Posted on 07/12/2002 1:32:56 PM PDT by knighthawk
KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwait will not accept to serve as a launching pad for a U.S. attack on former occupier Iraq, a Kuwaiti minister said in remarks published Friday.
"The mission of U.S. troops deployed in Kuwait is well known...
It is to defend our land and national sovereignty... Kuwait does not agree to an attack on Iraq being launched from its territory," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah told the daily ***Al-Rai al-Aam***.
"There is no truth to press reports that Washington has concluded intensive negotiations with Kuwait about using its territory and airspace to carry out an attack on Iraq and topple President Saddam Hussein," he said.
"Nothing of the sort happened," the Kuwaiti minister said, referring to a news report that the United States has been in contact with four regional states, including Kuwait, to use their territories and airspace for an attack on Iraq.
"The United States has not said it would use Kuwaiti territory to launch an attack on Iraq. We (heard) nothing from (Washington) in this regard," Sheikh Mohammad added.
Jordan on Thursday also dismissed a stream of foreign press reports suggesting it could be used as a base for a U.S. strike on Iraq, while Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal reiterated that Arab states opposed such a strike, AFP reported.
Iraq occupied Kuwait for seven months before being expelled by a U.S.-led coalition in February 1991. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Kuwait.
U.S. President George W. Bush this week renewed a pledge to use "all tools" at his disposal to oust Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
In the meantime, former Iraqi Army officers and opponents of Saddam Hussein gathered Friday in London to mull how best to topple the Iraqi leader, amid persistent reports that his regime is Washington's next target.
During three days of talks, which British and U.S. officials are also likely to attend as observers, they hope to put on a united front.
But there is dispute over how representative the exiled opposition factions are, and, arguably more importantly from Washington's point of view, how much support they could muster inside Iraq.
Friday's meeting was taking place in Kensington Town Hall, in the heart of one of London's most exclusive areas.
It was being organized by the Iraqi National Coalition and exiled officers "from all over the world" were attending, organizers said.
The coalition's Albert Yelda said all Iraqi opposition movements, large or small, had been invited to debate how to overthrow the existing regime as well as Iraq's future and the role of the army post-Saddam.
U.S. President George W. Bush pledged earlier this week to use "all tools" at his disposal to remove Saddam.
Ahmed Chalabi, who is leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) umbrella opposition group, said Saddam was rejected overwhelmingly by ordinary Iraqis.
"He is the world's most experienced and oldest terrorist" with a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, he told Britain's Channel 4 TV. He said any imminent conflict would not be a war between the United States and Iraq, but a "war of national liberation for the Iraqi people which the U.S. has decided finally to support." "We are in consultation with the U.S. government," he went on. "We expect to coordinate with them."
But Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, said there was no evidence that Baghdad held weapons of mass destruction.
"You cannot go to war over speculation, there has to be more than rhetoric. There is no case that Iraq represents a threat to the United States or anyone else," he told the same program.
He dismissed the opposition groups behind the meeting as having "no viable constituency" inside Iraq. "This is not a real opposition, this is not a Northern Alliance (the Afghan opposition group who helped overthrow the Taleban), this is not something the U.S. can build around."
He said the opposition groups were being exploited as "a political foil" by pro-war hard-liners in Washington. "If Saddam Hussein is removed, anybody who meets in Kensington will have a zero future... They will have zero life expectancy after American troops are withdrawn."
Arab Anger Mounts + Ungrateful Kuwait
Kuwaitis show unprecedented support for Palestinians (and some anti-US stuff)
Somebody has flipped this guy.
"Turned" might be the more precise term. Pardon my cynicism, but I find myself wondering just which Saudi-financed think-tank has appointed/will appoint him to its board with a nice six-figure salary.
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