MP Says U.K. Planning “Crusader Invasion” of Iraq
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| “I just think that is completely immoral. I think it stinks.” |
LONDON,
August 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.K. Labor MP George
Galloway, who was traveling to Baghdad on Sunday, August 4, for talks
with members of the Iraqi administration, criticized the upcoming war
against Iraq saying that a “quarter-million man crusader invasion”
of Iraq is being planned just because a “particular dictator
doesn’t obey our orders”.
“We
have a political dispute with the Iraqi leadership and we have killed
one million of their children under sanctions.
“I
just think that is completely immoral. I think it stinks,” he told
BBC’s Radio 4.
Last
week, Iraq offered to hold technical talks in Baghdad on the possible
resumption of U.N. weapons inspections.
The
last inspectors left in 1998 claiming they were not getting free
access.
The
U.S. rejected the latest Iraqi offer, however, and said the removal of
Saddam Hussein was part of its objective.
The
former U.K. chief of defense staff Field Marshal Lord Bramall also
told the BBC there was a risk Britain could be dragged into a long
Middle East war.
Evidence
produced to support an attack against Saddam Hussein had so far been
“sparse”, he said.
He
also questioned whether U.S. motivation was based on revenge after 11
September.
He
drew parallels with the U.K.’s ill-fated attack on Egypt in 1956,
after President Nasser seized the Suez canal.
Britain’s
top-ranking member of the armed forces between 1982 and 1985 added:
“You don’t have license to attack someone else’s country just
because you don’t like the leadership.”
On
Sunday, a U.K. daily newspaper, the Telegraph, reported that Blair is
privately urging Bush to call Arab Israeli peace talks before any
military action against Iraq, but the White House is resisting.
“The
Washington argument is: You can deal with Iraq in a separate box. That
is not the London position,” said a senior Whitehall figure, the
paper reported.
“It
doesn’t mean you cannot do anything until there is a settlement in
the Middle East, but you have to make progress.
Bush
is reluctant to deal with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, having
called for him to be removed from office. However, Blair believes that
the talks are vital to placating moderate Arab opinion in the build-up
of military and diplomatic pressure on Saddam Hussein, the Telegraph
said.
The
diplomatic dispute will fuel objections by Labor MPs to early military
action. It could also raise Iraqi hopes of creating fresh splits
between the U.S. and its allies after the mixed reaction that followed
Saddam’s offer last week of talks on the readmission of U.N. arms
inspectors. That was met with skepticism by the U.K. and the U.S. but
welcomed by France and Russia.
Bush
said Saturday, August 3, that the United States continues to support a
regime change in Iraq and will use all means at its disposal to obtain
it, despite Baghdad’s indication that they would welcome new U.N.
weapons inspections, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“I
am a patient man,” he said. “I’ll use all the tools at our
disposal. Nothing’s changed.”
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