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Saddam Rejects "Smart" Sanctions Against Iraq
BAGHDAD, May 21 (News Agencies) - President Saddam Hussein on Monday rejected a U.S. proposal for "smart" sanctions against Iraq, which Washington says would ease the burden on the civilian population.
"We have nothing new to say other than to inform all our brothers and our friends that we will reject the so-called smart sanctions, which are even more stupid than their predecessors," Saddam told a weekly cabinet meeting, cited by the official Iraqi News Agency.
"We reject everything that can wound the honor, self-respect and independence of Iraq," said Saddam, demanding a complete end to sanctions against his country.
"Let the United States be very aware of the injuries they'll suffer after the arrows fired at Iraq," he said.
Iraqi officials also threatened Monday to put an end to the U.N. "oil-for-food" program, which is meant to assist Iraqis suffering under the current sanctions, if the scheme is altered by the United States.
Iraq has been under sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which was rolled back the year after by a U.S.-led coalition.
The United States last Tuesday proposed to the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council a new sanctions plan that would seek to alleviate the effects of the embargo on the Iraqi civilian population while maintaining strict control over the import of military equipment, according to U.N. diplomats.
They added that the "smart sanctions" would also aim to bring a halt to Iraqi oil exports to neighboring Iran, Jordan, Syria and Turkey outside the oil-for-food program.
But the Iraqi president said the "substance of the American plan shows an implicit recognition that the embargo put in place by evildoers... is doomed to fail and has not met its expected goals".
"The embargo has hurt Iraq, but has at the same time forced the United States to pay a heavy price and to watch its image sully internationally," Saddam said.
The Iraqi leader, a champion of the Palestinian uprising against Israel, added that, "different American administrations have for a long time fell in the pockets of Zionism and act according to its interests and not according to an American strategic vision."
A senior official of Iraq's ruling Baath socialist party, Saad Kassem Hammudi, said Saturday that Baghdad rejected "any new condition" and would only accept a "total lifting of the embargo without new commitments.
"Iraq's position is clear: the embargo must stop, and the aggressions must be halted," he said.
A Western diplomat in Baghdad said the Iraqi file was at a "very important" stage because of "American diplomatic action and Iraq's intransigent position".
Diplomats said the U.S. sanctions plan, supported by Britain, could be adopted by the Security Council before June 3rd, the date when another six-month phrase of the "oil-for-food" program is due to expire.
The program, established in late 1996 to alleviate Iraqi suffering, allows Baghdad to sell oil under strict U.N. supervision to buy food, medicine and other basic needs.
But Iraq's acting Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz said Monday that Baghdad may put an end to "oil-for-food" if the United States meddles with it.
"We are going to refuse the application of the new phrase of the 'oil-for-food' program in the event that the United States goes through with its amendment or adds elements serving its plot," Aziz told Arab diplomats based in Baghdad.
"The United States has resorted to a new ruse named 'smart sanctions' after having seen the embargo begin to dissolve," said Aziz, also cited by the Iraqi News Agency.
Aziz called on Arabs to counter the "American plans," saying Washington was seeking to impose its "hegemony in the whole region over all sides that deal with Iraq."
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