 |
|
"We are in the process of studying the resolution in Baghdad," says Sabri
|
CAIRO,
November 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraqi Foreign Minister
Naji Sabri said here Saturday, November 9, that by adopting U.N.
Security Council resolution 1441 "the international community has
aborted a decision by the
United States
to use force against
Iraq
."
Sabri
was speaking following a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed
Maher to discuss the Iraqi crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, reported Agence France-Presse.
"We
are in the process of studying the resolution in
Baghdad
and
Iraq
's position will be announced later," he told journalists.
Specifically
asked if
Iraq
would comply with the terms of the resolution, which calls on it to
get rid of all of its alleged weapons of mass destruction or face
"serious consequences", Sabri said
Baghdad
"would study the resolution and adopt an appropriate
position."
Commenting
on the Security Council vote, he said "the international
community is not on the same plane as the American malefactors"
and has rejected "the logic of the administration of evil and its
demented desire for war."
In
Baghdad
earlier, the official INA news agency said the government is
"quietly studying" the new "unfair" resolution and
will respond "in the coming days."
Although
Resolution 1441 was a "bad and unfair resolution", the
leadership in
Iraq
is "quietly studying this resolution and will issue appropriate
signals concerning it in the coming days," the agency quoted an
"authorized source" as saying.
Sabri
arrived in
Cairo
Friday, November 8, to participate in a special meeting this weekend
of Arab foreign ministers to review the situation after the U.N. vote.
He
had a lengthy meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa
Friday night to discuss the provisions of the resolution, the league
said.
Official
media have attacked
Syria
- the Security Council's only Arab member - for giving its approval to
what they called an "unnecessary" document.
A
newspaper owned by Uday - elder son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
- said the resolution would allow the United States to meddle in the
work of the inspectors and create a pretext for attack, reported the
BBC on its web site.
The
paper was particularly damning of
Syria
's vote in favor of the tough new UN terms. It called
Damascus
a Brutus for stabbing
Iraq
in the back.
The
BBC's Caroline Hawley, reporting from
Baghdad
, says it took
Iraq
's state-run television several hours to even report the resolution,
which the official news agency described as unjustified and the result
of American blackmail.
A
member of the ruling Ba'ath party told the BBC the document was full
of "bad intentions".
However,
the report that the government is considering the resolution is the
clearest indication yet that Saddam Hussein is preparing to accept the
U.N. ultimatum, the BBC correspondent says.
