Iraq Invites U.S. Congress to Visit Baghdad

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Unk's Troll-free Private Saloon : One Thread

Iraq Invites U.S. Congress to Visit Baghdad Mon Aug 5, 9:28 AM ET

By Nadim Ladki

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq invited the U.S. Congress on Monday to send a mission to Baghdad and said it would be given free access to any site alleged to be developing weapons of mass destruction.

Influential Parliament Speaker Saadoun Hammadi, in a letter addressed to Congress, invited a delegation "comprising whatever number of congressmen you see fit, accompanied by experts in the fields you deem relevant to the purpose of the visit, i.e. chemical, biological and nuclear."

President Bush ( news - web sites) accuses Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites) of being a menace to the region and has said he is "looking at all options, the use of all tools" to deal with the Iraqi leader.

The Iraqi leadership held a meeting last Friday, which Hammadi attended. Hammadi is close to Saddam and any statement he makes is likely to have the approval of the Iraqi leader.

The four-page letter said the delegation would be given "every facility needed to search and inspect any plants and installations allegedly producing, or intended to produce, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons."

Hammadi said the delegation would be free to search whatever site it wished, "however deep underground such facilities may be thought to exist."

He said the delegation would be the guests of the Iraqi government for "say, a period of three weeks."

Hammadi delivered the letter to the Polish ambassador in Baghdad. The Polish embassy is in charge of U.S. interests in Iraq.

A copy of the letter in English was obtained by Reuters.

The letter came five days after Iraq invited chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad to discuss all pending issues on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, key to suspending U.N. sanctions imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

Security Council members will discuss the invitation to Blix later Monday. The United States and Britain responded to the invitation with skepticism while France and Russia welcomed it.

The U.S. Congress last week held a hearing on the Bush administration's policy on toppling Saddam. The United States accuses Iraq of producing weapons of mass destruction, but Baghdad denies the charge.

"NOTHING TO LOSE"

Hammadi said in his letter U.S. administrations had misinformed the U.S. public since Iraq invaded Kuwait 12 years ago.

"I don't think that you stand to lose anything if you were to take your decision after you have seen the truth as it is on the ground," the letter said.

Earlier Monday, around 3,000 Iraqis, burning American flags and an effigy of Bush, took part in a march in Baghdad organized by parliament members to denounce U.S. threats to unseat Saddam.

"In spite of America, Saddam will stay forever," chanted the crowd, who defied summer temperatures of nearly 50 degrees to take part in the demonstration.

"We are here to protest against American plans to attack Iraq and to declare support for our beloved leader...and express our readiness to defend our country," MP Mohammad al-Adhami told Reuters.

"Bush and his aides will be disgraced," said Maedah al-Zubeidi, a 55-year-old housewife who said she had volunteered for military training to fight any attack.

Bush said over the weekend that "nothing's changed" regarding the U.S. determination to topple Saddam.

-- (nothing @ to. lose), August 05, 2002

Answers

Oh boy, this is not what Dumbya needs right now. He really wants to wipe out Iraq and give all their oil to his corporate buddies, and he wants to do it quick to impress Poppy before he dies of skin cancer.

He doesn't want the sheeple to figure out that the real reason he wants to massacre thousands of innocent people is greed, so now he's going to have to come up with some more lies about why we shouldn't go have a look first.

-- uh-oh (Dumbya on @ hot. seat), August 05, 2002.


Defying summer temperatures of 50 degrees! Wow!

-- Peter Errington (petere7@starpower.net), August 05, 2002.

Celsius, dimwit.

-- Bill Nye (the@science.guy), August 05, 2002.

That is still cooler than it has been here for the last month.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), August 05, 2002.

Bill Nye, another poster who wouldn't know tongue in cheek if it bit him on the ass.

-- Peter Errington (petere7@starpower.net), August 05, 2002.


I would not want someone to bite me in the ass with their tongue in my cheek

-- (lars@1ndy.net), August 05, 2002.

A Congressional junket to Iraq? Ugh, no way. Let's go somewhere fun. Quick, while I'm still in office.

-- (Gary Condit @ Body.Farm), August 05, 2002.

Hey Bill, pay no mind to Errorton. This stupid prick never gets it right and his fragile little ego kicks into high gear when he gets called out…which is often. He passes his fuck-ups off as ‘tongue in cheek’, when he should be saying ‘head up ass’.

A pathetic weenie of the first order is he.

-- Official (dumbass fucker detector@WW.West), August 05, 2002.


I've been thinking about this.

Why not send the entire congress over to Iraq on this fact finding mission. Once they are there, don't let them come back. Solves a big problem for us and either Saddam executes them all within three months or they drive him crazy and his regime toppples.

Talk about win-win situations!

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), August 05, 2002.


Golly, it appears I have annoyed "Oink".

Oink, yes I called you a cowardly punk, but I didn't mean for you to take it personally.

-- Peter Errington (petere7@starpower.net), August 05, 2002.



Stole my words JBT. Too bad the Cali legislature can't tag along.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), August 06, 2002.

Please shutup Mr. JBT, you might give away my plan. We do have some nuclear warheads ready, and as soon as the Congress gets within 100 yards I will detonate it by remote control. If it works, I will be your new pretzeldent and you will be handsomely rewarded. Please, you must be hush-hush now.

-- Saddam (big bad man @ axis. of evil), August 06, 2002.

So solly.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), August 06, 2002.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ