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Roundup: Kuwait unwilling to be a launching pad against Iraq, while urging Iraq to implement UN reso ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Xinhuanet 2002-07-18 22:09:22 KUWAIT CITY, July 18 (Xinhuanet,by Hong Man) -- The Gulf oil-rich kingdom Kuwait, a close ally of the United States and an arch-foe of Iraq, has repeatedly voiced its opposition to serve as a launching pad against Baghdad, while urging its neighbor to implement relevant UN resolutions. Last week, Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Salem Al-Sabah stressed that the state will not accept to serve as a launching pad for a US attack on Iraq. "The mission of US troops deployed in Kuwait is well known...It is to defend our land and national sovereignty ... Kuwait does not agree to an attack on Iraq being launched from its territory," the minister said. He also denied reports that Washington has concluded intensive negotiations with Kuwait about using its territory and airspace to carry out an attack on Iraq and topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "Nothing of the sort happened," he said, referring to a news report that the United States has been in contact with four regional states, including Kuwait, to use their territories and airspace for an attack on Iraq. US President George W. Bush has recently renewed a pledge to use "all tools" at his disposal to oust Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction, sparking suspicions that a US-led military action will be launched against Iraq. The prospect of US military action was even further heightened after talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the return ofweapons inspectors to Iraq broke down earlier this month. A US-led international coalition of ground forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in February 1991. Kuwait and the United States signed a defense contract after theGulf War. Around 8,000 troops are still based in Kuwait, most of them are stationed in Camp Doha, west to Kuwait City. The military base is home to about 2,000 US troops with M-1A1 Abrams tanks, M2-A2 Bradley infantry vehicles, surface-to-surface missiles, self-propelled cannons, Patriot anti-missile batteries and Apache attack helicopters. US F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons use a Kuwaiti air base to launch patrol missions over the no-fly zone in southernIraq. The US State Department listed Iraq as a "state sponsor of terrorism," along with Cuba, Libya, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Since the beginning of this year, several top US officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, visited the Gulf region and Kuwait was one leg of each tour. Analysts say that the main goal of the US officials' visit is torally support for a military strike against Iraq. But all the countries the US officials have visited voiced theirstrong opposition to any military actions against Iraq. Meanwhile, Kuwait, although expressing opposition to US militarystrike against Iraq, repeatedly urged Iraq to implement relevant UNresolutions. On Monday, Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Suleyman Al-Jarallah warned that Iraq would pose a threat to Kuwaitand the region as long as it fails to implement outstanding UN resolutions. He reiterated Kuwait's insistence on UN resolutions, particularly the release of Kuwaitis prisoner and those missing since the 1991 Gulf War, an issue on which he said Iraq has shown no "flexibility." Also on Wednesday, Al-Jarallh stressed that the state will not contemplate turning a "new page" in relations with Iraq until Baghdad releases Kuwaiti prisoners. If Iraq releases the Kuwaiti prisoners, "then we can talk about a new page. Otherwise I don't think there is a new page," he said. Al-Jarallah was reacting to a statement by Saddam Hussein on Tuesday that Baghdad wanted to "turn a new page in the history of our inter-Arab relations." Relations between Iraq and Kuwait have remained severe and tenseafter Iraq invaded the small oil-rich neighbor in August, 1990. Kuwait maintains that Iraq is still holding more than 600 peopleof its own and other countries' nationals who disappeared during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and 90 percent of them are Kuwaitis. Iraqi officials have admitted that their country took prisoners,but they have lost track of them during a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq following the retreat of Iraqi troops from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War. Baghdad, meanwhile, alleged that Kuwait has withheld informationon the fate of 1,142 Iraqis missing in the Gulf War. However, in a final declaration of the Arab Beirut summit held in late March, Iraq affirmed its respect for Kuwait's "independence, sovereignty and security" and pledged to avoid "all that could repeat what happened in 1990." Enditem --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org 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 ==^================================================================
