Iraqi Official Press Slams GCC MeetingIraqi official press Sunday slammed a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Saudi Arabia as "provocative" and "creating a state of tension."An editorial carried by Ath-Thawra daily, mouthpiece of Iraq's ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party, termed the meeting held Thursday in northern Saudi town of Hafer al-Batin as "a threat to Iraq." The meeting attacked Iraq and tried to "keep the state of tension in the Gulf region," the editorial said. It accused Saudi officials, who claimed that Iraq is still threatening its neighbors, of "parroting the U.S. statements hostile to Iraq and its people." The GCC, a regional political, economic and military alliance, groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.�� Al-Qadissyia, another official daily, also said in an editorial that the GCC meeting "has come to implement the orders of the United States in a bid to create a state of tension in the region." Senior officials from the GCC gathered at the headquarters of their joint defense force in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, and reportedly focused on the Gulf situation after the Arab summit in Amman, Jordan last month as well as the joint defense pact among the six oil-rich states. The six nations mainly rely on Western powers for their defense. A joint defense pact was signed among them last December. Iraq has repeatedly condemned Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for allowing U.S. and British warplanes to use their bases to mount patrols over a no-fly zone in southern Iraq which was established by the US-led Western allies following the 1991 Gulf War. A similar air exclusion zone was also set up in northern Iraq with claimed aim to protect the Kurdish population there. Iraq, who has been under sanctions for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, has never recognized the zones for lack of clear authorization from the United Nations. |
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