----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2001 6:55 PM Subject: World Condemns US-UK Axis For Iraq Attacks [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Build a marketing database and send targeted HTML and text e-mail newsletters to your customers with List Builder. http://www.listbuilder.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, February 18 1:37 AM SGT US, Britain roundly denounced as heavy-handed after Baghdad raid NICOSIA, Feb 17 (AFP) - The United States and Britain were condemned Saturday from almost every corner of the globe following an air raid over Baghdad, with officials and media accusing Washington and London of overreaching their power and showing disregard for civilians. The strike distanced the United States from nearly all of its Middle East allies, with only Israeli and Kuwaiti officials commenting indirectly on the the operation. Some of the toughest criticism came from Russia, whose Middle East envoy Alexander Saltanov said on a visit to Syria that "the strikes will not produce any positive results." In Moscow, defense ministry official General Leonid Ivashov said the attack "leaves Russia in no doubt" that Washington is seeking to "monopolize the role of being a world policeman." "What the American military is in the process of doing, at the beginning of the new US administration, is a threat to international security and the entire international community," Ivashov told the Interfax news agency. Iraq says two people were killed and 20 wounded in the Friday raid, the first on the Iraqi capital in more than two years, which the Pentagon said was ordered to stem an increased threat from air defenses to US and British aircraft enforcing flight restrictions in southern Iraq. In China, foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao condemned the air attacks and expressed Beijing's "deep regrets to the innocent civilians killed and injured by this." France, the other permanent member of the UN Security Council, also criticized the air raids, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying Paris has several times expressed "incomprehension and disappointment" at the strikes. France stopped participating in US and British air patrols in southern Iraq in December 1998, citing humanitarian concerns. Middle East condemnation of the raid was led by Iran, where official Radio Tehran denounced "signs of the adventurism of the new administration of George W. Bush, ... (who) is seeking to demonstrate his strength against Saddam Hussein." In Cairo, Arab League secretary general Esmat Abdel Meguid said the attacks had "no justification" and provoked "angry sentiments and discontent in the Arab world." The Egyptian parliament declared its "condemnation of any aggression against the Iraqi people." Anger over the raids fed passions in the Palestinian territories, where thousands of demonstrators held up Saddam portraits and set ablaze the US, British and Israeli flags and pictures of Bush. Some protesters clashed with Israeli troops, although no one was injured. Many Palestinians considered Saddam a hero during the 1991 Gulf War, when Baghdad fired Scud missiles at Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city. In Israel, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh warned that "the threats and risks coming from Iraq should not be minimized." "For two and a half years there has not been the slightest international control in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein has produced weapons of mass destruction and missiles with impunity and is trying to obtain nuclear arms," Sneh told Israeli radio. Warplanes raiding Baghdad flew out of Kuwait, whose Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah stressed that "the victims of the oppression of the Iraqi regime are the Iraqi and the Kuwaiti peoples." But Kuwait, which Iraq occupied from August 1990 until a US-led coalition drove it out in the Gulf war, tried to keep a low profile, saying it "has never and will never interfere in Iraq's internal or external affairs." There was no immediate reaction from Saudi Arabia, where US and British planes are also stationed. But Turkey, the base for the planes enforcing no-fly zones over northern Iraq, expressed regret "that civilians were affected." "Ten years after the Gulf War, there is still no peace and stability in Iraq. ... Therefore, the new US administration should review with Turkey the Iraq question at first opportunity," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said. In Jordan, a key US ally which also has close ties to Iraq, more than 200 people demonstrated their support outside the Iraqi embassy, while Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib said Amman "never condones the use of military force against Iraq." "Anything related to Iraq's military capability should be handled within the context of the Security Council resolutions," Khatib said. He was speaking alongside visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland, who called the raids "unfortunate" but called on Saddam to "now comply with all UN resolutions so that one could suspend the sanctions against Iraq." Opposition to the Baghdad raid also united India and Pakistan, which both insisted the operation was in violation of international resolutions and caused civilians unjustifiable suffering. Cuba called the raid part of a "long series of criminal and hostile actions which various US administrations have carried out against Iraqi territory." One rare voice in support of the raids was Canada, where a foreign ministry spokesman said Ottawa backs "all means necessary to ensure that the military forces under the regime of Saddam Hussein do not resume their assaults on the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Shiite population." US media were mostly favorable toward the strike, with The Washington Post praising "a welcome reinvigoration" of Iraq policy and The New York Times calling the raid "a timely signal to Saddam Hussein that the Bush administration ... will not shy away from using force to contain any new Iraqi military threat." ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
