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ANKARA (AFP) - The United States has asked Turkey to contribute soldiers and civilian experts for the reconstruction process in post-war Iraq, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said. "They are asking us how many soldiers we can send there... The government is examining the request," Gonul told journalists Thursday, without specifying in what capacity the troops might serve. He said Washington also wanted to know if Ankara could provide Arabic-speaking nuclear experts, explosives specialists and experts in communications, informatics and construction. A request for medical supplies and communication equipment was also on the list, he added. "We are trying to...

HAMBURG, Germany, April 17 (AFP) - Iraq has to be governed by its own people and not controlled by the United States, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said in an interview released here Thursday. "The Iraqis have to govern themselves. Iraq must not become a country that distances itself from the values of the Islamic world," Mussa told Der Spiegel magazine in its edition to be released on Saturday. He said that work to rebuild Iraq following the US-led war should be run by the United Nations and the Arab League. The former Egyptian foreign minister also warned the...

In a monumental first meeting, Iraqi diplomats and exiles—and the U.S. military—discuss democracy in the ancient city of Ur Iraqi exile Entifada Qanbar is a pretty tough guy. He fought in the Iran-Iraq War for five years. He was arrested by Saddam Hussein’s abusive secret police. Eleven of his close friends were executed. He escaped Iraq in 1990 and hadn’t been back—until yesterday. TUESDAY AFTERNOON, when we landed at Tallil Air Base in Iraq, the 44-year-old couldn’t keep from crying. “It’s a great thing. A dream that came through,” he said. “This is something I dedicated all my life for.”...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The exiled leader of the biggest Iraqi opposition group called Thursday on Iraqis to converge in the Shiite holy city of Karbala to oppose a U.S.-led interim administration and defend Iraq's independence. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, chose the southern Iraqi city and the date - next Tuesday - because of their connections to Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and one of Shiite Islam's most revered heroes. "I call on Iraqis to converge in Karbala to oppose any sort of foreign domination and support...

(CBS) A riot broke out at a Baghdad bank Thursday after thieves blew a hole in the vault and dropped children in to bring out fistfuls of cash. U.S. troops arrested the thieves and removed $4 million in U.S. dollars for safekeeping. Hundreds of people converged on the bank once the thieves blew the vault open, demanding that the thieves give them the money. Guns were fired, and a U.S. Army unit arrived, arresting a dozen men and youths inside the bank while many in the crowd chanted their approval. The U.S. soldiers recovered about $4 million in U.S. currency, which...

<p>The State Department is looking for present and former NYPD cops willing to help restore order in Iraq by rebuilding and training new police departments in the post-Saddam Hussein era, The Post has learned.</p> <p>During the next month, the federal government wants to find as many as 1,150 cops, correction officers and other law-enforcement and criminal-justice experts to participate in the proposed establishment of U.S.-modeled police departments and court and prison systems.</p>

British Aid Plane Prevented from Entering Iraq $-17-2003, Reuters By Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. forces have refused a Save the Children plane permission to land in northern Iraq to deliver aid, breaching the Geneva Convention and "costing children their lives," the British aid agency said on Thursday. Save the Children said in a statement it had been trying for more than a week to land a plane in Arbil carrying enough medical supplies to treat 40,000 people and emergency feeding kits for malnourished children. A U.S. official told the charity no aid flights would be allowed until the...

Congressman Tours Iraq Humanitarian Sites By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Bucking protests from the U.S. military and the State Department, Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., crossed over the Kuwait border into Iraq (news - web sites) Wednesday and complained that humanitarian aid isn't getting to the Iraqi people fast enough. Shays, the first member of Congress to get into the war-torn country, traveled across the border with a convoy of aid workers from the Connecticut-based charity Save the Children. But other U.S. lawmakers meeting with military leaders in Kuwait were told they could not go, said Shays...

Ethnic rivalries, persistent militias and hidden weapons in Iraq (news - web sites) will greatly increase the burden on our postwar occupation. In fact, the Iraqi conflict has exposed a looming manpower problem: A full-blown peacekeeping operation would require as many as 500,000 troops. To avoid stretching our forces too thin, President Bush (news - web sites) will be forced to sacrifice at least one of three cherished policy goals: * Establishing a secure environment in which to build a democratic Iraq. * Continuing the war on terrorism against the remnants of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (news - web sites), Pakistan,...

Tony Blair was rebuffed yesterday when he attempted to persuade Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, to appoint a special representative to Baghdad. The Prime Minister wants the UN to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the interim administration being set up in Iraq by America and Britain and says it should play a "vital" role in the country's future. But in a private meeting with Mr Blair at the European summit in Athens, Mr Annan made clear that a credible special representative in Baghdad would need Security Council approval – requiring backing by France, Germany and Russia. America...

NAJAF, Iraq — In this holiest of Muslim Shiite cities, clerics are running a self-declared government. It's the same in nearby Karbala, another sacred Shiite city. Muslim Shiite clerics have in the past week moved swiftly to fill the power void created by Saddam Hussein's ouster — appointing governors, imposing curfews, offering protection, jobs, health care and giving financial assistance to the needy. In some respects, they have replaced Saddam as Iraq's new leadership. Ominously, they distrust the Americans who rid them of Saddam's tyranny and have little faith in the opposition leaders now returning to Iraq from years in...

U.N. to Consider Lifting Iraqi Sanctions By EDITH M. LEDERER .c The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Security Council will take up the thorny issue of lifting U.N. sanctions against Iraq next week, and diplomats say the debate is likely to be long and difficult despite U.S. requests for quick action. With the U.S.-led coalition now in control of almost all of Iraq, President Bush urged the United Nations on Wednesday to lift sanctions that have choked Iraq's economy for nearly 13 years. But lifting the sanctions is linked to U.N. certification that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction...

As France feels the bruises of its diplomatic fight with America over Iraq, and worries that its revenge will be long and bitter, it is finally questioning the leadership of President Jacques Chirac. Still dazed by the speed of Iraq's capitulation, M Chirac is groping for a sequel to his defiance of the march to war. He has dispatched his foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, all over the Middle East to seek out a French role in whatever comes next. On Tuesday, he called President George W Bush for a frosty, 20-minute conversation supposed to clear the air. M Chirac's...

DEMOCRACY is a dangerous weapon when it backfires. Used properly, it is the guarantor of liberty and prosperity. Used the wrong way in the wrong circumstances, it can be the handmaid of dictatorship. Testimonies to its failures are on every atlas. A country with the word "democratic" in its title is normally a one-party state which learned how close majority rule can be to tyranny. Applied in its pure form to warring communities, democracy can be murderous. Having fought a war in Iraq in the name of democracy, the next steps made by the UK and US are crucial. The...

UN snubs Blair plea for envoy to IraqPM left isolated by White House stance By Leonard Doyle and Paul Waugh in Athens 17 April 2003 Tony Blair was rebuffed yesterday when he attempted to persuade Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, to appoint a special representative to Baghdad. The Prime Minister wants the UN to provide a veneer of legitimacy to the interim administration being set up in Iraq by America and Britain and says it should play a "vital" role in the country's future. But in a private meeting with Mr Blair at the European summit in Athens,...

<p>Stop-Gap Move Is Intended For Emergency Payments As the U.S. turns from bombing Iraq to rebuilding it, the U.S. government is airlifting dollars from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to replace -- at least temporarily -- the discredited Iraqi dinar.</p>

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Wednesday his country will not recognize a U.S.-installed interim administration in Iraq and will support Syria if it is attacked. It was the first time a senior official had defined Iran's already well-known stance on a postwar Iraq. "We will not recognize any administration other than an all Iraqi government. However, we are not seeking tension or confrontation with anybody," Khatami told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. On Tuesday, retired U.S. Gen. Jay Garner, chosen by the United States to lead the interim administration, opened a conference in Ur, Iraq, with the...

Operation Iraqi Freedom April 15, 2003 U.S. forces arrest Iraqi a man, who lost his prosthetic limb in the scuffle, caught robbing the vaults of a burned out bank in central Baghdad Wednesday April 16, 2003. American troops raided the Rasheed Bank after hearing shots fired in the area and arrested more than a dozen men and removed dozens of sacks of Iraqi currency to their base. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)Can anyone tell me what kind of sight/scope these guys have on their M4's

KUT, Iraq - A Shiite Muslim cleric who has occupied city hall to stake his claim to local control insisted Wednesday that he was chosen to lead by Kut's people, who he said don't want the U.S. military to be in charge. Hundreds of Said Abbas' supporters were camped outside the building and struck up a chorus of protest whenever U.S. troops passed by. The competition for control of the eastern crossroads city is an especially tense example of the power struggles that have arisen in Iraq following the rout of Saddam Hussein. "The regime ended and there was no...

U.S. concentrating forces near Syrian border <!****************************Cut and Paste Headline Above*****************> SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COMWednesday, April 16, 2003 <!********************Cut and Paste Article Below********************>The United States has bolstered its military presence near the Iraqi- Syrian border. U.S. officials said Central Command has ordered a buildup of assets in western Iraq. They said the buildup is centered at Al Rutba and includes M1A1 main battle tanks, AH-64A attack helicopters and A-10 ground-support fighter-jets. The U.S. move aims to prevent the escape of Iraqi leaders and nonconventional military assets to Syria. They said U.S. forces will also ensure that Arab foreign volunteers...