US Marines attack bank to save it from robbery: witness

BAGHDAD, April 17- US marines launched an attack on abank Thursday in western Baghdad and dug out 60 million US dollars from the bank, a witness said. The move was believed to have aimed at saving the Alrashid Bank from being robbed after mobs attacked and looted several Iraqi banks over the past few days.

The Marines used explosives in blowing up the main safe of the bank and dug out 60 bags, with each containing 1 million dollars, the witness said.When some Iraqi citizens who witnessed the attack asked a Marinecaptain about the fate of the millions of dollars, the officer replied that they would be transferred to a safer place and be put under the observation of the executive committee of the city of Baghdad chaired by Mohsin Al Zobeidi, who was appointed by the US Marine on Tuesday.

About seven Iraqi banks have been robbed and attacked by mobs and gangs following the occupation of Baghdad by the US forces. A number of Iraqi ministries, universities, public libraries, aswell as houses of high-ranking officials have also been robbed and looted over the past few days.

Syria Welcomes Powell Visit to Damascus

Syria here Thursday expressed the country's welcome to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Syria. Dialogue between the United States and Syria is very important and is in the best interest of peace and stability of the region, Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Bothaina Shaban said.

In a further climb down from hectic US rhetoric against Syria over the past two weeks, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that he intends to visit Damascus to convey US concerns to Syrian leaders.

"I would expect to travel to Syria to have very candid and straight forward discussions with my foreign minister colleague (Faruk al-Shareh) and with President Bashar Assad," Powell said in an interview with US media, without giving a specific date about his travel.

But he insisted that Syria expel officials of President Saddam Hussein's government who may flee to Syria and find refuge there. Shaban denied that Syria will allow any man of the Saddam regime toflee to Syria, saying borders with Iraq are closed.

Syria will never allow any member of former Iraqi regime to enter the country and cooperate in anything that would serve the interest of the Iraqi people, she added.Earlier on Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Shareh, who is in Egypt for a visit, told a press conference in Cairo that he has no information about Powell's statement on visit to Syria.

He, however, noted that showing good intentions, Syria welcomes this visit out of its belief that holding dialogue between the two countries is very important and is in the best interest of peace and stability in the Middle East. The United States has warned Syria not to give safe haven to any senior officials linked to neighboring Iraq's Saddam, accusing it of sending military equipment and allowing fighters to cross into Iraq to fight US-led troops.Syria has flatly denied these charges as well as the renewed accusation that it may be developing chemical weapons.

US forces search woman scientist's house in Baghdad for banned arms

CAIRO, April 16 -- The US forces here Wednesday raided a house of an Iraqi woman scientist, who has been suspected to work in the alleged programme for developing weapons of mass
destruction. According to reports reaching here, the US forces seized some documents during the raid. No more details are available yet.

Two other Iraqi scientists, Hoda Saleh Mahdi and Rehab Taha, known in the CIA as Mrs Anthrax and Mrs Germ respectively, have been blamed as two key figures in the country's alleged arms
program. US-British coalition forces have waged a war on Iraq since March 20 in a declared bid to strip Baghdad of suspected nuclear, chemical and biological weapons have yet to find what they consider a "smoking gun" that Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein possessed such arms. Previous reports of chemical weapons finds during their military operations in the past three more weeks have turned out to be false upon further analysis.

Bush's cultural adviser resigns in protest over looting of Iraq museum

WASHINGTON, April 17-- Martin Sullivan, head of a presidential panel on cultural property, stepped down this week in protest over the failure of US forces to prevent the massive looting of Baghdad's antiquities museum. "The reports in recent days about the looting of Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities and the destruction of countless artifacts that document the cradle of Western civilization have troubled me deeply, a feeling that is shared by many other Americans," Sullivan wrote in a letter released Thursday.

Sullivan said he was resigning as chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Cultural Property, a position he had held since 1995. In the letter, which was dated Monday, Sullivan said the "tragedy" was not prevented "due to our nation's inaction." Another panel member, Gary Vikan, also plans to resign because of the looting of the museum, local media reports said. The 11-member advisory committee is appointed by the president.

The Iraqi National Museum, which housed a priceless collection dating back 7,000 years to the Sumerian civilization, was looted over two days following the fall of Baghdad last week.

In the absence of any security presence, the looters exacted what experts believe was a heavy toll on the museum and its collection, stored in 28 galleries and vaults, including the loss of perhaps 50,000 irreplaceable artifacts and the burning of museum records. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday rejected charges the US military was to blame for failing to prevent the looting, saying it is difficult to stop when looting happens in a war zone.

But antiquities experts said US military planners had assured them that Iraq's historic artifacts and sites would be protected by occupying forces. US archeological organizations and the UN's cultural agency UNESCO said they had provided US officials with information about Iraq's cultural heritage and archeological sites months before the war began.

Syria presents draft resolution calling for WMD-free Middle East

UNITED NATIONS, April 16 -- Syria on Wednesday presented the United Nations Security Council a draft resolution calling for the establishment of a free zone of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East region. The draft resolution was "unanimously supported by the League of Arab States" and aimed at "generally and completely disarming weapons of mass destruction" in the Middle East, Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Mikhail Wehbe told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

Wehbe said the two main points of the resolution were to keep the region free of nuclear weapons, "which is the most destructive,chemical and biological," and to prevent terrorist groups from getting and possessing WMD. Such a resolution is "very important" for peace process in the Middle East and for peace and security in the region, he said. Wehbe said Syria is ready to sign any agreement on the establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East