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To: yonif
Anyone have a transcript of this Iraqi's response, I caught the end of it.
17 posted on 02/05/2003 11:12:01 AM PST by jgrubbs
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To: jgrubbs
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A senior Iraqi member of parliament has dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's evidence to the U.N. Security Council as "lies."

"These are lies and fabrications which have no material proof. They are aimed at creating a pretext for military aggression against Iraq," Salem al-Kubaisi, head of Arab and foreign relations committee at Iraq's national assembly, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the founder of a militant Islamic group in northern Iraq denied charges by Powell that his group had offered safe haven to members of the al Qaeda network.

Mullah Krekar, whose Ansar Al-Islam movement controls a sliver of territory in northern Iraq, told a news conference in Oslo, Norway, that "this is propaganda," referring to Powell's allegations of harboring al Qaeda members in the region.

Krekar, 47, said he had no links to al Qaeda or Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

There has been no official Iraqi reaction as yet.

At the United Nations, Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri was invited by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to take a seat at the large circular Security Council table to listen to Powell's presentation and to make remarks afterward.

As he headed into the chamber, he was asked what message he would be delivering. "It's a message for peace," Al-Douri said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, said his country does not want war with the United States and was ready to cooperate with U.N. arms inspectors searching the country for hidden weapons of mass destruction.

"We are ready to explain everything to inspectors," he told Le Figaro newspaper in Paris.

In a British TV interview broadcast aired a day before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech, Saddam Hussein denied his government had any weapons of mass destruction or ties to the al Qaeda terrorist network.

"If we had a relationship with al Qaeda and if we believed in this relationship, we won't be ashamed to admit it," Saddam said in an interview broadcast on Britain's Channel 4.

"The answer is no, we do not have any relationship with al Qaeda."

The interview with Saddam was conducted in Baghdad on Sunday by Tony Benn, a British anti-war activist and former Labour member of Parliament.

Benn is vocal critic of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's pro-U.S. stance on Iraq. In 1990, Benn met with Saddam in an unsuccessful bid to avert the 1991 Gulf War.

"Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction, and I challenge anyone who claims that we have them to come forward with their evidence and present it before public opinion," Saddam went on.

He said that if war comes, his people would fight "just like the British did during World War II." He said the drive for war was fueled by a U.S. desire to control Iraq's oil reserves, not concern over weapons of mass destruction.

"We want to tell the people of Britain that Iraqis are brave people and they believe in human rights," he said. "They want to live in peace in this world, and they want their rights and dignity to be preserved."

Many U.S. allies have said they want more time for U.N. weapons inspectors to do their work in Iraq.

But U.S. President George W. Bush and his top national security aides have said repeatedly that the United States -- with or without its allies -- will forcibly disarm Iraq if it does not immediately comply with U.N. resolutions requiring it to rid itself of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

The European Union has warned Iraq that time is running out and has told Baghdad its failure to disarm would make it responsible should the United States and Britain lead an attack, The Associated Press reports.
18 posted on 02/05/2003 11:14:55 AM PST by jgrubbs
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To: jgrubbs
Anyone have a transcript of this Iraqi's response, I caught the end of it.

Here it is:

LIES

27 posted on 02/05/2003 11:38:46 AM PST by Reborn
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