IN A POLITICAL TURN ABOUT, KHAMENEH'I HAILED DOWNFALL OF SADDAM
TEHRAN 11 Apr. (IPS) Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, in a major
policy shift, expressed Friday his happiness to see the Iraqi dictator ousted in
disgrace, saying "Iranians, like Iraqis, are happy to see Saddam gone"
but strongly condemn "the killing" of Iraqi civilians by the
US-British troops.
"Iran's position was like that of the Iraqi people, and lie for the Iraqis, the ouster of Saddam, as a most evil dictator, had been good news for the Islamic Republic", Ayatollah Khameneh'i said, addressing a crowd of worshipers at traditional Friday prayers.
"We never helped either of the tyrants, and we are very happy that Saddam is toppled ... We were neutral during the crisis, as were the Iraqi people, and are happy as are the Iraqi nation", he said, as starved population in Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities looted public buildings, banks, residences belonging to the regime’s high-ranking personalities, and also fought each other.
The highly unpopular Iranian leader sympathised with the Iraqi people after having supported the ousted Iraqi regime and its leader from the very day of the start of the American-led war.
However, he denounced the joint US-UK "crimes" against the Iraqi population, adding that the US and Britain had violated the very basic right of the Iraqi people to live.
He criticised American projects to install a military government in Iraq, stressing that Iran considered those plans as an "aggression against the dignity of Islam and the Muslim world", but stressed that the future Iraqi government should be "democratically elected with no reliance on the outsiders".
Mr. Khameneh'i also lashed out at the United Nations for failing to carry out its duties regarding the Iraqi crisis, stressing that the UN and its Secretary General Kofi Annan should have taken more serious measures to stop the war.
"Why did the Security Council not condemn the US attack against Iraq? Why did they refuse to issue a resolution against the US and Britain? Why didn't they call the General Assembly to condemn the US-British campaign against Iraq?" he asked.
"If they are right in their claim that their campaign against Saddam was meant to establish democracy in Iraq, why don't they leave the country now that the dictator is toppled?," he asked.
"If they ever believe in the principles of democracy and the rights of nations, they should immediately withdraw troops from Iraq and refuse to interfere in its affairs."
He urged the Iraqi activists to address chaos in Iraq and stop efforts to gain scores in the country, warning also that any step on their part to help foreign dominance over Iraq would be registered as a disgrace to the nation in Iraq's history. IRAQ KHAMENEH'I 11403