Garner blames U.N. for shortage of gas

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Jay Garner, the former lieutenant general who has been in Iraq for nearly a month with a mandate to get the country running again, on Sunday blamed U.N. sanctions for the gasoline shortages that have prompted Iraqi anger at the American occupation forces here.

Waving his arm to indicate the long lines of cars waiting at a gas station in central Baghdad, Garner said the economic sanctions still in force on Iraq had stalled deliveries of oil for its domestic needs.

"Put in there that the U.N. really needs to lift the sanctions so we don't have all of this," he said.

Gasoline shortages have kept most public transportation off the streets and discouraged Iraqis from returning to work or driving their children to school, but the exact cause of the shortages is unclear.

President Bush has urged an end to the sanctions, imposed by the United Nations after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Tensions remained high but hostilities were seemingly on hold Sunday in Fallujah, the city west of Baghdad where U.S. soldiers and Iraqis have clashed in recent days.

Many Republican Guards and other beneficiaries of Saddam Hussein hail from the city of about 200,000 people. U.S. soldiers continue to patrol streets and rooftops investigating "specific" threats against them three days after a grenade attack on a U.S. Army compound that residents identified as Baath Party headquarters. That came after soldiers fired at anti-American demonstrators.

But calm prevailed as local leaders and the U.S. military discussed how to patrol and protect vital places such as police and electric stations without offending local customs.

WARSAW, Poland - President Bush is considering a stopover in the Polish city of Krakow en route to Russia this month to thank Poles for participating in the Iraq war, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Sunday.

Bush administration officials said the trip was in the works, but declined to provide details. Kwasniewski said Bush might visit May 30. It would be his second trip to Poland.

Poland is preparing to take command of one of Iraq's three postwar zones. The United States and Britain would control the others.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Hundreds of Iraqis trying to get home are stranded in Dubai's seaport, waiting for U.S officials to allow passenger ferries into the Iraqi harbor of Umm Qasr.

Most of the them were working in the United Arab Emirates but decided to return to Iraq after Saddam Hussein was ousted.

The U.S. Central Command said Sunday that the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr wasn't ready to receive passenger ferries, and is focusing on receiving humanitarian aid.

About 1,000 Iraqis registered with a ferry service to make the trip; many thought they could leave immediately, canceling foreign work visas and packing belongings. Some have been sleeping in their cars, parks and a nearby mosque, said Naif Marine Services official Michael Nye.

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