Angry Iraq press commentary

BBC Sunday, 4 August, 2002, 17:04 GMT 18:04 UK

Iraq's offer gets thumbs down from USA and Britain

The Babel newspaper, owned by Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday, has hit back at the US and UK governments' dismissal of Baghdad's invitation to hold talks with UN weapons inspectors.

The commentary described the American and British responses to the offer as "so self-contradictory and bizarre that they reached the point of scandal".

"These stands show that what they are seeking to achieve and their stupid fanfare have nothing to do with inspection and Iraqi weapons of mass destruction."

The article accuses Washington and London of "naively trying to hide behind a screen of false claims in order to achieve odious colonialist goals".

And it says the offer to hold technical talks with chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix demonstrated "Iraq's good intentions and commitment to the Security Council resolutions despite their well known unfairness".

Powell attacked

The article addresses US Secretary of State Colin Powell directly, accusing him of moving the goal posts on the issue.

"You used to say either the inspectors' return - or a strike against Iraq.

Now, however, you say that the aim is not the inspectors' return, but disarmament."

"How will you know that weapons have been removed without the inspectors' presence?" it asks.

The commentary concludes by calling on the UN to "distance itself from this farce".

It says the international community must "liberate itself and shoulder its responsibilities to stop these criminal plans that are drawn up by the US administration... to control the world for their own mean, racist and colonialist goals".

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