Posted on 03/30/2008 11:44:41 PM PDT by freedom44
DAMASCUS, March 29 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged fellow Arab leaders on Saturday to improve ties with non-Arab Iran, saying it was not in their interest to antagonise the Islamic republic.
"You have no escape from Iran. It is a neighbour and Muslim brother and it is not in your interest to be its enemy. We have no interest at all in turning Iran against us," Gaddafi told an Arab summit meeting in Damascus.
A strengthening alliance between host Syria and Iran have deepened divisions in the run up to the summit, which is being attended by Iran's foreign minister but shunned by pro-U.S. Arab leaders, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Tensions have also heightened in the region over Iran's nuclear row with the West and Tehran's alleged interference in Iraq and its backing of Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group in its standoff with the pro-Western Lebanese government.
Gaddafi said Iran and the Arab world had historic relations that could not be ignored, with a sizeable Iranian minority in Gulf Arab countries.
He said the United Arab Emirates should seek international arbitration to solve a dispute with Iran over three Gulf islands which Tehran controls but are claimed by the UAE.
"Solve the issue peacefully," Gaddafi said. "Are these islands the only thing we have lost? Arab dignity, Arab future and past have been lost."
President George W. Bush tried to shore up Gulf Arab support against Iran during a visit to the region in January. But Gulf states, which share a strategic waterway crucial to world oil flows with Iran, expressed little public backing to Bush's call.
Gaddafi said it was important for the summit to convene in Damascus despite a regional rift, adding that Arabs have failed to produce a meaningful union after decades of meetings.
"We are at crossroads. The Turks have their country, the Persians have Iran, the Arabs cannot prove their worth because they do not have a (unified) Arab state."
Without a union, Gaddafi predicted Arab countries to turn into "spheres of influence, protectorates ..."
"The only thing that gathers us is this (summit) hall."
Gaddafi is still a goofball but a dangerous one.
btw, has anyone noticed how many Libyans seem to turn up in Al Qaeda in Iraq?? I just heard on the radio today that 21% of outside terrorists in Iraq have been Libyan - could that really be happening on that scale without any regime approval, or is Libya still in the terrorism business even though Gaddafi pretends to have reformed?
(of course, the biggest problem is still from Saudi which has produced a majority of outside terrorists coming into Iraq, but that’s another discussion)
Whenever he talks, the theme to Benny Hill should be playing in the background.
A trail of destruction.
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