Washington - The US yesterday brushed aside Baghdad's rejection of its latest humanitarian initiatives on Iraq, but also said it had agreed to send defensive Patriot missile
batteries to Turkey in case of an Iraqi attack. "It's not news that Iraq doesn't care about its people," the State Department spokesman, Mr James Rubin, said of Iraq's rejection of a US proposal to lift the ceiling on Iraqi oil exports under the UN oil-for-food programme.
Washington is also to lift about half the "holds" placed on contracts for spare parts Iraq has requested to rebuild its petroleum industry, Mr Rubin said. But Iraq promptly brushed off the US gesture saying that it had "no value". Mr Rubin said earlier: "We have agreed in principle to send a Patriot battery to Turkey for the duration of the current crisis with Iraq."