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NEWS RELEASE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894

May 5, 2003
Release Number: 03-05-14


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


MAY 5TH REUTERS POOL REPORTS ONE AND TWO

POOL REPORT from Reuters (1)
From reporter Saul Hudson, Reuters

Interim Iraq leadership in place by mid-May -Garner

By Saul Hudson

BASRA, May 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. civil administrator of Iraq, Jay Garner, said on Monday a collective interim leadership should be set up in Iraq by the middle of May.

"By the middle of the month, you'll really see a beginning of a nucleus of an Iraqi government with an Iraqi face on it that is dealing with the coalition," said the retired U.S. general, in charge of post-war reconstruction in Iraq.

Garner, speaking to reporters before leaving on a two-day trip to Basra, said he expected up to nine Iraqis to form an interim leadership group that would be a point of contact for the Americans.

The group would be chosen by Iraqis and consist of some returned exiles and some local Iraqis, representing Iraq's ethnic and religious spectrum.

Garner said the emerging leadership might include Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party; Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress; Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan; Ayad Allawi of the Iraqi National Accord; and Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a senior official in the Iran-based Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq).

He said that group would likely be expanded to include, for example, a Christian, and perhaps another Sunni figure.

Iraqis are angry at a breakdown in security and public services since the U.S.-led war to topple president Saddam Hussein ended.

Iraqi preachers demanded on Friday that the United States establish a government to restore order after President George W. Bush declared the war effectively over.

Garner said Iraq's reconstruction was not as difficult as he had expected -- mainly because the war caused less infrastructure damage and fewer refugees than anticipated.

"We started with a glass more half-full than we expected," Garner said.

While the US-led war had generally "preserved the wealth of the nation", U.N. sanctions were slowing Iraq's recovery, Garner said. Washington has pushed for U.N. sanctions to be lifted.

L. Paul Bremer, the newly chosen top civil administrator for Iraq, was expected to arrive in Baghdad next week, Garner said.

Bremer, a former U.S. diplomat who headed State Department counter-terrorism efforts, would concentrate on Iraq's political process while Garner would focus on reconstruction.

The appointment of someone like Bremer had been planned all along, Garner said, and Garner himself was always intended to be in Iraq temporarily. "I'll stay a while. There's got to be a good handoff," he said.

Electricity in Baghdad was now running at 50 percent capacity but with the approach of summer it was critical to increase capacity by repairing transmission lines, Garner said.

"The month of May is a key month for getting all the public services stood up or at least with a good prospect of being stood up and getting the law enforcement system back," he said.

During Garner's Basra visit, officials announced the appointment of Danish diplomat Ole Wohlers Olsen as southeast Iraq regional coordinator for the U.S. administrative body, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs (ORHA).

"We have now a very serious job in front of us in the most mistreated part of Iraq," Olsen said of the Shi'ite-populated south. Olsen's appointment changes ORHA's original three-region adminstrative division of Iraq into four regions.

Garner and his team were visiting Basra general hospital and had plans to visit local leaders

POOL REPORT from Reuters (2)
From Saul Hudson of Reuters

Iraq al-Zubayr refinery producing 70,000 bpd - manager

AL ZUBAYR, Iraq, May 5 (Reuters) - The Iraqi general manager of the al Zubayr oil refinery near Basra said on Monday the facility was producing at 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) and should double that output within three weeks.

Taha Ibrahim said the oil refinery, which has a total capacity of 180,000 bpd, had been producing at 70,000 bpd since May 1.

"We hope within three weeks we can get to 140,000 barrels daily," Ibrahim said.