BAGHDAD - Iraqi newspapers Sunday blasted
suggestions that the United States might target Iraq in its war
against terrorism and said Washington itself was a threat to
world stability.
The official al-Qadissiya newspaper condemned ``U.S. threats
against the so-called rogue nations'' which include Iraq.
``The Americans have once again repeated their threats ...
American officials have repeatedly threatened Iraq and other
nations saying that these countries threaten their stability,
while Washington is the one which threatens world stability,''
it added.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns said on
Saturday the United States had yet to decide whether to use
military force against Iraq and that Washington planned to
discuss the issue with its allies from the 1991 Gulf War.
Speculation has intensified that the United States could
start a new phase in its war on terrorism after Afghanistan by
attacking such countries as Somalia, Iraq or Sudan.
Iraq, which is on a U.S. list of states sponsoring
terrorism, denies any links to international terrorism.
President Bush recently warned that Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein would ``find out'' the consequences if he did not allow
the return to Baghdad of United Nations weapons inspectors,
triggering speculation that Iraq might be the next target of
U.S. forces.
The ruling Baath party newspaper al-Thawra said Washington
wanted to use the issue of weapons inspectors as a pretext to
attack Iraq.
``Accusations by U.S. officials that Iraq is developing
weapons of mass destruction are false and aim at achieving
other goals,'' the paper said in a front-page editorial.
The U.N. inspectors left Iraq in December 1998, shortly
before a U.S.-British bombing campaign, and have not been
allowed to return since.
Iraq, still under international sanctions over its 1990
invasion of Kuwait, says it has no weapons of mass destruction
and wants a complete end to the U.N. embargo.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri did not answer a question
posed by Iraqi television Saturday night on whether Iraq would
allow the inspectors to resume work.
Sabri was quoted by the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper on
Wednesday as saying that his government was studying a Russian
proposal to allow the inspectors back in return for suspending
U.N. sanctions and gradually lifting them.
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited
###
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
