Posted on 04/04/2002 10:07:20 AM PST by sandlady
DUBAI: Notwithstanding the deterioration of the Middle East crisis in recent days, last week's Arab summit in Beirut proved to be a success at least on one count - Iraq.
While the summit's final statement "categorically" rejected a military strike against Baghdad, bigger gains came by way of a well-orchestrated series of diplomatic coups that President Saddam Hussein's regime unfolded in the presence of 22 countries in Beirut.
First, in the face of US threats, Iraq sought to consolidate reconciliation efforts with its Gulf neighbours by pledging in writing, for the first time, never to repeat its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Second, and equally if not more significant in the immediate context, Iraq's presidential envoy Izzat Ibrahim and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz hugged and kissed...
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In Baghdad, Salim al Kubaisi, head of the Iraqi parliament's foreign and Arab relations committee, hailed the agreement as "a big step towards foiling (American) hostile schemes against Iraq".
Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi analyst, said Baghdad has finally woken up to George W Bush administration's avowed intention to topple Saddam Hussein and is trying to internationalise its standoff with Washington.
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In trying to build on the new camaraderie, Kuwait said it was toning down its media rhetoric against Iraq...
The latent message in the rapprochement is that the Arabs, including the immediate region around Iraq, do not feel any threat from Iraq. It also has an unasked question - why the United States insists on seeing such a threat when the potential targets of that "threat" fail to see it.
Maybe the European history with Nazi Germany could shed a bit of light here. All those countries tried to play "nice" with Hitler. They even signed treaties with they guy... If not for the considerable 'nads of the Brits, and the help of the Americans, they would all be sprechen deutch.
OK, I'll bite...what other embassies did they take over?
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