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AM Prep Fact Sheet: US Iraq
------------------------- ! FACT SHEET: US-IRAQ !
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IRAQ-POSTWAR
-- The military says U-S troops are holding a man who commanded an Iraqi militia force that supposedly included (m) millions of volunteer fighters. Ayad Futayyih Khalifa al-Rawi was number 30 on the U-S list of 55 most-wanted former Iraqi officials. Al-Rawi headed a force that was set up by Saddam Hussein three years ago as a backup to Iraq's regular army. It played almost no role in the war.
-- The U-S-led occupation authority is devising a code of conduct for Iraqi media. That's drawing protests from Iraqi reporters who endured censorship under Saddam Hussein and worry for their newfound freedom.
-- A Pentagon official says he wants to "lay to rest" reports that the U-S manipulated intelligence data to build its case for war in Iraq. Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith (fyth) says they're inaccurate and are fast becoming the stuff of "urban legends."
-- The man commanding U-S ground troops in Iraq says Saddam Hussein and his sons will eventually be accounted for. Army combat engineers have been using bulldozers and other heavy equipment to dig through the rubble of an Iraqi house destroyed in an airstrike. They're trying to see if Saddam died there.
-- More than 15-hundred U-S combat troops from have moved into two central Iraqi towns known for their anti-American sentiment
-- British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he'll cooperate with a parliamentary probe into his handling of intelligence information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But that may not be enough to silence critics, who claim his government exaggerated the threat posed by the weapons in order to justify a war.
-- Two British soldiers have been pulled out of Iraq following allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners of war. The British defense ministry says only that the incident involved a beating and says it plans an investigation.
-- The International Atomic Energy Agency says a team of U-N nuclear safety experts should be in Baghdad by the end of the week. The U-N team is authorized to inspect just the one nuclear complex, not any other sites.
CONGRESS-IRAQ
-- Congressman Dennis Kucinich wants to see evidence to back the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's banned weapons programs. The Democratic presidential contender says President Bush led the nation to war on the basis of unfounded assertions and wants the administration to show Congress what evidence it has. Another Democratic candidate, Senator Bob Graham, says Bush will be held accountable if evidence shows intelligence was manipulated to justify war.
-- Administration experts on Iraqi reconstruction frustrated senators Wednesday when they weren't able to provide information on costs and other details of the undertaking. Senator Russ Feingold -- a member of the Foreign Relations Committee -- said his constituents want to know "how much we are going to pay." Another lawmaker found it puzzling that a defense official didn't know how many British troops are still in Iraq.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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