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US gives Iraqi opposition 4 million
The United States has given the Iraqi Opposition $ 4 million to support its efforts to get rid of President Saddam Hussein, tapping into funds earmarked by the US Congress, the state department said.
The United States has given the Iraqi Opposition $ 4 million to support its efforts to get rid of President Saddam Hussein, tapping into funds earmarked by the US Congress, the state department said.
The department on Monday said that it signed a cooperative agreement with the Iraqi National Congress (INC) -- an umbrella Opposition group -- on September 29, formalising a deal announced in New York last month, after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met opponents of Saddam.
Negotiations were still under way on another agreement to provide the remaining $ 4 million set aside by Congress when it passed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998.
The legislation authorised the administration to give the Iraqi Opposition Pentagon supplies and training worth up to 97 million, but the administration has used only a fraction of that, to the frustration of some US lawmakers.
The INC will spend the money on strengthening its infrastructure and managing training carried out under the US law last summer, the department said. New activities made possible by the US grant would include radio and television broadcasts, publication of a weekly newspaper, expanded Internet activities, humanitarian relief and other nonmilitary programmes, it said.
The new US aid dwarfed Washington's first direct grant to the INC, which amounted to only 286,000, mainly for administration.
Aid to the Iraqi Opposition has been an issue in the 2000 presidential election, with Republican George W Bush criticising the Clinton administration for its failure to oust Saddam.
Bush's father, former President George Bush, was much criticised in the 1992 campaign on a similar count -- leaving Saddam in power after the 1991 war to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
The legislation authorised the administration to give the Iraqi Opposition Pentagon supplies and training worth up to 97 million, but the administration has used only a fraction of that, to the frustration of some US lawmakers.
The INC will spend the money on strengthening its infrastructure and managing training carried out under the US law last summer, the department said. New activities made possible by the US grant would include radio and television broadcasts, publication of a weekly newspaper, expanded Internet activities, humanitarian relief and other nonmilitary programmes, it said.
The new US aid dwarfed Washington's first direct grant to the INC, which amounted to only 286,000, mainly for administration.
Aid to the Iraqi Opposition has been an issue in the 2000 presidential election, with Republican George W Bush criticising the Clinton administration for its failure to oust Saddam.
Bush's father, former President George Bush, was much criticised in the 1992 campaign on a similar count -- leaving Saddam in power after the 1991 war to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
Bureau Report