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Iraqi sovereignty and unity must be respected, said Abdullah |
AMMAN,
August 16 (News Agencies) - Jordan's
King Abdullah
II said Thursday, August 15, Iraq has "a right to live in
security and peace", but added that the Iraqi leadership bears
the responsibility of its choices concerning its conflict with the
United States, which has vowed to launch war against the
12-year-sanction-hit country.
"Our
position regarding Iraq is clear and well known. Jordan's
voice was the strongest and most effective in the Western world when
it reiterated the need to put an end to Iraq's suffering," Abdullah
said in a televised address to the nation, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
The
monarch said Iraq has "a right to live in security and
peace" and insisted that Iraqi sovereignty and unity must be
respected.
"We
will continue to offer all we can for Iraq. But the decision in the
end is that of the Iraqi leadership, they bear the responsibility in
front of their people, nation and the world," he said.
Abdullah
reiterated that Jordan
had repeatedly argued for moves "to settle the Iraqi issue
through a dialogue with the U.N., instead of threats and the use of
force" – a veiled reference to U.S. threats to attack Iraq.
Jordan
has repeatedly voiced its opposition to an eventual U.S. strike on
Baghdad and denied Western and Arab press reports the kingdom could
serve as a launchpad for a military operation on its eastern neighbor.
During
a visit to Washington earlier this month, Abdullah
warned that any attack on Iraq would be a "tremendous
mistake" and said it would amount to a "miscalculation that
would throw the whole region into turmoil".
But
Jordanian officials have said the kingdom no longer has illusions
concerning U.S. determination to launch a military operation against
Iraq.
"In
this context it is up to Iraq to play by accepting the return of U.N.
[weapons] inspectors and by bowing to the international will,"
one official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
