- MOSUL - United States troops
opened fire on a crowd hostile to the new pro-US governor in the northern
Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring
as many as 100, said witnesses and doctors.
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- The incident overshadowed the start of US-brokered talks
aimed at sketching out a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq and was sure to ignite
anti-US sentiment sparked in protests in Baghdad and at the talks in the
southern city of Nasiriyah.
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- Witnesses reported that US troops had fired into a crowd
that was becoming increasingly hostile towards the new governor in the
northern oil city, Mashaan al-Juburi, as he was making a pro-US speech.
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- "There are perhaps 100 wounded and 10 to 12 dead,"
said Dr Ayad al-Ramadhani at the city hospital.
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- The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it was not yet prepared
to declare victory after nearly four weeks of war on Iraq, but US commanders
expressed hope the main stage of hostilities was over with the fall of
Saddam's home town of Tikrit on Monday.
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- The commander of a 16 000-strong Iraqi military
unit surrendered control of an area of western Iraq extending to the Syrian
border, after US central command said it was continuing to consolidate
its position.
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- Shi'ites boycotting talks
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- US officials switched their focus to neighbouring Syria,
alleging that Damascus has been developing weapons of mass destruction,
prompting appeals for calm from the United Nations and Arab and European
governments.
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- The US-sponsored meeting in Nasiriyah is the first since
the launch of the war on March 20 and was billed as a major step forward
in the search for a new Iraqi leadership.
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- But the man tipped to become Iraq's next leader, Ahmad
Chalabi, head of the US-backed Iraqi national congress, was not due to
attend.
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- Iraq's leading Shi'ite Muslim opposition group was also
boycotting the talks, amid distrust with the US role and division about
who should lead Iraq.
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- Chalabi, who has insisted he wa not a candidate for a
post in the interim administration to be run by retired US general Jay
Garner, planned to send a representative.
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- Dozens of representatives from Iraq's fractious mix of
ethnic, tribal and opposition groups, including those formerly in exile,
were said to have been invited although no official list was given.
-
- The New York Times quoted Garner as saying his mission
to rebuild Iraq's political structures would be messy and contentious.
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- His fears appeared justified as the talks in the Shi'ite
bastion sparked a demonstration estimated by journalists to number about
20 000 people, led by religious figures.
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- "Yes to freedom... Yes to Islam... No to America,
No to Saddam," the crowd chanted in the centre of Nasiriyah.
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- The meeting came against a backdrop of renewed differences
across the Atlantic, this time about Syria.
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- US officials have accused the regime of President Bashar
al-Assad of state terrorism, developing weapons of mass destruction and
harbouring fugitive Iraqi officials.
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- US secretary of state Colin Powell said: "We will
examine possible measures of a diplomatic, economic or other nature as
we move forward."
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- White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer branded Syria
a terrorist state, while defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed Syria
had carried out a chemical weapons test "over the past 12, 15 months".
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- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon joined the offensive,
describing Assad as "dangerous," and urging Washington to put
"very heavy... political and economic pressure" on Syria.
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- 'Israel has the weapons'
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- But Syria's ambassador to the United Nations denied the
allegations, accusing Washington of double standards in its support for
Israel, the strongest military power in the Middle East.
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- "We don't have weapons of mass destruction,"
Rostom al-Zoubi said in an interview with CNN, describing the US charges
as "baseless".
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- "It is Israel, which has a big arsenal of weapons
of mass destruction."
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- European Union foreign ministers called on Washington
to tone down its rhetoric.
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- European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said
on Monday: "What we need now is to cool off the situation, not to
increase the tension, we have enough tensions in the region... not to create
more."
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- The Arab League and the Egyptian government also condemned
the accusations, while UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that statements
directed at Syria could destabilise the whole Middle East.
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- http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1348087,00.html
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