Baghdad: US threat to strike Iraq will not make a change
Iraq on Thursday stressed that the threats directed against it from the US on the possibility of striking it if it does not resume cooperation with UN inspectors will "not make a change."
Iraq, moreover, called upon the UN to lift the sanctions imposed on it at a time when UNSCOM chief Richard Butler said that the Iraqi position announced on Wednesday halting cooperation with the inspectors was because of the internal problems US President Bill Clinton is facing.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf on Thursday described the US as "a stupid super power." This was expressed in statements al-Sahaf made following his meeting in Alexandria with Egyptian President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak.
Replying to a question from reporters on the announcement made by US officials in preparing for striking Iraq, al-Sahaf said if it meant from Albright's statement to launch a military strike against Iraq, the US had previously committed a "series of foolish acts," but it did not lead to an end.
He said the US is a major world power, but sometimes it is a stupid superpower, noting that attacking Iraq by missiles will not make a change on the heart of the matter."
Albright said yesterday at a question and answer session, "What we think is that he (Saddam Hussein) needs to live up to his obligations; we need to respond at a time and place of our choosing, making very clear that all options remain on the table."
US Undersecretary of State Martin Indyk said in testifying before a Congressional committed, "We have significant strike capability in place in the region, a considerably stronger one than we did at the beginning of the last confrontation with Baghdad. We can augment that force rapidly, should we need to do so."
He added, "The bottom line is that if Iraq tries to break out of its strategic box, our response will be swift and strong, but we will act on our own timetable, not on Saddam Hussein's."
Al-Sahaf said that a "hard siege was imposed on Iraq since eight years for reasons which have been eliminated now. So the US officials have to give up provocative statements."