Iraq Envoy Insults Kuwait at Muslim Summit on War
Wed March 5, 2003 05:28 AM ET
By Ghaida GhantousDOHA (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's right-hand man, Izzat Ibrahim, lashed out at U.S. ally Kuwait on Wednesday, calling its representative at an emergency Islamic summit in the Qatari capital Doha a "monkey" and a "traitor."
"Shut up you minion, you (U.S.) agent, you monkey. You are addressing Iraq," spat out Ibrahim, the second-in-command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, as the unidentified Kuwaiti delegate tried to interrupt his tirade.
The live television broadcast of the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit's opening speeches was cut off as the shouting erupted and the Kuwaiti delegation briefly walked out.
"You are insolent. You are a traitor to the Islamic nation," Ibrahim added as Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani shouted him down.
The official from Kuwait, which was liberated from Iraqi occupation in 1991 by a U.S.-led force -- and is now host to thousands of U.S. troops preparing for a new war on Iraq -- tried to shout back but could not be heard over the fray.
But after Ibrahim was silenced, the Kuwaiti said "These are all lies. These are the words of an infidel and a charlatan."
Ibrahim is said to be among Iraqi leaders earmarked for capture or killing in case of a U.S. invasion of Iraq -- and the summit put him in easy range of U.S. troops in Qatar.
The summit venue is a hotel used by the U.S. military to arrange media coverage of a possible war, and the U.S. base on the other side of Doha houses several thousand U.S. troops and the headquarters which would direct any attack on Iraq.
Ibrahim was among leaders and senior officials from the world's Islamic states meeting to try to rally the voices of one billion Muslims against war on Iraq.
In his speech, he reminded delegates his country had suffered 12 years of U.N. sanctions, which he said was much more than what Kuwait had gone through.
IRAQ 'STILL HARBOURS ENMITY'
Kuwaiti Information Minister Sheik Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Ahmad told reporters outside the chamber "this proves that Iraq still harbours enmity toward Kuwait." He said Kuwait would lodge a formal protest with the OIC but was not withdrawing from the one-day summit.
"It will take a miracle to resolve the Iraq crisis and this miracle is in the Iraqis' hands," the Kuwaiti minister said. "But time is running out."
The outburst underlined the improbability of any war-stopping initiative from the extraordinary summit of the 56-member OIC.
Only a quarter of the countries in the world's largest Islamic grouping sent their heads of state. Some warned it might only serve to underline their diplomatic impotence.
Osama al-Baz, an aide to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said he did not expect new proposals.
Host nation Qatar said it hoped the summit would at least send a strong message to Baghdad and Washington that Muslim nations wanted every effort made to end the crisis peacefully.
OIC Secretary General Abdelouahed Belkeziz said the Islamic nation "with all its political weight, power and resources" could makes its voice heard if it was united and sincere.
Recent Muslim summits have been marred by arguments and two Muslim initiatives to prevent war have been discarded.
At the Arab League summit in Cairo on Saturday a row exploded between the Saudi and Libyan delegations, and the final resolutions were watered down to appease all attendees.
This is what we have to look forward to if the rats ever get control of the government again. That could mean both the behavior and Islamic rule.
Seriously, these are good times compared to what may come, people. Adults in charge and all. Imagine if Hillary does get elected? Thank God now while you still can without getting shot.