Austrian Green Party Raps US-British Airstrike Against Iraq

The new Bush administration sent a "dangerous signal " by launching an airstrike against Iraq Friday, a move which should be vehemently condemned by the international community, said a major Austrian party Saturday.

The military action, which took place less than one month after US President George W. Bush took office, registered an ominous sign in the US foreign policy, said Green Party spokeswoman Ulrike Lunacek in a press release.

Bush is trying to distract attention from his lack of diplomacy by resorting to military means and threatening to build the national missile defense system (NMD), said the spokeswoman, quoted by the Austria news agency.

US and British warplanes launched an airstrike Friday evening against Iraqi military targets south of Baghdad, the first against Iraqi command sites outside the southern no-fly zone since December 1998.

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