Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz on Wednesday denied U.S. President Bush's allegation that his country has ties to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.
"I absolutely deny that. I absolutely deny that," Aziz said in an interview on ABC News. "And I challenge Bush and his government to present any, any evidence of that."
In his annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, Bush accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of aiding and protecting "terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda."
In the television interview, Aziz dismissed Bush's speech as more of the same old rhetoric, adding that "now people are more unconvinced about the Bush allegations than any time before." He added Iraq would fight bravely in any war with the United States. "If they dare to invade Iraq, they will suffer great losses and they will lose in the end," he said.
On his part, British Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed Bush Wednesday, claiming Iraq had links with al Qaeda members.
"We do know of links between al Qaeda and Iraq -- we cannot be sure of the exact extent of those links," he told parliament.
"If Saddam Hussein is allowed to carry on developing weapons of mass destruction...he is not just a threat to his own region, he is a threat to the world," Blair said.
Pressed in parliament by critics of military action, Blair pledged to pull the international community together. "The purpose of what we are doing at the moment is to unite the international community around the United Nations position..," he said.
Bush and Blair will meet at Camp David Friday and are expected to agree on the strategy and the timing of any attack on Baghdad.
Meanwhile, NATO delivered another setback to Washington on Wednesday as four allies delayed plans for the alliance to send planes and missiles to defend Turkey if there is war with Iraq.
France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg said they did not oppose the U.S. proposals as such. But they said it was too early to start the military planning while there is hope of avoiding a war through diplomacy and the U.N. weapons inspections process.
The American proposals included sending AWACS surveillance planes and Patriot missiles systems to Turkey, intensifying naval patrols in the Mediterranean, filling in for European-based U.S. troops sent to the Gulf and an eventual role for NATO in humanitarian or peacekeeping operations in a postwar Iraq. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
