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Kuwait rejects Saddam's apology
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- With a possible military confrontation with the United States looming, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein apologized for invading Kuwait in 1990 -- an apology Kuwaiti officials bluntly rejected Saturday. "We apologize to you," Saddam said in a statement read by Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhafa on Iraqi TV. "What we wish for you is what we wish for your brothers in Iraq -- to live free from foreign rule and intervention in your wealth and future." He urged Kuwait "to remain free and faithful by not allying yourself with the aggressors," and warned Kuwaitis that the United States would "steal your wealth and turn you into slaves working for them and turn your leaders into local agents for American oil companies." Kuwait's information minister, Sheik Ahmed al-Fahed al-Sabah, said the statement merely repeated Iraq's previous excuses for invading the emirate. "We believe the apology should be addressed first to the Iraqi people, who are being repressed," he said. Saddam's forces invaded Kuwait in August 1990, claiming it as Baghdad's 19th province and sparking a crisis that led to the Persian Gulf War in January 1991. A U.S.-led coalition pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in March 1991. Ahmed called on Iraq to respect Kuwait's independence and borders and to account for Kuwaiti prisoners missing since the end of the war. The statement came on a day that Iraq handed over its declaration on weapons of mass destruction, required by the United Nations, and as searches by U.N. arms monitors continued after a two-day hiatus marking the end of the Muslim observation of Ramadan. (Full story) Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops are in Kuwait for military exercises with Kuwaiti forces and they have been the target of a series of shooting incidents since late October that left one U.S. Marine dead. The Iraqi leader referred to the presence of U.S. troops in Kuwait as an occupation and urged Kuwaitis to resist it. "We salute all those amongst you who are fighting the foreign occupier ... We salute all the martyrs and all those honorable people who are fighting for your reputation and your honor," he said. There was no immediate reaction to the statement from U.S. officials. Mamoun Fandy, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the U.S. National Defense University, said the apology probably will do little for Iraq inside Kuwait. But as an appeal to anti-American sentiment, in the region, it "rings loudly throughout the Arab world" -- particularly in Qatar, where more U.S. troops are conducting exercises in preparation for a possible conflict. In recent months, Iraq has made several moves to reconcile with its Gulf neighbors, including Kuwait. Baghdad has returned truckloads of Kuwaiti archives looted during the occupation and sources told CNN there has been progress on the issue of Kuwaitis unaccounted for since the Gulf war. Tensions remain high along the Iraq-Kuwait border. Kuwait's defense minister said that his country's navy seized an Iraqi tugboat on Thursday after the vessel entered Kuwaiti waters, according to a Kuwait News Agency report. The Kuwait News Agency quoted the minister, Sheik Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamid Al-Sabah, as saying four Iraqi men on the tug were detained and turned over to the Interior Ministry for questioning. The minister instructed officials to "treat the Iraqis properly," the agency reported. When asked by reporters about the U.S. buildup in the region, the minister said, according to the report, "Kuwait was not a party to the Iraqi problem," and Kuwait did not wish for war to break out. He described military precautions in the country as aimed "to protect ourselves and our land from any harm." Correspondents Rym Brahimi and Walter Rodgers contributed to this report.
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