Iraqi officials replies to Powell's statements

An Iraqi official said on Sunday that statements made by the US secretary of state Colen Powel who on Saturday stressed the need to continuously check the sanctions on Iraq so as to ensure that these sanctions are not affecting the Iraqi people, are misleading and lack credibility.

The secretary general of the Arab people's forces congress Saad Qasem Hamoudi told reporters that the statements made by Powell on Sunday in Cairo stated to alleviate the sanctions imposed on the Iraqi people are in contradiction with the responsibility made by Washington in continuing the sanctions on Iraq for "mere conspiratorial political motives."

Hammoudi called on the Arab leaders to convey Powell and Bush a tough message in that " enough for siege, aggression and conspiracy against Iraq, No for the racist Zionist occupation of Palestine, the Golan and parts of Lebanon that are still under occupation, otherwise the US and Zionist interests will undergo to great risks."

Hammoudi explained that Iraq is the one which is threatened daily in its national security, and the life of its children and women, noting that the US administration's provoked fears in the Gulf states with the aim at promoting very expensive arms deals, plundering the Arab national resources and destabilizing the region.

On Saturday, in Cairo, and following his meeting with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Powell said we have to reconsider our policies continuously through checking that the sanctions are serving our interests.