Iraq's leaders, flexing muscles as the US prepares to cede sovereignty, are sending a delegation to the UN to demand control of their oil wealth and an end to reparations it pays for former president Saddam Hussein's wars.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Bayati said yesterday that the embryonic government in Baghdad would demand a say this week in a new UN resolution on the country's affairs.
Following Monday's car bomb assassination outside the US headquarters of the head of their Governing Council, Iraqis who will be running the country after the handover of power on June 30 are increasingly dismayed not only at the US failure to provide security but also at limits on their new sovereignty.
"Iraq must have a say in the next UN resolution," Bayati said. "We will negotiate on the basis that Iraq must be fully in charge of its resource wealth, and the 5 percent of oil revenues we pay [in war reparations] must be reduced further."
Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh, a candidate for prime minister, said the next government will review the debt and reparations because Iraq had no say in calculating them and Iraqi officials had not seen documents proving the claims.
"Legitimate demands have to be respected, but it is unjust for Iraq to pay for the crimes of Saddam with its future," Hafedh said. "The international community must be mindful of the immense problems we are facing."
Washington's authority in Iraq, 14 months after an invasion that many Iraqis welcomed as a relief from Saddam, has been undermined by insecurity, poverty and a burgeoning scandal over the abuse of Iraqi detainees by US soldiers.
There were fresh clashes in the south of the country between US troops and militia loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
In the holy city of Kerbala, they fought running battles around dawn that killed at least eight Iraqis and wounded 13.
Some of the fiercest fighting took place only 100m from the city shrines, as guerrillas launched rocket-propelled grenades at US tanks moving into the area.
Also See Stories:
Bremer says handover will go ahead
Britain to dispatch up to 3,000 more troops
US forces destroy shell containing chemical agent
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
RSS