An official Iraqi newspaper subjected the chief of the Arab League to another tongue-lashing Thursday for siding against Baghdad.
"While the climate was favorable for increased solidarity with Iraq, Esmat Abdel Meguid played his diabolical trick of deflecting attention from his flagrant partiality by provoking an argument" with Iraq's foreign minister, said Babel newspaper, headed by President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf argued with Abdel Meguid during a session of the Arab League's meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo on September 3rd.
Sahhaf had accused Abdel Meguid of "being partial, of not being objective and of lining up on the side of the other party, that is to say Kuwait," according to a participant in the meeting.
Abdel Meguid responded with a sharp reprimand, telling Sahhaf "you should learn how to talk to grown-ups. I could give lessons in law to 10 people like you."
The author of the Babel article -- Uday Saddam Hussein himself according to observers in Baghdad -- also criticized Sahhaf, without naming him, for "lacking restraint and losing his temper".
"It is time for some people to behave with wisdom and caution, especially when it's something that concerns Iraq," Babel said.
It advised Iraqi officials to "resort to British brinkmanship to respond to adversaries with diplomacy so as not to appear as the aggressive party." – BAGHDAD (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
