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Iraq Dismisses British Compromise Plan
Iraq reveled Thursday in the diplomatic turmoil surrounding U.S.-led war plans and rejected British Prime Minister Tony Blair's effort to find a compromise over an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein. Blair's compromise would abandon a proposed Monday deadline for Iraq to fully disarm or face war, instead giving Saddam a six-point to-do list of disarmament tasks to avoid "serious consequences." Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said it amounted to the same thing. "It is an attempt to beautify a rejected aggressive project," he told journalists. "(Britain) is trying to polish this project, which has been rejected by the majority of Security Council members." Asked whether Iraq opposed the British list, he said: "Of course. We reject any project contrary to resolutions already adopted by the Security Council." "Which we reject as well." "The United States, with its policy of aggression, wants international cover for this aggression," he added. "I don't think the United States will succeed." France, which had threatened to veto the Monday deadline, also rejected the British compromise because the list of disarmament requirements presumably would come with a short deadline. Germany, a non-permanent Security Council member without veto power, said the plan was unlikely to yield a compromise because it still "basically gives an authorization for war."
Iraqi newspapers gloated over the turmoil. "It is obvious that Bush and Blair have lost the round before it starts, while we, along with well-intentioned powers in the world, have won it," the popular daily Babil said in a front-page editorial. "Blair's future is at stake now, and his downfall will be a harsh lesson in Britain's political history," it said. All this bickering is making them confident that we won't attack. Remember, Sammy still thinks he won GW1. Sabri said a high-level Arab peace mission that was scheduled to travel to Baghdad this week would not come, although he said Iraq had not rejected the visit. "We did not refuse to receive the Arab committee," Sabri said. "They are coming not for tourism. They are coming for work, and this requires measures. We are trying to agree on a time appropriate for both sides." The Arab delegation had been scheduled to meet in Bahrain on Thursday with the Bahraini king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and then travel Friday to the Iraqi capital. The Arab League decided to send the delegation to ask Saddam to cooperate further with inspectors to prevent a war. In a statement, the league called the postponement "negative" and "ill-timed," saying it "censored Arab efforts ... for finding a way to avert the war and destruction." Sammy thinks he's winning at the UN so he doesn't want to bother meeting with these guys right now. The United States pushed forward with war preparations, moving troops into place just south of Iraq. The U.N. mission that patrols the Iraq-Kuwait border said it would withdraw some of its observers to its headquarters in Kuwait. They announced today all UN observers have left the Iraq side of the border. Guess they know what's coming. Iraq prepared as well, lining the streets of Baghdad with fighting positions and foxholes. Iraqis are "fully ready ... to confront and bury the aggressors," Sabri told the Arab television network Al-Jazeera. "We will turn the land of Iraq into an American graveyard. We will chop off the heads of anyone who tries to violate Iraqi territory."
Yup, they still had POWs after almost 20 years. Posted by: Steve 2003-03-13 |
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