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[casi] Iraq, a second Vietnam?




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Hello all,
here are some articles that I hope haven't been posted yet to CASI. These 2 articles (interviews 
with Tariq Aziz) show that the Iraqi won't let themselves slaughter like sheep. They will resist.
And I think we should give the people of iraq our full support on their resistance against this 
thread of a new US-UK-aggression.
Greetings.
Dirk Adriaensens


Subject: Iraq: "Every village in Iraq will turn into a jungle in Vietnam" for US - Xinhua

Iraqi Foreign Minister Defies U.S. Threat
============================
Xinhuanet 2002-03-04 21:34:38

   PARIS, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq will not give in to threats from the United States to topple 
the government of President Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarek Aziz said in an interview 
with French daily Le Figaro published Monday.

   "Facing up to the Americans, every village in Iraq will turn into a jungle in Vietnam," said 
Aziz, "It is not the jungle that allowed the Vietnamese to win, but the determination."

   Aziz, who has been the Iraqi foreign minister and vice prime minister since 1981, ruled out the 
possibility of an eventual scenario in Iraq similar to that in Afghanistan where the United
States backed an opposition alliance to help overthrow the Taliban regime.

   "It would be an excellent scenario for a Hollywood movie. But the reality is very different," he 
said.
   "Firstly, Iraq is a real state that existed long before Saddam Hussein (came to power), unlike 
Afghanistan where the power has never belonged to the capital, but to chiefs of tribes. Secondly, 
there is neither northern alliance nor southern alliance in Iraq,"he said.

   On U.S. demand to bring President Hussein before an international tribunal, Aziz said: "The 
tribunal in The Hague is illegal. It is by the conqueror, it is not equitable."

   On the concept of the "axis of evil" U.S. President George W. Bush used to describe Iraq, Iran 
and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Aziz said: "This bizarre slogan shows how ignorant 
Bush is."

   "The axis, in the context of World War II, conformed to the reality. Germany, Italy and Japan 
were effectively allied and their political systems were similar. But there is no resemblance among 
the three nations that Bush targets at," he said.

   On Ossama bin Laden, the accused mastermind of the September 11terrorist attacks against the 
United States, the Iraqi foreign minister rejected any relation between his country and the alleged 
terrorist chief and refused to make any judgment.
   "I can not speak about a man that I do not know. I even do not know whether it is him who 
organized the September 11 attacks," said Aziz.

   He also dismissed the "smart sanctions" drafted by London and Washington as a "trap."

   "With their 'smart sanctions,' the Americans want to transform Iraq into a breeding area of 
chicken where we feed the Iraqis and that is all. But our people need not only what to eat. We need 
hospitals, sewage networks, electricity power plants..."

   Iraq has agreed to resume talks with the United Nations and the first meeting will be held on 
March 7. Aziz declined to give any details about the coming talks, but he insisted that Iraq should 
have the right to impose conditions for the talks.

   "The U.N. Security Council should also see to Iraqi demands. First example, the lift of 
sanctions. For 11 years we have been under the sanctions, and despite our scrupulous respect to the 
text of U.N. resolutions, we are always denied any hope of normalization," he said.

   "Second example, the 14th paragraph of Resolution 687. It forecasts the elimination (of weapons 
of mass destruction) in the whole Middle East region and not in Iraq only. Clearly, the stock of 
Israel should also be eliminated," he added.

Enditem


USA to get "second Vietnam" if they attack Iraq-Aziz.

The United States "will get a second Vietnam" if it dares attack
Iraq. It was learned here on Monday that this warning was voiced
by Iraq Vice-Premier Tareq Aziz.

He said that the Iraqis would fight to the last ditch and that the
U.S. aggression would not yield the desired results to the White
House administration. "The Iraq leadership has excellent
relations with its people," Aziz noted. "If this was not so, we
wouldn't have been able to endure two wars and eleven years of
draconic sanctions," he added.

Source: ITAR-TASS WORLD SERVICE




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