BAGHDAD: One day after there was dancing in the streets as US forces helped Iraqis pull down a large statue of Saddam Hussein, the mood in Baghdad changed from celebratory to one of chaos and nervousness as widespread looting continued, a senior Shi’ite cleric was shot dead, a suicide bomber with a grenade killed himself and at least one US marine at a city military checkpoint, and a seven hour pitched battle in Eastern Baghdad which left many casualties.

The looting went on at hospitals, government buildings and luxury residences of known elite associates and friends of Saddam Hussein. Looters plundered the home of Saddam’s playboy son, Uday, carrying off bottles of wine, whisky, guns, paintings and anything that they could lay their hands on. Men burst into Iraq’s holiest Shi’ite shrine yesterday and killed senior cleric, Abdul Majid al-Khoei and his aide, apparently as part of a power struggle in the city of Najaf now under US control.

Also yesterday, the oil rich city of Kirkuk fell to Kurdish forces who announced they would declare the city the capital of an independent Kurdish state. Turkey immediately objected forcing the US to state that American forces would be in control of Kirkuk. Turkey, which for years fought a Kurdish secession movement at home, has reserved the right to send troops into Northern Iraq to protect its national security, a move that would greatly complicate US operations in the area. Yesterday also it was reported that negotiations were underway for a surrender by Iraqis of the northern city of Mosul.

Two out of three members of the pastoral visitation team sent to enquire into the ministry of Fr Kennedy Swaratsingh have come out in his support. They condemned a report in Wednesday’s Express as being unfair to him.

Principal vicar for north Trinidad, Fr Allan Ventour, yesterday condemned the report and said that the reporter came with an agenda, looking for something sensational. How did he feel about Fr Swaratsingh?

Fr Ventour said: “I think he’s trying to put things together, to organise his life. I don’t know what harm the news report will do. He has had a lot of bad publicity before (when joining the Defence Force). Now he is trying to rise above the negative publicity. The session on Tuesday proved it. “Parishioners were overwhelmingly on his side. Out of the many who spoke only two had anything negative to say.  The parish was ailing and now it’s alive — they all kept hinting at that. Some say he’s not accessible, but he is there from 5 pm to 8 pm Monday to Friday, and people can get to him. Everybody was highly positive and praising — people in their 60s, the young, and right across the board. People came out and spoke in glowing terms.

They were happy with him and supportive. When you see older people give their approval, it has struck them.” How did he feel about Tuesday’s proceedings? Fr Ventour said: “I wish we’d used another…I don’t believe the public forum was the thing, although it might have been good to show people what is happening. The man is suffering and that news report on Wednesday probably hurt too. People said it’s the week before Holy Week and just as Christ was crucified, they are trying to crucify Fr Kennedy. “Although it has allowed the wider parish to know what’s going on and allowed the Archbishop and myself to hear and see exactly where he (Fr Swaratsingh) stands with his parishioners. “What came out to me Tuesday night is that all criticisms were unfounded, myth and fiction not fact.”  

Another member of the inquiring pastoral visitation team, Princes Town parish priest and member of the council of priests, Fr Martin Sirju, also lent support to Fr Swaratsingh and condemned the Express report. In a written statement, Fr Sirju said: “There were some concerns regarding Fr Kennedy Swaratsingh and St Patrick’s Parish which had come to the ears of the Archbishop. In order to put these concerns or allegations to rest Archbishop Gilbert decided on a pastoral visitation which he is entitled to do and which has sound basis in church law. “His Grace then brought up these allegations one by one: financial impropriety, content of homilies and personal witness. One by one these allegations were vociferously refuted. “In fact a bold response by Mr Terrence Martin, former CEO of RBTT, put to rest any question of financial impropriety.

“Next came the allegation that Fr Kennedy undermines the teachings of the Magisterium. “The people conceded a little: Fr Kennedy may share a little too much on his personal life and calls the shots as he sees them, but they saw no flagrant disregard for church teachings. “All but one or two among the 30 or so people who came to the microphone praised Fr Kennedy repeatedly. “As Newsday accurately reported above its main headline [there was] ‘overwhelming support for Swaratsingh’.”

Rejecting criticisms that Fr Swaratsingh had once told a class of adult converts about an “adult” movie he had once seen on television, Fr Sirju said the priest had done this to inform parents that that was the world in which children lived today. Fr Sirju said: “As for the issue of personal witness which I might add the Archbishop did not spell out but which concerned Fr Kennedy’s alleged behaviour with women, was his behaviour improper or scandalous? “No one took the bait…Not one speaker who spoke in the final segment said anything negative about Fr Kennedy.” Saying speakers had repeatedly praised Fr Swaratsingh, Fr Sirju said: “It was a sterling display of not only defence of one’s parish priest but of church and fruits of the synod”.

Describing priests as wounded healers, Fr Sirju concluded: “No priest is sinless. Fr Kennedy’s record is not unblemished and neither is mine…My impression of the response of the hundreds of parishioners gathered at St Patrick’s is: ‘We know he has made mistakes but we love him and we want him still’.” The third member of the pastoral visitation team, vicar for clergy Fr Kenneth Spence, declined to comment to Newsday. Archbishop Gilbert has promised to make a statement to the media next week.

THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) has added its support to BWIA.

In a release yesterday, the TTMA said the airline has made a contribution to business and tourism in the region. “The citizens of Trinidad and Tobago must recognise BWIA’s most vital contribution in passenger lift to the region,” the TTMA said. The TTMA also echoed the view of the Chamber of Commerce that the regional travel industry is too valuable to leave in the hands of foreign carriers. BWIA submitted a survival plan to Government earlier this week, seeking financial assistance.

After divesting itself of ownership of BWIA in the 1990s, Government is now saying that it is prepared to put money into BWIA in order to save the airline, but only if it gets more ownership and more control of the company.

And while there was a clear implication that Government was not happy with the management at BWIA, both Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Trade Minister Ken Valley refused to be explicit on that issue. At a post conference news briefing at Whitehall yesterday, both Manning and Valley conceded that while Government was extremely reluctant, it would — if there was “no other alternative” — reverse its policy and take charge of the cash-strapped airline. Manning stressed that if that was to be done, it would be a temporary measure.

Saying that Government divested its shares in BWIA because it wanted to insulate the Treasury, the Prime Minister asked rhetorically: “Why would we pursue a course of action deliberately designed to gain control of the airline? If that should happen then it is because there is no other alternative. And if that should happen, I can tell you that it is not going to be a permanent situation”, he said. The Finance and General Purposes Committee, a Cabinet sub-committee will on Monday  study the proposal put by BWIA to the Government.  Valley said the Committee had already looked at the plan and made certain recommendations to the Cabinet. 

Asked whether Government was satisfied with the leadership of Conrad Aleong, Valley smiled and in turn asked journalists: “What do you think?” Told that Aleong had said it was short-sighted to allow BWIA to go under because of “a few months of soft market downturn”, Valley said it was not simply an issue of a few months of difficulty. “There are bigger issues,” he stressed. “Government has no difficulty in assisting…in moments of uncertainty…What one wants is the ability to rely on planning by the top management, at least for a couple of weeks and to be able to rely on the information provided to us. A key ingredient is the ability to rely on the information supply,” Valley stated.

Asked whether Government was happy with the management at BWIA, Valley replied: “I wonder whether there is a difference between saying that government is unhappy and saying we are not all too pleased”. Referring to the call from the Chamber and the TTMA for Government to help BWIA, Valley said it was “amazing” that the private sector was saying that Government should act. “I hope they send the same signals to the private sector shareholders,” he said, adding that if the company needed money and the other shareholders were not prepared to “come forward”, there were few alternatives.

Valley was also “amazed” that BWIA had a plan to retrench workers and no money to pay severance. He said the airline asked Government to pay the severance, and then to pay salaries. He added that Airport Authority had informed government that BWIA was not paying the Authority. He said unless Government was informed by the airline about all its total liabilities, and “everything was put on the table”, this “weekly visitation” (to the Treasury) would continue. Manning said Government was prepared to let the airline go under, if after examining the situation it felt this was the only option. “We are prepared to take that hard decision.

Valley said the options at present were : either Government, which  currently owns 33.5 per cent of the airline supports it, or the airline goes into bankruptcy, other somebody else supports it. He said Government had to take hard decisions with respect to Caroni and other organisations, and that BWIA was no exception. Valley urged all citizens, including the business community, who believed that BWIA was important, to acquire equity in the airline. “That is critical. It is an important signal the community could send to the government,” he said.

The first batch of Cubans — 37 doctors and 45 nurses — will arrive in Trinidad and Tobago within the next month. This was announced by Health Minister Colm Imbert yesterday at a post-Cabinet news briefing at Whitehall yesterday. The Cubans are coming under a Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Governments of Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago for the recruitment of health care professionals.

They would be employed on a two year contract in the first instance. And one of the conditions under which they were brought was that their compensation package must not exceed the package for similar personnel in Trinidad and Tobago, Imbert revealed. The Medical Association of Trinidad and Tobago — the authorised body for registering doctors — has traditionally been reluctant to register doctors who are trained in non-English speaking countries. Imbert said Government may have to amend the legislation in order to get around this restriction.

He said the places where the Cubans would be working had already been selected and accommodation was being prepared for the group. Imbert said the Cuban initiative is the result of a visit to that country by a team, including Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift and himself. He said 150 people were “presented” and they found the standard and training were acceptable. On the issue of the current and recurring problems with local doctors, Imbert said it was a supply and demand situation and that any industrial action exacerbated the shortage of doctors. He said the long-term solution to this chronic problem was for government to ensure that there was an adequate supply of competent doctors. On the issue of using Caura as an isolation unit for patients with SARS, Imbert assured that the PSA would be consulted on the matter.

A  LAVENTILLE mother of four, held her head and screamed in anguish yesterday, after her 23-year-old son was found shot to death inside a house in Powder Magazine, Cocorite yesterday.

“Oh God, oh God, look how they kill my son,” cried Elsie Moses as she watched undertakers remove the body of Akido “Bolo” Moses, 23, who was found shot to death inside a house at Phase One, Powder Magazine. Moses had to be restrained by her common-law husband Stanford Thomas as she tried to run towards the undertakers who were removing her son’s body. Police sources told Newsday the facts surrounding Moses’ death were still a bit sketchy up to late yesterday. Sources said that for the time being, his death will be deemed a murder until further investigations proved otherwise.

Two men, both in their early twenties, were up to late yesterday assisting police in the investigations. Preliminary information, investigators received, was that around midday Moses and three friends, were examining a revolver in one of the rooms of the house, where Moses recently moved in. One of the friends, it is reported, pointed the gun at Moses’ head and fired a shot, killing Moses instantly. The men fled the scene. Up to late yesterday, two men were in police custody, and a revolver seized. Moses was one of two men murdered within a 12-hour period yesterday. In the other murder, just after midnight, welder Sherwin Alfred Medina, 21, of Dibe was shot in the right side of his head in Belmont.

While not yet establishing a motive for Medina’s murder, police sources said the killing appeared to have been either drug or gang-related. Visiting the scene of the Moses killing yesterday were Supt Nadir Mohammed, ASP Nadir Khan (Homicide), Insp Narciss Cadette, Sgt Nandram Monilal,  (Homicide Bureau), Cpl Hayden Hannays, Cpl Bhagi Dass. DMO Dr Kenneth Chai Hong viewed the body and ordered it removed to the Port-of-Spain Mortuary. An autopsy will be carried out at the Forensic Sciences Centre today.  Moses recently left his mother’s Eastern Quarry, Laventille home after getting permission from a family friend to stay at the house in Powder Magazine. Detective Sgt Nandram Monilal of St James CID is continuing investigations.

A 21-year-old man has been killed under strange circumstances. Sherwin Alfred Me-dina, who worked as a welder for a Peake’s contractor, was armed with a gun when he went with two other people to a house in Belmont early yesterday morning and assaulted a resident for reasons unkown to the police.

The resident had to be treated at hospital for suspected gunshot and stab wounds to the back of his shoulder. He was discharged and is now assisting the Belmont Criminal Investigations Department (CID) with their inquiries. Reports state that when Medina and the two others went to the area, a melee ensued and Medina, of School Street, Debe Long Circular, St James, was found dead.

The gun Medina came with was nowhere to be found and police said they are in search of a man and a woman, said to be the two people who accompanied Medina. It is unknown if any other firearm was used. Reports on the shooting are that around 12.15am yesterday, Ron-nie Lopez, of Norfolk Street, Belmont, and Richard Ramlogan of Palmiste Street, also in Belmont, were liming in Lopez’ yard, when three people, including the deceased and a woman, approached them. Police said Medina, who was armed and the other man walked up to Lopez. 

Medina is said to have pointed a gun at Lopez, who was beaten by the other man, while the woman looked on. A struggle ensued between Lopez and Medina. Shots rang out and police said Lopez ran off. Sometime later, Medina was discovered dead, lying on his back, blood flowing from his left temple.  A report was made and a party of officers from the Belmont Criminal Investigations, under Sgts Edgar Pope and Patterson visited the scene and conducted investigations. District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Pounder viewed the body and pronounced Medina dead. He ordered the body removed to the Port-of-Spain mortuary to be sent to the Forensic Science Centre. An autopsy revealed Medina died as a result of shock and haemorrhage consistent with a gunshot wound to the temple.

At the Forensic Science Centre yesterday, Medina’s 20-year-old brother, Andre Bailey said he last saw his brother Saturday night around 9. He refused to say why anyone would want to kill his brother. He, however, said his brother liked to dress up and wear lots of gold. Bailey also said he learned that his brother was liming in town Wednesday night.  He said he could not say what Medina was doing in Belmont, but that around 5am yesterday a relative informed him of his brother’s death. Medina’s father, Albert Bailey, of Diego Martin, said he could not comment because he knew nothing. Sgt Pope of the Belmont CID is continuing investigations.