http://www.boston.com/dailynews/012/world/Mubarak_urges_Iraq_to_cooperat:.shtml

Mubarak urges Iraq to cooperate with United Nations to avoid U.S. strike

By Salah Nasrawi, Associated Press, 1/12/2002 19:32

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday urged Iraq to resume cooperation with the United Nations to avoid a possible U.S. strike.

Addressing a group of army officers, Mubarak also warned that a U.S. military action against any Arab country as part of its anti-terror campaign would have ''dire consequences on the region.'' He did not elaborate.

''I hope that Iraq will respond favorably to implementing the U.N. resolutions so that it won't provide any pretext to be used against it,'' Mubarak said.

Iraq has periodically surfaced as a possible U.S. target following the Sept. 11 attacks. Reports have said that an Iraqi agent met with one of the suicide hijackers before the attack and that foreign Arab militants were trained at Iraqi military camps. Iraq has denied all charges.

Washington has demanded that Saddam Hussein allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return to the country.

The United States has said a wider war is possible, and that it is watching Iraq. On Saturday, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for the Near East William Burns said on a visit to Kuwait that Washington has not made any decisions with regard to ''particular options.''

Meanwhile, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz vowed in an interview published Saturday that Iraq will ''never allow the U.N. inspectors back in Iraq under any circumstances.''

Aziz told the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi that Iraq has carried out all its obligations under U.N. resolutions, and the Security Council should now lift the sanctions.

Under U.N. resolutions, the 1990 sanctions can be lifted only after Baghdad proves that it has dismantled its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has refused to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into the country since 1998.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

Answers

Which just goes to show you that ALL the Arabs respect is POWER. Otherwise, Egypt would be right in the middle stirring the pot. But now that the various countries have seen the might of the USA when ticked off, they have pulled back on activities and rheteoric. They are all afraid they will be tarred with the same brush and hit with the same kind of "paint remover". This is good. Its all the PC BS that has gotten us into all this trouble. Had we taken a strong stand years ago, WTC might not have happened. Or at least washed out our ears and LISTENED to what was going on out in the rest of the world. Taz

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2002

It all boils down to the basic facts, Iraq won't let anyone in, denies everything about making WoMD, and insists that the sanctions be lifted. We say they are making WoMD's, [we being the UN and the US in this case] and we will not lift the sanctions until the inspectors have confirmed that no weapons exist.

Same rhetoric for years.

When we move on Iraq, and we will one way or another, it will be bad. But we must move in and 'clean house' there or face more WTC attacks down the road.

I hope George has better aim than Clinton. So far, he has.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

It isn't just the weapons, it's also the weapon factories which tend to be dual-purpose (like baby formula and anthrax). This is why it took the not-quite-ready-for-primetime inspectors so long to catch on.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

true that.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002