April 10, 2003 - S. Arabia supports Iraqi people to choose their own leaders Jordan supports Iraqis' rights to rule themselves: FM Over 1,000 Iraqi refugees arrive in Iranian border Saddam and son alive in Iraq: Iraqi opposition leader -US defense chief warns Syria against aiding Iraq
Renewed Attack on US Marines in Baghdad, 1 killed 12 injured
BAGHDAD - April 10, 2003 US Marines came under heavy fire from the Iraqi forces on Thursday along the northern banks of the Tigris river in Baghdad, with one Marine killed and 13 others injured.. Since dawn, the US troops were under heavy attack from Iraqi troops hiding in buildings, in cars, on roofs or under bridges. The Iraqi side used AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades during the fighting. There were at least 13 casualties and one soldier was killed in action. It was said the Marines have captured one of the main palaces owned by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the northern side of the Tigris river.-keralamonitor.com
Iraq Infrastructure Minister Paritzky dreams of Iraqi oil flowing to Haifa
Tel Aviv -April 9, 2003 The Israeli National Infrastructures Minister Joseph Paritzky has requested an assessment of the condition of the old oil pipeline from Mosul to Haifa, with an eye toward renewing the flow of oil in the event of friendly post-war regime in Iraq, reported an Israeli Newspaper.
Paritzky explained to Haaretz yesterday that resurrecting the pipeline to Haifa could save Israel the high cost of shipping oil from Russia. He is certain that the Americans would respond favorably to the idea, since the pipeline would bring Iraqi oil directly to the Mediterranean.
The flow of oil from Mosul was redirected from Haifa to Syria after the British Mandate for Palestine expired in 1948. There were several attempts to renew the flow of oil to Haifa in subsequent years. One such effort occurred during the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s, after Syria acceded to a request from Iran to block the flow of Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean. It may be recalled that Iran was then preventing oil tankers from moving Iraqi oil via the Persian Gulf. The Israeli prime minister at the time, Yitzhak Shamir, proposed to Iraq to renew the flow of oil through the pipeline to Haifa.
Hanan Bar-On, then the deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry, confirmed yesterday that Israel was involved in talks during the mid-1980s on a plan for an Iraq-Jordanian pipeline to the Red Sea port of Aqaba. Among the participants in these talks was Donald Rumsfeld, then an adviser to U.S. president Reagan and currently secretary of defense. The American corporation Bechtel was slated to build the pipeline. According to the deal, which eventually fell through, Israel was to receive about $100 million a year via former Israeli businessman Bruce Rappaport in return for a commitment not to oppose the construction or operation of the new pipeline.
In 1987, energy minister Moshe Shahal reportedly looked into the idea of helping Iraq export its oil via the Golan Heights to Haifa. But this plan also failed to materialize.
Bar-On recalled that during the same period, the possibility of laying a pipeline along the Jordan Valley and Arava, and then along the Egyptian border to the Mediterranean. "We wanted to ensure the economic interests of the Iraqis, Jordanians, and Egyptians in order to create motivation to preserve the stability in the region and as a foundation for peaceful relations."Jordanian FM denies reports on restarting Iraq oil pipeline
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher denied reports on Wednesday that his country is considering reopening an oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel via Jordan. In an interview to the Al Jazeera television station, Muasher said Jordan will consider warming up relations with Israel according to Israel's willingness to push the peace process forward. The Israeli National Infrastructure Ministry said that Israel and Jordan will hold meetings about the possibility of reopening the oil pipeline from Iraq closed 55 years ago.According to the report, Israeli minister Yosef Paritzky (Shinui) will meet Jordanian officials about restarting the pipeline, which sent Iraqi oil from Mosul to the northern Israeli port of Haifa during the British mandate period, on the assumption a pro-Western government will be set up following the U.S.-led war.
Haaretz reported on March 31 that Paritzky had requested an assessment of the condition of the old pipeline from Mosul to Haifa, with an eye toward renewing the flow of oil in the event of friendly post-war regime in Iraq.
Paritzky explained to Haaretz that resurrecting the pipeline to Haifa could save Israel the high cost of shipping oil from Russia. The Infrastructure Ministry source said Paritzky believes restarting the pipeline could reduce Israel's fuel costs by 25 percent and turn Haifa into "the Rotterdam of the Middle East." The flow of Iraqi oil to Haifa stopped in 1948 with the end of the British mandate and the War of Independence that followed and the establishment of Israel, the source said.
"It's too soon to estimate the chances of the pipeline restarting or its financial impact for Israel although it would obviously be substantial," the source said. "It depends on what kind of government takes office in Iraq. "The Jordanians are optimistic though and the minister is very keen to try and flesh out a plan for restarting the oil flow," the source said.
India to be Invited to Join Gas Pipeline Project from Turkmenistan to South Asia
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (24 February 2003) - India is to be invited to join an ADB-backed US$2.5 billion pipeline project to transport gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and South Asia.The Fourth Meeting of the Steering Committee for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Natural Gas Pipeline Project, held in Islamabad on Saturday, decided to jointly request that India join the project as a major purchaser of the gas and also possibly as an investor. The planned 1,700 km pipeline would be capable of transporting up to 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Dauledtabad fields in southeast Turkmenistan to consumers in energy-deficit economies of South Asia. More
S. Arabia supports Iraqi people to choose their own leaders
KUWAIT CITY, April 9 -- Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it seeks no role in drawing up a future Iraqi government and supports the Iraqi people to choose their own leaders, the official KUNA news agency reported. Speaking to reporters in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said his country would deal with the future Iraqi government to be chosen by the Iraqi people withinthe framework of the international legitimacy.
Saudi Arabia is keen to exert utmost efforts to maintain Iraq's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.It is important that a government, accepted by the Iraqi people and recognized by the United Nations, would rule future Iraq on thebasis of constitutional administration, he stressed.
He also warned of the state of chaos currently prevailing in Iraqi cities, saying that would lead to the further deterioration of the situation and unprecedented human disasters. He attributed looting in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to food shortage, while calling for an urgent international humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people. In this respect, he announced an 80-million-dollar relief aid toIraq, saying that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom will join other countries in Iraq's reconstruction process.
Jordan supports Iraqis' rights to rule themselves: FM
AMMAN, April 9 -- Jordan hopes to stand by the Iraqis by supporting their rights to rule themselves, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher said on Wednesday. "Jordanian King Abdullah II is very much interested in having the Jordanian people standing by their Iraqi brethren at this stage, offering them every possible assistance to enable them to rule themselves," Moasher said in a statement, quoted by Jordan's official Petra news agency.
"Jordan's priority at this stage is to stand by Iraq and its people ... It is the Iraqi people and not anybody else who should determine the future of Iraq," said the statement, issued after a meeting between Moasher and EU Mideast special envoy Miguel Moratinos.
Jordan would assume its responsibility to help secure basic needs for the Iraqi people, including food and medical supplies, headded. Moasher also said it is necessary for the Arab world to play an effective role side by side with the international community and the United Nations to help Iraq in post-war era.
Moasher's remarks came at a time when looting, anarchy gripped the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Wednesday following coalition troops' thrust into the heart of the city.Amid signs of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's crippling rule, looters ransacked government buildings in Baghdad Wednesday morningwhile many residents took to the streets to welcome US troops.
The Moasher-Moratinos talks focused on the Mideast peace process, an issue that occupies the mind of every Arab "particularly with approaching of the formation of a new Palestiniangovernment," the statement said. Jordan would pursue its efforts aimed at ending Israel's occupation within a three-year timeline, it said, adding that "It is high time for eventual and serious implementation that leads to ending this occupation." Defying international opposition, the United States and Britain launched a war against Iraq on March 20 in a bid to topple Saddam.Iraq has denounced the invaders as "criminals" and "villains," while urging the international community to stop the "aggression" unconditionally.
US defense chief warns Syria against aiding Iraq
WASHINGTON, April 9-- US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday warned Syria against providing military assistance to Iraq as well as shelter for members of Iraqi regime."I have accurately advised that they not provide military assistance to Iraq, but they seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press briefing.
"Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq," he said, noting that the United States considers Syria's move as "notably unhelpful."At the end of last month, Rumsfeld charged Syria sending military equipment, including night-vision goggles, to Iraqi forces and said the United States would hold Syria accountable forthe "hostile acts.
