyses, agency officials said. The Center for Disease Control was keeping a lookout in case doctors notice any unusual outbreak of diseases or symptoms associated with those agents, they said. In Washington, the White House was closed to tourists as the police used the city’s network of 14 closed-circuit cameras to monitor activity at landmarks, including the Washington Monument, the Capitol and the Union Station. Tours of the Capitol were suspended from today. In New York, police personnel prowled the city streets with bomb-sniffing dogs, submachine guns and radiation detectors. Officials were worried about suicide bombers and armed takeovers of television stations. The government stepped up inspections of cargo vessels entering the USA because of worries terrorists might use them to bring in a radioactive “dirty bomb” or other explosive. An additional 125 border guards were sent to the Canadian border, although officials said they had no specific threat involving northern border crossings.
AP |
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Baghdad limps back to normalcy Baghdad, March 21 At least three buildings near Saddam’s main Baghdad compound in the heart of the city were destroyed in the last night’s attack, but residents seemed to be getting on with something like normal daily life. Children played football in the morning sunshine while their elders shopped for essentials at corner stores as Baghdad braced for the all-out air blitz that Washington has threatened but not yet delivered. Armed guards blocked access to the area where cruise missiles slammed into the city last night, the home to Iraq’s planning ministry as well as offices of Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz. The burgundy ministry building was still standing - with an enormous bronze statue of a rifle-toting Saddam standing watch outside — but smoke continued to emerge from at least one building near the complex. “The enemy raided one of the buildings of the Planning Ministry, in addition to another building which had been used by a state administration,” the official Iraqi News Agency said. With banks and offices closed for the weekly day of rest today, militiamen from Saddam’s ruling Baath party were out on the streets or standing guard at power centres that could be next on the US target list. So far there have been no apparent cuts in city services. Water and electricity are still
running.
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Shoot enemies, get rewards: Saddam Baghdad, March 21 “Anyone who captures an enemy soldier will be rewarded with 50 million dinars and anybody who kills an enemy soldier will be rewarded with 25 million dinars,” it said.
AFP |
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WINDOW ON
PAKISTAN Whatever the American claims, the super power can no longer concentrate on capturing Saudi fugitive and terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden “dead or alive”. The war on Iraq is such a massive destructive project that it cannot allow the USA to spare enough time to continue its Osama hunt as vigorously as it had been doing earlier, at least for the coming few months. The man who founded the most dreaded Al-Qaida terrorist network may, therefore, be the happiest person today. He must be laughing wherever he is, in his grave or somewhere in Pakistan’s tribal areas as is generally believed. Pakistan media reports suggest that there are greater chances of his being alive and planning what to do next! This belief has got strengthened after the capture of Al-Qaida’s operational chief, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in Rawalpindi on March 1. Khalid disclosed to interrogators that Osama bin Laden was alive as he had met his chief a few months back. One newspaper carried an agency report quoting a senior Pakistani security official as saying, “We are 90 per cent certain that he is alive, but we are still in the dark about his exact whereabouts.” So far neither the Pakistani nor American authorities have been able to convince the world that Khalid’s confession is unbelievable. In fact, for some time the operations to capture Osama had been more focused. The situation, however, changed in the wake of the war against Iraq. He is believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. His deputy, Ayman al-Zawarhi too is reported to have found a safe refuge in the Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal belt near Iran. CIA operatives along with Pakistani forces combed these difficult mountainous areas for many days but without success. Now the point is: when the Al-Qaida chief and his seniormost deputy are known to be alive and hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas, will the USA allow them to go unpunished by opening a new and highly difficult front in West Asia? Does it suit the super power to abandon the Osama front and concentrate on its scheme of regime change in Iraq with the aim of redrawing the West Asian map? Is this one way of forgetting the Osama ghost so that the Americans can live in peace? It is true that this was the time for the George W. Bush administration to choose between the Osama hunt and the anti-Saddam Hussein scheme of things. The latter programme has been found to be more profitable keeping in view the local political interests and the economic advantages that may be available after the war is over. This is besides the fact that taking in custody Osma bin Laden and trying him on terrorism charges would have meant taking grave risks. A report carried in The Nation says that his execution or trial, the US administration thought, would invite retaliation of a massive scale. When it was rumoured the other day that Osama had been arrested, the White House reportedly contacted the CIA to confirm the development. That the rumour proved to be a rumour is not the point here. The point is that the false report forced the American administration to get overactive on the question. How should the USA deal with the situation? So many other questions were also raised. The US administration, perhaps, considered it prudent to treat the elusive target as being of secondary importance. But the terrorist mastermind is not the one who believes in taking rest. He along with his disciples specialising in destructive activities might be busy preparing for springing a surprise. If he launches his next project from Pakistan, which is what seems to be the possibility, the Pakistanis can easily imagine the fate of their country. This calculation takes one to what Gen Pervez Musharraf said the other day: Pakistan may be the next target of the USA on the lines of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. |
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