World Reacts with Praise, Criticism
LONDON (March 20) - The opening salvos of the Iraq war on Thursday earned the United States polite applause from some traditional allies, expressions of regret from others and furious condemnation from its usual enemies.
In the Islamic world opposition was the norm but not quite total. Iran, Iraq's neighbor and once listed by President Bush on the same ''axis of evil,'' called the attack ''unjustifiable and illegitimate.''
''The continued disregard for public wisdom by the United States will completely ruin the valuable achievements by governments and nations over half a century to consolidate cooperation for peace,'' Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said.
Iran said its airspace was closed to ''belligerent forces.''
Tehran has little sympathy for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, with whom it fought a war in the 1980s, but opposes a military campaign to topple him arguing that it will increase instability in the Middle East.
Turkey's close military alliance with the United States has been badly strained by its refusal to allow its soil to be used as a launchpad for an invasion of northern Iraq.
''The United Nations Security Council process on Iraq should have been allowed to finish. I do not find it right that the U.S. behaved unilaterally before that process ended,'' President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said.
The Turkish parliament was due to vote later on a resolution to allow U.S. warplanes to use Turkish airspace.
The timing of the missile attack on Iraq, in the early hours, meant the first government responses were in east Asia. Malaysia's surpassed most in anti-American invective, deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi calling the attack ''a black mark in history'' with ''the world now seeing might is right.''
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri said the world's most populous Muslim country ''strongly denounced'' the strike and called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Pakistan said it opposed war and would continue pushing for peace. Murid Timasaen, spokesman for Thailand's Muslims for Peace Group, said Americans would never live in peace again.
BUSH A ''REAL MAN''
But many in Muslim Kuwait, invaded by Iraq in 1990 and freed by U.S.-led forces, said they were relieved to see what they hoped was the beginning of the end of Saddam.
''Bush is a real man,'' Ahmad Hussein Ahmad said, fiddling with the prayer beads in his hand. ''His dad liberated Kuwait and now the son will liberate Iraq.''
Few elsewhere in the Arab world shared those sentiments.
''This war is a sin,'' said Cairo taxi driver Youssef, adding that Saddam had ''a head of stone.''
''The people will pay the price,'' said Atef, a Beirut concierge. ''Saddam is like Osama (bin Laden). Even if they spend their whole lives searching for him, they won't find him.''
Palestinian minister Saeb Erekat expressed concern that Israel might intensify a crackdown against a Palestinian uprising while the world's attention was diverted. The militant group Hamas called for an anti-U.S. jihad.
The United States closed its embassy in Jordan and urged Americans in Lebanon to consider leaving.
China surprised analysts who expected it to issue only moderate criticism for the sake of good relations with Washington. Instead it called for a halt to ''a violation of the U.N. charter and the basic norms of international law.''
Praise for the U.S. attack was much more restrained than the criticism. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, putting a security alliance with the United States ahead of public opinion, reiterated his moral backing for Washington.
''At this time...I understand, and I support the start of the use of force by the United States,'' he told a news conference.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed support and added: ''We will make diplomatic efforts to ensure that this war does not worsen our relations with North Korea.''
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, like Japan and South Korea a beneficiary of U.S. military protection for half a century, said Manila gave political and moral support, calling it ''part of the coalition of the willing.''
Tens of thousands of Australians protested against the war, in which Australian troops are taking part.
Britain said its forces, by far the most numerous in the coalition against Iraq after the Americans, played no part in the attack. Prime Minister Tony Blair convened a war cabinet.
Spain, which has sent a hospital ship and 900 personnel, was also holding a meeting of ministers but anti-war groups and trade unions planned demonstrations and symbolic strikes. Bulgaria, also providing military help, expressed backing.
Elsewhere in Europe there was little support for the attack.
France's National Assembly briefly suspended its Thursday session in a symbolic protest. President Jacques Chirac said the war would have ''serious consequences for the future.''
Germany said the outbreak of war ''sparked grave concern and dismay in the federal government.'' Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said his country was ''profoundly disappointed'' and said Iraqis were ''caught between the anvil and the hammer.''
EU President Greece said it regretted the crisis had not been solved peacefully and with international unity.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said his government ''expresses regret that the Iraqi crisis is being resolved by military means without a decision by the U.N. Security Council, that is to say by the system of international security.'' Moscow urged all Russians to leave Iraq at once.
In world markets, stocks and the dollar see-sawed and demand was high for safe haven bonds. Oil prices hit three-month lows.
Reut06:52 03-20-03
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. |
