Kuwait and striking Iraq

News reports in Kuwait quoted British diplomatic sources as saying that the British prime minister Tony Blair and his foreign minister Jacque Straw told the Kuwaiti acting foreign minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah during their recent meeting with him that any military strike against Iraq will be painful and effective as well as differ from previous strikes.

The sources indicated that Blair did not indicate what he intends behind what he said and whether by this there is an intention to topple Saddam Hussein.

The sources said that Sheikh Sabah hoped not a strike to be made against Iraq, but noted that Baghdad had violated the implementation of the UN resolutions and this matters is decided by the UN Security Council.

On the other hand, the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai al-Am issued on Friday disclosed that Talal Barakat, the first secretary and the assistant for the chairman of the Iraqi interests office in Egypt has disappeared from Cairo recently leaving no traces about him at a time when the Egyptian authorities abstained from providing the Iraqi authorities with information about him.

Diplomatic sources in Cairo said that Barakat left his residence in protest of the policies conducted by the Iraqi government and measures taken by the Iraqi foreign minister Naji al-Hadeithi to use the Iraqi embassies and consulates for spying purposes, noting that the last time Barakat was seen was in a reception held by an Arab embassy in Cairo and he then said goodbye to his diplomatic peers on that he is leaving back for Baghdad but he left Cairo for an unidentified destination.

Iraqi sources expected Iraqi official sides concerned to punish Barakat's colleagues because they were not able to discover his real intention.