Insults fly at Arab summit
smh.com.au
March 26 2003
With images of bloodied Iraqi civilians and a defiant Saddam Hussein blanketing television screens across the Middle East, Arab nations have called for the immediate withdrawal of the United States from Iraq.
However, the Arab League foreign ministers, meeting on Monday, agreed on little else to placate the growing numbers of protesters on their streets.
The Arab League meeting is the first since the war began and it put all the tensions and fears of the region on display, featuring short-tempered exchanges and barely disguised rudeness.
As ministers met in an ornate hall on one side of Tahrir Square, an accountant named Abdel Salam Abdel Moneim watched the war on television in a nearby cafe. "To Saddam, if 10 Iraqis die and one American dies, it's a victory," he said.
The Arab League foreign ministers said no Arab state should "participate" in military operations against Iraq, a formula that stopped short of condemning the countries that are allowing US troops to operate from their territory.
More radical states, principally Syria, demanded the expulsion of all foreign troops from the region. Jordan, which has been importing Iraqi oil at bargain prices for years, shattered relations on Sunday by expelling three Iraqi diplomats for what it called internal security reasons.
Syria's decision prompted Iraq's foreign minister to scornfully accuse Jordan of meekly following US orders.
Qatar's delegate, Hamad bin Jassim Jabr al-Thani, walked out of the meeting an hour after it got under way behind closed doors. Qatar is the site of the coalition's Central Command for the attack on Iraq. |
