By Dean Yates
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A planned amnesty for Iraqi insurgents will not include those who have killed Americans, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad said on Saturday.
"I'm not aware of any provision in the draft for amnesty for those who might have killed Americans," John Negroponte told a group of foreign reporters at a lunch.
"My understanding is that there may have been at one point some language that was ambiguous and lent itself to the interpretation that somehow amnesty would be granted to people who had sought to harm coalition forces. My understanding is that ambiguity is no longer in the draft."
The veteran diplomat took up his post on June 28 when U.S.-led occupying powers handed formal sovereignty to an interim administration led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Allawi is expected to soon announce the amnesty for insurgents. He has said this will not include murderers and kidnappers.
Allawi has said the amnesty for insurgents to lay down their weapons will only last a short time but has not said when it will be declared.
More than 650 U.S. troops have been killed since the start of the war to oust Saddam Hussein last year.
"The basic notion of amnesty, to the extent that it involves reaching out to alienated elements of this society who might be willing to come back under the political tent, has a political logic that makes sense to me," Negroponte said.
Asked what he thought of Baathists or Moqtada al-Sadr, a young Shi'ite cleric whose fighters have fought street battles with U.S. troops in some cities, being welcomed under that political tent, he said that would be an Iraqi decision.
NO TIMEFRAME ON TROOP REDUCTION
Negroponte said it was too early to say when U.S. troop numbers in Iraq of about 140,000 could be cut. That depended on the capabilities of Iraqi forces, largely being trained by the American military, he said.
He said the equipping the police and the army had speeded up after some initial glitches.
"I think it would be foolish to try to stipulate a date or time when these reductions might take place. I think the measure of when this takes place is going to be how able the Iraqis themselves are to take over their own security," he said.
Negroponte said the U.S. embassy in Baghdad -- Washington's biggest in the world -- would assist Iraq's political transition and economic rebuilding.
But he sought to play down the size of the mission, saying it was not a "mega" or "super" embassy. Asked how often he spoke to Allawi, he said a couple of times a week.
Negroponte said elections due by January to choose a transitional assembly were a high priority, and acknowledged the tough road in getting there.
"There are problems, sure there are. But I'm struck by the number of Iraqis both in the leadership and among the people who are willing to risk their lives to carry this process forward," he said.
He said there should be a higher rate of disbursement of U.S. reconstruction funds in the coming months, giving the economy a boost. He did not elaborate.
Washington has set aside $18.4 billion for rebuilding.
Iraq Blast Kills Soldier, Wounds Another
MOSUL, Iraq - A roadside bomb hit a U.S. convoy Saturday, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding a second, the U.S. military said.
The attack occurred near Beiji, about 90 miles south of the northern city of Mosul. The soldier was assigned to Task Force Olympia, which is based in Fort Lewis, Wash.
As of Friday, July 16, 886 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the Defense Department. Of those, 654 died in hostile action.