U.S. urges end to Iraq sanctions
 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - With Baghdad deemed safe for a visit by the commander of the U.S.-led forces that overthrew Saddam Hussein, the focus has shifted from combat to reconstruction.

"Now that Iraq is liberated, the United Nations should lift sanctions on that country," Bush said on Wednesday in St. Louis, Missouri.

The White House said the United States would propose a U.N. resolution to end the sanctions "in the near future" and America's U.N. ambassador, John Negroponte, said Washington envisioned a "step-by-step procedure."

The sanctions, which bar all economic activity with Iraq, were imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. To relieve hardship on the Iraqi people, an oil-for-food program, administered by the United Nations, was established in 1996 that allows Baghdad to sell oil to pay for humanitarian goods.

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