Posted on 07/10/2002 4:02:41 PM PDT by knighthawk
EU countries will not consider military attack against Iraq until they see proof that Baghdad is producing weapons of mass destruction, Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said on Tuesday. The Russian foreign ministry, meanwhile, said Moscow had not yet been consulted by Washington on any specific US plan to unseat the Iraqi regime as Iraq said the US could not remove President Saddam Hussein from power.
Also Tuesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri accused Hans Blix, the chief UN arms inspector for Iraq, of having blocked, at Washington's behest, last week's talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Vienna.
In Rome, the Italian defence minister said he concluded from meetings with European officials that European countries would not take part in any military action against Iraq without sufficient proof from the US.
“It has become evident from the meetings I have had with European colleagues that if the United States were to decide to take action in Iraq, European countries would not take part unless it were already proven clearly and unequivocally that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction,” he said.
“It is only under these circumstances that European countries would consider a possible intervention,” he added.
President George W. Bush said Monday that the United States would use “all methods available” to overturn Saddam Hussein.
The New York Times reported Friday that a top secret US military document outlines a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
Commenting on the report, Martino stressed that the use of the word “plan” was misleading.
“A plan can be something that you intend to carry out in the short-term, that is destined to be put into operation, but it can also be a hypothetical idea that will never be put into practice at all,” he said.
The Russian foreign ministry, meanwhile, said Moscow had not yet been consulted on any specific US plan to unseat the Iraqi regime.
Reaffirming its strong opposition to any military intervention in Iraq, the ministry said in a statement that it had not yet held any detailed consultations with Washington on the subject. “We do not have any concrete information about some secret plan by the US administration to topple Saddam Hussein, and we are not leading negotiations on this subject,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We firmly believe that an unjustified use of force against Iraq will lead to catastrophic consequences for the whole Middle Eastern region,” the statement added.
In Pretoria, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said on Tuesday the US could not remove President Saddam from power and his country was ready to defend itself against American aggression.
Aziz told reporters after a week-long visit to South Africa that Iraq was not worried by comments on Monday from Bush, who said the US would use all tools at its disposal to oust the Iraqi leader.
“President Bush and his government did not bring the Iraqi leadership to power — therefore they cannot remove the Iraqi leadership from its place because of their own decisions,” he said in reply to a reporter's question.
“The people of Iraq are independent people, they have always made their own decisions and they are capable of defending their own sovereignty and dignity... We are very well prepared to defend the country against any kind of aggression.”
Speculation that the US would attack Iraq to oust Saddam has intensified since talks aimed at putting United Nations weapons inspectors back in the country broke down last week.
Allowing UN inspectors to return after a 3-1/2 year absence is seen as key to lifting UN sanctions against Iraq imposed 12 years ago it invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
In Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri accused Hans Blix, the chief UN arms inspector for Iraq, of having blocked, at Washington's behest, last week's talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Vienna.
“US pressure was exercised to block a rapprochement in the (two sides') points of view. One such obstacle came from Hans Blix,” who attended the talks, Sabri said on his return to Baghdad from the Austrian capital.
Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), “refused detailed discussion on the seven-and- a-half years of inspections,” Sabri said.
“Without an evaluation of what has happened, what the UN considers remains to be done and without agreement on the ways of settling it, we could not go forward,” the minister said.
Two days of talks between Annan and Sabri broke down on Friday without an agreement by Baghdad to accept the return of UN weapons inspectors, barred from the country since they pulled out in December 1998, a precondition for the lifting of the embargo.
Aziz says UN must respect own resolutions
Aziz said Iraq wanted the 15-member UN Security Council to “respect its own resolutions”, and Iraqi officials had highlighted concerns about American plans to attack in talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week.
“We have done our best throughout the 1990s to implement all the provisions and terms imposed on us,” he said.
“There were inspections and monitoring for eight years — they didn't find anything. Iraq is entitled to have the sanctions lifted,” Aziz added.
UN weapons inspectors began regular visits to Iraq shortly after a US-led coalition evicted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991. They withdrew in December 1998, just ahead of a US-British bombing campaign to punish Baghdad for not fully cooperating with their inspections.
Aziz, who was visiting South Africa for the first time, met President Thabo Mbeki, deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad and other top officials during his stay.
He said Baghdad would continue to give preference to companies from impartial countries when awarding business contracts, and had explored ways of expanding trade and economic ties with South Africa during his stay.
“We are giving priority to those countries and governments who are taking a just, fair attitude towards the plight of the Iraqi people and the legal concerns of Iraq. Of course, South Africa is one of those countries,” he said.
“When the US and British aircraft are bombing Iraq...they should not expect us to do business with them.”
Western oil companies are hoping to reap the benefits of patching up Iraqi oilfields when sanctions are lifted. Iraq's massive, low-cost oil reserves are second only to those of Saudi Arabia.
Aziz said Iraq would “always stand in support” of the 53-nation African Union, which was launched in Durban on Tuesday in place of the ineffectual Organisation of African Unity.
NEWSFLASH: The U.N. Weapons Inspectors were ousted from Iraq in 1998... They are the only means of proof! Plus, their ousting violated the Gulf War's Terms of Surrender which Iraq signed. Nice try, EU whores.
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