Defiant British Fly Into Baghdad As Sanctions Seem To Collapse
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - Joining what seems to be a endless surge of visitors, a group of British politicians and a Roman Catholic priest flew into Baghdad early Friday.
The group claimed its mission is the first British civilian flight in a decade to fly into Iraq. Included in the group was the Labour MP for Glasgow Kelvin; Lord Rea, the Labour peer of Eskdale; and Father Noel Barry, a Catholic priest and a former press secretary to Cardinal Thomas Winning, the head of the Catholic church in Scotland.
George Galloway in a statement issued soon after landing said, "We don't accept that there are any U.N. sanctions against passenger flights into Iraq as British and American governments maintain. But I do accept that we have committed an offence in Britain by not informing the Department of Trade and Industry of our flight plan."
"I hope the government won't take action against us, but if they do, then we'll relish our days in court," he added.
The British flight was organized by the Mariam appeal, a group that is vigorously campaigning to end the sanctions.
The British politicians said that they flew in their Air Dassault Falcon under the cover of darkness from Manston Airfield in Kent, but a Foreign Office spokesman told London-based The Times that the flight was organized by a Bulgarian Airline and originated in Bulgaria. The spokesman also said that the Bulgarian Mission in New York had informed the U.N. sanctions committee stating that the purpose of the flight was humanitarian.
But organizers of the flight said that the purpose of the flight was not humanitarian since there were no medicines on board, "but was intended to focus world attention on the plight of the Iraqi people."
In a separate development, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told journalists in Moscow that he will visit Baghdad next week. He said that the purpose of his visit would be to help alleviate Iraq's problems.
Russians were the first to defy the U.N. sanctions last September by flying in 11 oil experts. Since then, there has been a steady flow of flights carrying humanitarian aid from countries across the Middle East and France.
Seizing the opportune moment, the Iraqis organized an international trade fair in Baghdad that attracted foreign trade officials from 12 countries and 18,000 businesspeople from 45 countries.
