The US administration's unilateral lifting of some economic sanctions o­n Iraq might provide much needed humanitarian aid, but it also serves as a warning to reluctant states that Washington is again prepared to act alone if the global community does not follow its lead, says a Washington think tank.

US Treasury Secretary John Snow announced Wednesday that Washington would approve commercial activities and humanitarian work by US companies in Iraq, although the United Nations has not yet formally lifted the sanctions, imposed o­n the nation after its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

UN meeting

Snow told reporters that easing the embargo would allow also US-based individuals, especially Iraqi Americans, to transfer as much as US$500 a month to relatives and friends in Iraq.

The move was timed to coincide with US proposals to submit a new resolution to the UN Security Council today that would solicit the help of Russia and France, end the Iraq oil-for-food programme and lift all remaining sanctions in the country.

More specifically, the resolution would also remove UN control of Iraq's oil revenues and give Washington a free hand to use the money to pay for what it calls the reconstruction of Iraq, an effort criticised for benefiting o­nly US corporations and neglecting the wishes of Iraqis.

The latest move is seen by some as another sign that Washington is willing to ignore the international community and shove global bodies aside when they do not toe the US line.

"The US is saying that if the UN doesn't come along, the US will go its own way anyway," said Celine Nahory, Security Council programme coordinator at the New York-based Global Policy Forum.

Before its invasion of Iraq in March, the United States vehemently resisted lifting the sanctions o­n Iraq, saying that the country needed first to be certified by UN inspectors as free of weapons of mass destruction.

Working legally

Although the Council imposed blanket economic sanctions against Iraq o­nly four days after it invaded Kuwait and the issue of weapons of mass destruction was not o­n the agenda then, Washington pushed to keep them in place over the then novel issue.

Yet, the administration of President George W. Bush is now seeking to avoid any legal challenges over its latest U-turn o­n the unilateral lifting of sanctions by saying in a statement that US companies that go into Iraq will be working legally.

The firms would help Washington ''fulfil obligations under international law to provide for the welfare and security of the Iraqi people'', the statement added.

"Every action taken today is wholly consistent with extant international law," the Treasury Department's General Counsel David Aufhauser told reporters Wednesday.

But critics of the administration in France and Russia, both with huge trade and business contracts in Iraq, worry that lifting the sanctions in this abrupt manner will hand over control of Iraq's immense oil reserves - the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia - to the United States and its oil corporations.

"It's calculated to eventually give them (the Americans) the kind of legal protection they are looking for when it comes to the oil resources," said James Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Forum.

"You have to realise that this is about oil. Oil is number o­ne, number two and number three."

Muscular move

The Washington Post newspaper o­n Wednesday quoted senior administration officials, who said that the proposed UN resolution would put the United States in control of Iraq's oil revenues until an interim government is set up in the country.

Washington also sees June 3, the expiry date for the UN ''oil for food'' programme, as the deadline for lifting UN sanctions o­n the country - another arbitrary move by Washington, say critics, reported the Post.

"This is a very muscular move that reminds everyone else and all other states that the US is behind the driver's seat, and that they are going to get their way no matter what," said Paul.

But the administration pre-empted the criticism by claiming its move is designed to help end the suffering of Iraqis.

In his press conference o­n Wednesday, Snow said that if o­ne-half of the nearly 150,000 Iraqis who live in the United States sent the maximum amount allowed under the new rules, US$50, it could put more than US$30 million a month or US$360 million a year, into the hands of Iraqis..

The figures could be much higher if other US residents sent humanitarian donations to the impoverished nation.

Easing pressure

But Paul said that with its record of self-serving moves, the administration's credibility o­n humanitarianism has ebbed greatly.

The transfers are designed to ease pressure o­n Washington after it has been widely criticised for not aiding Iraqis as it should, as the country's occupying power, and rushing instead to secure oilfields, he added.

"These transfers are probably just a way to bring some money into the country so the US won't have to pay the entire bill," said Paul.

Civil society groups are also concerned that suddenly lifting the sanctions could hurt Iraqis. They point out that food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies have been brought into Iraqi households through the oil-for-food scheme since 1997, and warn that if it goes, Iraqis could be unable to fend for themselves. - IPS