U.S. advised to reimburse Iraq millions

AMMAN, Jordan — A U.N. auditing board has recommended that the United States reimburse Iraq up to $208.5 million for contracting work carried out by KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, in the last two years.

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq said in a report that the work, paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, was either overpriced or done poorly by the company.

Compiled from Pentagon, U.S. government and private auditors, the report did not specify how or what work has been done poorly.

Halliburton said that questions raised had to do with documentation rather than the costs incurred by the company.

Chalabi warns Iran

before trip to D.C.

TEHRAN, Iran — Ahmad Chalabi, the former Iraqi exile who has become a deputy prime minister, met with senior Iranian leaders here Saturday in what appeared to be an effort to distance himself from their Islamist government, just days before he visits Washington, D.C.

In a series of meetings, including one with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the tough-talking Iranian president, Chalabi said he had spoken to the Iranians about interference in Iraq's domestic politics, a move likely to endear him to the Bush administration.

American and some Iraqi officials have long alleged that the Iranian government is deeply involved in Iraq's domestic politics.

Ex-envoy says war

LONDON — Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq has fueled homegrown terrorism, the former British ambassador to Washington, D.C., said in an interview published Saturday, sharply disagreeing with statements from Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Christopher Meyer, who sat in on crucial meetings between Blair and President Bush in the build up to the war, also said he felt the decision to go to war in Iraq was the right one, but that he was unhappy about the handling of the aftermath.

"I don't believe the enterprise is doomed necessarily though ... it does not look good. A lot of people think what we are going to end up with is precisely what we didn't want," he said in an interview published in The Guardian newspaper.

Compiled from The Associated Press and The New York Times