Iraq: USA wants to dominate Iraq, which aspires to real Arab support
Iraq-Regional-USA, Politics, 2/12/2000

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mahdi Saleh asserted that the USA is behind the continuation of the international sanctions on Iraq and that it wants to occupy and control Iraq, which is not going to be possible because of the Iraqi people's and government's insistence on Iraq's independence no matter how long the sanctions last.

In a special interview with ArabicNews.com during his current visit to Cairo, the Iraqi minister said the crises between Iraq and the USA started two years before the Kuwaiti - Iraqi crises and that the first sanctions resolution on Iraq came in 1988-- two months after the end of the Iraqi - Iranian war.

He added that USA's goal is to destroy the Iraqi power and for Israel to remain as the primary power in the area, asserting that had Kuwait been a militarily and industrially as strong as Iraq, the US would have destroyed it.

Saleh said his country had only received $6 billion dollars from the oil-for-food program during the last three years while the UN received $7.7 billion, and there are still $8.2 billion delayed by the USA. He said the oil for food program turned into oil for the United Nations' expenditures.

Saleh denied having secret communications with Israel, saying, "We do not have doubled policies like what happens in some countries, and we only say the truth. Our goals are clear, and if we opened our relations with Israel, the seige would be uplifted by tomorrow, yet this will not happen no matter how much longer the siege remains," saying that the UN Security Council's last resolution does not concern Iraq and depicting it as being mysterious and inapplicable because it gave Iraq no right to have the sanctions removed.

He depicted the recent seizure of a Russian ship by the USA under the pretext of carrying Iraqi oil as a U.S violation of the US's charter and international law and that Russia has the right to withdraw oil from Iraq according to article 50 of the UN's charter.

Concerning the request of Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid that Iraq apologize to Kuwait for what happened in 1990, Saleh said, "Presenting an apology to Kuwait is related to issues that are raised by the USA," and that this request is a formality that must not be stuck to because someone who wants to end a dispute does not require an apology since the crises between Iraq and Kuwait did not arise out of nothing, the misiter said. He added that Iraq supports solving all the problems to reach a compromise so that relations can return to normal among the Arab states.

Mahdi said, "The Iraqi - Iranian war lasted more than eight years in which thousands were killed and injured, and it was among the largest wars, yet the diplomacy and relations were resumed between the two countries without an apology from one country to another, and this never happened before in any country in history, as the Iraqi - Kuwaiti crises is not the first in history and it will not be the last."

Saleh asserted that Iraq's relations with the Gulf states are witnessing a relief with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, and commercial exchange with the UAE reached more than $400 million last year. He added that comercial relations reached $100 million with Qatar and nearly $40 million with Saudi Arabia, expressing his hope that the seventh term of the oil-for-food agreement will witness an increase in the commercial exchange between Iraq and the Arab states.

Previous Stories:
  Iraqi president sends message to King Mohammed   (2/7/2000)
  8000 Iraqis perform the pilgrimage by land this year   (2/5/2000)
  Iran, Iraq agree to close prisoners file   (1/27/2000)
  Some 14,000 Iraqi children died in December because of UN sanctions   (1/21/2000)
  US delegation on solidarity mission in Iraq   (1/17/2000)
  Capitulation by Iraq or conflict to come?   (2/26/1998)
  The failure of US foreign policy in Iraq   (2/10/1998)
  Iraqi crisis: between United Nations and United States   (11/17/1997)
  Israel security and Iraq crisis with Egypt center stage   (11/15/1997)

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