Iraqi Vice President Says US No. 1 Terrorist State in World

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 10, 2002

Iraqi Vice President Says US No. 1 Terrorist State in World

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Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan on Wednesday accused the United States of being the world's "No. 1 terrorist country" which has committed terrorism against Iraq for more than a decade, the state-run Iraq TV reported.

"The U.S., through its continuous aggressions against Iraq, reveals its ugly face and becomes the Number One terrorist country in the world," Ramadan told a visiting Spanish delegation which came to show solidarity with the embargo-hit nation.

Ramadan stressed that the U.S. has continued "terrorism" from 1990 till now through "the cruel embargo and the flagrant military aggressions," the report said.

Since the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the U.S. has been pursuing a policy of containment which combines economic embargo and repeated military strikes against Iraq.

The U.S. has designated Iraq, under sweeping international embargo since 1990, as one of "the state sponsors of terrorism."

"Ramadan renewed Iraq's call for lifting the embargo and stopping the U.S. interference in its internal affairs as well as military aggressions against its sovereignty and territorial integrity," the report said.

The U.S. administration headed by President George W. Bush has maintained a tough policy toward the Iraqi regime since it took office one year ago. Bush has hinted that Iraq might become a U.S. target after Afghanistan by demanding the Iraqi regime to allow arms inspectors back into the country or face the consequences.

Iraq has barred arms inspectors since the U.S.-British military blitz in December 1998.