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US to Propose Relaxation of Sanctions on Iraq, Newspaper Says
he Bush administration, along with the British government, is expected to put forward a proposal to lift sanctions on most civilian goods to Iraq in a major policy shift since the Gulf War about 10 years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
According to a draft resolution to be presented to the U.N. Security Council next week, the international community should continue to control the smuggling of oil and military items to Iraq.
However, the new sanction list, still under consideration by the U.S. State Department, will lead to what one British official called "a substantial and dramatic lifting of U.S. holds on goods going into Iraq," the newspaper said.
The decade-long sanctions on Iraq, with an aim of suppressing the country from developing massive destruction weaponry, have caused great human sufferings among the Iraqi people and aroused wide concern across the world community. Many U.N. member states have been calling for a relaxation on the strict economic control against the country.
Syria, a neighboring country of Iraq, has ignored appeals that it cut off an oil pipeline from Iraq which is now providing more than 200,000 barrels a day outside of the U.N. system, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Under U.N. rules, Iraq has to go through a U.N. escrow fund to get imports in exchange for its oil sales. Under the new proposal, contracts for goods still have to run through the U.N. system, but much more quickly.
The United States wants the Security Council to adopt a new Iraq resolution by June 4, when the latest U.N. oil-for-food contract expires, the newspaper said.
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