Iraq Says Over 2,400 Contracts Shelved by U.S., Britain 20/02/02

  Annan to tackle Iraq over arms  25/02/02

  U.S. Action Against Iraq in Next Six Months Unlikely 27/02/02
  U.S. meets groups opposing Saddam 27/02/02

  What do you want, blood?" Rumsfeld asked reporters 27/02/02

  Bush, Blair to draw final touches on military attack against Iraq 1/3/02

  UN Chief: The US will not act wisely if it attacks Iraq 26/02/02

WASHINGTON’S AMBITIONS COST THE WORLD A LOT 4/3/2002

  Countdown to war on Saddam 07/03/2002

  US Works Up Plan For Using Nuclear Weapons 9/3/2002

  The US wants to undermine support for Saddam 8/3/2002
  Blair's just a Bush baby  10/03/2002

  Outrage as Pentagon nuclear hitlist revealed 10/03/2002

  An Iraqi Campaign Faces Many Hurdles 10/03/2002

  Allied dossier links Saddam to al-Qa'eda  09/03/2002

  The objective is clear-topple Saddam. But how?  11/03/2002

  Blunkett warns Blair of riots in Britain over Iraq  17/03/2002

  Britische Militärs lehnen Irak-Angriff ab  17/03/2002

  Arab states united in rejecting attack on Saddam Robert Fisk 18/03/2002

  Iraq outlines terms for return of UN inspectors 19/3/2002

  An Iraq War Could Fan Flames Of Recession 18/3/2002
V Corps planners, Central Command confer on possible options for Iraq 23/3/2002
Lebanon Says Arabs Opposed to U.S. Strikes on Iraq 24/03/2002

UK and U.S. object to Iraq U.N. questions  25/03/2002

  Top officers deny Downing Street claims over Iraq  26/03/2002

Cardinal says military action against Iraq could further destabilize Middle East 29/03/2002

Thousands of anti-war demonstrators march against possible U.S. military action against Iraq 30/03/2002

  Iraq Urges Use of Oil Weapon Against Israel, U.S.  01/04/2002

  Not in our name (by John Pilger) 05/04/2002

  British bombs still killing Iraqi fish (DU) 05/04/2002

 

- US, British warplanes attack civilian airport at Mosul (28/08/2002)

- US officials lie like Goebbels: Iraq (22/8/2002)

- Iraqi envoy says US, Israel or Britain had a hand in embassy takeover (22/8/2002)

- SPEECH OF PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN ON THE OCCASION OF 14th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY OF THE GREAT VICTORY (8/8/2002)

- Moscow, Baghdad to Sign $40M Deal

- No sudden US build up in Gulf, but preparations go back years

- Iraqi VP warns US interests around the world may be attacked

- US planning Iraq relief ahead of military action

- Iraq invites Congress to visit, US says no

- Five Iraqis killed, 17 wounded in US-British air raids: Baghdad

- New UN aid coordinator arrives in Iraq

- Striking Iraq will "destabilize all the Middle East": Tehran

- Oman adds voice to rejections of US strike on Iraq

- Britain plans mass reservist call-up, increasing pressure on Iraq

- Pope prays for Iraq and Mideast peace in message to Saddam: INA

- UN resolution not needed for any military action on Iraq: Blair

- UAE, Jordan oppose US strike on Iraq

- US tells wary ally Turkey that move against Iraq inevitable

- Defiant Saddam vows US will never defeat him, warns opposition

- Fidel Castro blasts "savage" US policy towards Iraq

- 'Iraq is not Afghanistan' Iraqi diplomat warns US

- Rumsfeld orders war plan update, warns about Iraq

- Iraq vows to defend itself

- US congratulates meeting of exiled Iraqi military officers, shares concerns

- US attack on Iraq would be "catastrophe," warns Mubarak

- Iraqis must be prepared for war, says Saddam's son

- Arab League chief says hands-off Iraq

- Vietnam strongly opposed to US plans to oust Saddam Hussein

- Pro-Baghdad group calls for hitting US interests if it attacks Iraq

- France tells US it must forge a consensus on Iraq before military action

- Iraq offers to renovate Lebanese oil refinery, pipeline

- UN coordinator in Iraq blasts retroactive pricing mechanism

- China opposed to US plans to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein

- EU wants proof of Iraq arms program: Italy DM

- Dissident Iraqi officer says US likely to strike Baghdad "within months"

- Iraq and India sign accord to bolster cooperation

- Farrakhan arrives in Iraq to try to prevent US strike

- Iraqi parliament to hold extraordinary session on US threats

- Iraq's UN-supervised oil exports plunge in H1 2002

- Return of UN arms inspectors prelude to US strike on Iraq: FM

- South Africa slams "bully states", sympathises with Iraq

- Secret US plan outlines massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq

US, British warplanes attack civilian airport at Mosul

Baghdad, August 28, INA

An Authorized source at Iraqi Ministry of transport and communications said Tuesday “The US and British warplanes launched aggression on Mosul Airport, which is a civilian airport. The warplanes dropped two missiles one at 1335hr, and the other at 1340hr”.

The attack destroyed the civilian radar and broke glass of windows of the buildings. Such terrorist aggressive act contradicts laws and rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization which ensures safety for civilian airplanes and passengers in the airports and airspace, the source added.

The source, which is authorized by the Iraqi civilian Aviation Authority, called on the International Organization to condemn and refuse such terrorist act. The source affirmed that the aggressive acts perpetrated by the U.S evil administration and its ally Britain against the people of Iraq and Iraqi institutions would be foiled and would increase Iraqis’ insistence on supporting President Saddam Hussein’s leadership and continuing building Iraq and defending it.

US officials lie like Goebbels: Iraq

BAGHDAD, Aug 22 (AFP) - US officials are lying about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction in the hope that the more they repeat the lies the more they will be believed, the ruling Baath party daily said Thursday.
   "Not a day goes by with an official in the American administration attacking Irq and spreading a lie accusing it of having weapons of massdestruction and threatening Us security," Ath-Thawra said.
   "Sometimes two or three American officials spread more than one lie the same day, just like Goebbels idea of the more you lie them more it will be believed," the daily said, referring to Nazi Germany's information and propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
   Ath-Thawra said the US charges against Iraq were "an excuse to justify an attack against our country to the American people who were horrified by the September 11 attacks and are living in a climate of terror under the Bush administration."
   The US president sought Wednesday to allay world concern and admitted he would consult US allies and lawmakers about military action against Iraq.
   "I'm a patient man, and we will look at all options, and we will consider all technologies available to us, and diplomacy, and intelligence," Bush said.
   "Regime change is in the interest of the world. How we achieve that is a matter of consultation and deliberation," he added.

Iraqi envoy says US, Israel or Britain had a hand in embassy takeover

BERLIN, Aug 22 (AFP) - Iraq's chief envoy in Berlin, Shamil Mohammed, said the British, Israeli or US government was behind his hostage-taking this week at Baghdad's embassy in Berlin, in an interview with Thursday's Tagesspiegel.
   "That is where the threat is coming from," he told the newspaper. "It was an attack."
   Five members of a little-known Iraqi opposition group stormed the Iraqi embassy in Berlin and held the charge d'affaires hostage for five hours Tuesday. German police ended the incident without bloodshed after Baghdad approved a raid.
   Shamil Mohammed, who was treated for shock after the incident along with an embassy staff member, said that the hostage-takers were being given orders from abroad by cellular phone and accused "Washington, Tel Aviv or London" of being at the other end of the line.
   He told the newspaper the embassy takeover was intended "to discredit the good German policy" on Iraq.
   Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has warned against a US-led attack on Baghdad and ruled out German military participation in such a war.
   The British government has vocally supported Washington's call for a regime change in Iraq and not ruled out the use of military force.
   The envoy could not be reached for comment. 
   The Iraqi foreign ministry had on Tuesday denounced the takeover as an act of terrorism and accused what it said were American and Zionist intelligence services of masterminding it.
   Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has denied a US role in the incident. "The thought that the United States would be engaged in something like that is far afield. You know that, I know that, everyone here knows that," Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
   An obscure Iraqi opposition group, the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany, claimed responsibility for the hostage-taking and five asylum seekers were placed in preventative detention late Wednesday, accused of taking part in the incident.
   "This first step against the terrorist regime of Saddam Hussein and his killers, which is taking place with a peaceful purpose, is intended to make the German people, its organizations and its political powers understand that our people have a desire to be free and will act on it," the group had said in a letter.
   Police and intelligence services said they were not familiar with the organization, adding that it was unclear whether it was a splinter group or newly founded.

SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN ON THE OCCASION OF 14th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY OF THE GREAT VICTORY (8/8/2002)

In the name of AllahThe Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Nay, we hurl the Truth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold, falsehood doth perish!

Our Great People,

Our Valiant Men and Women,

Our Men of the Heroic Armed Forces,

Our Arab brethren,

Fellow Believers, Wherever you may be,

Peace Be Upon You..

Regardless of details, and of the nature of evolution between successive historical chapters, the human lesson derived is that the present of any nation or people cannot be isolated from its past; and that, according to this, nations and peoples have established their present, even though it might be distinguishable from their past in terms of advancement or retraction.

Of the lessons also gained from the history of mankind is the fact that greed and arrogance, when combined, lead the oppressor to do injustice not only to others, but to himself as well; once this combination of greed and arrogance has misled him into a sense of undefeatable capability and power, as he takes the road of falsehood and aggression, committing the most heinous acts and proceeding from that sick imagination, to fall down the precipice and then into hell.

One of the lessons of recent and distant history is that all empires and bearers of the coffin of evil, whenever they mobilized their evil against the Arab nation, or against the Muslim world, they were themselves buried in their own coffin, with their sick dreams and their arrogance and greed, under Arab and Islamic soil; or they returned to die on the land from which they had proceeded to perpetrate aggression. This has been the case with all empires preceeding our present time. If this is what history tells us about its judgment on all times and eras of the past without exception, can we then describe those who are trying to ignore history now except in the words which no wise or prudent person would wish to be described with?

This is the inevitable outcome awaiting all those who try to aggress against Arabs and Muslims. If anyone wants to learn from history, anyone with greed and arrogance combined in himself, he ought to remember this fact and think again. Otherwise, he will end up in the dust-bin of history, as twentieth century politicians world say.

We always stood, and continue to stand, to learn from all such lessons, whenever the horns of aggression loomed large against us. We never faced, nor will face, any aggression relying basically on our force of arms, or our muscles and the muscles of our people, but rather on the strength of our faith, in the belief that Allah always helps the faithful and their just cause to prevail over injustice.

Faith, according to this rule, is the decisive factor in linking the final outcome to the good of the people and the nation, and to self-satisfaction, with all that Allah Almighty shall extend of the means of strength provided by the faithful on the basis of His Divine instruction: “Extend to them all the strength you can provide…”. We have always, along with our comrades, our people and our armed forces, asked ourselves: Can fathers and mothers discharge their parental duties towards their children when they are placed in chains under the burden of servitude? Will the children be but ungrateful apostates, if they see their fathers and mothers in chains, enduring the heavy burden of oppression, and never move to save them, break their chains, or surround them with their protective chests of faith, against all misguided evil aggressors?

Do you know, brothers in the Arab homeland, who our father and mother are, we the Iraqis, our armed forces, and the leadership of our army and people? Our mother and father are the nation and the homeland. It is on the basis of these meanings and what we recall from the lessons of history, that we took our stand in 1980 to defend our people and nation against those who sought to enslave them, put them in chains, and then leave them to decay.

Yes, this was our stand. And we recall, and never forget, that he who wants his homeland to be liberated and healthy, his nation free and unfettered, has to be loyal to them so that they will remain generous to him. Otherwise, he will remain doomed to subservience, killed by a sense of guilt, labouring under the heavy burden of contempt, of having fallen behind and failing to play his role in the position that brings pride to freedom-fighters in the eyes of their people, their nation and their homeland.

Thus, we relied on Allah, and took the position required under the circumstance, along with our people and armed forces, to confront danger, with stand aggression and defy arrogance, for eight long years which lasted from September 4^th, 1980, to the date which Allah designated to be the day of final victory in August 1988.

It is also on the basis of these concepts, and the lessons derived from them, that our revolutionaries made their day in July 1968.

On these same grounds and concepts, the people of Iraq and their armed forces, led by their brave leaders against the aggression and arrogance of the United States and those who allied themselves to the Americans, or followed them under duress, or by choice, from 17 January 1991, the day of the battle of Um el-Ma’arick until today.

On this basis, the stand of loyalty taken by the faithful shall remain firm and healthy. Darkness shall be defeated, and every cloud that carries no useful rain shall be dispersed, giving way to the sun to usher in endless spring, blessed by Allah, fill with pride its people who themselves bring disgrace to the conduct of the aggressors.

The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs, to die in disgraceful failure, taking their schemes back with them, or to dig their own graves, after they bring death to themselves on every Arab or Muslim soil against which they perpetrate aggression, including the Iraq, the land of Jihad and the banner.

We say this to refute the grumbling and sibiliation of those bragging their power, governed by the devil, their master in every evil act and crime which they perpetrate against the land of the Arabs and Muslims, while they wade in the rivers of innocent blood they shed in the world, believing that the people of the world should become slaves to Tyranny and its threats, both declared and executed threats. But if they wanted peace and security for themselves and their people, then this is not the course to take. The right course is of respect to the security and rights of others, through dealing with others in peace and establishing the obligations required by way of equitable dialogue and on the basis of international law and international covenants.

The right way is that the Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq, and should honour its obligations under its own resolutions. There is no other choice for those who use threat and aggression but to be repelled even if they were to bring harm to their targets. Allah, the omni-powerful is above all power and shall repel the schemes of the unjust.

I say this even though I had preferred to avoid referring to it, under a different circumstance, as I have generally done so far. But I say it in such clear terms so that no weakling will imagine that when we ignore responding to ill talk, then this means that we are frightened by the impudent threats which will make those who have lost all ties with God the Compassionate, and all trust in their people, tremble and shiver; and so that no greedy tyrant will be misled into an action the consequences of which are beyond their calculations.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. Allah is Great..

What a pure, magnificent and melodious breeze of faith; a voice, as if recalled from the depth of our eternal heritage and history, a voice in which we find ourselves and it in us, in the same spirit raised by our forefathers in the battles of Jihad at Yarmouk against the Bizantines, and the Battles of the First Qadissiyah, in which our forefathers broke, in the Name of Allah, the ranks of the invading armies thathad occupied the land of Sham (Syria) and Iraq, where they brought injustice and death, motivated by stubbornness, to remain on the side of falsehood in the face.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. Allah is Great

These our brethren the faithful and the Arabs, are the calls made by your sons and brothers in Iraq, the land of faith, as they confront the enemy who wants to harm Iraq, with total disregard to God and man, despite all the resilience and resolve with which the Iraqi people have faced this enemy who has refused to listen to any Islamic or Arab voice, and indeed rejected all the initiatives and calls for peace, which we had proposed more than once, name of the people of Iraq.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. Allah is Great..

This is the call made by everyone confronting the enemies with a gun, a cannon, on a tank, in a plane, or on a naval boat, by millions of men amongst our troops, in conscription or reserve, our peoples army and our special task forces.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great..

Allah is Great.. Attacking.. defending.. advancing and charging forward deep in enemy territory, chasing evil to defeat it; or forming with their dear chests the fence protecting this faithful, patient and healthy homeland; or standing, whenever Allah so wills it, behind the boarders in the same way as they did at Faw and Penjaween, in a trench here and a trench there, along a battlefront extending over one thousand and two hundred kilometers from Faw and the territory surrounding and protecting it to the south up to the head-land of Minshaf in our dear northern part of Iraq.

Allah is Great..

Allah is Great..

Allah is Great..

Our beloved call.. the voice of our dear Prophet, the voice of Bilal, Abi Bakr, Umar, Ali and Uthman.. of Khalid, Abi Ubayda, Sa’d and Usama.

The fragrance of the Message, the voice of history, the call of the spirit carrying the body to the destination determined by Allah, to be pure, secure, aromatic, and rosy, as he is a witness to the will of Allah, or a living martyr, so destined by Allah Almighty, whose command is irrevocable, praised He be for all He wills and all He wants.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. Allah is Great..

There is no God but Allah.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. Allah is Great..

Praise be to Allah

Charge on.. Charge on.. Charge on..

The dear chant is raised, as if the men are circumambulating around the Ka’ba, or returning to the place from which Prophet Mohammed, the Messenger of Allah, ascended to God on that Blessed Night, after they cleanse the land of Palestine from Zionist desecration.

Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. Allah is Great.. with millions of gun-barrels, exchanging places on the battle- fronts, or being stationed where they ought to be from the start of the battle until Allah grants His final victory.

Thousands of artillery-guns and tanks and hundreds of aircraft, backed by millions of honourable Arabs and Iraqis and of the faithful who prayed for Iraq to be granted Allah’s victory, which the Almighty graced Iraq with.

With victory, came the first expressions of gratitude to Allah, for having cleansed the hearts of the victorious faithful from all hatred, and prevented any grudge or rancour from infiltrating our souls, against the hatred and hard-headedness we had faced throughout eight years of fighting, preceded by an additional period of scheming and abuse, praying to Allah the omni-powerful, the Almighty, to spare us any such hatred or any hatred which we don’t know.

Victory was born out of all this. It voice, spirit and breeze of faith were raised high, in the resounding “Communique -of-all-Communiques” on the Day-of-Days which Allah Almighty had destined to be the day of decisive victory, crowned by it on the 8^th of August 1988.

Oh God.. Oh God.. Oh.. August.

How hot is year temperature, not only to ripen the date-fruit to be picked by your people, but also to break the spikes that others want to use against your people and thus defeat the unjust aggressors, in the name of Allah.

Brother to July and it link to September!!

Dear month, dear day, we extend our greetings to you as we live your dear days one by one, and to every living soul and every soul that has a place in heaven, blessed by Allah, the Almighty.

Greetings similar to those we extend to our Iraqi brothers and Iraqi martyrs, to the Arabs in the forefront of whom come the heroic people of Palestine, and to every honourable Mujahid of the faithful who met his God with a pure heart.

Greeting to the people of Palestine, men and women, living and martyrs.

Greetings, Greetings to Iraq

Greetings, Greetings to our Arab

Nation, and to everyone of its brave heroes,

Greetings.. Greetings.. Greetings

Allah is Great

Allah is Great

Allah is Great

There is no God but Allah

Allah is Great

Praise be to Allah

Moscow, Baghdad to Sign $40M Deal

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia and Iraq are preparing to sign a $40 billion economic cooperation plan, the Iraqi ambassador to Moscow said Saturday. The pact was likely to strain Moscow's relations with Washington as the United States considers a military attack against Baghdad.
The five-year agreement envisions new cooperation in the fields of oil, irrigation, agriculture, railroads, other transportation sectors and electrical energy. It will most likely be signed in Baghdad in the beginning of September, Ambassador Abbas
Khalaf told The Associated Press.
The announcement came as Washington struggles to rally international support for a possible invasion of Iraq.
Washington is determined to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein -- possibly through a military operation -- because of the threat posed by his regime's efforts to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Russia, a longtime ally of Iraq, has forcefully warned against a U.S. invasion.
Moscow has also has supported lifting United Nations sanctions imposed after Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Moscow hopes lifting sanctions would allow Baghdad to start paying off its $7 billion Soviet-era debt and help expand trade.
Khalaf emphasized that the new cooperation deal, which is to include new projects as well as the modernization of some Soviet-built infrastructure, would not violate the sanctions. Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday it had no comment on the
deal.
In the current standoff with the United States, Iraq is counting on Russia to use its leverage in the U.N. Security Council and other diplomatic channels to deprive Washington of international support for a military operation, Khalaf said.
"First of all we need moral, political and diplomatic support. Because Iraq knows how to defend itself," Khalaf said.
"The main thing for us is that American aggression does not go through the U.N. Security Council and that America does not receive a U.N. mandate," he said. "Let America act (alone) as an aggressor. It will be condemned from all sides."
Khalaf dismissed the idea that Russia could yield to U.S. pressure and drop its opposition to an invasion.
"There won't be any concessions," he said. "Iraq is Russia's most dependable partner in the East."
At the same time, Khalaf said he saw no contradiction between Russia's friendship with Iraq and its ties with Washington, which have strengthened since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We see friendship among various countries and civilized peoples of the world as a positive step. Any enmity brings harm to a country," he said.
The news of the deal with Iraq followed signs that Moscow is maintaining or even increasing its cooperation with Iran and North Korea. Along with Iraq, those two countries make up what President Bush has labeled the "axis of evil" because of their efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
Last month, Russia announced a 10-year plan for nuclear cooperation with Iran. Under the plan, Russia would build another five reactors in addition to the one currently under construction at Bushehr. Washington fears such cooperation could help Iran develop nuclear weapons.
This week, the Kremlin announced that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will visit Russia later in August for the second summer in a row.

No sudden US build up in Gulf, but preparations go back years

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (AFP) - For all the rhetoric of war with Iraq, the US military has so far made no overt moves to build up forces in the Gulf for a major offensive against Iraq.
   US force levels in the region have remained at about 55,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, slightly below the peak strength at the height of the Afghan campaign, US military officials said Friday.
   A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there have been no major changes in the disposition of US forces throughout the region.
   "It tells you there is no plan," the official said. "That the president is being truthfull that there is no decision" to invade, he said.
   But in recent years, the US military has laid in enough military hardware in the region to equip at least an armored division deploying on short notice, the official said.
   Air bases in Qatar and Kuwait also have been upgraded to receive rapidly deploying US air expeditionary forces in a crisis.
   "There was overall an effort by Centcom to come up with a way to react quickly rather than to have a big buildup," said a former Pentagon official,who asked not to be identified. Centcom is the Florida-based Central Command which would be responsible for any US invasion of Iraq.
   "The whole idea is to be able to act with things that are already there and not have to wait until stuff comes to the States before you can start operating," he said.
   But he cautioned that the logistics of mounting a sudden invasion with even a small force -- 50,000 to 80,000 -- would strain the US military.
   The most dramatic addition to US capabilities in the region is the al Udaid air base in Qatar, built in the mid 1990s in the desert southwest of Doha but now being finished to US specifications.
   A key feature reportedly under construction is a command and communications  facility that could be used to run an air war if Saudi Arabia were to deny the use of a state-of-the-art combined air operations center at its Prince Sultan Air Base.
   Satellite photographs of the base posted on the website of GlobalSecurity. 
Org, a Washington research group, shows that since January new ramp space covering 18 acres (7.2 hectares) and a command compound have been added to the
base.
   With a huge 12,300-foot (4,100 meter) runway, one of the biggest in the region, the base offers a safe place to bed down an air expeditionary wing -- as many as 175 aircraft and between 10,000 and 15,000 men and women.
   Two massive fortified hangars camouflaged to blend into the desert appear to be designed to shelter fighter aircraft.
   "It looks to us -- with these two hangars combined --you could get a full fighter wing," or about 72 aircraft, said John Pike, GlobalSecurity.Org's director.
   The base has the added attraction of spreading out US air forces that had been concentrated in Saudi Arabia, an increasingly reluctant US ally and one that is on record as opposing a US attack on Iraq.
   "Every time we had a crisis, actually going back to way before Desert Fox, but certainly Desert Fox, we were always looking for places to bed down airplanes," said the former official, referring to a three-day US air attack on Iraq in December, 1998.
   "The Kuwaitis really are swamped, the Bahrainis at least felt swamped, the Saudis were reticent," said the official. "We've never been that tight with the UAE (United Arab Emirates), and Oman is a long way away."
   The air force first began using al Udaid in a big way after the terrorist attacks on US targets last the September 11 year.
   Currently, it is being used for KC-10 and KC-135 air refueling tanker planes, as well as by C-17 transport planes. About 3,500 US forces are now stationed there, according to US defense officials.
   Since 1998, Kuwait also has upgraded its al-Jaber and Ali Salem bases, reinforcing runways and expanding apron space for US and British fighters enforcing a no-fly zone over southern Iraq.
   The US military has relied primarily on air power since the 1991 Gulf War to stop Iraq if it ever again tried to strike at Kuwait or the Saudi airfields.
   But it also has worked to avoid a repeat of the six month build-up to the Gulf War.
   Tanks, armored combat vehicles and other equipment for armored brigades have been positioned in Kuwait, Qatar and on ships off the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, ready to go on short notice.
   The Pentagon has been quietly moving military hardware from its old Cold War bases in Europe to the Gulf over the past two years, military officials said. Armored combat vehicles and other equipment were in the latest shipment to the Gulf.
   The Navy raised eyebrows this week by soliciting a charter for a second ship to carry helicopters, rolling stock and ammunition from the southern United States to Jordan.
   Military officials said the shipment was for an as yet unnannounced exercise in Jordan, but did not rule out the possibility the arms could be left behind.

Iraqi VP warns US interests around the world may be attacked 

DUBAI, Aug 16 (AFP) - Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan warned the United States Friday that its interests around the world would be targetted if it "commits the stupidity" of attacking his country and trying to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.
   "American interests and elements everywhere in the world will be targetted if the United States attacks Iraq," Ramadan said in an interview with the Dubai-based Arab satellite channel MBC.
   "If the Americans commit this stupidity, they will be confronted in return with destruction and instability, not just outside the United States but equally inside it," he said.
   The United States has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iraq, including removing Saddam from power, for allegedly developing weapons of mass destruction and wants UN weapons inspectors to return to the country to check the extent of its chemical and biological weapons arsenal.
   Ramadan, who was dressed in a military uniform and sat against the backdrop of Iraqi flags in the interview conducted from Baghdad, also said Iraq "was preparing to face an American attack as if it were set to happen today."
   However, Ramadan added that Baghdad remained "attached to dialogue and a peaceful resolution," to the brewing conflict with the United Nations over disarmament inspectors who fled on the eve of sustained US-led air strikes in December 1998.
   "The door of dialogue is wide open and any solution should be based on UN Security Council resolutions," he said. But he accused Washington of "preventing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan from fixing the date of a new round of dialogue with Iraq."
   On August 6, Annan asked Iraq to confirm its readiness to abide by all Security Council resolutions. On Friday, a UN spokesman said the United Nations had received a new letter from Iraq setting out its position on the possible resumption of UN arms inspections, but few details were immediately available.
   Iraq's three previous rounds of negotiations with the United Nations, the last of which took place in Vienna in July, ended infailure as Baghdad steadfastly refused to accept an unconditional return of the inspectors.
   Ramadan said he was "surprised" the United Nations rejected an invitation early this month for the chief UN arms inspector, Hans Blix, to visit Baghdad to review what had been done to disarm Iraq between the end of the Gulf War in 1991 and December 1998, when the UN arms inspectors were withdrawn.
   The United States dismissed the invitation as a stalling tactic and Annan said that any visit by Blix was conditional upon Iraq's willingness to comply with Security Council demands.
   "How can negotiations take place if they refuse even a dialogue at a technical level," Ramadan said.
   He said Baghdad wanted to open talks with Blix "to know his ideas concerning Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction but does not want him to come with the inspectors."
   He also cautioned neighbouring Kuwait not to let the United States use its facilities for any invasion and to avoid the "negative behaviour" which he said sparked Iraq's 1990 invasion and the subsequent Gulf War.

US planning Iraq relief ahead of military action

LONDON, Aug 15 (AFP) - The US government has offered nongovernmental  organisations (NGOs) millions of dollars to set up humanitarian relief projects in Iraq and neighbouring areas ahead of military action against Baghdad, the Financial Times (FT) reported Thursday.
   In a front page article, the London-based newspaper said the US state department had called on NGOs to bid for 6.6 million dollars (euros) of government funds to pay for at least five US humanitarian projects.
   It would mark the first time that the United States has funded relief work in Iraq since United Nations sanctions were imposed on the country 12 years ago following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the FT quoted a US official as saying.
   Once the projects -- including facilities for medical care, shelter, water and relief supplies for refugees -- were in place, international aid workers would be evacuated from the region ahead of any military action, and replaced by local staff.
   Some NGOs are hesitant about applying for the grants over fears they might be facilitating a US attack of Iraq, the paper said.
   A document sent by the US state department to NGOs last month, a copy of which the FT claimed to have seen, said:
   "The office of northern Gulf Affairs (a department within the state department) announces an open competition for proposals for humanitarian assistance projects in Iraq (south, central or northern) and for Iraqi refugees in neighbouring countries."
   Each grant would be at least 500,000 dollars with the maximum sum allocated to any one organisation totalling 3.5 million dollars.
   "I find it strange that at this particular moment, the US government is announcing an open competition for proposals for humanitarian assistance projects in Iraq, specifying that it can be in any part of the country," said Joel Charny, vice president for policy at Washington-based Refugees International.
   "It seems in contradiction to the policy of embargo and limiting assistance to areas controlled by (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein," Charny added, quoted by the FT.
   US President George W. Bush wants Saddam ousted and UN weapons inspectors 
returned to Iraq to check on its alleged arsenal of chemical and biological weapons.

Iraq invites Congress to visit, US says no
By Nadim Ladki
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters)  august 5 –

Iraq, faced with the threat of an American invasion, invited the U.S. Congress Monday to send a mission to Baghdad, and said it would be given free access to any site alleged to be developing weapons of mass destruction.
 The White House dismissed the invitation, saying there was no need for discussions, although it acknowledged it could do nothing if any members of Congress wanted to take up the offer.
 Iraq's influential Parliament Speaker Saadoun Hammadi, in a letter addressed to Congress, invited a delegation "comprising whatever number of congressmen you see fit, accompanied by experts in the fields you deem relevant to the purpose of the visit, i.e. chemical, biological and nuclear."
 President Bush accuses Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of being a menace to the region, and has said he is "looking at all options, the use of all tools" to deal with the Iraqi leader.
 The Iraqi leadership held a meeting last Friday, which Hammadi attended. Hammadi is close to Saddam, and any statement he makes is likely to have the approval of the Iraqi leader.
 The four-page letter said the delegation would be given "every facility needed to search and inspect any plants and installations allegedly producing, or intended to produce, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons."
 Hammadi said the delegation would be free to search whatever site it wished "however deep underground such facilities may be thought to exist."
 He said the delegation would be the guests of the Iraqi government for "say, a period of three weeks."
 Hammadi delivered the letter to the Polish ambassador in Baghdad. The Polish Embassy is in charge of U.S. interests in Iraq. A copy of the letter in English was obtained by Reuters.
 The letter came five days after Iraq invited chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad to discuss all pending issues on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, key to suspending U.N. sanctions imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
 The United States and Britain responded to the invitation with skepticism while France and Russia welcomed it.
 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday talks between Iraq and Blix would be considered if Iraq honored Security Council requirements about what would be discussed.
 The U.S. Congress last week held hearings on the Bush administration's policy on toppling Saddam. The United States accuses Iraq of producing weapons of mass destruction, but Baghdad denies the charge.      
'NO NEED FOR DISCUSSION'
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack acknowledged there was little the Bush administration could do to stop a member of Congress taking up Iraq's invitation.
"There's no need for discussion. What there is a need for is for the regime in Baghdad to live up to its commitment to disarm," he said during a visit by Bush to Pittsburgh.
He reiterated the Bush administration's view that eliminating any Iraqi capability to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction was the goal of international pressure on Iraq, rather than just restarting inspections.
Hammadi said U.S. administrations had misled the U.S. public since Iraq invaded Kuwait 12 years ago.
"I don't think that you stand to lose anything if you were to take your decision after you have seen the truth as it is on the ground," his letter said.
Earlier Monday, around 3,000 Iraqis, burning American flags and an effigy of Bush, took part in a march in Baghdad organized  by parliament members to denounce U.S. threats to unseat Saddam.
"In spite of America, Saddam will stay forever," chanted the crowd.
U.S. fighter jets Monday attacked an air defense command and control facility in southern Iraq in response to attempts to shoot down American and British warplanes patrolling the area, the U.S. military said.
It was the 25th strike of the year by U.S. and British attack jets in northern and southern "no-fly zones," established after the 1991 Gulf War to protect minorities in the country.

 

Five Iraqis killed, 17 wounded in US-British air raids: Baghdad

 

BAGHDAD, July 19 (AFP) - Five Iraqis were killed, including an infant and two women, and 17 wounded when US and British warplanes bombed southern Iraq, Iraqi officials said Friday.
   "Five citizens were killed and 17 injured when enemy (US and British) warplanes bombed civilian and services installations in Al-Diwaniya," 170 kilometers (105 miles) south of Baghdad, at 11:15 p.m. Thursday (1915 GMT), said a military spokesman, quoted by the official INA news agency.
   He said the warplanes, which "flew in from Kuwaiti airspace, backed by an AWACS plane that flew in from Saudi airspace," staged "armed sorties" over 11 other localities in southern Iraq before being "forced to flee back to their bases" by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and missile fire.
   INA said both US and British aircraft took part in "this new crime", which killed a 62-year-old man, Hamza Ghafel, and four members of one family, including a one-and-a-half-year-old girl.
   It identified the four as Raheem Abd Hlaihel, 32, his wife Najiba Dayef,  32, Lamia Dayef, 30, and the child Hiba Raheem Abd Hlaihel.
   State television broadcast scenes from Al-Diwaniya, showing what it said were missile impacts near homes, one of which was completely destroyed, and a car with its shattered windows.
   It also ran footage of a funeral procession with five coffins draped with the Iraqi flag and mounted on cars winding its way through town followed by a large crowd, which included local officials.
   "The bombardment of innocent civilians shows the blind hatred of the US administration of evil against the Iraqi people," charged a wounded man shown in a hospital bed.
   There was no immediate word from the US military on the incident. Almost daily skirmishes are reported in "no-fly" zones enforced by US and British warplanes over northern and southern Iraq since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
   On Monday, an Iraqi military spokesman said one person was killed and six were wounded in a US-British raid Sunday on "civilian installations" in the southern province of Najaf.
   The Pentagon said the planes struck a mobile radar for a surface-to-air missile launcher. The radar was attacked with precision guided weapons after it was moved into the southern no-fly zone, the US Defense Department said.
   Iraq says US-British raids in the air exclusion zones have now killed 1,483 Iraqis and wounded 1,400. Baghdad does not recognize the zones, which are not sanctioned by any UN resolution.

 

New UN aid coordinator arrives in Iraq

 

BAGHDAD, July 19 (AFP) - The new UN coordinator for humanitarian aid to sanctions-hit Iraq, Ramiro Armando de Oliveira Lopes da Silva of Portugal, arrived Friday in Baghdad, UN sources here said.
   Lopes da Silva, 53, who headed the transport division of the World Food Programme (WFP), was appointed aid coordinator to Iraq on May 31 to replace Tun Myat from Myanmar.
   Tun Myat, who himself worked for the WFP for 22 years before being appointed to Iraq in April 2000, was named on May 10 to a new post in charge of the security of UN personnel worldwide.
   Lopes da Silva has worked for the United Nations since 1985, including as humanitarian coordinator in Angola from 1996 to 1998 and WFP's special envoy for the recent crisis in Afghanistan.
   Iraq has been under embargo ever since its August 1990 of Kuwait but has since December 1996 been authorised to export crude to finance imports of essential goods, in a programme supervised by the United Nations.

Striking Iraq will "destabilize all the Middle East": Tehran

 

TEHRAN, July 25 (AFP) - Iran's defense minister warned US plans to strike Iraq would "destabilize the whole Middle East" and called on the army to be ready to resist US "expansionist threats", in remarks published Thursday.
   "An eventual American attack on Iraq, and the threat this poses for Iran's security, could destabilize the whole Middle East, and affect the security of all the region's countries," Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told the daily paper Entekhab.
   Shamkhani added that US "expansionist threats" also meant Iranian soldiers have "no choice but to follow the path of resistance, which must concern all of society. Resistance must
include everyone."
   Referring to factional conflict between reformists and conservatives in Iran, he also urged the "political elite in the country to get along politically" in order to avoid "leading Iran to
powerlessness."
   Iran has expressed its opposition to a US strike on neighboring Iraq several times following US President George W. Bush's announcement earlier this month that he was going to use "all tools" at his disposal to achieve a "regime change" in Baghdad.
   The Iranian government itself has felt increasingly under pressure following a speech by Bush on July 12 in which he said most Iranians voted for "political and economic reform" but were being ignored by an "unelected" few who run the country.
   The speech was denounced by both reformist and conservative leaders as a "threat" and interventionist", and led to huge government organized anti-US demonstrations in several cities last Friday.
   The possibility of a US attack on Iran has also been an issue of concern and speculation in the press, and has brought calls from the leadership for Iranians to be prepared for resistance.
   On Wednesday, government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said the Islamic republic would "respond with force, with all its might" to any aggression from the United States.
   Bush's decision in January to declare Iran part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea, making them possible targets in his "war on terrorism", hardened the long-standing adversity between Washington and Tehran.
   The two capitals severed ties after Iran's 1979 revolution. US support for Israel, fiercely resented in the Islamic republic, has been a central issue in the war of words between them.
    

Oman adds voice to rejections of US strike on Iraq

 

TEHRAN, Aug 4 (AFP) - The top diplomat of another key pro-Western Gulf state, Oman, used a visit here Sunday to express strong opposition to any US-led military action against Iraq, following the Saudi foreign minister the previous day.
   Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman's minister of state for foreign affairs, said on arrival for a visit to Iran: "Our position is the same, ruling out any military option against an Arab and Muslim country.
   "We are opposed to an attack on Iraq or any other Muslim state because we think that any differences with regard to the Middle East must be resolved under UN auspices."
   During talks with bin Abdullah later in the day, Iran's moderate President Mohammed Khatami reiterated the Islamic regime's own concerns.
   "Iraq's territorial integrity and future is important for all the countries of the region," Khatami said.
   "Baghdad should accept international regulations and thus neutralise interference by foreign powers," he said, in a clear reference to the United States, which has pledged to change the regime in Iraq by force.
   For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, who held separate talks with the Omani minister, dismissed Washington's threats to overthrow Saddam Hussein, saying this "interference is bound to fail."
   "What we see in the threat to attack Iraq is a new American strategy aimed at spreading insecurity across the world and thus leading to a world dictatorship," Kharazi said in a statement quoted by state radio.
   Saudi Arabia and Iran had expressed joint opposition here Saturday to US military action against their common neighbour Iraq, when Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal held separate meetings with both Khatami and Kharazi.
   The talks between the Omani minister and Iranian officials were also due to focus on relations between their two countries, which face each other across the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf.
   Oman currently heads the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Britain plans mass reservist call-up, increasing pressure on Iraq

 

LONDON, July 19 (AFP) - Britain's defence ministry is planning a mass mobilisation of key reservists from September, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday, calling the move a heightening of preparations for an attack on Iraq.
   Britain has also decided to withdraw 1,500 troops from NATO's rapid reaction force, freeing them from two major exercises this autumn in Germany and Ukraine, said the paper.
   The decision to pull the troops was taken last month, at the same time that the government announced that Britain was withdrawing its 1,700 Royal Marines from Afghanistan, it added.
   In addition, 3,000 members of Britain's main fighting force, 1 (UK) Armoured Division, have been withdrawn from a tank exercise in Poland.
   "Any government department has contingency plans," a defence ministry spokesman told the paper, while refusing to be drawn on whether Britain was planning to launch an attack on Iraq, alongside the United States.
   British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday said that preventive action was needed against a growing threat from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but added no decisions had been made over any military action.
   "There is no doubt that Iraq poses a threat in respect to weapons of mass destruction," Blair said, adding that the danger was "growing, not diminishing. "
   US President George W. Bush has renewed a pledge to use "all tools" at his disposal to oust Saddam, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   Britain has been Washington's principal ally during its military campaign in Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
    

Pope prays for Iraq and Mideast peace in message to Saddam: INA

 

BAGHDAD, July 18 (AFP) - Pope John Paul II has told President Saddam Hussein he is praying for Iraq and for peace in the Middle East, the official Iraqi news agency INA reported Thursday.
   "I pray to God the Almighty to bless Iraq and its people and make lasting  peace prevail in the entire region," the pontiff wrote in a message marking Wednesday's 34th anniversary of the rise to power of Saddam's Baath Party, according to INA.
   Pope John Paul has often called for an end to the UN sanctions imposed in 1990 on Iraq, which is now under threat of US attack over its alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
   The pope had planned to visit Ur, an ancient city in southern Iraq believed to be the home of the prophet Abraham, as part of a tour of biblical sites to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Christ.
   Baghdad, citing the UN embargo and "no-fly" zones enforced by US and British warplanes, said it could not guarantee the pope's security and suggested postponement of the visit, which was scheduled for January 2000.

UN resolution not needed for any military action on Iraq: Blair

 

LONDON, July 17 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that a new UN resolution would not necessarily be required for any military action against Iraq, but any such action must be in accordance with international law.
   Blair, however, stressed that no decisions had been taken on possible military action by the US and Britain against the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
   "We must certainly take any action in accordance with international law, but as the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made clear ... a few months ago ... it does not in our view necessarily mean that there is a new United Nations resolution," Blair told parliament.
   He added: "The issue of weapons of mass destruction and Iraq is an issue we have to deal with.
   "It won't go away. There are many different ways of dealing with it. But we do have to deal with it."
   The United States, which fears that Saddam is accumulating weapons of mass destruction, has been hinting that an attack on Iraq might be the next step in its unilaterally declared "war on terror".
                

UAE, Jordan oppose US strike on Iraq

 

ABU DHABI, July 17 (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates and Jordan said on Wednesday they opposed a US military strike on Iraq but urged Baghdad to comply with relevant UN resolutions, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.
   During talks here, Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan and Jordan's King Abdullah II voiced "opposition to a military strike on Iraq, which would have grave repercussions not only in that country but also on regional security and stability," WAM said.
   "At the same time, they urged Iraq to implement UN resolutions in order to spare its people further suffering" caused by UN sanctions in force for the past 12 years.
   Iraq faces the threat of a US attack aimed at toppling President Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The Jordanian monarch arrived in Abu Dhabi Wednesday from Oman, which also called for a peaceful settlement in Iraq.
   "It would be preferable to continue the dialogue between Iraq and the United Nations," said Omani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, quoted by the official ONA news agency.
   Sheikh Khalifa and King Abdullah II also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, expressing support for the Palestinian people's recovery of "their legitimate right to an independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital, on the basis of UN resolutions," WAM said.
   UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan is currently on a private  visit to Geneva.

 

US tells wary ally Turkey that move against Iraq inevitable

 

ANKARA, July 17 (AFP) - A top US defense official asserted Wednesday America's determination to oust Saddam Hussein as he sought support from key NATO ally Turkey, while Iraq's neighbor demanded consultations before any strike.
   "As President (George W.) Bush emphasized, the Iraqi regime, hostile to the United States and supporting terrorism, is a danger that we cannot afford to live with indefinitely," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told reporters after two days of talks with Turkish leaders.
   He said Washington had not yet made definite demands of support to Turkey, which fears the political and economic impacts of regional turmoil.
   But engulfed in a severe government crisis and battling economic woes with IMF loans that Washington had encouraged, the country hardly has any room to manuever against US plans against Turkey's southern neighbor, commentators said.
   Nonetheless, Turkey said it wants to be closely consulted over any planned US action against Iraq and informed of military strikes before they happen, a top Turkish official told AFP Wednesday on condition of anonymity.
   He said Ankara had conveyed its demand to the visiting delegation headed up by Wolfowitz.
   "We told them to keep consulting with us at every step as they take decisions on Iraq and not to inform us simply in the wake of the military operation," the official said.
   The Turkish leadership also renewed its reservations against military moves, the official added.
   During the talks, Turkey reaffirmed its cautious stance over any military operation against its southern neighbor, reiterating its concern that it could have "unfavorable" repercussions on the country already in its worst economic crisis in years.
   The mainly Muslim but staunchly pro-western country is home to an American base, from where US jets launched strikes against Baghdad in the 1991 Gulf War and which they still use to enforce a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.
   "We did not come here with any idea about what Turkey's role should be or with a decision about an operation, because we did not make our own decision ourselves," Wolfowitz said.
   "We did not come here asking for any decison from the Turkish government. 
We came here to gain the benefit of Turkey's perspective," he added.
   Observers said Ankara's own troubles were weakening its hand in possible attempts to dissuade Washington from striking Iraq.
   Ankara's position now focuses "more on demanding economic and political guarantees from the United States rather than opposing an operation," analyst Cengiz Candar wrote in the Yeni Safak daily.
   He even suggested that embattled Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's decision Tuesday to call early polls in November aimed to ensure that Ankara has a stable government before the United States launches its operation against Iraq in January or February next year.
   Since September 11, Turkey has stiffly opposed military moves against Iraq, named by Bush as part of an "axis of evil," arguing that a war in the region will further damage its ailing economy, just as the Gulf War did.
   Turkey puts at about 40 billion dollars the losses it has suffered since sanctions were imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War.
   And Wolfowitz acknowledged that "Turkey's economic health is hugely important."
   However, he said: "When there is a democratic Iraq it will not be only the people of Iraq that will benefit from that, it will benefit the whole world and very much this region."
   Ankara is wary that an operation against Baghdad may help the Kurds in northern Iraq to set up an independent state, which could have a domino effect on its own Kurds at a time when a bloody Kurdish rebellion in the southeast of the country has subdued.

 

Defiant Saddam vows US will never defeat him, warns opposition

 

BAGHDAD, July 17 (AFP) - A defiant Saddam Hussein vowed Wednesday that the United States and its "stooges" would never defeat him, and warned exiled Iraqi opposition groups that they would remain at the mercy of Washington if it succeeded in bringing them to power.
   "Iraq will emerge eventually triumphant," Saddam said in a televised 40-minute speech to mark the 34th anniversary of the coup that brought his Baath Party to power, and as the threat of a US military strike on Iraq looms larger.
   The July revolution "returns to say to all evil tyrants and oppressors of the world: You will never defeat me this time. Never! Even if you come together from all over the world, and invite all the devils as well, to stand by you, support or incite you," the Iraqi leader said.
   It also returns "armed with its sword, bow, and spear, carrying its shield or gun and cannon, mounting its tank, or poised in its battle-trench which may, through caution and alertness, save life from schemes, conspiracies, and perfidy," he said.
   The revolution "returns to us ... commensurate with your struggle and your jihad (holy war)," he told Iraqis. "But its resolve, this time, is deep-rooted. "
   The administration of US President George W. Bush has threatened to take military action against Iraq and unseat Saddam, whom it accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The prospect of a US military offensive was further heightened after July 4-5 talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return of UN arms inspectors to Iraq broke down.
   In an apparent reference to US-backed Iraqi opposition groups, Saddam said: "He who builds his country by himself is capable of defending himself and his country with his own means.
   "He who relies on others to build and think for him, and to protect him, defend him and appoint him ruler on his people risks having the house brought down on his head and being humiliated by these same people whenever they so wish."
   Saddam's speech came just three days after around 70 Iraqi exiled army officers meeting in London decided to set up a military council to assist an internal anti-Saddam revolt among the Iraqi army.
   The United States congratulated the dissident officers, saying their call for an army revolt "sound(ed) like a good idea" and describing their meeting as "a useful tool in helping the Iraqi community move closer to the goal of a better future of the Iraqi people after Saddam Hussein."
   The 65-year-old president, sporting a dark double-breasted suit, went on to praise the Iraqi people as they "ably confront injustice and aggression, refusing to allow the arrows of the tyrant and his stooges to touch your spirit, your determination, your conviction, your stand, your will and your loyalty."
   "Your march remains genuine, responsive to your interests and principles in a balanced manner, and immune to deviation.  "It will not succumb to, or be shaken by, the propaganda of foreign powers,  " Saddam said, adding that the "wind will blow away foreign rattling as the noise of an evil covetous tyrant, the enemy of Allah."
   Saddam concluded the speech by saying the "people of Palestine will achieve victory," and with a call for God to "bestow his mercy upon our most generous martyrs in Iraq, Palestine and all the arenas of jihad and struggle throughout our nation."
   A national holiday in Iraq, July 17 marks the 1968 Baath coup carried out under the leadership of Saddam, who became president 11 years later.

 

Fidel Castro blasts "savage" US policy towards Iraq

 

BAGHDAD, July 17 (AFP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro blasted Wednesday the "savage" policy of the United States towards Iraq, which has found itself under the looming spectre of a US military campaign, the INA news agency reported.
   In a telegram of congratulations to his Iraqi counterpart Saddam Hussein on the 34th anniversary of the July 17, 1968 coup that brought the Baath Party to power, Castro slammed the "savage policy of the United States towards the friendly Iraqi people."
   The Cuban Communist leader assured Saddam of his "solidarity" and his desire to develop relations between Cuba and Iraq, two countries targetted by Washington for their respective regimes.

 

 

'Iraq is not Afghanistan' Iraqi diplomat warns US

 

MOSCOW, July 16 (AFP) - The Iraqi ambassador to Moscow warned the United States Tuesday against any military intervention in his country, saying that "Iraq is not Afghanistan."
   "Iraq is not afraid of the US threat. In 1991 the US governed a coalition of 32 countries, but Iraq withstood this aggression," Abbas Khalaf told a news conference, referring to the Gulf War that ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
   "If success in Afghanistan went to the heads of American generals, their plans won't work with us. Iraq is not Afghanistan," he said.
   US President George W. Bush last week renewed a pledge to use "all tools" at his disposal to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The Iraqi ambassador said the US plans would fail, as there is no Iraqi opposition force similar to the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, which fought the Taliban regime in Kabul.
   He added that Iraqi officers and opposition representatives exiled in London, who have pledged to overthrow Saddam, "have no influence".
   Russia opposes US military action against Iraq but favors the return of UN arms inspectors to the country in exchange for lifting UN sanctions imposed on Baghdad since its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
   Commenting on Moscow's position, the Iraqi ambassador said: "We respect Russia and its advice, but Iraq is a sovereign country."
    

Rumsfeld orders war plan update, warns about Iraq

 

WASHINGTON, July 16 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said late Monday he had ordered an update of all US contingency war plans, including those outlining possible military action against Iraq.
   He also refused to give any details about the plans, even if President George W. Bush decided to bring about a regime change in Iraq through military means.
   "You do not let anybody in on war plans," Rumsfeld said in an interview on CNBC television. "If you have plans as to how one is going to conduct an operation, you do not let anybody know what those are."
   The defense secretary said he had recently ordered a review of dozens of Pentagon plans for hypothetical battles and other emergency situations that might involve US troops.
   "We're reviewing all of them and updating them," Rumsfeld said. "And we're elevating the risks so that they can be judged, and they can be brought up to an appropriate level of potential value."
   Rumsfeld's comments came as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was poised to begin talks in Ankara with top Turkish officials on security cooperation in the region and Turkey's possible role in US efforts to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
   "We value Turkey's views highly and my colleagues back in Washington will be interested in what I have to report," Wolfowitz said in Istanbul on Sunday.
   The New York Times reported earlier this month that Washington has a secret blueprint for a massive attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
   The plan, described as a preliminary operational "concept," outlines a simultaneous land invasion of Iraq from Turkey, Jordan and the Gulf region supported by massive air strikes against Iraqi targets, including airfields, highways and fiber-optics communications sites, according to the report.
   In his interview, Rumsfeld for the first time reluctantly admitted that such a plan existed but dismissed it as a fruit of labor of a low-level adviser which had received no formal stamp of approval.
   "It was something that was done down at a lower level, either at somebody's request, or not at somebody's request, and it has no official blessing by anybody up at any reasonable level in the government of the United States," said the defense secretary.
   "I've never seen it, General Franks has never seen it. Goodness knows, the president's never seen it," Rumsfeld said.
   General Tommy Franks heads the US Central Command, which is in charge of US military operations in the Middle East and the Gulf region.
   Bush sought to reassure allies worried that the United States might launch a new military campaign without seeking their input.
   "I will continue to communicate and consult with our friends and allies as to every stage of the war as the battle front shifts," Bush told reporters.
   Efforts to dispel speculation were joined by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said Iraq policy was in the hands of only five officials, and the president so far had received no recommendation for a course of action.
   "Until you hear something from the president, or Vice President (Dick) Cheney, or myself, or Secretary Rumsfeld, or Dr. Rice, all these stories are just so much speculation," Powell said on US television.
   Condoleezza Rice is the president's national security adviser. 
   Rumsfeld stressed that the United States cannot remain idle because Iraq and several other countries were trying to develop weapons of mass destruction, which they would not hesitate to use.
   "Is it better to wait until they do it and have a perfect excuse or reason for acting, and you act after 500,000 or a million people are dead?" he said.

 

Iraq vows to defend itself

 

BAGHDAD, July 15 (AFP) - Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on warned on Monday that Baghdad would defend itself against any US attack, and appealed to other Arab countries to show their
solidarity.
   Sabri's warning came shortly after a senior Iraqi lawmaker said the parliament would propose an extraordinary Arab League meeting on the US threats to oust President Saddam Hussein over his alleged weapons of mass destruction programme.
   "Regarding the defence of the dignity and the interests of the nation, there is no flexibility. We will cut off the head of whomever lays their hands on the borders of Iraq," Sabri said on
Iraqi satellite television.
   US President George W. Bush said last week he would use all means at his disposal to oust Saddam, whose country he accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The prospect of US military action was further heightened after talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq broke down early this month.
   Former Iraqi officers in exile and opposition leaders also wrapped up three days of meetings in London on Sunday with a call on the country's army to topple Saddam and said they were setting up a war council to help do so.
   In the face of these threats, Sabri called on Arab countries to show "solidarity with Iraq and take an adequate position to face up to the American aggression and the threats aimed not only at Iraq but (other) Arab countries."
   "In his last speech, Bush did not only cite Iraq ... but he also threatened Syria, Lebanon and other countries," he said.

   In his Middle East speech on June 24, Bush said Syria "must choose the right side in the war on terror by closing terrorist camps and expelling terrorist organizations".
   Washington has also sent diplomatic messages to Syria urging it to use its influence on the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist movement Hezbollah to curb its military operations against Israel in a disputed area on the south Lebanon border.
   Earlier, Salem al-Qubaissi, head of parliament's committee for Arab and international affairs, also revealed an Iraqi plan to try and shore up its regional support to ward off any strike.
   "The National Assembly will propose to Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa the holding of an extraordinary meeting to examine the US threats against Iraq," he told reporters.
   "The National Assembly will also propose to the permanent representatives of Arab countries to request an extraordinary meeting of the (UN) Security Council to discuss the American threats against Iraq," he said.
   He said Iraq would finally urge Arab parliaments to hold their own meetings on the threats.
   Qubaissi told AFP on Sunday that parliament would send  delegations to Arab and Islamic countries as part of an information campaign on the US threats, which he said represent a "violation of the UN charter."
   And in a second air strike on Iraq in as many days, the Pentagon said that warplanes from a US-British coalition struck a mobile radar for a surface to air missile launcher in the south of the country on Sunday.
   Iraq said one person was killed and six wounded as "civilian installations" were struck.

 

US congratulates meeting of exiled Iraqi military officers, shares concerns

 

WASHINGTON, July 15 (AFP) - The United States on Monday congratulated a group of exiled former Iraqi military officers for their weekend meeting in London and said their call for an army revolt to topple Saddam Hussein "sound(ed) like a good idea."
   "We congratulate the participants in the broad-based military conference in London," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
   He called the three-day meeting that wrapped up on Sunday "a useful tool in helping the Iraqi community move closer to the goal of a better future of the Iraqi people after Saddam Hussein."
   "Although we didn't support the conference financially, we support the ideas of the conference," Boucher said.
   Asked whether he had any specific reaction to the officers' call for a  military uprising against Saddam, Boucher replied: "I didn't have any specific reaction to that, but it sounds like a good idea."
   "We share the concerns that were expressed by these opposition military leaders to the plight of the Iraqi people, and any effort toward regime change is designed to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, not to exacerbate it," he said.
   On Sunday, a spokesman for the group said the officers present had decided to set up a war council to assist an internal anti-Saddam revolt among the Iraqi army.
   "We believe the process of change will take place from inside Iraq and that the Iraqi army will have a major role," said Major General Tawfiq al-Yassiri, elected spokesman of the new 15-member council.
   "The main task of this military council is to lead military efforts in the process of change," he said.
   The announcement capped three days of meetings in London by army officers in exile and Iraqi opposition leaders, and it came on the 44th anniversary of the overthrow of Iraq's monarchy.
   Yassiri said the officers had pledged to remove themselves from Baghdad's political scene after any overthrow of Saddam in order to let the Iraqi people decide their own fate.
   Boucher said the United States, which has made no secret of its desire to oust Saddam, wanted to see a new regime in Baghdad that would be responsive to and representative of the Iraqi people.
   "We're seeking an Iraqi government that is broad-based, representative, (that) respects the principles of justice, the rule of law and the rights of the Iraqi people," he said.
   "A regime that can live in peace with its neighbors, complies with Security Council resolutions and maintains Iraq's territorial integrity."

   US President George W. Bush said last week he would use everything at his disposal to oust Saddam, whose country he accuses of being part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and North Korea.
   The prospect of US military action was further heightened after the breakdown of July 4-5 talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq.

 

US attack on Iraq would be "catastrophe," warns Mubarak

 

KUWAIT CITY, July 15 (AFP) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned that a US military strike on Iraq would be a "catastrophe" and heighten tensions in the Middle East, in an interview published here Monday.
   "It will be a catastrophe and it will create a real difficult situation," Mubarak told the Arab Times and its sister newspaper, As-Siyassa.  "They (the United States) will be mistaken if they strike him (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) when our main concern is the well-being of the Iraqi
people," he said.
   "The region cannot bear the burden of more crises and we do not want more tension," he said, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
   US President George W. Bush said last week he would use all means at his disposal to oust Saddam, whose country he accuses of being part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and North Korea.

 

Iraqis must be prepared for war, says Saddam's son

 

BAGHDAD, July 15 (AFP) - President Saddam Hussein's powerful elder son Uday on Monday urged the regime in Baghdad, under threat of a US military strike, to prepare the Iraqi population for war.
   "The Iraqi population must be ... prepared on the psychological, military and national levels to oppose any enemy attack and support the burden of the war that risks being more ferocious than that of 1991," Uday said in reference to the Gulf War over Kuwait.
   In a document presented to parliament at a special session to discuss the threat of US attack, Uday, himself an MP, called for "strict security measures and the satisfaction of the basic needs of citizens" to avoid a repeat of the "treacherous acts" which Iraq witnessed in 1991.
   Uday was referring to the Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq and that of Shiites in the south of the country in March 1991, in the wake of the Gulf War which saw a US-led coalition expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
   He also proposed working in the Arab world towards popular "revolts" if Iraq were to be attacked because, according to him, Arab governments would adopt a "hypocritical attitude, going along with US wishes."
   Iraq should also emphasise "economic interests" in its international relations, notably with France, Russia and Syria, and warn Jordan of the consequences if it were to take part in an attack, he said.
   Such an attack would be launched from neighbouring Iran and Turkey, "which have been, historically, the origin of attacks against Iraq," the president's son said.
   But he did not rule out "Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies taking part in carrying out a US plan against Iraq."

 

Arab League chief says hands-off Iraq

 

AMMAN, July 14 (AFP) - Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa on Sunday said the pan-Arab organisation and its 22 members were opposed to any US strike on Iraq.
   "The Arab League is a gathering of Arab countries and our Arab position is clear ... we cannot back any attack on Iraq or on any Arab country," Mussa told reporters in Amman, the state Petra news agency reported.
   He was speaking after meeting with Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb that focused on the Middle East crisis, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and US threats to change the regime in Iraq over the issue of weapons of mass destruction.
   Abu Ragheb meanwhile reiterated his country's firm rejection of a recent stream of US, British and Lebanese press reports suggesting that Jordan could help the United States attack Iraq, the agency said.
   "The reports saying that Jordanian territory and air space could be used to carry out a military strike on Iraq are totally untrue," said Abu Ragheb, denying anew that any US troops were deployed in Jordan.
   Mussa also expressed his "total conviction that Jordan, like all other Arab countries, is attached to the decision of the (March) Arab summit that rejected any military action against any Arab country," Petra said.
   US President George W. Bush has renewed a pledge to use "all tools" at his disposal to oust Saddam, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   Mussa arrived earlier Sunday in Jordan to attend the opening ceremony of Amman Cultural Capital of the Arab World -- a title bestowed on the Jordanian capital by the UN Education, Science and Culture Organisation for 2002.
   King Abdullah II is expected to attend the official ceremony which will feature a show rich in music, song and dance.

 

Vietnam strongly opposed to US plans to oust Saddam Hussein

 

HANOI, July 14 (AFP) - Vietnam said Sunday it was strongly opposed to US plans to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, arguing that any intervention would be a gross violation of international law.
   "Vietnam is firmly opposed to any military activity against Iraq in an attempt to oust the government of Saddam Hussein," foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said.
   "Iraq is an independent and sovereign nation, a member of the United Nations and its government is elected by the people of Iraq.
   "The intervention of external forces to change the political regime is a gross violation of international law and the UN charter and is unacceptable," she told the state-run Nhan Dan (The People) daily.
   Thanh's comments were in response to remarks last week by US President George W. Bush vowing to use "all tools" at his disposal to remove the Iraqi leader.
   Bush said the world would be a safer place once Saddam had been overthrown, adding that he was personally engaged in "all aspects" of planning to achieve that goal.
   China, Russia and a number of European countries have also within the last week voiced their opposition to any unilateral military action against Iraq.
   The Bush administration has repeatedly threatened to topple Saddam's regime, which it accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   Communist Vietnam has been a consistent opponent of Western policy on Iraq, repeatedly calling for the lifting of UN sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War.
   Hanoi has maintained good relations with Baghdad since the days of the Cold War and wins some 600 million dollars of business a year in exports to Iraq under the UN oil-for-food programme, under which Iraq buys essential goods in return for exports.
   On Saturday US and British warplanes patrolling the sky over southern Iraq struck Iraqi air defense installations in response to anti-aircraft fire, the US Central Command said.

 

Pro-Baghdad group calls for hitting US interests if it attacks Iraq

 

BAGHDAD, July 12 (AFP) - A pro-Iraqi organization urged Arabs on Friday to strike at US interests should Washington carry out its threats to attack Iraq.
   "Political parties, parliaments, trade unions and all nationalist, Islamist and leftist (organizations) across the Arab world and among Arabs in exile should stage protests ... and prepare to resist any aggression against Iraq," said a statement by the secretariat of the Baghdad-based Congress of Arab Popular Forces.
   "They should consider US interests and the (US) presence, as well as the allies and agents who assist (Washington), a target in responding firmly to the forces of evil and strike them with all available means," said the statement obtained by AFP.
   The Congress of Arab Popular Forces, a non-governmental organization, groups a number of Arab political parties, trade unions and other groups that consider themselves nationalist.
   Its secretary general, Saad Qassem Hammudi, is a senior official in Iraq's ruling Baath Party and a former information minister.
   The group's statement also called on Iraq's neighbors to make clear where they stand on reported plans to use their territory as a springboard for a US military offensive against Iraq, saying silence in such conditions amounted to "complicity."
   Kuwait's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah said in remarks published Friday the emirate would not accept to serve as a launching pad for a US attack, one day after Jordan dismissed a stream of foreign press reports suggesting it could be used as a base for such a strike.
   US President George W. Bush this week renewed a pledge to use "all tools" at his disposal to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.

 

France tells US it must forge a consensus on Iraq before military action

 

WASHINGTON, July 11 (AFP) - France on Thursday told the United States that any military move against Iraq could not be done unilaterally and that Washington must forge an international
consensus before taking action.
   Secretary of State Colin Powell said French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin had made Paris' position abundantly clear to him during a meeting and working lunch at the State Department.
   "The minister made the point that as we examine the situation in Iraq, we should do so in the way of full consultations with our friends," Powell said after his talks with de Villepin.
   In addition, de Villepin told Powell the United States had "to make sure that the international community is educated with respect to the dangers associated with Iraq so that a consensus can be developed as to what might be necessary," the secretary said.
   "The minister also made the point that legitimacy with respect to any actions that might be taken was an important factor that should be considered," Powell said in an unusual recitation of the French position on Iraq.
   France has long counseled restraint toward Iraq while US President George W. Bush, who has labelled Iraq one-third of an "axis of evil," has made no secret of his intention to oust Saddam
Hussein.
   De Villepin said France agreed with at least the stated short-term US goals on Iraq -- the return of UN weapons inspectors to the country, but stopped well-short of endorsing Bush's call for regime change in Baghdad.
   "I do believe that on Iraq we share the same objectives, which is to have the Iraqis and Saddam Hussein respect the UN resolution," he said.
   "We do believe that he should be well-inspired in accepting soon the return of the inspectors. I think that is absolutely needed fast."

 

Iraq offers to renovate Lebanese oil refinery, pipeline

 

BAGHDAD, July 11 (AFP) - Iraq has offered to give technical assistance to Lebanon to renovate an oil refinery and pipeline, Lebanese Energy Minister Mohammed Beydoun said Thursday.
   The minister, quoted on Iraqi television, said the offer was made during meetings of the two countries' joint economic commission this week in the Iraqi capital.
   "Lebanon is receive from Iraq technical assistance and expertise for the renovation" of the refinery and a pipeline linking the two countries that transits Syria, he said.
   "Iraqi experts are at the disposal of all Arab states, with Lebanon at the top of the list," said Iraq's Oil Minister Mohammed Rashid.

   The pipeline is currently being used to transport Iraqi crude to two refineries in Syria but the section that passes through Lebanon has been abandoned since 1978.

 

UN coordinator in Iraq blasts retroactive pricing mechanism

 

BAGHDAD, July 11 (AFP) - Outgoing UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Tun Myat on Thursday blasted the UN's retroactive price-fixing system of Iraqi oil for contributing to a serious funding shortfall that will further hamper the oil-for-food programme.
   "One of the largest problems we have is the issue of funding. Funding is now very short," Myat told a press conference in Baghdad ahead of his departure on Monday.
   "We have a serious situation" which is "made worse ... by the retroactive pricing. The pricing of oil is fixed after the shipments have taken place.

   "Irrespective of the rights and wrongs ... the problem is that the humanitarian programme is facin-g a serious funding shortfall," he said. "I think there is going to be a continued downward reduction."
   Last year, Britain and the United States forced a tougher pricing policy on to the Security Council's sanctions committee in response to what they said were attempts by Iraq to charge an illegal premium on its crude.
   The price, which was previously determined at the start of each month by the oil overseers in consultation with the Iraqi oil ministry, is now set retroactively by the committee.
   The system is criticised by Iraqi officials on the grounds it scares away potential customers fearing changes in the oil market over the one-month lapse which might hike the final cost of their delivery.
   Traders argue that the approved prices left them very little premiums. 
   Myat expressed hope that Baghdad and the sanctions committee would "work out their differences and the difficulties associated with the pricing so that we can go back to the days when Iraq can export its maximum potential and be able to maximise the revenue that can be received and go into the oil-for-food programme."
   Iraq's UN-supervised oil exports plunged to 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first six months of 2002 from the targeted 2.2 million bpd.  The funding shortfall meant that "something like 2.2 billion dollars worth of contracts ... have been approved (but) cannot be processed," said Myat, from Myanmar.
   "Letters of credit cannot be opened simply because there is not enough funds available to pay for that.
   "This has been slowly going on for the last two-three phases (of oil-for-food) since the money that has been coming into the fund has consistently been less than what has been estimated in successive phases," he said.
   The sharp decline in crude exports led Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) last month to reduce the premium it levies illegally on oil exports to 15 US cents a barrel from 30 cents for exports to the United States and 25 cents for Europe.
   Under sanctions imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990, Baghdad is not allowed to receive the revenue from its oil sales, which goes into an escrow account and is disbursed directly to suppliers of goods approved under the oil-for-food programme.

 

China opposed to US plans to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein

 

BEIJING, July 11 (AFP) - China on Thursday said it was opposed to US plans to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, arguing that the Middle Eastern country's sovereignty should not be violated.
   "(Iraq's) sovereignty and territorial integrity should be completely respected," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a press briefing. "We maintain that in dealing with state-to-state relations we should abide by the UN Charter and norms governing international relations. We are opposed to the willful threat or use of force," he said.
   Liu's comment came after US President George W. Bush vowed Monday to use "all tools" at his disposal to remove Saddam.
   Bush said that the world would be a safer place once Saddam had been overthrown, adding that he was personally engaged in "all aspects" of planning to achieve that goal.
   The Bush administration has repeatedly threatened to topple Saddam's regime, which it accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The New York Times reported recently that a top secret US military document has outlined a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
   While rejecting any plans to use force to topple Saddam, Liu said Iraq had a commitment to obey instructions from the United Nations.
   "China has always maintained that Iraq should strictly abide by the resolutions of the Security Council," he said.
   Beijing has far closer ties with Baghdad than the West does and for a long time has urged a lifting of sanctions against Iraq, in place since the 1991 Gulf War.
   Analysts say Iraq is keen to cultivate ties with countries like China and Russia so as to help influence negotiations about UN weapons inspections.

 

EU wants proof of Iraq arms program: Italy DM

 

ROME, July 9 (AFP) - EU countries will not consider military intervention against Iraq until they see proof that Baghdad is producing weapons of mass destruction, Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino said Tuesday.
   "It has become evident from the meetings I have had with European colleagues that if the United States were to decide to take action in Iraq, European countries would not take part unless it were already proven clearly and unequivocally that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction," he said.
   "It is only under these circumstances that European countries would consider a possible intervention," he added.
   Commenting on the current international operation in Afganistan, Martino said that there were no plans to broaden the fight against terrorism to Iraq.
   President George W. Bush said Monday that the United States would use "all methods available" to overturn Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
   The New York Times reported Friday that a top secret US military document outlines a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
   Commenting on the report, Martino stressed that the use of the word "plan" was misleading.
   "A plan can be something that you intend to carry out in the short term, that is destined to be put into operation, but it can also be a hypothetical idea that will never be put into practice at all," he said.
    

Dissident Iraqi officer says US likely to strike Baghdad "within months"

 

DUBAI, July 8 (AFP) - The United States will launch a military strike on Iraq "within a few months," a former Iraqi general living in exile said in remarks published Monday.
   "The countdown for the attack has started and it could come within a few months," Najib al-Salhi told the Saudi-owned pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper.
   Salhi, a former commander of the Republican Guard, Saddam Hussein's elite corps, defected in 1995 and is one of 70 former Iraqi officers scheduled to meet in London on July 12-14 to discuss overthrowing the regime in Baghdad.
   Leaks to the US press of possible attack scenarios were a "clear message from Washington to the Iraqis of its determination to overthrow the regime" of the Iraqi leader, Salhi said.
   "Military strikes should aim to root out the head of the regime and not the infrastructure or civilian targets."
   He called on Iraqi opposition groups to "unify their activities ... and cooperate to help set up a democratic regime" in Iraq after Saddam's ouster.
   The US administration has repeatedly threatened to launch a military strike on Iraq to topple Saddam's regime, which it accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The New York Times reported Friday that a top secret US military document outlines a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
   The prospect of US military action was heightened this week after talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq broke down.
    

Iraq and India sign accord to bolster cooperation

 

BAGHDAD, July 7 (AFP) - Iraq and India signed an agreement Sunday to bolster trade ties, including in the oil sector, the two sides announced after a meeting of a joint Iraqi-Indian commission in Baghdad.
   Indian Oil Minister Ram Naik, who presided over the meeting along with his Iraqi counterpart Amer Mohamed Rashid, told the press that the Indian oil firm Oil Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) would soon open offices Baghdad.
   Naik added "work was progressing" on an ONGC oil concession in southern Iraq.
   For his part, Rashid said the accord reached Sunday would boost trade between the two countries.

 

Farrakhan arrives in Iraq to try to prevent US strike

 

BAGHDAD, July 6 (AFP) - US black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan met with two ministers from President Saddam Hussein's government here Saturday, and called for a lifting of the sanctions gripping the country, a state report said.
   "Mr. Farrakhan reaffirmed his solidarity with the Iraqi people and stressed the need to lift the embargo," in place since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the official INA news agency said.
   "The American Muslim people pray for the victory of Iraq, under the leadership of President Saddam Hussein," Farrakhan was quoted as saying during his tours by Health Minister Oumid Medhat Mubarak and Religious Affairs Minister Abdel Moomen Ahmad Saleh.
   The ministers showed Farrakhan the "consequences of the embargo imposed on Iraq, which has caused the deaths of 1.6 million people so far, because of the extreme lack of medicine and supplies," INA said.
   Farrakhan arrived in Iraq earlier Saturday for a trip he says is aimed at preventing a possible US military strike on the country.

   His visit also comes amid a breakdown in talks in Vienna between the United Nations and Iraq on a return of weapons inspectors after a three-year hiatus.
   The United States has threatened to topple Saddam from power as part of its post-September 11 anti-terrorism drive. It accuses his regime of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   But Baghdad has insisted that the crippling embargo must be lifted before UN weapons inspectors can return.

   "We will see what we can do to avoid the escalation of a possible war," Farrakhan, currently on a tour of Islamic countries, told reporters on his arrival in Baghdad overnight.
   Farrakhan, the head of Nation of Islam who once called Adolf Hitler a great man, said he would "do all in his capacity" to prevent war.

Iraqi parliament to hold extraordinary session on US threats

 

 BAGHDAD, July 7 (AFP) - The Iraqi parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting next week focused on US threats against Baghdad, the official INA news agency reported Sunday.
   Parliament "will hold an extraordinary meeting next week to study ways of facing up to the aggressive plans of the US administration of evil against Iraq and the Arab nation," INA said.
   The US administration has repeatedly threatened to launch a military strike on Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein, which it accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
   The New York Times reported Friday that a top secret US military document outlines a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
   The prospect of US military action was heightened this week after talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq broke down.
    US President George W. Bush has labelled Iraq -- along with Iran and North Korea -- as the world's "axis of evil."
            

 

Iraq's UN-supervised oil exports plunge in H1 2002

 

NICOSIA, July 6 (AFP) - Iraq's UN-supervised oil exports plunged to 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first six months of 2002 from the targeted 2.2 million, the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) said in its latest edition.
   "The protracted conflict between the sanctions committee and SOMO (State Oil Marketing Organisation) has reduced Iraqi oil exports under the oil-for-food programme to 1.24 million bpd during the first half of the year, compared to 2.2 million bpd originally set by the Iraqi oil authorities," it said.
   Crude exports averaged 1.71 million bpd in 2001 and 1.92 million bpd in 2000, according to MEES.
   The Cyprus-based newsletter said exports last month averaged only 764,000 bpd, and predicted that the "outlook for July is no better."
   "There has been no lifting of Kirkuk crude so far this month, and only low liftings are scheduled from the Mediterranean in the coming period."
   The low level of oil sales in the current and two previous phases of the UN oil-for-food programme has created a serious funding shortfall for the Iraqi authorities.
   The sharp decline in crude exports led SOMO last month to reduce the premium it levies illegally on oil exports to 15 US cents a barrel from 30 cents for exports to the United States and 25 cents for Europe.
   Under sanctions imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990, Baghdad is not allowed to receive the revenue from its oil sales, which goes into an escrow account and is disbursed directly to
suppliers of goods approved under the oil-for-food programme.
   When Iraq imposed the illegal surcharge last year as a way to earn some direct cash, the UN Security Council responded by fixing the price of Iraqi oil retroactively.
    

Return of UN arms inspectors prelude to US strike on Iraq: FM

 

DUBAI, July 5 (AFP) - Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri charged Friday after the failure of his talks with UN chief Kofi Annan that Washington was only insisting on a return of arms inspectors to assist its planned military action against Iraq.
   "The United States wants a return of inspectors to update the information they provide to their planes and those of Britain to strike the Iraqi people," he told the Arab satellite TV channel MBC based in Dubai.
   "This is a dream which will never come about. These are the colonialist dreams of the evil leaders in Washington," he said, renewing Iraq's demand for a "comprehensive settlement" including a lifting of sanctions.
   In Vienna, UN and Iraqi officials admitted earlier the same day that negotiations had broken down on the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq as a step toward the lifting of the 12-year-old embargo on Baghdad.
   "The Iraqis didn't say yes" to a return of UN weapons inspectors, Annan said after his talks with Sabri.
   The UN would stay in contact with Iraq, Annan said after two days of talks with Sabri at United Nations offices in the Austrian capital. "The Iraqi delegation has to report back but the technical talks will continue," he added.
   "We'll maintain contact," Sabri told a press conference after Annan had left, admitting that the negotiations had failed.
   Baghdad has insisted that the crippling embargo in place since Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait must be lifted before UN weapons inspectors can return.
   "There will be a new round of negotiations," said Annan, but did not give a date or location for the next talks.
   He dissociated himself from United States threats of action against Iraqi President Saddam. "I was not here to stop an attack. I was here to get the inspectors back," Annan said.
    

 

South Africa slams "bully states", sympathises with Iraq

 

 DURBAN, South Africa, July 5 (AFP) - South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma condemned "bully states" Friday, telling Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz South Africans were deeply saddened by the suffering of Iraqis due to 12 years of UN sanctions.
   "We believe that justice and equity will never be achieved whilst the majority of the world is fragmented, disempowered and ignored by bully states, " Zuma declared at a banquet in Aziz's honour in the east coast city of Durban.
   "This is the kind of world order we must continue to seek to change. No part of the world, region or country should give itself a right or authority to decide for others. This we must not allow.
   "We maintain our position that the UN should lift sanctions against Iraq," Zuma said.
   Aziz earlier said his five-day official visit to South Africa was intended to strengthen relations and to discuss the international perspective from their respective positions.
   He told a meeting at the Natal Technikon college campus that Iraq would do everything "within its national capabilities and resources to face the harsh consequences of sanctions," and would remain steadfast in protecting its "independence, sovereignty and integrity against the hegemony and imperialist threats of world powers."
   "This is a necessity in the world," he said: "If the freedom fighters of the different nations of the world do not continue their struggle against tyranny and the double-standards practised against certain nations, they will become slaves."
        

Secret US plan outlines massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq

 

WASHINGTON, July 5 (AFP) - A top secret US military document outlines a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes, The New York Times reported Friday.
   The plan, described as a preliminary "concept" for a war, calls for invading Iraq from the north, south and west with huge air assaults on Iraqi targets, including airfields, roadways and
fiber-optics communications sites.
   None of the countries mentioned in the document as possible staging areas for an attack have been formally consulted, officials told the daily.
   A source familiar with the document described it to the Times saying it was prepared by planners at the US military's Central Command in Tampa, Florida.
   After the September 11 attacks on the United States, US President George W. Bush described Iraq as a sponsor of terrorism and part of an "axis of evil," making it clear that he was planning to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein either by military force or internal opposition.
   After an initial flurry of rumors about an imminent US strike against Iraq, administration officials now say any action would likely take place next year.
   Bush has been briefed twice on the "concept of operations" for a possible attack against Iraq by Central Command General Tommy Franks, the White House told The New York Times.
   Other officials, however, said neither Franks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld nor the Joint Chiefs had been briefed on the highly confidential document revealed to the Times and entitled, "CentCom Courses of Action."
   The source said it was significant not just for what it contained, but for what it does not mention: coalition forces, casualty estimates, whether Saddam is a target and what regime would replace him if he were overthrown.
   In its military aspects, the plan lacks a time line for the start and duration of the attack, the sequencing of air and ground campaigns, precise missions of special operations forces and the possibility of urban warfare in Baghdad.
   The source said the missing details suggest that there are several top secret documents that address different parts of the plan.