Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9103230268
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From the Associated Press/ and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS LENGTH: Medium
The decisions were made by the U.N. sanctions committee, representatives of the 15 nations on the Security Council.
The Security Council later accepted the committee's action after hearing a a U.N. report that the allied bombing of Iraq had caused "near apocalyptic" damage.
Food and other shipments presumably could take place at once.
The committee agreed only to ease, not remove entirely, restrictions on fuel, generators, spare parts and other essentials to repair water purification systems, power trucks and make humanitarian aid effective.
Western diplomats said they hoped the decision would forestall resolutions pushed by Cuba, India and Yemen to lift the embargo entirely.
The U.S. government has said it wanted to retain the embargo to keep pressure on Baghdad while the allies seek other goals, including a partial disarming of Iraq. The White House said Friday that Saddam Hussein was to blame for any Iraqi suffering, and President Bush declared, "You will not find America feeling guilty."
Iraq agreed Friday to free thousands of Kuwaiti detainees within days as part of truce negotiations, but a U.S. warplane shot down a second Iraqi jet fighter that violated the cease-fire.
An Air Force F-15C fired a single missile at an Iraqi Su-22, downing it at 11:40 a.m., the U.S. Central Command said. The jet was hit near the northern oil city of Kirkuk, the scene of fierce fighting between government forces and Kurdish rebels.
Congress gave final approval Friday to a bill authorizing $42.6 billion in U.S. and allied payments toward the cost of the Persian Gulf War, including $655 million in benefits for Operation Desert Storm veterans.
Lawmakers also passed a related $4.8 billion "dire emergency" money bill containing $650 million for Israel and $200 million for Turkey to defray war-related costs.
Seeking to avoid a presidential veto, Senate and House negotiators softened a provision in the emergency bill threatening a cut-off of economic and military aid to Jordan.
The Jordan aid ban, adopted by the Senate to rebuke King Hussein for his pro-Iraqi stance, was modified to let Bush continue the aid if he finds that Jordan has advanced the Middle East peace process or if providing the aid would help that process.
But the final version of the legislation retained a strict ban on arms sales to several U.S. allies in the gulf conflict until they make all of their promised contributions, totaling $53.5 billion, to help the United States pay for the war. So far, only about half of the contributions have been received.
In Kuwait City, there were scenes of jubilation as Kuwaitis released earlier by the Iraqis arrived in the emirate's capital Friday.
The U.S. Central Command estimated Iraq still holds 5,000 Kuwaitis and said the two sides agreed all would be freed by April 1. It said the allies hold 62,000 Iraqi POWs.
Meanwhile, a report on Syrian radio Friday evening quoted an Iraqi rebel source as saying troops loyal to Saddam had been deployed on all the approaches to Baghdad to protect him from any coup attempt.
The radio quoted a spokesman for the Shiite fundamentalist Dawa party, whom it did not name.
by CNB