Iraqi papers criticize Arab FMs as threats loom

The Iraqi daily Babel on Monday accused the Arab foreign ministers of lying when they announced their desire to preserve the sovereignty of Iraq.

The paper asked what the statements made by the Arab foreign ministers are accomplishing at a time when attacks and aggressions are continuous on Iraqi sovereignty on a daily basis, resulting in the death of innocent civilians, violating the sovereignty of Iraq, and violating the Arab League charter and the common Arab defense treaty.

The Iraqi daily asserted that the answers to these questions will not come from the "servants" of America, in reference to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where US and British air bases are stationed to monitor the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

Babel added that the answer is in the hands of the Iraqis themselves, "Therefore they (the Iraqis) will continue to defend their security and sovereignty and will continue to unmask the US aggressive policy and its partisans from the Arabs."

For its part, the Iraqi daily al-Joumhourieh warned both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait against permitting the warplanes, of "the US and British aggressors" to violate Iraqi airspace.

The paper said, "Iraq is able to damage the bases from which these warplanes fly." The paper added in its Monday editorial that the "rulers of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have to understand or read precisely what is between the lines in the statement of the Iraqi leadership, which was released on Sunday."