no surprise here

AMNESTY SAYS IRAQ OIL BETTER PROTECTED THAN PEOPLE
By Braden Reddall
Reuters
Tuesday, April 15, 2003

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2569543

LONDON (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty International accused U.S.-led
forces on Tuesday of being better prepared for the defense of Iraq's oil
wells than of its people and infrastructure.

"There seems to have been more preparation to protect the oil wells than to
protect hospitals, water systems or civilians," Irene Khan,
secretary-general of the British-based group, told a news conference in
London.

"And the first taste of the coalition's approach to law and order will not
have inspired confidence in the Iraqi people."

Washington and London deny suggestions that the invasion of Iraq was linked
to its large oil reserves, and have vowed to make sure any oil profits are
collected by Iraqis.

But since the fall of Saddam Hussein last week, water shortages and looting
in parts of Iraq have proved awkward counterpoints to the widely televised
popular celebrations.

Khan acknowledged that guarding oil wells and protecting people were two
very different tasks, but she said the focus among U.S. and British
commanders on their liberating role in Iraq made the people's welfare an
even larger issue for them.

"Protecting people should be a primary responsibility of any power that
expects to enter a country and justifies its intervention on the basis of
liberating the people or protecting their rights," she said.

On Iraq's future, Amnesty objected to leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) taking part in a new
government because of alleged rights violations during a civil war in the
mid-1990s.

Amnesty said the groups, which have shared control of northern Iraq since
the 1991 Gulf War, were responsible for many civilian deaths and widespread
torture.

Amnesty repeated calls for a U.N. commission to investigate human rights
abuses both before and during the conflict, similar to the United Nations'
role after war in the former Yugoslavia.

Khan said U.S. and British soldiers were subject to international law on
occupying forces, and obliged to protect Iraqi human rights while they were
there.

With Iraq's city police forces being rebuilt, Khan called for strong vetting
procedures to make sure no one accused of rights abuses was reinstated as a
policeman.

As for reform of the broader criminal justice system, that was a job for the
U.N. or an elected Iraqi government, she said.