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WASHINGTON -- To hear some Bush administration officials tell it, the reconstruction of Iraq will largely pay for itself, thanks to a postwar gusher of petroleum revenue. "The one thing that is certain is Iraq is a wealthy nation," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said. A look at the national balance sheet tells a different story.

DoD Briefing on Free Iraqi Forces and Humanitarian Assistance DoD News Briefing Army Col. David Blackledge Friday, April 4, 2003 (Briefing on Free Iraqi Forces and humanitarian assistance remotely from Umm Qasr, Iraq with Col. Blackledge, commander, 354th Civil Affairs Brigade) Staff: (From Arlington.) Let's go ahead and get started. It is 10:00, and I know that there are a lot of you that are listening in your booths. But let's get this under way. Today we have Army Colonel David Blackledge, who is here joining us, via the miracles of modern technology, from Umm Qasr. Colonel Blackledge is the...

UMM QASR, Iraq - To the squawk of radios and the cheers of residents, British military engineers restored power to Iraq's major seaport for the first time in weeks, a major step in reopening the harbor and funneling desperately needed humanitarian aid deeper into the war-torn country. British engineers and U.S. Navy Seabees, working into the night, replaced batteries stolen by fleeing Iraqis before the invasion to fire up back-up generators that quickly bathed 75 percent of the town in electrical lighting. "A lot of things must have been left on when the power was cut, because suddenly you heard...

Begging, Borrowing for SecurityHomeland Burden Grows for Cash-Strapped States, Cities Excerpt: "Governors and mayors said they are not skimping on public safety, but as a result, they are skimping on much else. "These responsibilities are unprecedented, and it's an extra cost burden when none of us can absorb it," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R). "If you put extra personnel on bridges, you're taking money from public schools or telling scholarship students they can't go to college or taking medicine from elderly people. We're beyond the point of inconveniencing people. We're close to hurting them."

Safwan: What happened to the eyes of Iraqi children? Hundreds of eyes, round with fear, watch as the convoy sent by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent carrying food aid to the inhabitants of Safwan in southern Iraq entered the city. Fear is the word. It controls the moves of these southern children, and settles heavily like a gloomy mantle enveloping the city. Fear made those hungry little mouths tongue-tied, unable even to beg for a few crumbs to sustain those frail bodies, hardly alive. When I asked men what they thought of the developments, they furtively looked around before asking: "Are...

WASHINGTON, USA: Mar 27 (PNS) - The Bush Administration is seeking from Congress an amount of dollar 1.5 billion assistance "to help its coalition partners cope with the affects of the war." "Pakistan will be the principal beneficiary, of this amount" according to US official sources. Giving a break up of the funds the administration has requested for the war in Iraq and for fighting terrorism, the State Department sources said: There is a $1.5 billion for coalition partners, including those for Pakistan. The financial assistance for U.S. allies is of two categories: the classified and the miscellaneous.” The sources,...

"The Bush plan, as detailed in more than 100 pages of confidential contract documents, would sideline United Nations development agencies and other multilateral organizations that have long directed reconstruction efforts in places such as Afghanistan and Kosovo. The plan also would leave big non-governmental organizations largely in the lurch: With more than $1.5 billion in Iraq work being offered to private U.S. companies under the plan, just $50 million is so far earmarked for a small number of groups such as CARE and Save the Children." Looks like the U.N. payback plan is already underway. There's lots more in Trent's...

BRUSSELS -- Afghanistan called on international donors on Monday to maintain their commitment to rebuilding the war-shattered country or risk seeing it turn into a mafia drug state. Afghan officials fear that a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq could make donors shift their focus from Afghanistan, with future aid for the country going instead toward helping rebuild Iraq. "We will focus on reforms but we need your assistance in providing predictable finance," Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai told a meeting in Brussels of donors from 40 countries. "The narco-mafia state will have the lowest indirect price tag ... but...

Time's up: Cheney apppeal fails, aid offer to Turkey withdrawn SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COMSunday, March 16, 2003 The United States has withdrawn its offer of $15 billion to Turkey for the deployment of up to 62,000 American troops. U.S. officials said the Bush administration has determined that Turkey failed to respond to the offer in time. They said Washington has implemented contingency plans that do not envision Turkey as a major participant in any northern front against Baghdad. The officials said Turkey was warned several times over the last two weeks that the U.S. aid compensation package would be...

The Bush Administration has sent "massive" supplies of humanitarian aid to the Gulf region to cope with up to 2million refugees and displaced people as part of its planning for a war with Iraq, US officials said yesterday. Relief supplies including blankets, water containers, shelters and essential medicines for up to a million people are already on their way to warehouses in countries bordering Iraq. Forty-six shipping containers carrying the supplies are en route. Nearly 3million "humanitarian daily rations" are being stockpiled in the region to meet emergency food needs. About 60 per cent of Iraqis depend on a government...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration outlined plans Monday for more than $100 million in immediate humanitarian aid to a postwar Iraq, including stockpiling water and other relief supplies. U.N. aid workers are already leaving Iraq, but U.S. officials said they plan to minimize disruption to the U.N. oil-for-food distribution system, which provides rations for almost all Iraqis and is the sole source of food for 60 percent of the population. Elliott Abrams, director for the Middle East at the National Security Council, said that planning for a postwar Iraq was difficult because it was impossible to predict the severity...

Palestinians seek £1bn in foreign aid By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem 19 February 2003 The Palestinian Authority called for £1bn (£625m) in aid to deal with the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Territories at talks in London yesterday. Palestinian cabinet ministers and a lower-level Israeli delegation met international donors at the start of a series of meetings on Palestinian reform and international peace efforts. The first meeting focused on the need for aid. The Palestinian and Israeli economies have been crippled by two years of violence. The Israeli government is seeking $12bn (£7.5bn) extra in aid from the United...

JERUSALEM -- The U.N. agency that provides food for Palestinian refugees warns it will have to stop emergency aid next month unless it receives $94 million. The chronically cash-strapped United Nations Relief Works Agency, or UNRWA, said in a statement that it needs the money to continue its assistance after late March. "We are scraping the bottom of every barrel and stretching every dollar we have, but without immediate donations our emergency operations are going to grind to a halt," said agency director, Peter Hansen.

MEPs accuse Palestinian Authority of using aid for terrorism By Stephen Castle in Brussels 05 February 2003 The future of Europe's multimillion-euro aid package to the Palestinian Authority was in question yesterday as MEPs pressed for an investigation into claims that EU cash may have been siphoned into terrorist causes. With a quarter of the European Parliament backing calls for a formal investigation, MEPs are heading for confrontation with Chris Patten, the European commissioner for external relations, who says there is no evidence of serious problems. At stake is the future of the European Commission's €10m (£6.6m) monthly payment to...

THE United States and Britain are determined to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people with a multibillion-pound aid and reconstruction operation aimed at improving their lives as soon as a military campaign is over. According to sources in Washington and London, detailed contingency plans are well advanced to flood a post-Saddam Iraq with food and medicines, to provide security and rebuild quickly the country’s shattered infrastructure. Although nothing has been finalised, the plans draw heavily on military interventions ranging from Kosovo to Afghanistan and as far back as postwar Japan. They envisage a US military commander, in...

TOKYO: Japan's space agency on Sunday offered its condolences and support to the United States after the shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard. "We feel deep regret at what happened," Shuichiro Yamanouchi, president of the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) said in a statement. "We offer our condolences to the families of the seven astronauts who died and to the United States," he said. The agency said it was establishing a task force to gather information about the accident, and that it would likely have a great impact on Japan's plans to construct its...

'Nightmare scenarios': Ottawa suspected it might break its own anti-terror law Canadian government aid officials are concerned they might be indirectly supporting terrorism because of their dealings with violent organizations banned by Ottawa and the United Nations, newly released internal documents show. The officials were so worried they held a meeting last March on the "indirect financing of international terrorist organizations" at which they agreed more needed to be done to ensure terrorists did not receive Canadian aid money. The documents show Ottawa is particularly concerned about its aid programs in the Middle East and Sri Lanka -- war-damaged regions...

Source: Sandia National Laboratories Date: 2003-01-27 Flying SnifferSTAR May Aid Civilians And U.S. Military; Ultralight Device Analyzes Gases Immediately ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A half-ounce 'sniffer' intended to ride on small aerial drones to detect possible gas attacks on cities and military bases has been created by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in partnership with Lockheed Martin Corporation. The patented device, which detects nerve gases and blister agents, operates on only half a watt of electrical power, says Sandia researcher Doug Adkins. While other gas monitors exist, "this is small, lightweight, low power, and offers rapid analysis," says Adkins. "Rapid analysis...

WASHINGTON: The US Senate has approved a long delayed $305 million aid package for Pakistan, including a controversial provision of $50 million for purchase of military equipment. The proposal includes $200 million for debt relief, $50 million each for military purchases and social sector development, $4 million for an anti-narcotics campaign and $1 million for financing Pakistani officers' military training in the US under the International Military Training and Education programme. Official sources here say the debt relief of $200 million would, in actual terms, benefit Pakistan to the extent of about a billion dollars. The $1 billion takes into...

ENLES SINDOMBA, an impoverished mother of eight from Kabumbwe village in Zambia’s drought-stricken Southern Province, insists that her family has eaten nothing for four weeks. “It’s terrible,” she said. “There is no food in the village, and it hasn’t rained here for a month.” But none of her family shows any ill-effects from such deprivation. Mrs Sindomba is still able to breast-feed her child. She concedes that when she says she has not eaten for a month, she really means that she has not eaten any maize. The family still have chickens, goats and a few cattle. They are hungry,...