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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Huang who wrote (6552)	2/8/2003 10:02:26 AM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25898

U.S. Presence in Persian Gulf Worse Than Iraqi Arms: Rafsanjani TEHRAN -- Chairman of the arbitrative Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said here on Friday that the U.S. presence in the Middle East region was worse than Iraqi access to weapons of mass destruction, IRNA reported. "We agree with disarming the Iraqi government, but the Islamic Republic of Iran is explicitly opposed to the presence of America in the Middle East region," he told thousands of worshipers at the weekly Friday prayers. "We believe that long-range missiles as well as chemical, biological and nuclear arms must not be put at the disposal of the Iraqi Baath Party, since they have shown that they are not committed (to any principles)," the former Iranian president said. "But, the American presence in the Middle East is worse than the weapons of mass destruction being in Saddam's hands," Rafsanjani added. "We oppose weapons of mass destruction being at Iraq's disposal, but we know that if this issue is not properly dealt with, it will have a reverse result," he said. The cleric also refuted any unilateral American move against Iraq, saying it was up to the United Nations to pressure Saddam Hussein to come clean with its arms programs. "UN can take such arms from Iraq under the approval of the Security Council, but the Iraqi disarmament is a different business from what is in the minds of American rulers. "And we know very well that if America dominates Iraq, it will use the same arms against Iraq's neighbors," Rafsanjani said as he called the Iraqi issue an "international crisis". The official also lashed out at arrogant U.S. approach toward world issues, saying Washington had turned into a threat to the world peace. "The warmongering policy of America which has adopted a unilateral policy of bullying ... after the fall of former Soviet Union has made the world's atmosphere very insecure." The United States is very serious with its military buildup in the Middle East region since it consumes 25 percent of the world's energy, while it produces only half of its energy demands, Rafsanjani said. "In America's eyes there is no better (energy) reserve than the Middle East. Thus, Washington thinks it has to have physical presence in the region in order to control it, but this is another blunder of the Bush administration". The cleric said he agreed with U.S. Senate minority leader Tom Daschle who has described President George W. Bush as the "most irresponsible and adventurous president of the American history". "What Daschle has said is quite true since the American president makes a speech when he wakes up every morning to frighten the people around the world and show up its military might," Rafsanjani said. "America has recently threatened Iraq with an atomic attack. This is the worst type of declaring a war. That a person threatens a nation with a nuclear attack shows that his claims of purging the world from weapons of mass destruction is futile," he added. "What goes on in the minds of American rulers is very different from what they say," the official said. The former Iranian president also described the Camp David peace treaty between Arabs and Israel as the "most disgraceful accord of the world". "This was the most harmful commitment which some Arab countries sealed with Israel and broke the back of the Palestinian people," he said. "One of the impacts of this treaty was that (it led to) the brazen killing of Muslims and the Palestinian people at the hands of Israeli (troops) under the shameless of eyes of those who boast of human r