U.S. reports Iraqi violation of Saudi air space

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U.S. reports Iraqi violation of Saudi air space Iraq will soon begin year-round military training Saddam orders year-round training as Gulf tensions rise September 16, 2000 Web posted at: 10:06 p.m. EDT (0206 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- As tensions in the Persian Gulf rise anew, U.S. officials say Iraqi war planes have entered Saudi air space for the first time in years.

But on Saturday Iraq dismissed as baseless what it called U.S. allegations that it is threatening any of its neighbors. "Iraq is the one being threatened by aggression," Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh said in remarks published by the official news agency INA.

Of the possibility that Iraq might attack Kuwait, he said: "These are false allegations by the American administration."

Iraq recently accused Kuwait of stealing its oil and warned of unspecified measures against the neighbor. Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the 1991 Gulf War.

Kuwaiti officials repeatedly have denied Iraq's claims.

In the Saudi capital of Riyadh, a foreign ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf neighbors will meet in the coming days to discuss the situation and affirm solidarity with Kuwait.

Saddam: 'We must boost our capability' On Saturday, Iraqi television showed President Saddam Hussein meeting a group of military officers. But Saddam made no mention of the recent tension with Kuwait and the United States.

Saddam has ordered his party members to conduct military training year-round because of rising hostility toward Iraq, newspapers reported Saturday.

The order, made during a Cabinet meeting Thursday, coincided with a Clinton administration decision to provide $4 million to the Iraqi leader's political foes and another $4 million in stages under a program with the Iraqi National Congress, which is trying to oust Saddam.

"Because our enemy is fighting us in all fields and under all titles, we must boost our capabilities to face the enemy in the fields we are capable of," Saddam said in remarks carried by the official Al-Qadissiya newspaper.

Military training is usually conducted only during crises and summer vacations.

Iraq, meanwhile, has continued to resist a renewed attempt by the United Nations to have inspectors visit the country to look for hidden weapons of mass destruction.

Observers say increased oil revenues have given Iraq more resources, more clout and the confidence to stand firm on its refusal to allow the inspectors back into the country.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Wednesday the United States will support vigorous diplomacy with a threat of force to preserve stability throughout the Middle East and Persian Gulf.

U.S. officials say Iraqi warplanes are challenging coalition aircraft in the no-fly zone U.S. determined to stop Saddam's threats White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said on Friday the United States was committed to stopping Saddam from threatening Iraq's neighbors or rebuilding weapons of mass destruction. "He has had times where he's miscalculated. But he should not miscalculate our resolve," Lockhart told reporters.

"Iraq will defend its territory and air space against any aggression," Saleh said.

Iraq's press condemned the U.S. stance.

"Interference by the silly American administration is clear to everybody ... and this administration threatens any one who stands against its vicious interests," said the Babel newspaper, owned by Saddam's eldest son, Uday.

"The world and the American administration in particular know very well who is the real owner of the oil which is being looted and wasted by the dwarves (rulers) of Kuwait," the paper added, in a front-page editorial.

Saleh also lashed out at Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and accused them of aiding Western patrols of a no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

"The American and British jets are bombing our installations and killing Iraqi civilians with the support of the Kuwaiti and Saudi regimes," Saleh said.

"These planes, which the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia allow to use their air bases, are killing hundreds of (Iraq's) civilians and destroying its economic installations," the official al-Iraq newspaper said.

U.S. and British planes patrol no-fly zones over southern and northern Iraq that were established after the 1991 Gulf War. The zones, which Baghdad does not recognize, were imposed to protect a Kurdish enclave in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/09/16/iraq.kuwait/index.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 16, 2000


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