US tightens screws on Iraq

WASHINGTON - The United States has cleared the way for $US4 million ($8.98 million) to be given to Iraqi opposition groups for gathering information inside Iraq against President Saddam Hussein.

The funds, agreed under the Clinton Administration in October, have been confirmed by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

It is the first time in five years that Washington has financed opposition inside Iraq, although it has given money to boosting the work of the Iraqi National Congress, the main opposition coalition, outside the country.

The Washington Post said the decision showed that Bush officials had "moved beyond the policy of the Clinton Administration."

But US officials insisted that while the money furthers President George W. Bush's get-tough-with-Iraq approach, the Bush team did not order the release of the money and it did not itself indicate a shift in the policy.

The decision "was done at the expert or public policy level, but not the senior policy level," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "It's not a new policy."

The allocation would help "the Iraqi opposition gather information inside Iraq to help build the case against the Iraqi leadership for crimes against humanity," said Boucher.

Approval of the money came as the best-known Iraqi opposition leader was in Washington trying to convince the Bush Administration to make good on campaign rhetoric about helping them against Saddam.

Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the INC's leadership, told the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, that the relationship would be "very active."

But Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had not yet decided if it was wise to back the opposition against Saddam.

- REUTERS

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