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Publisher: Jordan Times (Amman)
By:
Posted: 2002-07-29
As Iraq said on Sunday it had taken all measures to face a possible
US military strike, its Foreign
Minister Naji Sabri charged that Washington was pressuring UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan to
make the return of weapons inspectors the only issue on the table
in their dialogue.
In London, a minister said British Prime Minister Tony Blair will
not tie his hands by offering
parliament a vote on possible military action against Iraq.
Baghdad, meanwhile, challenged Blair to prove it is developing
weapons of mass destruction,
reiterating in a statement Sunday its readiness to allow British
investigators to search for alleged
weapons sites.
Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti minister said in comments published on Sunday
that Gulf Arab states believe
that any US military strike against Iraq must topple President
Saddam Hussein who would otherwise
emerge stronger.
In Baghdad, Parliament Speaker Saadoun Hammadi said his country had
taken all measures to face
a US attack to topple Saddam.
"Our leadership has prepared everything and our people are
determined to resist all attempts
against our country," Hammadi said.
"Our people's morale is high, our financial potentials are good and
we are quite certain we will be
able to thwart the US aggression," he told reporters after
parliament met to discuss preparations for
a possible attack.
US President George W. Bush said this month Washington would use
all tools at its disposal to
topple Saddam. He has branded Iraq part of an "axis of evil"
supporting terrorism and developing
weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has repeatedly denied the US charges.
Saddam said in a speech this month that the United States and its
allies would not be able to topple
his government and the country's parliament has voted to back
military preparations to repel any
attack.
"We shall defend our country in our territory," Sabri said in an
interview with CNN on Saturday night.
He said Washington wanted UN weapons inspectors to return to Iraq
"for a sole purpose of updating
their military and intelligence information on Iraq to be used in
any attack on the Iraqi population.”
He said Iraq would only allow the return of inspectors if it was
based on what he called a UN agenda,
not a US one.
"Their return could be part of a UN agenda to be based on (UN)
Security Council resolutions," Sabri
said.
"The US agenda for the return of inspectors is to send inspectors
here and forget about the killing
effects of the regime of sanctions and forget about the continuing
bombing by Britain and America of
Iraqi territories in the north and south."
US and British jets patrol "no-fly" zones in northern and southern
Iraq set up by Western powers
after the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq does not recognise the zones.
Resuming weapons inspections is key to suspending UN sanctions,
imposed after Iraq invaded
Kuwait in 1990. It could also ward off a US attack on Iraq.
Arms experts have been barred from Iraq since December 1998 when
the United States and Britain
launched a bombing campaign to punish Baghdad's alleged failure to
cooperate with them.
Meanwhile, Sabri charged that the US was pressuring Annan to make
the return of weapons
inspectors the only issue on the table in their dialogue.
"At our last session of talks in Vienna, the secretary general
indicated that contacts between the
two sides would continue, including technical discussions, but the
fixing of a date for a new session
faces pressure exercised by the United States on the (UN) Security
Council," Sabri told Iraqi
satellite television.
"We agreed, Mr Annan and myself, to leave the agenda open, meaning
the (dialogue) would not be
limited to one point alone, but the United States wants it limited
to the question of a return of the
inspectors," he said.
Annan expressed pessimism last Tuesday about Iraq's wish to resume
dialogue on readmitting arms
inspectors following talks in Vienna in early July that failed to
achieve a breakthrough, though it was
the third time both sides met since March.
But Sabri said the US focus on weapons inspections "indicates the
inspectors will only come to Iraq
to gather information on Iraqi economic, military and security
installations which they will give to
American intelligence services to use in their aggressions which
continue against our people."
Blair will give parliament vote on Iraq — minister
Meanwhile, a minister in London said Blair will not tie his hands
by offering parliament a vote on
possible military action against Iraq.
Ben Bradshaw, deputy leader of the House of Commons, said Blair
would consult parliamentarians —
many of whom have urged him not to back any US strike against
President Saddam Hussein — but
would not give them a veto.
"No prime minister in British history has ever allowed their hands
to be tied like that and none
would," Bradshaw told Sky News television. "It is not realistic
that a prime minister is going to have
to seek a vote before he or she deploys forces."
Blair, who has stood staunchly behind Bush since the Sept. 11
attacks on New York and Washington,
has warned that the world must tackle Saddam's refusal to let
United Nations weapons inspectors
back into Iraq.
But he faces growing dissent from left-wingers in his centre-left
Labour government who have
demanded a fresh UN resolution and the chance for British
politicians to have a say before any
troops are committed to an attack.
At a news conference last week Blair refused to commit to a
parliamentary vote and said an attack
was not imminent.
Bradshaw said international efforts should focus on getting the
inspectors back to Baghdad.
But if the attempts failed, the world must respond, he said.
"It is simply unrealistic to put our heads in the sand and think
that if the UN inspectors don't go in
that we can simply ignore that threat," he said.
Bradshaw was speaking after a poll published on Sunday suggested
more than half of Britons would
oppose the deployment of British troops in a US- led military
campaign against Iraq.
The survey of 1,763 people published in the Sunday Times showed
that 51 per cent do not want to
see British troops used, while 40 per cent would support that.
The same number of Britons, 51 per cent, would, however, support in
principle an American attempt
to topple Saddam, while 37 per cent would disapprove. Forty-nine
per cent believe Blair has become
the "puppet" of Bush.
Iraq challenged Blair to prove it is developing weapons of mass
destruction, reiterating its readiness
to allow British investigators to search for alleged weapons sites.
"If Blair wants to prove that his claims are true, then our
invitation to Britain is valid and we
challenge him to present any evidence that Iraq is producing such
weapons," said a foreign ministry
statement faxed to the Associated Press.
The spokesman was commenting on Blair's statements in a recent
interview with a British magazine
that if the time came for action against Iraq, "people will have
the evidence presented to them" to
show that President Saddam "is trying to acquire weapons of mass
destruction, in particular a
nuclear capability."
Any US attack on Iraq must topple Saddam — Kuwait
In a related development, a Kuwaiti minister said in comments
published on Sunday that Arab Gulf
states believe that any US military strike against Iraq must topple
President Saddam who would
otherwise emerge stronger.
Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahd Al Sabah told Kuwaiti
newspapers that a possible US
"strike must be a knock out which leads to the downfall of the
regime."
"This is the point of view of Kuwait and the other members of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Falling short of such a target will give the head of that regime
additional strength which is not
appropriate for the stability and security of the region," he added.
The GCC states — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab
Emirates, Qatar and Oman —
have officially signed on to an Arab stand opposed to a US-led
attack on Iraq.
Kuwait has said it was not party to any planning to implement
Washington's "regime change" policy
in Iraq which invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990. The US-led Gulf War
ended Iraq's occupation of
Kuwait in 1991.
The talk of a possible US strike on Iraq is causing concern in
Kuwait where residents fear retaliation
by Baghdad and an influx by hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees.
Several state bodies have in recent days held meetings to review
measures needed to deal with the
impact of a US attack.
Kuwaiti concerns include the possible use of Iraqi chemical weapons
against the nearest
concentration of US troops. In addition to warplanes and heavy
military hardware, the United States
has ground troops training close to the border with Iraq as part of
ongoing exercises since the Gulf
War.
© 2002 [Jordan Times (Amman)].
- - - -
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed
--
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