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Thousands of Arab volunteers coming to Iraq to fight US-led forces
Thousands of Arab volunteers are coming to Iraq to help Iraqis fight the US-led coalition forces that are attacking the country, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said in a press conference broadcast by the Iraqi state TV on Saturday. In the conference, also carried by the Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, Taha Yassin Ramadan declared that Iraq respects the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs). He accused the US and British military forces of violating international laws on the conduct of war, referring to the US-led bombardment of Shola region in Iraq which injured over 60 people. The vice-president further said that the US and British forces attacked the region knowing it has no missile launcher or even an anti-air defense system. He reiterated his government's assurance that it has no weapons of mass destruction since 1991. Yassin Ramadan said that Iraq has not asked the UN to decide on the country's fate. "If the UN had been concerned with our nation it would not have allowed sanctions against Iraq to continue." If Iraq had wanted the sanctions to end, it would have complied with the UN resolutions... Meanwhile, the Iraqi state TV reported on Saturday that tens of Iraqi people residing abroad are returning to their country to take part in the war against the coalition forces. It said many Iraqis are now waiting in the border region of Rowaishid in Jordan to obtain permission to enter Iraq. "Tens"? We'd say dozens. That's not thousands. No doubt there will be, though, if they can get into the country from Syria and/or Jordan. It'll be a way for those two countries to clear out their riff-raff. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-03-30 |
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