Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tareq Aziz dared U.S. President Bush on Tuesday night to try to topple Saddam Hussein, saying any attempt to do so would end in failure.
Aziz, in an interview on CBS Evening News, said Iraq had not been intimidated by Bush's commitment to changing the Baghdad government and widespread expectations that Washington was planning a military strike.
"We are defending our independence, we are defending our integrity, we are defending our national interest and any aggressor cannot win a war against us," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Asked about the failure of Bush's father to continue the 1991 Gulf War invasion of Iraq until Saddam had been ousted, Aziz said: "Could he do that? ... His son is now planning to do it. Let him try, and he will find that he will lose this plan, he will lose this endeavor." Aziz said the younger Bush was not as wise as his father. "What Bush the father did in 1991 was in the interest of America, what his son is planning to do now is in the interests of Israel and the Zionists."
Asked about Iraqi financial support for the Palestinians who have launched suicide bombing attacks in Israel, Aziz described them as heroes. "They are not terrorists. ... They are freedom fighters, we respect them," he said.
On another issue, Aziz said that al-Qaeda elements are operating in regions controlled by Kurds in northern Iraq. There are no al-Qaeda in parts of Iraq controlled by Saddam Hussein, and Iraq does not possess nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, Aziz added.
Asked about the issue at a Pentagon news conference, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared: "I have said for some time that there are al-Qaeda in Iraq, and there are. "They have left Afghanistan," he said, referring to al-Qaeda fighters routed in the war. "They have left other locations. And they've landed in a variety of countries, one of which is Iraq."
Asked whether they are protected by Saddam, Rumsfeld said: "In a vicious, repressive dictatorship that exercises near total control over its population, it's very hard to imagine that the government is not aware of what's taking place in the country." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
