and the Iraqis too, what the hell is happening here?
dailynews.yahoo.com
Iraq Hopes Attacks Will Force U.S. Policy Change
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq urged Washington on Sunday to reconsider its foreign policy in the wake
of the attacks on U.S. cities and said the horror was a consequence of American unfairness.
``We hope that American politicians will take this (attack) as a stimulus for quiet reasoning and
reassessment of America's role in the world,'' Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told Reuters.
Sabri refused to comment on whether Iraq, which is on a State Department list of ``state sponsors of
terrorism,'' expected to be a target of U.S. retaliation.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) advised the United States on Saturday to use
wisdom, and not force, in retaliating.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Washington would go after countries that harbor ``terrorists
and their organizations'' in retaliation for the attacks on New York and Washington, which left more
that 5,000 dead and missing.
Rumsfeld did not reveal which countries the United States would target.
A U.S.-led coalition bombed Iraq heavily during the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Iraqi targets
still come under attack by Western planes policing two ``no-fly'' zones in the north and south of the
country.
``It is hoped around the world that U.S. officials and politicians assess in a reasonable manner why the
attack happened to them on a large scale and not to others,'' Sabri said in an interview at his office in
Baghdad.
``If they will do this, they will serve their own security and the security and stability of other nations
around the globe.'' [Sh*t, he sure makes sense to me!, man, doing laundry is a lot more simple I think this foreign affairs sure makes my head spin way too fast sometimes!<g>
The minister said the United Sates brought the attack on itself because it disregarded ``human rights
and the national interest'' of other nations, including Iraq and the Palestinians in revolt against Israeli
occupation.
Iraq has been under U.N. sanctions since it invaded Kuwait in 1990. Washington is a strong proponent
for maintaining the sanctions, despite their damaging effect on the standard of living ordinary Iraqis and
increasing international calls to lift them.
``The regime of sanctions which American officials described as the harshest and most comprehensive
in history could not kill the Iraqi state, society and people,'' the minister said, citing government
commitment to infrastructure projects and rising trade. |
