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| Iraq |
| UAE Call for Saddam to Step Down |
| 2003-03-01 |
| The United Arab Emirates on Saturday called for Saddam Hussein to step down, the first Arab country to do so publicly. Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, president of the Persian Gulf nation, submitted a proposal at an Arab League summit urging Saddam and the rest of his leadership to give up power in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He's already said no... The call defied long-standing resistance among Arab leaders to meddling in each others' domestic affairs. Sheik Zayed's letter, circulated among journalists at the summit and formally submitted for debate by the leaders, did not refer explicitly to Saddam but said the entire "Iraqi leadership should step down and leave Iraq with all the appropriate advantages within two weeks of adopting this Arab initiative." Calls for Sammy to beat it have been a pretty steady chorus since this whole thing started swelling up. It's probably just a fantasy, but I recall that when Iraq invaded Kuwait, Sammy justified it by claiming it had been at the invitation of "young revolutionaries" under Colonel Alaa Hussein Ali. Each morning, I keep waiting for the news that a cabal of "young revolutionaries" has taken power in Iraq, not even necessarily in Baghdad, and called for U.S. assistance against Sammy... In the first Baghdad reaction, Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Al-Douri, speaking to CNN from New York, repeated the position that there was no chance Saddam might resign. That's what I expected they'd say. But they also said they weren't going to destroy the al-Samouds... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |