Al-Assad, Chirac: Iraqi consent alienate ghost of war

The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the French President Jacques Chirac considered in a telephone call on Wednesday evening that Iraq's approval of the UN Security Council resolution 1441 as "removing the ghost of war from the region."

The Syrian official news agency ( SANA) considered that the "positive Iraqi answer to the UN security council resolution removed the ghost of war from the region and availed the possibility of the UN to resume its role."

The agency added that Chirac and al-Assad discussed "means of implementing UN security council resolution 1441, especially the work of the UN inspectors peacefully and objectively in a way that guarantees Iraq's sovereignty and dignity."