Iraq said that the air raids launched by U.S. and British warplanes on Iraqi cities, villages and infrastructure constitute a “flagrant aggression, continued state terrorism and rough interference in Iraq’s internal affairs”, according to the official Iraq News Agency Wednesday.
Baghdad asserted that the U.S. and British imposition of the so-called no-fly zones on the southern and northern areas of the country is a “blatant violation of the UN Charter, international law and Security Council resolutions”, which stress respecting Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence. It is an armed aggression on Iraq since 1991.
In a letter sent to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said that even though the world condemns such aggression, the United States continues to disregard the United Nations Charter and Security Council resolutions, which do not take any procedures against this “terrorist aggression”.
According to Sabri, this raises serious questions regarding the U.N. and Security Council’s credibility and their capability to implement rules of the U.N. Charter towards all peoples without discrimination and to stop aggressive acts committed by two permanent states (U.S and Britain) in the Security Council.
Sabri further expressed hope that Kofi Annan would call upon the governments concerned to immediately stop their ongoing aggression on Iraq. The letter concluded that “Since the imposition of the so-called no-fly zones, the US and British warplanes carried out a total of 211,154 sorties including bombing and destroying civilian and military sites and causing (the) death of 1,142 civilians and (the) injur(ies) of more than 1,261 civilians.” (Albawaba.com)
