"No country in ‘good conscience’ can support using sanctions to hold back the hopes of the Iraqi people," Bush

WASHINGTON, May 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The United States said Wednesday, May 8, it would lift some sanctions against Iraq immediately and put a draft resolution this week to the U.N. Security Council to end the international embargo in order to launch the reconstruction process in the war-dashed country and meet humanitarian needs there.

"The regime that the sanctions were directed against no longer rules Iraq, and no country in good conscience can support using sanctions to hold back the hopes of the Iraqi people," President George W. Bush said at a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Bush appealed for support to end the U.N. sanctions and indicated a more conciliatory attitude toward France, Germany, Russia and China, which opposed the war, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

But observers said that lifting the sanctions would also gave a boost to the U.S. economy, reportedly faced a budget deficit of 290 billion dollars after allotting 75 billions for war costs, amid prospects of a potentially crippling inflation and a general state of recession.

"The move will allow Washington to recover all of war and reconstruction costs from Iraq's oil revenues," said Khalil Anani, an Egyptian economic expert.

"The U.S. will also meet its oil needs at the cheapest prices as well as enhance the role of U.S. oil companies in Iraq," Anani added.

Washington made clear that American companies would land all reconstruction contracts, expected to be worth of more than 300 billion dollars, in Iraq and that companies from pro-war countries could be granted subcontracts.

Draft Resolution

In New York, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would put a draft resolution to U.N. Security Council members this week aiming to help build a new government in Iraq.

"It will lift the sanctions to that end and I think it's a resolution that everybody will be able to rally around," he said.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 20 bitterly divided the U.N. Security Council, but Powell said the draft was "forward-looking" and "will unite the international community to help the people of Iraq to a better life."

But Powell said the United States was working to include Germany, France, Russia and China on the new resolution. "Whatever happened in the past is in the past," Powell said.

"We are not now talking about a matter of war. We're talking about a matter of peace, a matter of hope. We're talking about helping the Iraqi people, and this resolution has that as its singular purpose," he added.

Powell would not go into details of the draft U.N. resolution, but the Washington Post, citing senior administration officials, said it would place Iraq's oil revenues under U.S. control until an interim authority is established.

The U.N. role would be limited, with control exercised by the United States and its military allies until a permanent representative Iraqi government is in place, the daily said.

Moscow and Paris fear an end to sanctions would effectively hand control of Iraq's immense oil reserves, the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia's, to the United States. Washington had earlier shunned any key role for the U.N. in the post-war Iraq, saying the world body should stick with meeting humanitarian needs of Iraqis.

"For Good of Iraqis"

Bush expressed hope the resolution would be approved in the Council.

"The read from at least our diplomats at the United Nations is that the kind of atmosphere that existed prior to the war has changed, and that people now want to work together for the good of the Iraqi people," he said.

The United States has already moved to ease its own sanctions imposed against Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.

Bush said he was suspending the Iraq Sanctions Act, which restricts the export of equipment necessary for Iraq's reconstruction.

He added that he had ordered Treasury Secretary John Snow "to relax administrative sanctions on American companies and citizens conducting business in Iraq that contributes to humanitarian relief and reconstruction."

Snow said "the lifting of sanctions is an essential step in providing for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people and of commencing the reconstruction process."

But economists said it will also reduce the slowdown in the U.S. markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday, May 6, acknowledged the threat of downward pressure on prices in the country, although it carefully avoided using the word "deflation."

Snow said the U.S. government would also allow humanitarian aid supplies to be sent to Iraq, U.S. residents to send up to 500 dollars per month to Iraq and privately funded humanitarian activities by U.S.-based organizations.

The United States and Britain have been pressing for an end to the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq in August 1990 after its invasion of Kuwait.

Russia and France, two other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have argued that such a move would only be appropriate when U.N. weapons inspectors have established that Iraq has no banned nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

The United States launched its invasion of Iraq under allegations that the country possesses weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, one month after the end of war, no such banned weapons were found.

But the U.S. draft does not call for the return of U.N. arms inspectors to verify that Iraq no longer has alleged weapons of mass destruction, as specified in U.N. resolutions over the past decade and which council members have demanded.

Without adoption of the resolution, no Iraqi or U.S. entity in Baghdad has the legal authority to export oil. The Bush administration wants the measure approved by June 3, when the existing oil-for-food program is up for renewal.