US Urged to Reconsider Iraq PolicyIraq called Monday on the United States to reconsider its Iraq policy, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.The policy toward Iraq pursued by former US President Bill Clinton has proved a "failure and bankruptcy," Iraqi Minister of Culture and Information Humam Abd Al-Khaliq Abd Al-Ghafur said. Therefore, the new US administration of President George W. Bush "should reconsider the policy," Ghafur stressed. But unfortunately, the new US administration has said that it would follow the policy adopted by the former administration, he added. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has vowed "to continue containing" Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and "confront him should that become necessary." The Iraqi minister voiced Iraq's steadfastness, saying that "we are not frightened by US threats as its warplanes almost attack Iraq every day." He was referring to the northern and southern no-fly zones the U.S. and Britain imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, allegedly to protect the Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims respectively from possible attacks by Iraqi troops. |
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