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Blanchard

Kuwait sounds alarm as Iraq threatens attack

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, August 11, 2000

NICOSIA -- Kuwait has placed its forces on alert in response to Iraqi threats to again attack the emirate.

The move by the emirate comes amid rising tension in the war of words between Kuwait and Baghdad and 10 years after Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Kuwaiti officials said part of the army has been mobilized. Emirate leaders have pressed the Arab League and the international community to stop the threats by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"As a precautionary move, we have mobilized part of our armed forces, although they have not yet been put on maximum alert," Kuwaiti Defense Minister Salim Al Sabah said. "We must be vigilant at all times, because it is impossible to have the least bit of confidence in the Iraqi regime. The Iraqi regime threatens not only Kuwait but the whole of the Arab world."

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sabah Ahmed Al Sabah informed Arab envoys and ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council of the threat. "Kuwait will not tolerate these threats which can not be taken lightly," Al Sabah said.

Earlier, Saddam threatened another Iraqi offensive against Kuwait and termed Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian leader "traitors" for cooperating with Israel and the United States.

"If the treacherous leaders in Kuwait need another lesson, we are more than ready to hand one out to them," the Baghdad-based daily Babel said.

In Cairo, Arab League secretary-general Ismat Abdel Meguid criticized Saddam's statement.

"I deplore what was said in Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's speech," Abdel Meguid said. "It was totally unsatisfactory. He should have looked instead to the future, in order to try to correct the mistakes of the past."

The Arab League's ministerial council is scheduled to convene on Sept. 3 in Cairo and Abdel Meguid said he hopes the current tension would not torpedo the session.

Thursday, August 11, 2000

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