Baghdad Keeps up Invective as US Confers with Iraqi Opposition Leaders

11/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Opposition Confers Via Video Link with Dick Cheney||Iraq Threatens Americans & Regional Stability if Washington Attacks Baghdad||Bush Describes Saddam as A 'Danger' & An 'Enemy'|| STORY: Senior US officials consulted with Iraqi opposition leaders as Baghdad stuck to hard-line invective against the "delinquent clique" in Washington.

Representatives of six Iraqi opposition groups, joined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, met for 30 minutes Washington to confer via video link with Vice President Dick Cheney on plans to overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Cheney joined the group via videoconference from his home in Wyoming.

The round of talks -- which also included meetings Friday with Secretary of State Colin Powell and senior State Department and Pentagon officials -- comes amid fresh speculation that President George W. Bush's administration is planning an attack against Iraq, which has been under crippling UN sanctions since it invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990.

But in Iraq, harsh words were hurled against the United States and its potential strike plans.

If Washington follows through with an attack, "not only will Iraq be harmed but the Americans themselves will suffer, as well as regional stability," the influential Babel newspaper vowed.

"That will also undermine the efforts of the evil American administration to keep together its coalition with European countries under the false pretext of fighting terrorism," said the daily run by Saddam's elder son, Uday.

"The president of the aggressive American administration (Bush) is entangled in his own statements, and the delinquent clique is hallucinating to such a degree that even their allies have begun to voice displeasure at the comments of Bush and his gang."

Bush, vacationing on his Texas ranch and speaking before an early-morning round of golf, told reporters Saturday that Saddam is a "danger" and an "enemy," but stressed that he had "no timetable" for any military action against Baghdad.
Nonetheless, he said he would describe the Iraqi leader "as an enemy until proven otherwise."

Babel, meanwhile, went on to say that the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq, as demanded by the world body, "remains dependent on serious measures by the UN Security Council, namely the lifting of the embargo and respect for the security and sovereignty of Iraq."

"We remain committed to a balanced dialogue (with the UN), but at the same time, we are prepared to defend our country if war is imposed on us."

Al-Qadissiya newspaper charged that Bush "is making irresponsible accusations about Iraq and using laughable lies which could not even convince naive children."

The official daily said a war would be "the spark that will plunge the region into a circle of unpredictable danger."

It said Bush was "threatening international security and endangering the future and stability of people by banging war drums to achieve colonialist aims which do not take into account the will of the international community."

The risk to international stability has upset several of Washington's European allies.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday sharply ruled out joining any military attack against Iraq, signaling a major split between the United States and one of its key allies in the war on terror.

"I think that if there is a military intervention, we should be cautious. That means that Germany will not take part," Schroeder had said.

He was the first major European leader to publicly state his country's refusal to join any such war.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed on the need to find a political solution to the problem of Iraq, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The Kremlin press department later said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken on the telephone with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and agreed that the two countries "have a similar position concerning the need to find a political solution to the Iraqi problem."

Russia adamantly opposes military strikes on Iraq and has long been pressing for a diplomatic solution to return weapons inspectors to Baghdad in exchange for a lifting of UN sanctions.

The new French government has also expressed reservations, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair is under increasing domestic pressure not to back a US strike.

PHOTO CAPTION

Sharif Ali, a member of the Iraqi National Congress, talks with reporters after spending 2 1/2 hours at the White House following a video conferencce with Vice President Dick Cheney, who is spending part of August at his Wyoming home, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2002. President Bush said Saturday he is consulting with Congress and U.S. allies about Iraq and branded Saddam Hussein "an enemy until proven otherwise. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)