The Egyptian newspaper al-Joumhuriyah said Wednesday that the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein threatened to "destroy" Qatar if Doha permits the US to use its military bases in striking Iraq.
The daily quoted Iraqi sources as saying that Saddam made these threats during his meeting in Baghdad recently with the Qatari foreign minister, Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jaber al-Thani.
The sources described the meeting as the most difficult position the Qatari foreign minister had to face. The newspaper mentioned that Sheikh Hamad visited Iraq carrying a message from the USA on the need to allow the return of UN inspectors, otherwise "hell" is coming.
The Egyptian newspaper wrote that the Iraqi leader listened to the Qatari guest until he said that the US placed at its military base in Qatar weapons he has never seen before that will be used in the attack. At this point, the Iraqi president told the Qatari minister that Baghdad would not accept this kind of threats.
Saddam was quoted as telling Sheikh Hamad "if Qatar accepted to be a hireling, and to stand with the enemy of the Arab nation, Iraq will not accept that, nor attacking any other Arab country." The Iraqi president also threatened to destroy Qatar if it permits the US to
use bases in its territories in launching attacks against Iraq.
The sources told the Egyptian newspaper that after this conversation the Qatari minister left the meeting upset and left Baghdad immediately. (Albawaba.com)
