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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/de/Qyugo-iraq-britain.ROHZ_CO6.html [By linking them to the grisly if mythological Axis of Evil. Can sanctions - and more bombs - be far behind?] Yugoslav army denies report on air defence links with Iraq -The Yugoslav army Sunday denied a British newspaper report that Yugoslav radar and weapons systems experts were helping Iraqi air defences ahead of anticipated US and British air attacks. -Yugoslavia was "determined to return to the international community and to join the (NATO) Partnership for peace programme," the official stressed. BELGRADE, Oct 6 (AFP) - The Yugoslav army Sunday denied a British newspaper report that Yugoslav radar and weapons systems experts were helping Iraqi air defences ahead of anticipated US and British air attacks. "Our army officers are not there, and there is no official assistance (to Baghdad) and I personally think there are no unofficial arrangements," army spokesman Dragan Velickovic, told Beta news agency. Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported that Yugoslav experts, still resentful over 1999 NATO bombings on Yugoslavia, had been assisting Iraqis to organize their air-defence systems. "This is obviously not true, and such claims are frivolous," Velickovic said. Yugoslavia was "determined to return to the international community and to join the (NATO) Partnership for peace programme," the official stressed. "The state and the (Yugoslav) government have decided to take us into the Partnership for peace and all these prove that organizing something like assistance to Iraq would be completely inappropriate," he added. Ties between Belgrade and Baghdad strengthened during the regime of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, partly due to Western sanctions which crippled both countries. Iraq, whose military targets have been repeatedly bombed by US and British jets since the 1991 Gulf War, backed Belgrade diplomatically against NATO during the alliance's 1999 air war on Yugoslavia. Baghdad strongly condemned Milosevic's extradition to a UN war crimes court in The Hague last year, describing the court as "an instrument in the hands of America and the West." Since Milosevic's ouster in 2000, Belgrade reformist authorities have distanced themselves from Baghdad, but the allies of the former strongman have still kept links with Saddam Hussein and his regime. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
