By Neil MacFarquhar

The United States, tying up loose ends as its occupation of Iraq winds down, pushed through three Security Council resolutions on Wednesday that lifted restrictions left over from the confrontation with Saddam Hussein.

One resolution permits Iraq to develop a civilian nuclear program and import materials once banned because they could possibly be used to help develop unconventional weapons. A second resolution formally shuttered the dormant, widely corrupt oil-for-food program. And the third gives the country control over most of its oil assets starting July 1, 2011, while simultaneously lifting the protection that shielded post-invasion Iraq from countless legal claims.


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