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Iraq makes Canada and Poland pay for backing air strikes, rallies Arabs
Iraq makes Canada and Poland pay for backing air strikes, rallies Arabs
BAGHDAD, Feb 20 (AFP) -
Iraq on Tuesday cut trade links with Canada and Poland for their support of US-British air strikes and sought to stir up Arab opinion against the Middle East tour of new US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
In Baghdad's first act of retaliation for deadly air strikes on February 16, the government decided "to suspend imports of products of Canadian and Polish origin," including wheat from Canada, said Commerce Minister Mohammad Mehdi Saleh.
The measure was adopted because "these two states supported ... the aggression," he said, referring to the raids around Baghdad in which three people were killed and 30 wounded.
Saleh made no mention of Australia, whose Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also backed the raids.
In contrast to widespread international condemnation of the raids, the Canadian foreign ministry said it "completely supports" the operation, while an advisor to Polish Prime Minister said the strikes were "understandable".
The action targeted radar and military command centres to counter Iraqi air defence systems that were posing an increased threat to US and British aircraft policing the skies of southern Iraq, Washington said.
In Warsaw, a foreign ministry spokesman said Poland would "wait for official confirmation" before reacting to the Iraqi move.
Iraq last year accused Poland, whose embassy in Baghdad also represents US interests, of having tried to smuggle electronic surveillance equipment into the country.
In April 2000, sanctions-hit Iraq turned down offers of humanitarian aid from Canada because of its support for the US strong line against lifting the decade-old UN embargo.
Also on the diplomatic front, the official newspaper Al-Iraq on Tuesday slammed the UN Security Council for keeping silent on the air strikes. "The Security Council is behaving like a spectator, it said.
"The United Nations is supposed to defend Iraq, one of its founding members ... but it has rallied to the side of the criminals," charged the daily.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf has sent messages urging the world body to condemn the raids, which the official press in Baghdad has said were aimed at weakening the Iraqi position in an upcoming dialogue with the United Nations.
Sahhaf is to hold two days of talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan starting on February 26 in New York. Their talks are to focus on arms inspections and the sanctions regime in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
As part of a drive to rally Arab support, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan left by plane for Tunis on Tuesday and other senior envoys prepared to visit other capitals in the region.
Iraq's parliament has urged Arabs to vent their anger at the air strikes during US Secretary of State Colin Powell's upcoming tour of the Gulf. Hammadi called ond other Arab parliaments to "make February 24 a day of anger and protest."
Amid lingering anger over the raids, which were followed by three straight days of protests on Baghdad's streets, an official newspaper called for a jihad (holy war) against the leaders of Kuwait for their support of the US-led strikes.
"All Arabs, and not only Iraqis, should direct their swords of jihad ... against the evil leaders of Kuwait who insist on supporting the US and Zionist criminals," said Al-Jumhuriya.
Kuwait's foreign minister has shrugged off threats aired in Baghdad's official press of military retaliation if the emirate continued to provide air bases for the allied patrols over Iraq.
On the defensive against condemnation of the strikes, Britain's Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in a newspaper interview that London and Washington were seeking "more effective" ways to oppose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"We need to re-focus international opinion on the continuing threat that he poses. We will continue to stand firm against Saddam and his attempts to bring death and suffering on the people of Iraq and his neighbours," Cook said.
The United States and Britain said they bombed five military targets in the raids around Baghdad to protect their pilots patrolling air exclusion zones set up after the 1991 Gulf War.
Iraq does not recognise the zones, which are not specifically authorised by the United Nations, and regularly fires on the US and British planes.