Iraq Notebook
Powell says U.S. regrets prison abuse

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Powell told a World Economic Forum meeting that "we were in a state of disbelief for days, as you were here ... as we saw what our young men and women had done. ... Our heads bow, our hearts ache over what a small number of them did" to detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

"I can tell you straight from my heart that we will deal with this, " Powell said. "We will see that justice is done."

The audience, however, reacted coolly to Powell's words.

"This gesture is welcome. But more will be needed, much more than words," said one Jordanian businessman, who asked to remain unidentified because he is negotiating for work with U.S. authorities in the region.

The businessman said he agreed with a recent comment by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that unhappiness with the United States is at an all-time high.

Guantánamo prisoner claims he was physically abused

LONDON — A British man detained at Guantánamo Bay said U.S. guards made videos of prisoners being attacked and beaten, The Observer newspaper reported yesterday.

Terek Dergoul, 26, who was released from Guantánamo Bay in March, along with four other Britons, after two years' detention, also said he was physically abused during interrogation sessions at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba used to detain terror suspects.

"There was always this guy behind the squad, filming everything that happened," he was quoted as saying.

Guantánamo spokesman Lt. Col. Leon Sumpter confirmed that actions by units known as the Extreme Reaction Forces were taped so they could be reviewed by senior officers, the newspaper said.
 
Council member says Iraqis must direct oil funds, security

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The United States must hand Iraqis control of their country's oil revenue and security forces or the June 30 transfer of power will be meaningless, Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi said yesterday.

"The Iraqi people will not accept limited, questionable sovereignty," said Chalabi, considered one of the Pentagon's top allies on the council. "That means they should have complete control over their armed forces and over Iraqi revenues and be able to dispose of them according to the decisions of the provisional government."

The revenues are now deposited in a Federal Reserve Bank of New York account, which is controlled by the United States. Iraqis are expected to have control of expenditures after June 30, but U.S. officials want a U.S.-authorized international board, which monitors the accounts, to remain in place.

Chalabi also said U.S. forces killed 1,500 Iraqis last month.

"It is clear that a lot of these people who were killed were not terrorists," he said. "The United States should not confuse Iraqi patriots who are misguided with those who are committing terror against the Iraqi people and against the United States."

U.S. kills 18 gunmen loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military said yesterday that it had killed 18 gunmen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad, and jet fighters bombarded militia positions on the capital's outskirts. Skirmishes persisted in the southern holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

In northern Iraq, rebels fired a mortar round at an Iraqi army recruiting center, killing four volunteers, hospital officials said.

U.S. troops are trying to disband the cleric's army and sideline its leadership before handing limited power to a new Iraqi government June 30. Al-Sadr is a fierce opponent of the U.S.-led occupation who launched an uprising last month and faces an arrest warrant in the death of a rival moderate cleric last year.

American-led authority in race to train Iraq police

WASHINGTON — The American-led occupation authority, with less than seven weeks before it is to transfer limited sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, is rushing to hire a contractor to set up a new facility and begin training Iraqi police.

The first 225 students would begin classes by Friday, according to a bid proposal dated April 29.

One measure of the dangerous atmosphere is that the contractor would not only supply about 50 instructors in special and counterterrorist police operations, but also provide "force protection" for the facility, including 150 security guards for 24-hour protection.

In another sign of the rush to get police on the streets, the occupation authority on May 3 solicited contractors to provide uniform shirts, pants, socks, shoes and hats for 15,000 students at the Baghdad Police Academy within four days, even though the biggest incoming class will have only 1,500 students.

Cleric's aide urges captors in Iraq to release civilians

KUWAIT CITY — A Kuwait-based aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, yesterday urged captors in Iraq to release civilian foreigners.

"In the name of all the Shiite clerics in holy Najaf, we ask the captors to heed our call ... and to release all the hostages who have done nothing wrong except enter Iraq at the request of its traders for rebuilding and reconstructing that country," Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mohri said in a statement.

"Once again, we ask the captors not to cause harm to Islam and to our Prophet Mohammad and not to move (attention) from the issue of the torture of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib to the issue of the kidnapping of the Italians, Russians and others," he said.

Marines try goodwill gesture with Fallujah schoolchildren

FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. Marines toting M-16s handed out toys and books to schoolchildren in Fallujah yesterday, stepping up a hearts-and-minds campaign after ending a monthlong siege of the rebellious city in which hundreds of Iraqis were killed.

But in a sign of the uphill publicity battle they face, U.S. commanders at the school were dogged by angry complaints.

"Why did you beat the prisoners? We saw it on the television. I have two relatives in Abu Ghraib. What is going to happen to them?" one teacher asked as Marines unloaded books.

"Why are you attacking Karbala?" another teacher demanded.

U.S. forces say they plan to spend $500 million on projects in the central Anbar province.