Baghdad convinced world is on its side
Saddam's inner circle takes heart from inability of US to win UN backing for resolution threatening military action
BAGHDAD - As Iraq confronts the possibility of a new war with the United States, its leaders feel that they have one decisive advantage that they lacked during the Gulf War 12 years ago.
This time, they seem convinced, the world is on their side and against the US.
'The world has abandoned America; it has become isolated,' Mr Saddam Hussein's No. 2 man, Mr Izzat Ibrahim, boasted.
Along with other leaders in Baghdad, Mr Izzat accused the US of warmongering, threatening not only Iraq but the entire Middle East.
Mr Saddam's inner circle has also taken heart from the inability so far of the US to win UN backing for a resolution threatening military action against Iraq.
In 1991, by contrast, a broad coalition of more than 30 nations formed under American leadership, and under an unambiguous Security Council resolution, to eject Iraqi occupation forces in Kuwait.
Iraqi leaders said last week that France and Russia were proving the depth of their 'friendship' for Iraq by voicing objection to the US-led campaign.
Without doubt, the international mood seems better for Iraq than it has in years. Opprobrium over the Kuwait invasion has long since faded, although Baghdad has defied many of the terms imposed on it by the UN after the war.
Also, in a move to get his people on his side in the face of a US-led attack, Mr Saddam yesterday announced an amnesty for all Iraqi prisoners as a 'thank you' to the nation for re-electing him.
The 'full and complete and final amnesty' applied to 'anyone imprisoned or arrested for political or any other reason'.
Even those convicted of murder will be spared if the victims' families agreed to it.
Also, those convicted of theft would have to work out a way to repay their victims before being released.
And soldiers accused of desertion and those awaiting execution of their death sentences were included.
'We are shifting the responsibility of reforming them to their families and society after we have provided them with this opportunity. We ask God that we will not regret this decision,' a government statement said. -- New York Times, AP |
