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Iraqi U.N. envoy: 'Enough is enough'
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's United Nations ambassador Saturday described the U.S.-British air strikes near Baghdad as acts of aggression, and called for "a more rational policy" toward Iraq. "Enough is enough," Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri told CNN. "It was aggression and we know that, we have expected that, we will expect more aggression from the United States and the British," al-Douri said. He said the Iraqi people have grown to expect "all these kinds of aggressions. It was daily from '91 till now, so nothing new really." Al-Douri, who was sworn in as Iraq's new U.N. ambassador just 10 days ago, said he hoped Friday's air strike would be brought up in talks between Iraqi officials and Secretary-General Kofi Annan set for February 26-27.
"Whatever interests the rest of the Iraqi people will do it," he said, referring to the agenda for the talks. The ambassador asked U.S. citizens "to push the (U.S. President George W. Bush) administration to have a more rational policy vis-a-vis the people of Iraq and Iraq as a state." Iraqi media predicts 'retaliation'A senior U.S. Defense Department official told CNN on Saturday that all seven radar command and control sites were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the strike, according to a preliminary assessment. Baghdad says at least two civilians were killed in the air strikes and that more than 20 others -- some of them children -- were wounded. Iraqi newspapers slammed the U.S. for the attack and said it would be avenged. "The Americans' and Britons' new, savage crime will not pass unpunished and without decisive retaliation," the official Qadissiya newspaper said in a front-page editorial. "We will teach the new American administration and the Zionist entity (Israel) lessons on Jihad (holy war) and steadfastness," it added. It called Bush the "son of the snake," in reference to his father George, who led the Gulf War against Iraq in 1991 that ejected Iraqi occupation troops from Kuwait. The paper said that the targets attacked by the Western planes were civilian. But the U.S. said its planes had targeted Iraqi radar systems in the capital. The government newspaper al-Jumhouriya described the assault as a "cowardly act" and "another failing action by the tyrant rulers of the criminal American administration." The air strikes were the first military action ordered by Bush since he became U.S. president. "Two people were martyred and more than 20 others injured during the aggression launched by American and British planes last night," the Iraqi News Agency INA said, quoting an Iraqi health ministry spokesman. Reuters said the agency named the dead as Aliah Atshan Abdullah, 18, and Khalil Hameed Alwash, who was said to be in his 30s. Iraqi television showed pictures of injured civilians after the strikes, with Iraq issuing a statement describing the attacks as the beginning of a holy war and calling on Arabs around the world to rise up against the U.S. and Israel after the first major Western air strikes on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital for two years. The attacks were described by Bush as a "routine mission." The U.S. president, in Mexico for a meeting with President Vicente Fox, said: "Our intention is to make sure that the world is as peaceful as possible and we are going to watch very carefully as to whether he (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) develops weapons of mass destruction, and if we catch him doing so, we're going to take appropriate action." 'Aggression will fail'U.S. Defense officials said 24 U.S. and British planes struck military targets five to 20 miles (eight to 32 kilometres) from Baghdad using various long-range precision-guided weapons. Iraqi television broadcast an official statement saying planes had struck targets on the outskirts of Baghdad. The statement was issued after a meeting of Iraqi leaders chaired by Hussein. "We will fight them in the air, on land and sea and their aggression will achieve nothing but failure," it said. The statement also blamed Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which provide bases for coalition forces in the region. U.S. and British warplanes have patrolled no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq since soon after the Gulf War to protect Shi'ite Muslims in the south and a Kurdish enclave in the north from possible attack by Baghdad's forces. In Washington, the Pentagon said the attacks were launched in self-defense against Iraqi command and control centers that had been "increasing both their frequency and the sophistication of their operations" against allied aircraft. CNN Correspondent Jane Arraf, The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES:
Bush: Iraq strikes part of 'strategy' RELATED SITES:
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