Turkey, US mend relations

DIYARBAKIR -- Turkey has agreed to provide logistical support for US military operations in northern Iraq and will allow wounded soldiers to be treated on its soil.

The latest agreement will help mend relations strained by Turkey's refusal to allow US troops to move through the country in order to form a "northern front" in Iraq.

"We have solved all the outstanding issues with respect to providing supplies through Turkey to those units that are doing such a wonderful job in northern Iraq," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul.

Powell said the supplies would be "food, fuel and other kinds of supplies that might need to go in" as well as humanitarian aid.

Asked about Turkish television reports that he had asked for permission to launch search and rescue missions from Turkey, Powell merely said he knew that the Turkish government would "always act in a humanitarian way with respect to anybody in distress".

Gul said Turkey would allow wounded US soldiers to be treated in Turkey.

He did not comment on the reported search and rescue mission request.

"We have been allowing airplanes in distress to land in Turkish territory and will also allow the evacuation of wounded people from the region to be brought in," Gul said.

Powell said Turkey had understood that there was no need to send its own troops into northern Iraq.

He listed Turkey's concerns as being the possibility of a wave of refugees heading towards the Turkish border, that Kurdish rebels may attack Turkey and that Kurdish groups in Iraq may attempt to take the strategic regions of Kirkuk and Mosul.

"In each one of these situations we have been able to demonstrate to our Turkish friends that we are monitoring the situation, we have it under control, and at the moment there is no need for any movement of Turkish forces across the border," Powell said.

Turkey has a small number of soldiers inside northern Iraq but has said a number of times that it reserves the right to send in up to 4000 more soldiers now poised on the border.

Turkey is particularly concerned that the Kurdish groups in Iraq may try to declare independence in the aftermath of the war, a development that may lead to Turkey's own restive Kurds re-igniting a bloody 15-year civil war that claimed more than 32000 lives.

Powell said the two countries had agreed to form a co-ordination commission to monitor developments in northern Iraq and which would seek to allay any concerns that Turkey or Kurdish groups in northern Iraq would have.

In his attempt to persuade Turkey to stay out of Iraq, Powell came armed with $1 billion (about R8bn) in aid earmarked for Turkey but which must first be given approval by Congress. -- Sapa-DPA

Saddam's yacht bombed again

ABOARD USS KITTY HAWK -- Twice is apparently enough when it comes to bombing President Saddam Hussein's yacht.

US Navy Rear Admiral Matthew Moffit said yesterday he is "pretty satisfied, pretty satisfied" that attack fighters will not have to return for a third time to bomb the boat in the southern city of Basra.

Public affairs officers aboard this US Navy aircraft carrier in the Gulf announced on Tuesday that attack fighters had bombed the yacht on Monday, marking the second such attack in about a week.

"I believe they wanted to inflict more damage on it. They thought maybe it was still able to get under way," said Captain Patrick Dricsoll, commander of the Kitty Hawk's air wing. "And so they went in there and struck the target again."

Driscoll was speaking at a joint news conference with Moffit, who heads this aircraft carrier's battle group.

Aircraft from the carrier USS Constellation made the first strike on March 25.

Driscoll said those aircraft hit the yacht but did not necessarily intend to destroy it.

"If that target, a ship perhaps, is parked next to a facility that is non-military then we'll try to minimise the damage by taking the smallest ordnance that we think will do the job," he said.

If there are indications the vessel might still be able to sail, "then we'll go back in and ratchet that up a little bit", Moffit said.

"One of the other aspects of this is we want to make sure all the waterways remain open, and what we don't want to do is just sink vessels in the waterways indiscriminately," Moffit said.

It is not known when Saddam, who has become increasingly reclusive, last used the yacht. -- Sapa-AFP

Troops free teenage female soldier

AS-SALIYAH -- Troops from four branches of the US military joined forces in a dramatic overnight operation to free a teenage female soldier held by Iraqi troops, giving the US campaign in Iraq a morale boost ahead of a major drive on Baghdad.

"It was a classic joint operation done by some of our nation's finest warriors who are dedicated to never leaving a comrade behind," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks declared here yesterday at the US military's command centre directing the war on Iraq.

He said army rangers, marines, air force pilots and navy SEALS staged a raid on a hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah to snatch 19-year-old Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch, who had been held for a week by Iraqi forces he described as paramilitaries.

Appearing at his daily briefing, Brooks showed reporters a video clip of Lynch being carried on a stretcher to a waiting Black Hawk helicopter.

The successful rescue, which US Central Command announced at a hastily called press conference early yesterday morning, left headline writers ecstatic in the US and delighted Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Lynch was to be flown to a US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, late yesterday, a US spokesperson for Ramstein air base in Germany said.

But elation at the rescue of the missing soldier was tempered by the discovery of 11 corpses -- possibly other US prisoners -- in the vicinity of the hospital where Lynch had been held.

Brooks, who described the hospital as a military post, said efforts were being made to identify the remains.

It was reported yesterday that Lynch had gunshot wounds when she was found by US troops.

US military officials said Lynch went missing after an Iraqi ambush on a convoy on March 23 near Nasiriyah. -- Sapa-AFP

SAFE: Jessica Lynch, 19, who was rescued in a dramatic night operation, was wounded and captured by Iraqis after her supply convoy was ambushed in Southern Iraq. Lynch, of Palestine, West Virginia, worked as a supply clerk with the army's 507th Maintenance Co. (AP)

Tensions grow between US, UK over war

LONDON -- Tensions are growing between the United States and Britain over the conduct of the war in Iraq, The Times reported yesterday, pointing to the shooting of seven Iraqi women and children at a US Marines checkpoint near Najaf.

Another factor is friendly fire incidents in which British troops have died at the hands of US forces, described by one injured victim as "cowboys".

A major political difference also looms over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The checkpoint shootings highlighted a series of military and political differences that senior British government sources say are creating "hairline cracks in the relationship", the newspaper said.

In recent days, British commanders have accused their US allies of being trigger happy and of not doing enough in the "hearts and minds" campaign to win over the local people.

Speaking anonymously to reporters in the field, they have contrasted the British approach to taking Basra with US tactics at Nasiriyah and Najaf.

At a political level there have been differences of opinion over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners, with the British insisting all combatants should have prisoner-of-war status, whereas there have been suggestions from the US that those caught out of uniform should not receive full POW rights.

Britain is also pressing for UN involvement at an early stage in the post-war administration of Iraq, contrary to US plans, and there has been anger at the awarding of major reconstruction contracts to US companies.

Yesterday Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected any military action against Iraq's neighbours, Iran and Syria, moving to counter a more belligerent tone from the US.

Asked if the Najaf shootings undermined attempts to court the local population, a British army spokesperson, Colonel Chris Vernon, replied: "It does indeed, and if you were a civilian watching that you would interpret it in that way."

British forces have attempted to emphasise the difference of approach by taking off their helmets and wearing their berets in four southern Iraqi towns, now seen as relatively secure.

By contrast, US troops wear helmets at all times and checkpoint troops cover their faces with goggles and scarves.

British officers stress their experience in peacekeeping.

"There is no doubt that with that experience, as well as in peace support operations in countries such as Bosnia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, the British have learnt the art of restraint," one officer told The Times.

"The Americans have got a more blanket approach to things. You will never see their marines wandering around in berets. They still wear hard helmets in Bosnia. You have got to be very careful you do not win the battle and lose the war. We have to be sensitive and we do not want to build up any resentment in the country," another said.

The Israeli-Palestinian issue was "potentially the most divisive issue", The Times said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair had "staked huge amounts of political capital to secure President Bush's reluctant backing for implementing a new road map for the peace process to rebuild relations with Arab countries", it said.

British commentators are now beginning to doubt whether Bush will make good his pledge to publish the road map, made at the Azores summit on March 16, days before the war began. -- Sapa-DPA

Crowd cheers as Saddam falls

AZ-ZUBAYR, Iraq -- A crowd of around 500 Iraqis cheered yesterday after Britain's Desert Rats unit demolished a five-metre, five-ton bronze statue of President Saddam Hussein.

Lance Corporal Graeme Church said the British forces were shocked by the response they received when they began to knock down the statue.

"As soon as the locals saw what we were doing, they started coming out to watch. Very quickly they were starting to cheer," said the 27-year-old from the English city of Middlesborough.

"It was as though over the years the statue had helped to put a stranglehold on the whole town and by its destruction the people had been emancipated.

"Hopefully its destruction will be a sign of things to come for Saddam and his followers."

Saddam's head was ripped from the body. The demolition had been ordered by military chiefs after they decided all images of Saddam should be removed.

The move has been designed to, as one senior officer described it, "free the hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people from Saddam's 24-year rule.

The statue had shown Saddam in full military dress, saluting to the sky. -- Sapa-AFP

SA won't urge leader's exile

CAPE TOWN -- South Africa will not consider persuading Saddam Hussein to go into exile in view of the war and developments there, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said yesterday.

Replying to questions in the National Assembly, he said it would "be a wrong move".

"We cannot determine what happens to the leaders of other countries."

It was important to observe and respect the sovereignty of other countries, and it was the people of those countries to change their leaders, he said.

"I don't know what will happen if countries could be standing on top of their mountains and shouting to leaders 'leave your country, go to exile' and everybody had the right to do so."

There were ways of "persuading people to use themselves as people" to change leaders in their countries.

As much as one could say some leaders "are practising the kind of rules that are not acceptable", this did not mean certain countries could practise undemocratic methods, such as demanding other leaders go into exile.

"I think that's totally out of order," Zuma said.

The major issue was the destruction of weapons of mass destruction, which the world was supporting.

But there was no consensus in the world on the issue of whether the leader of the country should leave or not.

The world understood there were systems in every country where the electorate of the country would exercise its duty.

"I think this culture of calling on leaders to go into exile is a very strange one indeed," he said. -- Sapa