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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (89872)	4/4/2003 5:32:40 AM
From: D. Long	Respond to of 281500

Some local news from here in Houston... chron.com ---------------------------------------------------------- April 3, 2003, 11:08PM Ships leaving Galveston to carry wheat to Iraqis Grain to feed millions in war-torn nation By KEVIN MORAN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle GALVESTON -- Enough wheat to feed 4.5 million people for a month has been loaded on ships here this week as part of a massive humanitarian aid program the United States plans to mount in war-torn Iraq. One ship bearing 28,000 metric tons of wheat sailed Tuesday from the Port of Galveston and another scheduled to sail today was being loaded with an equal amount of wheat Thursday. Yet a third ship was tied on the Galveston waterfront Thursday, waiting to be loaded with enough wheat to feed more than 2 million people for a month. The three ships are expected to arrive in Iraq in about 30 days, along with shipments of other commodities from other U.S. ports. "We will continue to keep sending ships because the people of Iraq, in the next weeks and months, are going to be running short of food," said Lauren Landis, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development Food for Peace program. Landis was in Galveston to tout the beginning of a 600,000-metric-ton, $375 million food aid program for Iraq. "In addition, we've provided $60 million to put together the logistics of this massive humanitarian effort," Landis said. When the ships reach Iraq, their cargoes will be turned over to the United Nations World Food Program for distribution and private charitable organizations working in the region, Landis said. The wheat loaded in Galveston this week comes from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Bush administration on March 20 announced the immediate release of 200,000 metric tons of wheat for Iraq and authorized release of another 400,000 metric tons as needed. Besides Landis, Frederick W. Schieck, deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, was on hand for ceremonies marking the wheat shipments from Galveston. Schieck said his agency has been trying for months to determine what Iraqis will need after the war. "As part of this process, we have provided money to some of the U.N. agencies, such as the World Food Program, which went out and bought some food in the region to have it ready right there," Schieck said. Of a $74 billion supplemental appropriation the administration asked from Congress, Schieck said, about $2.4 billion has been earmarked for humanitarian and reconstruction programs in Iraq. Thursday's ceremonies took place near dockside grain elevators in Galveston as the vessel Free Atlas was being loaded with wheat. "This ship symbolizes a commitment on the part of the United States to the liberation of Iraq, and the freedom of its people and the reconstruction of the country," Schieck said. "Working hand-in-hand with other government agencies, the World Food Program and private volunteer organizations, we will make sure that this food reaches the people who most need it." Steve Cernak, general manager of the Galveston port, said dockage and other fees related to this week's federally funded wheat shipments will pump more than $120,000 into the port's coffers. The shipments were scheduled out of Galveston after Archer Daniels Midland, which operates the grain elevator here, successfully bid for the sale of wheat to be shipped to Iraq. Port officials don't know yet whether more shipments of wheat will follow as spring crops begin coming into the port.

To: LindyBill who wrote (89872)	4/4/2003 12:36:21 PM
From: Brian Sullivan	Respond to of 281500

washingtonpost.com A senior official said this week that U.S. intelligence has confirmed that the Syrian bus struck by a U.S. bomb four days into the Iraq war on a bridge near the Syrian-Iraqi border was carrying Palestinian and other volunteers into Iraq and not tourists leaving that country. When the bus was hit March 23, it was first described as carrying Syrian tourists back to Damascus. The next day, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director for operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized for the attack and told reporters that five people were killed after the U.S. pilot launched his missile against a bridge before seeing the bus coming across it. "It was accidental that it hit the bus, but it turned out it was a legitimate target," the senior intelligence official said. He added that it was "days after the attack" that the true