Posted on 02/23/2003 6:38:01 AM PST by nypokerface
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuters) - Iran, afraid Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, voiced greater fears on Sunday that the United States aims to reshape the Middle East by launching a war against its old enemy.
Iran would deploy troops along its western border to stop any incursions if the United States unleashed war on Iraq, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told Reuters. But he said Iranian troops would not cross into Iraq.
Although President Bush a year ago bracketed Iran in an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea, the Iranian minister said he did not fear his country would be next in the U.S. firing line even though Washington is already locked in crises with the others.
Kharrazi said Iraq must be stripped of weapons of mass destruction but voiced anxiety about what he called a hidden U.S. agenda in the region.
"Basically we do not agree with the plan of America that the Middle East has to be reshaped. This is the job of the mature people of the Middle East, not powers from outside," he said.
"The status quo is better for us than the unpredictable situation," he said.
While Washington says its objective is to disarm Iraq and restore human rights in a country ruled by a dictator, a wide swathe of world opinion suspects the U.S. motives lie in Iraq's vast oil fields.
Kharrazi said the United States had let the Palestinian problem fester by extending support to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and said Washington was operating double standards by allowing Israel to maintain its weapons of mass destruction.
The United States had made a strategic error by naming Iran in an "axis of evil," Kharrazi said, adding that his country was democratic and its policy was to be transparent over its plans for nuclear energy.
"We don't have such a concern that one day we will be the target of America," he said.
Washington had not consulted Iran over its strategy toward Iraq and any violation of Iranian airspace would be illegal under international law, he said.
FEARING BORDER SPILLOVER
Iran was worried a conflict in Iraq could spill over the border, he said.
"We are going to defend our territory. There may be incursions from Iraq to Iran," he said. "But we are not going to intervene in the internal affairs of Iraq by deployment of force inside Iraq."
Kharrazi, in Kuala Lumpur for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, said Iran, fearing a massive influx of refugees from Iraq that could create a humanitarian crisis, was preparing camps for Iraqis fleeing war.
Kharrazi reiterated Iran's position that the Iraqi crisis should be settled peacefully through the United Nations, but said the onus lay on President Saddam Hussein's government to convince U.N. weapons inspectors of its full cooperation.
"I feel there is still room for avoiding war and the key is still in the hands of the Iraqi government to show its full compliance to show utmost cooperation with inspectors."
He said Iraq should definitely be disarmed of any weapons of mass destruction that the inspectors find.
"Theirs (the inspectors) is the final judgment," Kharrazi said, adding that he did not know if Iraq had such weapons.
But he said Iraq could even hide its weapons during a war, or send them to a third country. "That is one of our concerns. That is one of the reasons why war has to be avoided."
Iran, which fought an eight-year war against Iraq in the 1980s is no friend of Saddam, Kharrazi said. And while Tehran would like to see another government in Iraq, Kharrazi stressed that any new government should be the choice of the Iraqi people.
Iran opposed a post-war break up of Iraq, dividing it between the different ethnic groups and sects of Islam.
"The territorial integrity of Iraq is very important. We do not endorse a partition of Iraq," Kharrazi said, although his government has long sympathized with the Shi'ite minority in southern Iraq.
A forced change of administration would create future problems, especially if the next government was backed by the United States, he said.
mega-dittos
In the short term it is to rid the world of Saddam. In the very long term it will plant the US smack in the heart of the Muslim Middle East for a long time to come.
Us presence in Europe has become a minor effort at the present time. The major effort is now the MIddle East, to thwart adventures by local evil men, and to give pause to any outside interests that might like control of Middle East oil.
Beat-me-to-it Bump.
But he said Iranian troops would not cross into Iraq.
Good idea, if you want to keep them alive.
5.56mm
They should be!
We are!
We will!
Help us and you may have place on the world stage - oppose us and your standing on is TOAST!
Yes, we'll do what Patty Murray suggested. We'll build schools, hospitals, and even daycare centers at the point of a gun and with Iraqi oil money, maybe even with Saddam Hussein's $7 Billion in Swiss bank accounts. He won't need it anymore. Even stupid people make good suggestions every once in a while (Patty Murray, I mean - not you).
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