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

To: ForYourEyesOnly who wrote (16326)	3/6/2003 8:31:11 AM
From: E. T.	Respond to of 25898

'Curse be upon your moustache' Muslim nations meet Ghaida Ghantous Reuters, with files from The Associated Press Thursday, March 06, 2003 DOHA, Qatar - An emergency summit here that was meant to draw the Islamic world together in an attempt to avert a U.S.-led war against Iraq descended instead into furious invective yesterday with an Iraqi delegate telling a Kuwaiti delegate "Shut up, you monkey," and "Curse be upon your moustache." The meeting began with Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam Hussein's deputy, delivering a scathing speech against the U.S. and accusing Kuwaiti leaders of "plotting with Zionism against Iraq." When a Kuwaiti delegate rose to interrupt the attack, Mr. al-Douri lashed back with a quote that has been variously translated as "You are small, a valet and a monkey," and "Shut up you minion, you (U.S.) agent, you monkey." He went on to describe Kuwait's Foreign Minister, Sheik Sabah al- Ahmed al-Sabah, as "swaggering and rude," and accused him of plotting with Zionism and "threatening Iraq's security at the core" by allowing U.S. troops on his land. A Kuwaiti delegate responded that the insults were "the words of an infidel and a charlatan," as the two sides shouted and gesticulated angrily at each other. Kuwait's Information Minister, Sheik Ahmed Fahd al-Ahmed, then leaped up and waved a small Kuwaiti flag that had been on the desk. "The Iraqis always behave like this," he said later. The invective was not unusual -- it was the latest in what has become a spate of heated exchanges. "Things are definitely tense. Tempers are very high," said Stephen Zunes, a Middle East expert and politics professor at the University of San Francisco. On Monday, Libya recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia after an unprecedented public exchange of insults between the Saudi Crown Prince and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at an Arab summit in Egypt. Col. Gaddafi said "King Fahd would co-operate with the devil" to protect his country, a slur that was deeply insulting since Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed and the site of Islam's two holiest shrines. Crown Prince Abdullah, the King's brother and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler because King Fahd is ill, holds the revered position of custodian of the shrines. "Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country and not an agent of colonialism like you and the others," Prince Abdullah retorted. "Your lies precede you, while the grave is ahead of you." And in a televised appearance in January, Saddam Hussein delivered an almost poetic speech to his people on the 12th anniversary of the outbreak of the Gulf War. "Baghdad, its people and leadership, is determined to force the Mongols of our age to commit suicide at its gate. "Everyone who tries to climb over its wall, be they an aggressor, insolent, wicked, perfidious or an oppressor, will fail in their attempt," he said. "With the banner flying, raise high your swords and rifles, our dear people. "How can a new Hulago [Mongol leader] destroy the city or the great Iraq and how can the brutal, the perfidious and the greedy, after God has ordained this nation to rise again, defeat the will of determination of your brothers in Palestine?" Yesterday's clash at the summit in Qatar ended when the Qatar state broadcaster shut down transmission. Muslim leaders had hoped the emergency summit of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) would send a clear message opposing an attack on Iraq. But no new initiatives to halt the drive toward war were discussed and the summit agreed on only a broad statement on Iraq that said diplomacy should be given more time. "Islamic countries would not participate in any military action which targets the security and territorial integrity of Iran or any Muslim country," according to a statement read out at the end of the summit. In fact, several Gulf states plus OIC member Turkey host U.S. forces and bases that would be used in an attack on Iraq. As Muslim leaders flew out of Doha, U.S. heavy transport aircraft were flying in, continuing the military buildup. nationalpost.com{1BCAC7EE-BE29-4605-92C9-D76C0293F8D9}