BAGHDAD, Iraq – During a surprise visit to Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged Friday to accelerate the release of billions of dollars in U.S. reconstruction funds to jump-start Iraq’s economy and win support for U.S. efforts there.
Powell spent the day meeting with newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte, interim Iraqi President Ghazi Yawer and other government leaders, who told Powell that Iraq desperately needs faster access to more than $18 billion in reconstruction funds approved by Congress in 2003 to repair the oil industry, electricity grid and other infrastructure.
U.S. lawmakers and others have said the administration has moved too slowly in converting $18 billion in reconstruction aid into projects on the ground in Iraq. To date, only $458 million has been spent, officials said, blaming bureaucratic delays and worsening security.
Powell’s visit came as fighting between U.S. Marines backed by fighter aircraft and insurgents using small arms and mortars killed 13 Iraqis in Fallujah.
Many of the 14 wounded, including at least one child, appeared to be civilians injured by U.S. airstrikes, hospital officials said. The U.S. military said insurgents started the fighting Thursday night by ambushing a patrol and then fled into buildings to continue the battle. The Marines said they suffered no casualties.
Early today, the U.S. military reported 20 insurgents killed in Fallujah fighting since Thursday night.
The interim government received a boost Friday as NATO countries agreed to begin training Iraqi security forces. Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said a 40-member advance team would leave for Iraq as soon as possible.
De Hoop Scheffer said the mission’s first task would be to set up a working headquarters to teach Iraqi officers to run and coordinate their own command-and-control system. The initial mission is to be followed by a larger force.
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