Garner takes reconstruction mission to Northern Iraq
The retired American general given the huge task of reconstructing post-war Iraq today visited the country’s northern Kurdish region.
It was Jay Garner’s first visit to the area since he ran Operation Provide Comfort, which co-ordinated humanitarian aid in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.
Garner today visited the north-east city of Sulaymaniyah, where he was met by a delegation from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the groups jockeying for power in post-war Iraq.
The PUK has often been at odds with the Kurdish Democratic Party that holds sway in the western part of Iraq’s Kurdish region, and their disagreements degenerated into civil war in 1996.
They later found common ground as partners with Washington, and in October the full Kurdish parliament convened for the first time in eight years.
But last week, in a possible sign of renewed tensions, KDP leader Massoud Barzani accused the PUK of triggering looting and chaos in northern cities by storming into the oil capital of Kirkuk.
Despite the tensions, Garner praised the region.
“I think the time has come for the Kurds. The job they have done in the north is a tribute for free men and women,” he said.
Garner also visited Sulaymaniyah’s university, where he told students: “Iraq is one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East, yet the wealth of Iraq has never been shared.”
Meanwhile, the US military said it had found ingredients and equipment that Iraq may have used to make chemical weapons, although officials cautioned that the findings were still being analysed and did not by themselves confirm the presence of such weapons.
The find was made several days ago with the help of an Iraqi scientist who claimed to have worked in Saddam’s chemical weapons programme.
US officials refused to name the scientist or identify the material, which had been buried.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix cautioned the Americans to “examine everything critically,” noting that some Iraqis may be motivated to claim more than they know.
According to the officials, the scientist said the Iraqis set a warehouse on fire and destroyed chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment days before the war began on March 20.
The scientist also said that several months before the war, he watched Iraqi officials bury chemical precursors for weapons and other sensitive material to conceal them.
The US government is sending more than 1,000 experts to join the search for weapons of mass destruction – the main reason cited by Washington and London for going to war in Iraq.
They will analyse documents, interrogate prisoners and scour suspicious sites, joining some 200 experts already on the hunt.
