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Iraqi Opposition and US Administration Reach Progress Over Financial Aid Dispute VOA News 30 Jan 2002 22:01 UTC 
The Iraqi opposition coalition says it is making progress toward resolving a dispute with the Bush administration on its use of U.S. aid money.
Iraqi National Congress spokesman Sharif Ali said Wednesday an understanding had been reached with the U.S. State Department to resolve an accounting dispute that has curtailed U.S. financial aid to the opposition group. Leaders of the INC held talks today in Washington with Mark Grossman, the State Department's third ranking official.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher says good progress has been made on "serious" questions raised by U.S. auditors, but he says it is unclear whether an agreement will be reached before a Thursday U.S. deadline to cut-off funds.
The Bush administration has suspended all but basic operational funding to INC because of concerns about financial mismanagement raised after a U.S. audit of its activities last year.
The United States has underwritten INC satellite television broadcasts into Iraq, human rights activities and war crimes investigations. But it has thus far withheld funding for anti-Saddam military operations even though nearly $100 million was approved by the U.S. Congress for that purpose in 1997.
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