The decision to release the money to the London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC) for its Arabic-language Liberty Television satellite broadcasts was made by deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A formal announcement of the decision was expected later in the day, the official said.

Liberty Television, known to viewers as Television Hurriah, went off the air last May after the State Department froze funding for the INC over financial management concerns.

After an agreement was reached on accounting and other reforms, the department approved in principle a seven-million dollar grant to the INC late last year to pay for its operations through June 2003.

Much of that money remained blocked due to bureacratic snafus in implementing the grant, and Liberty television remained off the air.

Earlier this week, several leading lawmakers urged President George W. Bush to speed up the disbursement of the funding, particularly for the television station, arguing that the broadcasts could assist in the US-led war now underway in Iraq.

"Our troops are on the ground," senators Sam Brownback, Rick Santorum, Jon Kyl, John McCain and Norm Coleman said in a letter sent to Bush on Monday.

"American lives are at stake," they said. "We must support them with every advantage available to us.

"It is critical that the Iraqi opposition be empowered to speak to the Iraqi people so that they may join us in this important struggle," the senators said.

WAR.WIRE