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News, 28/9/01 (1) Under the circumstances, the news for 2-8/9/01, arriving a week late, may look like prehistory. But some mildly interesting things did happen in the days leading up to Armageddon: continued bombing raids; the expulsion of UN employees; a gas mishapı (under the heading Inside Iraq) which, if the story is true, would provide evidence of Iraqi production of chemical weapons; a terrorist bomb in the middle of Baghdad (but now that Mr Bush and Mr Blair have declared war on all terrorism of this sort we may expect firm action in support of the internationally recognized government of Iraq. Maynıt we?); another defection on the part of a member of S.Husseinıs family. A more up to date news compilation will, I hope, follow shortly. NO FLY ZONES * Russia denounces U.S. airstrikes on Iraq (relating to the attack on Basra airport, Wednesday, August 30) * Iraqi missiles intercept raiding warplanes (apparently on Monday, 4th September) * U.S. planes attack southern Iraq-Pentagon (Tuesday, 5th September) * Raids destroy a portable [SIC - PB. potableı?] water pipe in Iraq (apparently on Thursday, 7th September) IRAQI/UN RELATIONS * Iraq can purchase equipment (Extracts this refers to telecom equipment from France since the Master of the World allowed a similar deal with China in order to get smart sanctionsı through) * Iraq Urges UNIKOM to Report Airspace Violations by US, British Warplanes (includes the following bizarre statement: UNIKOM Commander John A. Vize said on August 30 that a total of 195 military monitors can not identify the warplanes that fly over the Iraqi Kuwaiti border. "If I, or any of my soldiers, identified a US or a British or whatever aircraft by its makings, then we will report this," he said. Annan said in February that the UNIKOM had recorded more than 200 aerial violations of the border since 1991, but it could not determine the nationalities.ı * Expelled UN employees leave Iraq quickly for safety * Eight UN staff expelled for spying - Iraq * Expulsion of Six Staffers by Iraq Roils [Security Council] Meeting * UN: Iraq must explain spy charges against 8 staff IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS * Stolen computers worth £20m 'destined for Iraq' (The article says that countries such as Iraq, Libya and Syria are barred under United Nations sanctions from importing sophisticated computersı. Is Syria under UN sanctions of this sort?) * Iraq keen to boost ties with India * Baghdad calls on Finland to reopen its embassy in Iraq * Iran, Iraq at football war, China prepare in secrecy * Iran beats Iraq 2-1 * An Iraqi project to the Inter- Parliamentary conference (a very reasonable and moderate proposal that some sort of appeals system should be established with regard to decisions of the Security Council) * Iraq uses the Euro in its trade deals AND, IN NEWS 2-8/9/01 (2): CAMPAIGNING * Eleven years of sanctions (general reflections on the effect of the blockade, but centred on the Voices in the Wilderness fast in New York) US POLICY * Why Saddam Likes Getting Bombed (welldrawn argument that present US policy serves S.Husseinıs interest) * Book Reports on Secret U.S. Biological Weapons Research (but the article does convey the naive impression that this very advanced research is being done entirely with a view to knowing what sort of wickedness an enemy might get up to) INSIDE IRAQ * Poison gas mishap kills 20 Iraqi soldiers * WHO concludes visit to Baghdad * Saddam relative 'seeks asylum' * Life in Sanctions-Hit Iraq Is Harsh and Short * Several hurt in Baghdad bomb blast * Iran strongly rejects Iraq's claims on blast involvement OIL & GAS * Iraq's Rasheed: Iraq says world oil prices still too low * Gas pipeline between Turkey, Iraq NORTHERN IRAQ/SOUTHERN KURDISTAN * Kurds alarm over 'smart sanctions' IRAQI/MIDDLE EAST-ARAB WORLD RELATIONS * Iraq says pilot's body proves its sincerity on POWs * Turkish firms to hold medical fair in Iraq NO FLY ZONES http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20010903140.5 _b2e100024412c66f * RUSSIA DENOUNCES U.S. AIRSTRIKES ON IRAQ Hoover's, 3rd September MOSCOW (AP) _ Russia's Foreign Ministry on Monday denounced U.S. airstrikes on Iraq, including an attack on an Iraqi airport last week, and urged more talks. "We are firmly convinced that the solution of the Iraqi question is attainable not through airstrikes but through paths of responsible, constructive dialogue built on principles of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Iraqi state," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement criticized "near daily" violations of Iraqi air space, including an Aug. 30 airstrike on the Basra airport. Iraqi state media said the attack destroyed the facility and injured a civilian. The U.S. military said the F-16 fighter jets targeted the airport "in response to recent Iraqi hostile threats." It was the third airstrike on targets in southern Iraq in a week. [.....] http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010904/2001090405.html * IRAQI MISSILES INTERCEPT RAIDING WARPLANES Arabic News, 4th September The Iraqi missiles and anti- aircraft means have intercepted US and British planes which were flying in the Iraqi airspace. An Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad explained on Monday that several US and British formations backed by AWACS planes carried out 18 armed sorties over the provinces of Dahouk, Irbil and Ninwa. The military spokesman added that other US and British warplanes formations supported by AWACS planes also carried out other 18 armed sorties over areas in the provinces of Zee Qaar and al-Muthanna to the south of Iraq and forced them to flee back to their bases. The spokesman stressed that the total number of US and British warplanes over north and south Iraq has reached 34711 armed sorties since December 1998. http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=25834 * U.S. PLANES ATTACK SOUTHERN IRAQ-PENTAGON Washington, Reuters, 5th September U.S. jets attacked anti-aircraft guns and missile sites in southern Iraq on Tuesday, the fourth time in 11 days in a campaign to disable Baghdad's air defenses, the Pentagon said. The Navy F-18 and Air Force F-16 jets attacked the military targets at as-Samawah in a "no-fly" zone about 130 miles (210 km) southeast of Baghdad, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Reuters. "The strikes with precision-guided munitions were in response to recent Iraqi threats against (U.S. and British) coalition aircraft" patrolling the zone, Whitman said. "All aircraft left Iraqi airspace safely." F-18s based on the aircraft carrier Enterprise stationed in the Gulf and Air Force F-16 warplanes based near southern Iraq conducted the raids with both bombs and missiles which are guided to their targets using satellites and laser beams, according to other defense officials. The U.S. military's Central Command in Tampa, Florida, which is responsible for operations in the Gulf, said damage from the raids was still being assessed. "We have said repeatedly that we reserve the right to respond to threats against U.S. and British pilots at a time and place of our choosing," Whitman told Reuters in Washington. He said Tuesday's strikes were in response to recent threats and not any specific action by Iraq that day. Three other attacks, some also involving British planes, have been conducted against air defense targets in southern Iraq since Aug. 25 in response to increasing attempts by the Iraqi military to shoot down warplanes which have been patrolling no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq for a decade. [.....] http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010907/2001090713.html * RAIDS DESTROY A PORTABLE WATER PIPE IN IRAQ Arabic News, 7th September Iraq on Thursday announced that the American warplanes destroyed a pipe transporting portable waters to the southern villages in Iraq in an aggression launched by these planes by the beginning of the current week. An Iraqi official source said that the portable water pipe was destroyed in four places and can not be restored because there are still un-exploded shells and missiles thrown by the US and British planes in the area. The recent American strike on Iraq resulted in wounding four persons. IRAQI/UN RELATIONS http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134337455_iraqaid05.html * IRAQ CAN PURCHASE EQUIPMENT by Colum Lynch Seattle Times (from Washington Post), 5th September UNITED NATIONS The United States has approved Iraq's purchase of nearly $75 million worth of telecommunications equipment from the French company Alcatel to repair the country's battered public-telephone network, according to U.S. and U.N. diplomats. [.....] "It's safe to assume that virtually any improvement in communications is going to help the regime and the security forces of the regime," said Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. weapons inspector who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "On the other hand," he added, "if you're going to say no for that reason, then you're also going to inhibit (Iraq's) commercial development. It's the classic dilemma with these types of "dual use" sanctions." The U.S. has relaxed its procedures for approving dual-use goods, which have both civilian and military applications, to help win support in the 15-nation U.N. Security Council for a U.S. effort to overhaul the 10-year-old international sanctions on Iraq. [.....] In June, China agreed to back a key element of the U.S. sanctions policy after the United States unfroze more than $80 million worth of Chinese telecommunications contracts. The deal included a $28 million Iraqi contract to buy mobile-telephone equipment from Huawei Technologies, a Chinese firm the Pentagon previously accused of providing fiber optic cable for Iraq to upgrade its antiaircraft batteries. French government and Alcatel officials approached the State Department after the Chinese contracts were unfrozen and urged Alcatel's contracts also be approved, according to U.S. and U.N. diplomats. The Bush administration subsequently released nine Alcatel contracts for microwave- and digital-radio links and other telecommunications equipment, according to U.N. diplomats. The administration has continued to block a $333,000 Alcatel contract for fiber-optic equipment, the diplomats said. [.....] Under a U.N. program, Iraq can sell oil and use the proceeds to buy humanitarian supplies and repair the country's infrastructure. Despite U.S. efforts to speed up the procedures for approving contracts, the volume on hold has reached nearly $3.4 billion. Officials say the amount reflects the increase in Iraq oil revenue, which topped $17 billion last year. The International Telecommunications Union, the agency that monitors Iraq's use of telecommunications on behalf of the United Nations, told the Security Council in May that Iraq's national telephone system was barely functioning and would require an investment of more than $1 billion over the next decade. [.....] http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200109/05/eng20010905_79446.html * IRAQ URGES UNIKOM TO REPORT AIRSPACE VIOLATIONS BY US,BRITISH WARPLANES People's Daily, 9th September Iraq demanded on Wednesday that the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) live up to its duties and report to the UN Security Council about violations of the Iraqi airspace by US and British warplanes. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, carried by the official Iraqi News Agency, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri Ahmed urged Annan to "instruct" the UNIKOM to perform its mission and " immediately" inform the UN Security Council of the matter. "From August 8-17, there were altogether 110 violations of Iraq's airspace by the US and British jets from their bases in Kuwait and through the demilitarized zone controlled by the UNIKOM," Ahmed said. He also urged the UN to take necessary measures to stop such air breaches, and look into the full responsibilities of the " perpetrators." Moreover, Iraq's technical equipment has identified the models of the Anglo-American warplanes crossing into Iraq's airspace as F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18 and British drones, he added. Iraq has often slammed the UNIKOM for keeping silent over the US and British jets' patrolling over a no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The southern no-fly zone, together with another in the north, were established by the US-led Western allies after the 1991 Gulf War to allegedly protect the Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south from possible attacks by Iraqi government troops. UNIKOM Commander John A. Vize said on August 30 that a total of 195 military monitors can not identify the warplanes that fly over the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. "If I, or any of my soldiers, identified a US or a British or whatever aircraft by its makings, then we will report this," he said. Annan said in February that the UNIKOM had recorded more than 200 aerial violations of the border since 1991, but it could not determine the nationalities. The UNIKOM has patrolled the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait since the Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1073079418 * EXPELLED UN EMPLOYEES LEAVE IRAQ QUICKLY FOR SAFETY Times of India, 6th September BAGHDAD ( AFP ): Five UN employees of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq expelled by Baghdad for violating national security have already left the country for their own safety, a UN source told AFP Wednesday. "They have been asked by Mr Benon Sevan (UN undersecretary-general) to leave the country for their personal security," the UN source, who asked not to be named, said. An Iraqi foreign ministry official told AFP the five UN staffers were expelled for having violated Iraq's national security. "They exposed Iraq's security and sovereignty to danger," he said. "We have informed the United Nations that these five employees undertook activities that harmed Iraqi national security and did not correspond to their mission as international employees. "Iraq has proof of their implication in acts contrary to their mission. We are ready to present this evidence to the United Nations at any time," he said, adding that Baghdad had granted the five 72 hours to leave the country. Deputy humanitarian coordinator of UN affairs John Almstrom earlier told AFP in Amman by telephone from Baghdad: "Three of the five employees expelled by Iraq left Baghdad on Tuesday. "The other two were already outside the country" when the marching orders came. They left Iraq for Jordan," said Almstrom, a Canadian national. He identified the five as four Nigerians and a Bosnian. Other UN officials said the five were already in Jordan, where they spent the night at an Amman hotel and were expected to leave the country later Wednesday. The United Nations announced the expulsions in New York on Tuesday. http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=26048 * EIGHT UN STAFF EXPELLED FOR SPYING - IRAQ Gulf News, 7th September United Nations, (Reuters): Iraq's UN envoy yesterday said Baghdad had ordered the expulsion of a total of eight UN workers accused of spying in recent weeks, two more than previously announced. He said at least five of these were believed to have been snooping for the U.S. "They are working within the programme for oil for food, but they tried to spy," said Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri. Iraq had previously accused five UN workers four Nigerians and one Bosnian from the oil-for-food programme of infringing on its national security and spying for enemy countries. Baghdad also ordered the expulsion of a sixth person, a Dutch national, on Friday. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la 000072229sep07.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dworld * EXPULSION OF SIX STAFFERS BY IRAQ ROILS MEETING Los Angeles Times, 7th September Baghdad's expulsion of six U.N. employees and British efforts to clamp down on Iraqi oil prices dominated a heated Security Council meeting in which Iraq accused the U.N. staffers of being spies. Afterward, Benan Sevan, the director of the U.N. program that monitors the use of Iraqi oil profits for the purchase of humanitarian goods, denied the spying allegations. Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Douri said there had been two additional expulsions, but Sevan's office denied that claim. Iraq expelled a Dutch national Aug. 31 and then informed Sevan that five other people were being thrown out over security leaks. http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=26104 * UN: IRAQ MUST EXPLAIN SPY CHARGES AGAINST 8 STAFF Gulf News, 8th September United Nations (Reuters): The U.N. Security Council asked Iraq on Friday to explain why it believed eight U.N. staff members in Baghdad were spies after a complicated series of expulsions. French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, this month's council president, gave Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Aldouri, a message for his government, as the council requested. "I had my meeting. I got no evidence," Levitte told reporters. The main expulsions occurred last Sunday when Iraq ordered five U.N. officials -- four Nigerians and a Bosnian -- out of the country. All had key jobs in Baghdad in monitoring the distribution of food, medicine and other goods Iraq orders under the U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian program. Iraq has chafed at the program, meant to alleviate the impact of 11-year-old sanctions, saying it was prolonging the lifting of the embargoes, imposed when its troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The four Nigerians, three men and a woman, left on Tuesday. The Bosnian woman had been withdrawn earlier. Iraq also accused three foreigners, a Dutchman working for a Swiss goods inspection firm under contract to the United Nations, and two Argentine peacekeepers, of being spies. It said the Argentines were expelled on Aug. 22 and the Dutchman on Aug. 31. "Since they had violated standard operating procedures, they were removed from the mission area," said U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva. Council members on Thursday supported Benon Sevan, the U.N. official in charge of the program. He withdrew the Nigerians, fearing for their safety and said Iraq had violated international treaties by expelling U.N. staff unilaterally. But Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergei Lavrov, Iraq's closest ally on the council, recalled the controversy over the U.N. weapons program in 1998, when American officials admitted privately they had placed spies among them. Iraq's Aldouri said: "The United States, maybe, is behind those people. And we have all the evidence, and we will prove that soon, I hope." On the other hand, he said Baghdad hoped the incidents were isolated and was not trying to undermine the oil-for-food program, as several council members feared. IRAQI/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/09/02/stinwenws01023.html? * STOLEN COMPUTERS WORTH £20M 'DESTINED FOR IRAQ' by David Leppard Sunday Times, 2nd September DETECTIVES investigating a nationwide series of computer equipment thefts from some of Britain's biggest companies believe they were orchestrated by middlemen seeking to supply Iraq and rogue African countries with embargoed microchip technology. Motherboards - the electronic units that control mainframe computers - have been stolen in daring break-ins at more than a dozen City banks, telecom companies and scientific research centres. The equipment was worth more than £20m. Police suspect that some of the items were stolen to order after a Middle Eastern "Mr Big" provided a list of equipment he wanted to pass on to Iraq and other hostile states. The thefts are fuelling a burgeoning international black market in the wake of sanctions imposed by Britain, America and other western states on the export of fast computers and high-speed communications equipment. The sanctions on "dual use" technology, which has both civilian and military use, are a legacy of the cold war when the West blocked the flow of equipment to the Soviet bloc. Because countries such as Iraq, Libya and Syria are barred under United Nations sanctions from importing sophisticated computers, they have turned to the black market. Up to 40 robbers, several with links to the notorious Adams crime family in north London, are said to be involved. The raiders have been stealing units made by Sun Microsystems, which supplies microchips to run websites and telecom systems. They use the company's website to find which firms have bought the equipment. In some raids, thieves have worn balaclavas and wielded pickaxe handles. Security staff have been tied up and beaten. Suggestions of a Baghdad connection emerged last year after some thefts in Scotland were linked to London gangs and a customer in Iraq. Noel Miller, a spokesman for Lothian police, said nobody had yet been arrested for raids on Edinburgh University and the nearby Royal Observatory. Equipment worth more than £112,000 was taken. "Sun Microsystems equipment was stolen to order," he said. "Our detectives believe they were being shipped to another country and there were indications it was Iraq." One of the gang's victims is British Telecom. In April its research and development headquarters at Martlesham, Suffolk, was raided. The building houses a laboratory where MI5 scientists develop phone tapping technology. BT says that MI5 was not affected but that five Sparc servers, which help to run internet and phone systems, were taken. Three men have since been charged. In March another gang raided a BT Cellnet complex in Salisbury. A security guard was badly beaten and other staff were terrorised by the raiders, who ripped out racks of microchips. Several men were later arrested. Detective Inspector Richard Jack, who led investigations into a £1.7m theft at Deutsche Bank in London, a second at Chase Manhatten and two others at City banks last year, said he had now identified a multi-millionaire Arab businessman as the orchestrator of the crimes. "The security people at Sun Microsystems said the stolen equipment was enough to power Iraq's entire defence system," he said. Universities in Bradford, Manchester, Aberdeen and other cities have been hit. Last month there were thefts at the Football Association and Express Newspapers. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1470538002 * IRAQ KEEN TO BOOST TIES WITH INDIA Times of India, 3rd September DUBAI ( PTI ): Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has told a visiting Indian delegation that Baghdad is keen to further strengthen bilateral relations with New Delhi. "We are glad with our relation with India and we are ready to promote this relation," Hussein, who received an 80-member Indian delegation of parliamentarians, businessmen, writers and film makers led by Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Najma Heptullah, on Saturday, said. Heptullah also delivered a letter from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Hussein pertaining to bilateral relations and ways of promoting them, the Iraqi news agency, INA, said. Heptullah presented a copy of the holy Quran as a gift to the Iraqi president during their meeting on Sunday and held talks later with as many as nine ministers, including Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who underscored the importance Iraq has given to the visit. Earlier, the Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed As-Sahaf stressed the need for boosting relations between Iraq and India in all fields, especially in information technology. Sahaf praised the positive outcomes of Iraqi-Indian committee meetings which could contribute to strengthening ties between the two countries. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010905/2001090513.html * BAGHDAD CALLS ON FINLAND TO REOPEN ITS EMBASSY IN IRAQ Arabic News, 5th September The Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri stressed on Tuesday Iraq's desire to strengthen its relations with Finland, stressing the importance of re-opening the Finnish embassy in Baghdad. The Iraqi news agency said that this was the subject of discussions between minister Sabri with a Finnish Parliamentary delegation, chaired by the deputy speaker of Parliament in Finland as well as exchanging information and visits between officials in the two countries. Sabri stressed Iraq's desire to expand and develop its relations with Finland in all area for the interests of the two countries. He stressed the importance of reopening the Finnish embassy in Baghdad. The Agency explained that the Iraqi officials explained to the visiting Finnish delegation the consequences of the imposed sanctions on Iraq and the increasing problems in the health sectors in Iraq and the increase in the mortality rate. [.....] http://www.dailystarnews.com/200109/06/n1090604.htm#BODY13 * IRAN, IRAQ AT FOOTBALL WAR, CHINA PREPARE IN SECRECY Daily Star (Bangla Desh), 6th September Tehran (AFP): Iran's national football team left Tehran early Wednesday by air for Baghdad, to play regional rivals Iraq in Friday's crucial Asia World Cup 2002 Group A qualifier, the national football federation told AFP. It was only the second direct flight between Tehran and Baghdad since an international air embargo was imposed on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Iraq are currently in fourth position on three points, behind Bahrain, Iran and Saudi Arabia, all on four points, and ahead of Thailand, who have just one point. The match will take place amid some tension between the two neighbours, which fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988. The two countries have met twice in major competitions since the end of the war which left more than one million dead, sharing one victory apiece. On Tuesday a bomb exploded in a central Baghdad market on Tuesday, wounding several people in a mid-day attack that Iraq blamed on "agents of the Iranian regime." Iran's manager, Croat Miroslav Blazevic, warned that he would crack down on players who failed to control themselves in the needle match. "If I see anything unsportsmanslike I will nip it in the bud," he told AFP before the team left. "It is our duty -- sport can only be a bridge between peoples." Blazevic, who took over the Iranian team less than a year ago, said they would be at full strength and he was confident of success, although he admitted they had been lucky to draw with Thailand last Saturday. He praised the performance of the Iraqis under compatriot Rudolf Belean, calling them strong in attack and midfield though possibly vulnerable in defence. Newly-appointed Belean has made nine changes to the Iraqi team ahead of Friday's match, dropping veterans Habib Jaafar and Laith Hussein and calling in six young guns including Ali Hussein, Abbas Rahim, Kadhem Hussein and Ahmed Khoudhair. Belean was called in to revive Iraq's flagging campaign in place of Adnan Hamd, who was sacked on the eve of the team's 1-0 defeat to Saudi Arabia on Friday. But Blazevic said Iraq, who beat Thailand in their opening Group A encounter but lost 2-0 to Bahrain, should have beaten Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile Peter Withe's Thailand - still on a high after scaring the life out of mighty Iran last weekend - go to Bahrain with renewed hope for their match on Thursday. The Thais, playing in the second phase of qualifying for the first time, showed they have absorbed the lessons of a 4-0 thrashing by Iraq in their first match with Saturday's deserved result against Iran. "We got it wrong against Iraq - but you saw the true Thailand against Iran," said former Aston Villa and England international Withe, who has achieved hero status during three years in Thailand. "Bahrain are top of the group but we won't be scared of them," he added. [.....] http://waymoresports.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=waymorespo rts/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=999857333447&call_page=WM_Home&call_p ageid=979619472127&call_pagepath=Home/Home * IRAN BEATS IRAQ 2-1 Toronto Star, 7th September BAGHDAD (AP) - Iran rallied to beat Iraq 2-1 on Friday and take over the Group A lead in the final round of Asian qualifying for next year's World Cup. Emad Mohammed put Iraq ahead in the 20th minute at Al-Shaab Stadium, but Ali Karimi scored in the 30th and Ali Daei in the 84th. Iran (2-0-1) has seven points, two more than Bahrain (1-0-2), three more that Saudi Arabia (1-1-1) and four more than Iraq (1-3). The winner of the group, in which each nation plays eight games, advances to next year's tournament in Japan and South Korea. The No. 2 team goes to playoffs for another berth. In Group B, first-place China gained a 1-1 tie at Qatar when Li Weifeng scored in the final minute. Dahi Saad Al Naemi had scored in the 42nd minute at Doha. Qatar's Mohammed Salem al-Enazi twice hit the crossbar in the first half. China (2-0-1), led by former U.S. coach Bora Milutinovic, has seven points, two ahead of second-place Qatar (1-1-2). http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010906/2001090608.html * AN IRAQI PROJECT TO THE INTER- PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE Arabic News, 6th September The deputy speaker of the Iraqi national council ( parliament) Hamid al-Rawi [.....] said that his country's delegation to the International Parliamentary conference which will be held on September 9- 15 will submit an Iraqi initiative to install an international judiciary system that considers complaints filed by countries towards which the UN Security Council takes oppressive resolutions. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010907/2001090705.html * IRAQ USES THE EURO IN ITS TRADE DEALS Arabic News, 7th September The Iraqi deputy premier and minister of finance Hikmat al-Azzawi has announced that Iraq is working to gradually limit reliance on the dollar in its trade dealings, stressing that all Iraq's trade relations will be in the EURO ( the united European currency) as from the beginning of 2002. The Iraqi paper al-Iqtisadi ( the economist) quoted al-Azzawi as saying that Baghdad had also asked that in its frozen bank account in New York its assets of the revenues of "oil for food" program will be in EURO, applied since December and permits Iraq to sell certain amounts of its crude oil to buy basic necessary needs under the supervision of the UN. [.....] -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.