Iraq called on the US Friday to draw the right conclusions from the "harsh lesson" it was dealt this week in the form of devastating terror attacks and change its foreign policy to avoid further "surprises."
"Will America's rulers draw the right conclusions from... this harsh lesson and... put an end to their arrogance... or will they use (the attacks) as a pretext to wreak further destruction on other peoples?" asked ath-Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath Party.
Predicting fresh "surprises" in the US in future, ath-Thawra said it was up to the American people to put an end to their leaders' "barbarity" and the "contempt" they show for their own people and other nations.
The Iraqi paper said Washington would probably opt for "violence and terrorism" in responding to the attacks because of "Zionist influence" on the US decision-making process.
But it held out the hope that the administration of President George W. Bush, "under pressure from the American political current that rejects Zionist hegemony," would rethink its current foreign policy of "seeking to forcibly subjugate peoples."
Iraq, a sworn enemy of successive US administrations since the 1991 Gulf War, has been almost alone in the world in refusing to condemn the unprecedented jetliner suicide bombings in the US.
President Saddam Hussein has called them the fruit of Washington's "criminal" policies -- BAGHDAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
