Iraq fall-out continues

BAGHDAD – British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted yesterday in a heated parliamentary debate that experts had not found the banned arms he used to justify war on Iraq, as the first Japanese soldiers deployed to the war-torn country arrived in Kuwait.

On the ground, the death toll from twin suicide bombings at the weekend in the Kurdish-controlled north — the deadliest post-war attacks to hit the country — climbed to 101, with 133 of those injured still in hospital. And the US military apologised for killing a child in the northern oil centre of Kirkuk on Tuesday as his family picnicked to celebrate a major Muslim holiday.Blair addressed the House of Commons to defend his decision to go to war with Washington in Iraq, one day after he ordered a probe into pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s programmes to build weapons of mass destruction.Blair, the staunchest international ally of US President George W. Bush in the Iraq conflict, insisted: “I am not ashamed of taking the decision to go to war.”I think we did the right thing … I think this country and its armed forces should be proud of what we achieved”.US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his part insisted before the Senate Armed Services Committee there was no definitive proof that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction as he launched a strong defense of US intelligence on Iraq.The US military said yesterday that two civilians were wounded when a mortar attack on US troops sparked high explosive artillery fire in response near the restive western Iraqi town of Ramadi.- Nampa-AFPAnd the US military apologised for killing a child in the northern oil centre of Kirkuk on Tuesday as his family picnicked to celebrate a major Muslim holiday. Blair addressed the House of Commons to defend his decision to go to war with Washington in Iraq, one day after he ordered a probe into pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s programmes to build weapons of mass destruction. Blair, the staunchest international ally of US President George W. Bush in the Iraq conflict, insisted: “I am not ashamed of taking the decision to go to war. “I think we did the right thing … I think this country and its armed forces should be proud of what we achieved”. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his part insisted before the Senate Armed Services Committee there was no definitive proof that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction as he launched a strong defense of US intelligence on Iraq. The US military said yesterday that two civilians were wounded when a mortar attack on US troops sparked high explosive artillery fire in response near the restive western Iraqi town of Ramadi. – Nampa-AFP