SADDAM MIGHT ATTACK IRAN, ISRAEL, SAUDI ARABIA, IRANIAN PAPER SAY
TEHRAN 16 Dec. (IRNA-IPS) As the Iraqis opposed to Saddam Hoseyn ended Monday a three days "historical" meeting in London, an Iranian newspaper predicted that by March next year, "Saddam and his Ba’thist regime would be removed from power".
More than 350 Iraqis from some 40 to 50 opposition groups and individuals attended the conference, which included high-level representatives from the US, Great Britain, the European Union, the United Nations as well as neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Kuwait and Iran.
The meeting proposed the creation of a "federal, democratic" system, with Islam as official religion. A three-men presidential Council, a provisory government and a representative Assembly would be formed for the transition period
"Our region will experience one of the most critical, eventful and fateful periods in its contemporary history after the Christian New Year holidays", "Iran News" said in its editorial, reproduced by the official news agency IRNA.
The paper predicted that by March 2003 Saddam and his Ba’thist regime would be removed from power, but admitted how this is to be achieved by the Americans and their allies is still unclear.
"Baghdad's 12,000 page Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) declaration has provided Washington the perfect pretext for a massive military invasion", noted the editorial.
UN Resolution 1441 stipulates that Saddam must make a full and truthful declaration of all his weapons of mass destruction and give UN weapons inspectors unconditional access to all suspected weapons of mass destruction sites or facilities, it added.
But, the paper notes, "it appears that the tyrannical ruler is again up to his old tricks and is playing the cat and mouse game with the IAEA and UN weapons inspectors".
Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad, warned of Washington's "seriousness" in bringing about a "targeted democracy" in the region.
Khalilzad, an Afghan by origin, is among the most vociferous voices within the American government and has a special mission for the US' "targeted democracy" in the Middle East, according to "Iran News", which observed that Iraq is a "much better candidate" for the concept of targeted democracy than Afghanistan.
"Our western neighbour has a more sound infrastructure and less tribal-ethnic tensions than our eastern neighbour", it said.
As the clouds of war darken, it cannot be denied that the West, and, for that matter, the entire region is "nervous and quite concerned about what Saddam might do as a last act of desperation".
It has not discounted the possibility that the "megalomaniac autocrat" may very well choose to use his weapons of mass destruction against American invading forces and even against his neighbours whom he thinks had cooperated with the US.
But, unlike the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Saddam has nothing to lose this time around, it added.
Saddam may attack Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and Iran with chemical and biological weapons, it surmised.
The US and other Western powers, the editorial concluded, must therefore use the remaining communication channels still at their disposal to convince Baghdad that by resorting to desperate measures against his neighbours he cannot hasten doomsday. ENDS IRAQ EDITORIAL 161202