Iraq Notebook
Powell: Iraq may have to return some power

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"I hope (Iraqis) will understand that in order for this government to get up and running, to be effective, some of its sovereignty will have to be given back, if I can put it that way, or limited by them," Powell said in an interview with Reuters.

"It is with the understanding that they need our help and for us to provide that help we have to be able to operate freely, which in some ways infringes on what some would call full sovereignty," he said.

Iraqi Governing Council member Nesreen Berwari said yesterday that Iraqis want "complete sovereignty" restored June 30 but will welcome U.S. assistance for security and will seek additional help through the United Nations.

"It's very important that the Iraqi people receive complete sovereignty," Berwari said. "What that means is decisions at the local level should be done by Iraqi people. National decisions should be done by the national government. There are some issues that the Iraqi people will need support with, like security, like stabilization, and democratization."

Ten firms working for U.S. in Iraq had been penalized

WASHINGTON — Ten companies with billions of dollars in U.S. contracts for Iraq reconstruction have paid more than $300 million in penalties since 2000 to resolve allegations of bid rigging, fraud, delivery of faulty military parts and environmental damage, according to government documents.

The United States is paying more than $780 million to one British firm, AMEC, that was convicted of fraud on three federal construction projects and banned from U.S. government work during 2002.

A Virginia company, American International Contractors, convicted of rigging bids for U.S.-funded projects in Egypt, also has been awarded Iraq contracts worth hundreds of millions. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, found guilty of environmental violations and bid rigging, won Army approval for a subcontract to clean up an Iraqi harbor.

Seven other companies with Iraq reconstruction contracts, including giants Bechtel and Halliburton, have agreed to pay financial penalties without admitting wrongdoing.

Federal regulations require government contractors to have a "satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics," but the contracts are legal.
 
Spokesmen for the companies said the penalties often were for violations committed years ago or by subsidiaries unrelated to the ones working in Iraq.

Also ...

Three Japanese aid workers who were held hostage for a week in Iraq were billed about $7,000 each to cover their plane tickets home and other expenses. The three returned last week amid a storm of criticism for going to a country that Japan repeatedly had warned civilians to avoid. ... Insurgents fired at the motorcade of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov near Karbala during his visit Sunday, but no one was hurt.

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