Rumsfeld: Wouldn’t It Be Wonderful If Iraq Was Similar To Afghanistan?
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Rumsfeld says it would be fabulous to “liberate” Iraq |
WASHINGTON,
Aug 10 (News Agencies) – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
Friday openly wished for the “liberation of Iraq”,
saying a longstanding U.S. strategy of using sanctions and no-fly
zones to contain Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was not working as a
visiting group of opposition leaders presented State Department
officials with a plan to unseat him, news agencies reported.
"Wouldn't
it be a wonderful thing if Iraq
were similar to Afghanistan?" Rumsfeld asked, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
"If
a bad regime was thrown out, people were liberated, food could come
in, borders could be opened, repression could stop, prisons could be
opened. I mean it would be fabulous."
Rumsfeld
said the economic and political sanctions imposed on Iraq
have not worked, but instead have tended to erode over time, while
U.S. and British air forces enforcing no-fly zones in northern and
southern Iraq
have had little impact on Baghdad's air defenses.
"The
big thing that was there was the weapon of mass destruction issue. And
he had agreed, and the UN had agreed that they would -- he would not
have a WMD program. We know he does have one. And he is continuing
it," he said.
"So
there is no way any reasonable person could look at that record and
say that it's worked. It hasn't worked. And it's not working."
Rumsfeld
said he hoped to meet Saturday with members of six Iraqi opposition
groups, who earlier met Secretary of State Colin Powell for several
minutes, then huddled for two hours of talks with senior officials
from the State Department and the Pentagon.
They
are due Saturday to hold talks via a video link with Vice President
Dick Cheney from his vacation hideaway in Wyoming, amid fresh
speculation that President George W. Bush's administration is planning
an attack against Saddam's regime, said AFP.
A
senior White House official said Bush has not set a timetable for
overthrowing Saddam and may not do so this year.
"He
has not set a timetable and, as he said, if he had he would not tell
you anyway," the official said.
Bush
has set as a U.S. goal an end to Saddam's regime, but has said he
would consult with the U.S. Congress and the nation's allies before
acting.
Rumsfeld's
comments marked the most direct U.S. repudiation yet of the
containment strategy that every U.S. government since the 1991 Gulf
War has pursued to keep Saddam in check.
Earlier,
Iraq raised
its warnings against U.S. threats to topple Saddam's regime to a
shrill tone, saying the "cowboys" in Washington would lead
their troops into the graveyard as open opposition to a U.S. invasion
grew in Europe and even among some Republican leaders.
"I
think that if there is a military intervention, we should be cautious.
That means that Germany will not take part," German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder told the ARD public television station.
London's
Independent newspaper reported Friday that British ministers and
government officials have warned Washington that launching a war to
topple Saddam would "contaminate" crises in Afghanistan,
Israel and Kashmir.
At
the State Department, Powell told the opposition leaders from the
Iraqi National Congress "our shared goal is that the Iraqi people
should be free," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
In
turn, they impressed upon their hosts the need to dispense with Saddam
Hussein.
"We
have presented our vision for overthrowing the dictatorial regime in Iraq
and the establishment of a democratic and pluralistic
government," said Hamid al-Bayati, of the Supreme Council of
Islamic Revolution.
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Al-Bayat a spokesman for the Iraqi Opposition Coalition delegation addresses reporters in Washington on Friday |
"We
have agreed to convene a meeting of the Iraqi opposition in
consultation with all opposition elements, ensuring sufficient
representation for all the Iraqi people and their political forces
which are opposed to the dictatorship."
The
Iraqi opposition leaders, several of whom were represented by
deputies, said that the two-hour-long meeting with U.S. Undersecretary
of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and Undersecretary of
Defense Douglas Feith was "important and constructive," AFP
reported.
The
State Department said in a statement that the contacts, billed as a
chance to coordinate strategies with disparate Iraqi opposition groups
represented an important step towards a post-Saddam Iraq.
"The
U.S. and the Iraqi opposition share a vision of a better future for
the Iraqi people after the departure of Saddam Hussein and his
regime," deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said.
Iraqi
opposition leaders attending the meeting were: Sharif Ali bin Hussein
of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement; Iyad Allawi of the Iraqi
National Accord, Abdelaziz al Hakim of the Supreme Council of the
Islamic Revolution in Iraq,
Hoshyar Zebari of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Ahmad Chalabi of the
Iraqi National Congress, and Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan.
The
leaders said that they had asked the United States to provide
protection for the Iraqi people and to support the establishment of a
democratic government based on the rule of law and the rejection of
violence.
They
also asked the U.S. government to recognize that the Iraqi opposition
to Saddam Hussein was united in its efforts to replace dictatorship
with democracy.
Meanwhile,
AFP reported that Iraq’s top representative in Australia, Saad Al
Samarai, told the Weekend Australian newspaper that all wheat imports
fr4om Australia, worth up to 829 million dollars (430 million US) may
be cancelled if Australia maintains its hostile position towards Iraq.
Al
Samarai was referring to Canberra’s backing of possible US led
military action against Baghdad.
Iraq
already cancelled an order for 500,000 tones of Australian wheat last
month after comments by conservative Australian Prime Minister John
Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and others strongly
supporting a tough US stance against the regime of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein.
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