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It's on the Breaking News Sidebar
Posted on 10/13/2003 12:04:25 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
PUTRAJAYA (AFP) - The bombings that killed at least six people in Baghdad Sunday were the work of "terrorists" out to derail Iraq's speedy return to normalcy, Iraq's interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said here Monday. Zebari also reiterated the Iraqi Governing Council's opposition to the participation of Turkish troops in an international peacekeeping force, and said the withdrawal of US forces from the country should be gradual. The security situation is a main challenge. There are many elements from the old regime, remnants of the defeated regime, plus some terrorists who have their own agenda, trying to stop this new Iraq progress towards freedom, towards stabilisation," he said.
Speaking to reporters in Malaysia, where he is attending a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Zebari pointed out that most of the victims of Sunday's "evil acts" were Iraqi civilians. US military spokesman George Krivo said in the Iraqi capital at least six people were killed and 10 seriously wounded in the car-bomb attack outside the Baghdad Hotel, which is used by members of Iraq's Governing Council and American contractors Responding to calls from OIC officials for an end to the US occupation of his country, Zebari said Iraq's return to full democracy following the ouster of Saddam Hussein earlier this year would take time.
"We share this view but we feel that this needs to be done in a gradual, in a phased way so the new Iraq would be stable, prosperous, open, democratic and in control of the security situation," he said. "Nobody should question the Iraqi people's willingness and desire to regain their sovereignty and full independence. But we understand that at the same time, it's not easy, it's a complex issue and will need to be done in a gradual way." At the opening of a meeting of OIC foreign ministers Monday ahead of their leaders' summit later in the week, the speakers pressed the United States to commit itself to a specific timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq.
Zebari said the process has already started with the setting up of the US-backed council and the appointment of a cabinet, while steps were being taken to write a new constitution. He repeated the council's opposition to the participation of troops from Turkey, Iraq's neighbour to the north and a fellow member of the OIC, in an international peacekeeping force. "We in the Governing Council and the people of Iraq feel very strongly that none of Iraq's neighbouring countries should participate in peacekeeping missions because of the sensitivity that this action will have on the people of Iraq," he said.
Iraq understood the need to bring in international troops "but there has to be a formula where our sensitivities can be accommodated with the needs of the coalition for more peacekeeping forces to participate." "We are, at this stage, discussing this issue with Ankara, the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) and Washington to find an acceptable formula." Requests by the coalition and the Governing Council for Islamic countries to participate in the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq have received a lacklustre response, he said.
"There have been requests by the coalition and by even Iraq's Governing Council for Islamic countries to participate in the reconstruction, rebuilding of Iraq, of stabilising Iraq. "So I think the Governing Council would welcome any contribution but the indications we are getting so far, although I have not been here for long, are not that encouraging."
"There have been requests by the coalition and by even Iraq's Governing Council for Islamic countries to participate in the reconstruction, rebuilding of Iraq, of stabilising Iraq. So I think the Governing Council would welcome any contribution but the indications we are getting so far, although I have not been here for long, are not that encouraging."
Is anyone really surprised? The other Islamic states would rather be incinerated in nuclear fireballs than lend a hand to an American client state. For the Great Satan to succeed at liberating and revitalizing Iraq will make all the Islamic satrapies look like exactly what they are: medieval barbarisms in thrall to an evil totalitarian ideology that masquerades as a religion.
And don't you just love the subtle use of demeaning quotes around "terrorist"?
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason:
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Amen.
Iraq's interim Foreign Minister is a brave man. Standing up to the OIC nations who demand - against the will of the Iraqi people - that the US pull out of Iraq, and that there be more 'neighborhood' involvement from Saddam's former accomplices.
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You nailed it RC!!
A free Iraq?! There goes the neighborhood!
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