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as-Safir, Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, September 14, 2002

Tariq Aziz: We helped Jalal al-Talibani crack down on "al-Qa`idah."

IRAQI Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has said that Baghdad helped the leader of the Kurdistani National Union, Jalal al-Talibani, to fight elements of the "al-Qa`idah" network in the north of Iraq. This came in response to accusations by the American Administration that Iraq was aiding "terrorism."

Eric Mueller comments: THE FIRST article article reproduced here from today's as-Safir (Beirut) shows up the sort of deceit that President Bush resorted to in his "Get Iraq" speech in the United Nations. There he claimed, among other things, that Iraq is "harboring" al-Qa`ida elements. In fact they are operating in the north of the country from which Iraqi forces are totally excluded, and where Kurdish factions aided by the United States are in control.    The second story is certainly more startling -- but is it for real? As the United States propaganda machine shifts into high gear, I can't help wondering if this report might not be a piece of disinformation aimed at wrecking Iraq's relations with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, relations that have on the whole been improving in the last year or so.    Even the paper chose to put a question mark after the main statement in the headline.    What is more, the article itself refers repeatedly to the Iraqi "regime," a somewhat pejorative term, rather than the more neutral term of "government," suggesting that its source was, in any case, not particularly well-disposed to Saddam Hussein's government.    True or not, the allegation is worth knowing about. Arabist Eric Mueller is this website's expert on Middle Eastern affairs.

In an interview with the Middle East Television Center (M.T.V.) Tariq Aziz said that the American President "George Bush says that remnants of al-Qa`idah are located in Iraq. They are there, in the Sulaymaniya governorate, which is not subject to Iraqi authority but to the activity of al-Talibani. Yes, there are some people in the mountainous areas of Sulaymaniya and they attacked Jalal al-Talibani and killed dozens of his men. Jalal came to us and said that he wanted weapons and equipment, and we told him, 'here are your weapons and equipment' so that he could defend himself against them.

Aziz continued, "if they were in regions under our authority we would deal with them directly." He added, "they [the Americans] don't let us send our forces into the Kurdish regions because they say that this is 'aggression' against the Kurdish people, and then they make accusations that there are 'al-Qa`idah elements' there."

(AFP)

A Saudi-American agreement to fund the war? Egypt to provide refuge for Saddam.

LONDON: "as-Safir." -- There is information from Arab diplomatic sources that the American Administration has informed the Iraqi opposition that a decision to wage war on Iraq has been taken, that what is now under way is the preparation of that campaign, that the next few weeks will be decisive in this regard, and that the Iraqi opposition must complete its preparations and get ready.

Parallel with this, Arab diplomatic sources say that there have been major political developments that have taken place that reinforce America's drive to war on Iraq. Chief among these developments is a Saudi-American agreement concluded during the warm and friendly meeting that took place between the American President George Bush and the ambassador of the Saudi Kingdom in Washington, Bandar ibn Sultan Ibn Abd al-Aziz. The sources say that Bandar brought the commitment of his country to pay for half the costs of the campaign against Iraq in return for an end to the crisis that had erupted between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The United States also agreed to commit itself to refrain from opposing the regime in Saudi Arabia and its security. Saudi Arabia, for its part, would retain the freedom to continue its current political rhetoric rejecting a military strike against Iraq.

Another such development is the fact that Egypt has been proceeding along two tracks, according to these same sources. The first is represented by several meetings that have been held between high ranking Egyptian security officials and officials in the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (the Shiite wing of the Iraqi opposition [based in Iran]) to establish direct relations between the two sides. The second track is represented by Egypt's attempt to get involved in the Iraqi situation ostensibly with the aim of protecting Iraq from an American military strike, by means of a "plan" that provides for negotiations with the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein over guarantees that would be extended to him, to his family, and to the leading members of his regime that they could come to Egypt with the pledge that they would not be brought to trial -- an arrangement like that which Egypt made with the former Shah of Iran. The diplomatic sources say that Egypt will continue to pursue efforts at such negotiations even after a military operation has begun in order to prevent the military activity from expanding in scope. The sources add that this effort is coordinated with the United States, which is hoping that it will fit in with Washington's desire that the military campaign attain its objectives without even having to be launched or at least in the shortest possible time if indeed it must be launched.

In other developments, various groups in the Iraqi opposition have agreed to convene an Iraqi National Congress in the near future and simultaneously with a military assault on Iraq. Agreement has been reached that two organizations would emerge from such a meeting: a provisional government, and a presidential body that would include representatives of all the religious groups in proportion to their numbers in the society. The presidential body would take up its work in Basra in the south of Iraq. This information comes amid reports that the Untied States is particularly concerned that the Shiites be actively represented.

Meanwhile the Iraqi regime has taken a series of exceptional measures. Lt. Gen. Ali Hasan al-Majid, has been given responsibility for the southern Iraqi governorate with its chief cities of Basra, Hilla, al-Nasiriya and al-Habbaniya. Al-Majid has been dubbed "the chemist" because it was he who in 1991 struck at the town of Halabja. He has been given authority to use chemical weapons against any popular movement in the southern region.

Al-Majid, who has taken the city of al-Nasiriya as his headquarters, has met with tribal leaders in the south and informed them of the warnings against launching any movements against the regime and asking for their participation in repelling aggression.

As to steps on the ground, anti-aircraft were already being set up on the roofs of buildings in the governorates, and a type of a state of emergency has been imposed according to which leaving those areas is prohibited.

The Iraqi President has delegated to all agencies of the regime and to organizations of the ruling Baath Party the obligation of imposing a curfew in Iraqi regions at the first military strike.

Reports indicate that the Iraqi regime has included strikes at the capitals of Gulf states among its goals at a specific stage in the "confrontation" and that Iran absolutely does not exclude the possibility that it might be targeted by the Iraqi regime at such time as Baghdad seeks to express its hostility over Iran's positions.

Parallel with that, the same diplomatic sources report that Iran is sticking by its order to close its borders with Iraq at the start of any military operations. It is noted that Tehran, which absolutely does not exclude the possibility that it might be a target of Iraq, chose the timing for the missile test that it recently carried out to assess the readiness of its own defenses. Official circles in the Islamic Republic believe that Israel might intervene as well and launch a strike at the Iranian nuclear reactor in Bushehr.