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Germany supports lifting Iraq sanctionsIraqi group: Mass grave may contain Kuwaiti POWs
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- In a move that could signal a thaw in relations between Berlin and Washington, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Friday that U.N. sanctions against Iraq don't make sense anymore and should be removed. Schroeder's remarks followed meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Berlin. The United States and Germany had split bitterly over the war in Iraq. The Bush administration had been displeased with Schroeder's opposition to war since the chancellor's re-election last year. "Our opinion is that the sanctions that have been placed no longer make any sense and that they should be lifted as soon as possible," Schroeder said, calling for the issue to be taken up at the next session of the United Nations in New York. Powell welcomed the German chancellor's announcement. "I was pleased at the chancellor's commitment to move as quickly as we can to lift sanctions entirely so that we can begin to have the flow of oil, which will generate revenue that will benefit the Iraqi people," Powell said. Although he called their talks "very frank and open," Schroeder largely left unaddressed the recent disagreements between the nations. "It has been a very open and friendly exchange of opinions," the chancellor said. After Schroeder's comments on sanctions, Powell emphasized a degree of cooperation that had been missing between the United States and Germany in the debate leading up to the war. "We spoke about the future, how we are moving forward with respect to helping the people of Iraq to a better life," he said. "We're working together on finding a formulation for a resolution at the United Nations that will draw the support of all the members of the Security Council." (Full story) Powell heads back to Washington on Friday, completing a weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe. Lifting sanctions against Iraq still faces obstacles in the U.N. Security Council. Russia and France have expressed concerns about the U.S.-sponsored draft resolution that would end sanctions and put Iraq under the control of the United States and Great Britain for at least a year. Russia and France also say U.N. inspection teams should resume their work in verifying Iraqi disarmament. The United States revised the resolution in response to some of the issues raised by Security Council members. John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he hopes for a Security Council vote on the resolution next week. Meanwhile, the Iraqi National Congress said it believes it has found the mass grave of 600 Kuwaiti prisoners of war who have been missing since the Persian Gulf War ended in 1991. The INC said it found the site at an air base in Habbaniyah, northwest of Baghdad along the Euphrates River. The INC, a longtime opponent of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said it had received intelligence tips about the bodies "over the past few days." So far, it said, 40 bodies have been recovered. "We extend our deepest sympathies to the Kuwaiti people and hope it will now be possible to have a final accounting of their loved ones," INC President Ahmed Chalabi said in a written statement. Chalabi said the site and other mass graves unearthed in Iraq "reveal to the world the scope of the brutality of Saddam's regime and his crimes against humanity. Those who supported this regime are now witnessing the monster that they enabled." Other developments• Villagers near Iraq's largest nuclear research facility complain that they are falling ill from what doctors say might be radiation poisoning. The research facility, which stores nonweapons-grade radioactive materials, was looted in the final days of the Iraq war. Many containers were stolen and used by residents near the Tuwaitha complex to store drinking water, among other things. The facility is about six miles [10 kilometers] south of Baghdad. (Full story)
• A group of exiled Iraqi jurists released a blueprint Thursday for re-establishing the rule of law in Iraq. The London-based Iraqi Jurists Association and Transitional Justice Working Group presented the 700-page document to the United Nations. The plan calls for trying former members of Saddam's regime for crimes against humanity, implementing legal reforms, and restructuring Iraq's courts, police force and security apparatus. • Spc. David T. Nutt, 22, of Blackshear, Georgia, was killed Wednesday in Mosul, Iraq, when an Iraqi civilian vehicle cut off his loaded 5-ton truck, the Department of Defense said Friday. "Nutt swerved; hit the median and his vehicle overturned," the statement said. The incident is under investigation. Nutt was assigned to the 494th Transportation Company, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. • Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik will travel to Iraq this weekend to assist the new U.S. civil administrator there in bringing security to Baghdad, Kerik's spokeswoman and Pentagon officials said Friday. Pentagon officials said L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, picked Kerik "to advise in the establishment of security, stability and law and order in Iraq." • The Marine reservist in charge of the U.S. investigation into looting at the Baghdad museum said Friday that initial reports of catastrophic thefts were a "gross, if dramatic exaggeration," because the most valuable items had been hidden months or years before the war. Col. Matthew Bogdanos, a former New York prosecutor, acknowledged that shoddy inventories and incomplete cooperation from museum officials might make a full accounting impossible. • Bremer met with a group of Iraqi leaders Friday to jump-start the process of establishing an Iraqi provisional government. "I expect we will have a good open discussion on that," he said at a news conference Thursday. Bremer said the United States would move aggressively to remove remaining members of Saddam's Baath Party from positions of authority. (Full story) • A top Baath Party official on the U.S. most-wanted list is in the custody of coalition forces, U.S. Central Command said Friday. Soldiers with the U.S. Army's V Corps captured Adil Adallah Mahdi al-Duri al-Tikrit in a raid on the town of Al Door. The official was a Baath Party Regional Command chairman from the Dhi Qar governorate. -- CNN correspondent Jane Arraf and CNN producers Jonathan Wald, Alina Gracheva, Liz Neisloss and Vivian Paulsen contributed to this report. EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
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