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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (23132)	5/11/2003 1:01:50 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27734

Powell optimistic about Middle East By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed optimism Saturday about the prospects of a new United Nations resolution that would temporarily transfer authority to spend billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenues to Iraq's American and British occupiers. En route to Jerusalem where Powell will try to reinvigorate Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, he told reporters that the response so far from the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council besides the U.S. and Britain — France, Russia and China — had been "responsible and pragmatic." In contrast to the bitter debate in February when France led opposition to a resolution authorizing the war in Iraq, "everyone wants to move forward," Powell said. "There's been no screaming and shouting but a lot of questions" about how the resolution would work. He said ambassadors from the five permanent Security Council members were discussing the resolution Saturday at a retreat hosted by U.N. Security General Kofi Annan at a country estate in New York. The resolution, co-sponsored by Britain and Spain, was formally introduced in the Security Council on Friday. It would lift economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990 and establish an Iraqi Assistance Fund, managed primarily by the United States and including advisers from the U.N. and global financial institutions, to receive and dispense Iraqi oil revenues. Powell said there was a sense of urgency about passing the resolution because Iraqi oil storage facilities are becoming full and there is no way to sell the oil without an internationally recognized authority being created to "sign the checks." Russia has resisted lifting sanctions until the U.N. certifies that Iraq is free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, an issue not dealt with in the new resolution. U.S. officials suggest the Russians are also trying to insure that their financial interests are not jeopardized. Under a previous U.N. program that the resolution would phase out, Iraqi oil revenues went into a U.N. escrow account and could be spent by the government of Saddam Hussein on food, medicine and other civilian goods. About $1.5 billion in pending contracts were with Russian firms. Powell travels to Russia and Germany next week after talks here in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. His first challenge is to jumpstart a new Palestinian-Israeli peace plan that envisions creation of an independent Palestinian state within three years. In its first phase, the plans requires Palestinians to crack down on terrorism and Israel to end settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has expressed reservations about the plan, known as the road map. But Powell said Saturday that should not stop either side from beginning to implement it. "We need to get started," he said. "People can comment on the road map as we move forward. Let's not allow comments to stop us. Let's get on with it." Palestinians have complained that Israeli military action over the past year has destroyed the ability of their security forces to prevent terrorist attacks on Israelis. Powell, who meets Sunday with the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, said the CIA and "other agencies of the U.S. government" were prepared to help Abbas and his new security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, deal with the terrorist challenge. Powell will meet with the Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jericho instead of Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. U.S. officials said the site switch is a way to avoid anti-U.S. demonstrators and underline a U.S. diplomat boycott of Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian president remains holed up in a battered administrative building in Ramallah that has been destroyed bit by bit by Israeli bulldozers over the past year. The Bush administration has sought to sideline Arafat because of his alleged links with terrorist groups. Peace talks were essentially dormant until the Palestinians chose Abbas as their first prime minister. En route to Jerusalem, Powell urged neighboring countries to help bring about peace by no longer supporting terrorist groups. He said the United States had conveyed that message to Iran through private channels which he did not detail. Several high-level Iranian officials have said recently that they would consider restoring diplomatic relations with the United States broken 23 years ago while Iranian militants held U.S. embassy hostages. But Powell appeared to rule out any breakthroughs with the Islamic government of Iran. "The issue of diplomatic relations is not on the table right now for either side," he said. The Bush administration considers Iran the chief state sponsor of terrorist groups and also opposes its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. But U.S. diplomats have been consulting Iran about creating a stable new government in Iran's neighbor, Iraq. Iran-backed Shiite Muslim clerics wield considerable influence in post-Saddam Iraq. URL:http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-05-10-powell-mideast_x.htm