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Iraq: Smart Sanctions Amount To "Hostile Act"
BAGHDAD, May 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq warned its neighbors on Sunday a that it would regard the implementation of "smart sanctions" as proposed by the United States as an act of hostility, news agencies reported.
"It is our right to consider such a measure as a hostile act, as well as being immoral and inhuman," said the ruling Baath party's mouthpiece Ath-Thawra.
The daily said Iraq would react "in the most appropriate manner" against countries which fell in line with the U.S. proposal for a system of targeted sanctions against Baghdad.
On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz warned Iraq's neighbors they risked burning valuable trade links if they cooperated with Washington on upgrading the sanctions regime.
Aziz warned that countries cooperating with the U.S. initiative "will lose their economic and trade advantages ... Those who want to safeguard their national interests will certainly refuse the U.S. plan."
More than 10 years after the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, most Arab countries have resumed contacts with Iraq, while Egypt, Syria and Tunisia have this year signed free-trade agreements.
Washington has launched a campaign to restructure the sanctions on Iraq by easing restrictions on civilian products and tightening those on military equipment and technology.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that "by early June, when we have the next rollover of the sanctions regime in the U.N., America's ideas will have taken root and we'll see a change then."
Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush's new administration said in March it would look to expand Washington's support for the anti-Saddam opposition beyond the Iraqi National Congress, a coalition of exiled groups headed by Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi.
A U.S.-led multinational force evicted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War after seven months of occupation.
Kuwait, however, has informed the United States it will not take part in any plot to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said in an interview published Sunday.
"I told Powell that Kuwait will not play any role in any plan to topple Saddam, particularly if it was with Chalabi," Sheikh Sabah said.
Kuwait's foreign minister said that although his country dealt with Iraqi opposition groups, the emirate maintained a policy of not interfering in the affairs of other states.
"Changing the regime [should be] left to the Iraqi people, whenever they decide to do that. All we want from Iraq is to recognize our independence and territorial integrity," Sheikh Sabah said.
He stressed that Kuwait rejected any reconciliation with Saddam as long as U.N. resolutions were not implemented, the issue of Kuwaitis missing from the occupation was not settled, and Iraq continued making threats.
"This requires some imagination," Sheikh Sabah said when asked if he could shake hands with Saddam one day. "It's very difficult to shake the hand of a person who carries a knife in the other hand."
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