U.N. Security Council ends key Iraq sanctions

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Source: LAT

Reporting from Washington and Baghdad —
The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to lift key sanctions on Iraq, in a major step to restore the nation to the international standing it had before Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The council lifted restrictions aimed at preventing Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction, opening the way for Baghdad to eventually build civilian nuclear plants. It also ordered the dismantling next June of the U.N. programs that since 1995 have given foreign powers control over how Iraq has spent its huge oil revenue.

Iraqi leaders have chafed at the sanctions as an affront to their sovereignty, and have pressed for years for their removal.

"The adoption of these important resolutions marks the beginning of the end of the sanctions regime, and restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty, independence and recovery," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the council.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-iraq-sanctions-20101216,0,253062.story