Turkey al-Faisal: the war in Iraq is a colonial one, and is about oil
Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain and Ireland, Prince Turkey al-Faisal, described the invasion led by the US against Iraq as a colonialist war and that some in Washington considered it as a means to control Iraq's oil.
The prince told the Irish daily the " Independent" in its yesterday's issue that Washington's declared objectives of the war hid behind it more facts. He said that the final analysis of this war shows that it is a colonialist war which is not different from wars led by previous colonialist forces to invade the other parts of the world.
The Saudi ambassador indicated that Washington announced before the war- which Saudi Arabia opposed, despite its tense relations with Iraq, that its objective out of the war is the alleged weapons of mass destruction, the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein presumed to have.
But Prince Turkey al-Faisal explained that one year before the war American commentators and sources in the congress noted the issue of the Iraqi oil revenues and that within " one or two years they can produce much oil to the extent that the war will cover its costs by its own." He added that this indicates that there is in America those who were thinking of getting the Iraqi natural resources, noting that the commitment of the US to liberate Iraq and establish democracy remains mere " objectives" and the Iraqi people will continue to see itself occupied until it will be able to actually announce that its government represents concretely its hopes and ambitions.
As for the Arab- Israeli conflict, the Saudi ambassador described the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat as " a living martyr" who was executed by Israel which " lacks any humanitarian considerations " towards the Palestinians.
Prince Turkey al-Faisal described al-Qaida organization which is led by Osama Bin Laden as not being an organization, rather a sect which has its own leader and own philosophy. He said that one of the negative aspects of the operations in Afghanistan is failier to arrest Osama Bin Laden.