Turkey al-Faisal: Iraq has become an area for terrorism attraction

The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Turkey al-Faisal, said that the war launched by the American president George W. Bush against Iraq did not defeat the terrorist threats, rather brought in new threats of that sort.

In a press conference at the United Royal services Institute in London yesterday, al-Faisal said "when the US and Britain invaded Iraq, the promise was to bring in peace and security altogether by the American and British forces." He added "regrettably, this promise was not achieved. Fighting and daily explosions, as well as violence, make even those who believed this first promise doubt it.. Instead of eliminating terrorist threats, which Bush considered to be in Iraq's Saddam, we find today that Iraq's Saddam has become an area for attracting terrorists." Al-Faisal considered that the international community cannot bear continued absence of peace and security in Iraq, noting that his country vowed to provide one billion dollars as contributions to rebuilding Iraq.

Al-Faisal added that putting an end to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and the conflicts in Checheania, Kashmir and Iraq is a basic element in the efforts to fighting terrorism. He said that the "International community has to realize that terrorism prospers under repression, and that lifting repression, and solving all these issues will not only achieve peace and security for us, rather restore back to us our human identity."