Defiant Iraq vows to teach US a lesson it will never forget

Agence France-Presse | 8/16/02

[kattracks]

A defiant Iraq warned the United States it would be taught a lesson it will never forget if it launched a military campaign against Saddam Hussein's regime, threats of which it said left the Iraqi people unbowed.

"The Iraqis are ready to engage in a war against the United States and are determined to teach the Americans a lesson they will never forget," the official Al-Iraq newspaper vowed Friday.

"Statements and threats by American officials cannot terrorise the people of Iraq because their victory over the United States is guaranteed," the daily said.

Ath-Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party in Baghdad, accused Washington of "adopting a policy of lies towards Iraq by making believe that the country produces weapons of mass destruction."

The papers were reacting to statements Thursday by US President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was a "very powerful moral case" for ousting the Iraqi leader.

"This is an evil man who, left to his own devices, will wreak havoc again on his own population, his neighbours and, if he gets weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them, all of us," she said.

In Washington, the State Department said overnight it believed paperwork would soon be completed to allow an eight-million-dollar grant for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), an umbrella of Iraqi opposition groups, to go through after a three-month delay.

"We discussed the offer with the Iraqi National Congress leadership over the course of the last week and we do anticipate finalising an agreement very soon," deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said.

"We're anxious to continue our support ... for the Iraqi National Congress," Reeker said. "We believe that the INC can continue to play a productive and useful role through the activities proposed in our new agreement."

The money is to go to fund the INC newspaper, television station and regional offices, including an office of humanitarian relief, he said.

Reeker's comments came a week after representatives of six Iraqi opposition groups, including the INC, met here with senior US officials including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss ways in which Saddam Hussein could be ousted.

Meanwhile, Britain's Independent newspaper reported Friday that Iraq would agree to the return of UN arms inspectors if they were accompanied by neutral observers including British religious leaders.

Quoting unnamed senior diplomatic sources, the daily said Baghdad will send a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanding that any observers ensure the inspections were not spying missions.

The letter would also demand that "doctored findings of weapons of mass destruction" were not used to justify a US attack against Saddam's regime, the sources told the paper.

Iraq would insist that a large proportion of the delegation came from Europe, and that the United Nations not let the US administration veto its composition, the Independent added.

The Guardian daily reported that British Prime Minister Tony Blair has blocked a debate by his cabinet on whether Britain should join US-led military action against Iraq.

The paper said ministers had been told that any decisions were still a long way off when they had approached Blair privately to ask for a cabinet discussion of the issue.

Blair is Bush's closest ally in Europe on the Iraq question, despite opinion polls which suggest that a majority of Britons do not want British troops to join a US-led strike on Baghdad.

[blondee123]

eight-million-dollar grant for the Iraqi National Congress Could we, just for once, NOT send US dollars overseas.

I totally agree, within a year the INC will hate our guts too!! Let them take out saddam on their own if they want, but let's not be funding more foreigners who will turn on us eventually, they all do!

[Prodigal Son]

The main meat in the Iraqi diet (if they are lucky, or if lots of officers are captured)is lamb.

Mmmmm. Lamb. Bring mint sauce!

[Prodigal Son]

Iraq would insist that a large proportion of the delegation came from Europe,

Sounds like Saddam knows who his friends are.

[river rat]

Iraq's weapons are of nearly new French origin...
Only thrown down once.
Semper Fi

[powderhorn]

Even though this threat was not leveled against the French, they surrendered anyway.

The French know that how you get real good at something is by practice, practice, practice. The French have attained world class surrendering skills.