Tariq Aziz

Who Apologizes for Whom?

Baghdad INA in Arabic 0845 GMT 10 Jan 99

[FBIS Translated Text]

Baghdad, 10 Jan (INA)

The newspaper al-Thawrah, mouthpiece of the Arab Socialist Ba'th Party, publishes an article today by Tariq 'Aziz, titled "Who Apologizes for Whom?"

The article reads: Within the framework of avoiding any condemnation of the United States and Britain for committing the crime of aggression against Iraq, ignoring the calls of the Arab masses and theirnationalist forces and conscientious groups for an Arab decision to break the unjust blockade imposed on Iraq, and within the suspicious campaign aimed at avoiding those substantive subjects and directingunfounded blame at the Iraqi leadership, certain Arab circles have launched suspicious calls, demanding Iraq apologize for its "occupation of Kuwait" and express regret for what has happened. If that takes place, they say, then the path will be opened toward Arab reconciliation. Subsequently, they maintain, the Arab states will call on the UN Security Council to lift the blockade, provided that that be coupled, as they say, with adherence to "international legitimacy" and the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

The advocates of such a call -- by whom I mean those who have since 1990 been colluding with the US-Zionist scheme to destroy Iraq and control the region--are circumventing the facts of the near and far history, believing that they can deceive the masses and circumvent the basic facts of the situation and the core of the conflict witnessed by the entire Arab arena against the US-Zionist hegemony, of which the 2August events were a chapter.

The advocates of such a call also try to fool Arab public opinion by saying that there is an "Arab" side who was deeply wounded and that the wound cannot heal unless Iraq declares its regret and apology to those who were wounded.

Those who have been falsifying facts since August 1990 are trying in vain to cover their crime of participation in word and deed in the crime of aggression against Iraq and in placing the region under US and Zionist military, political, and economic hegemony by blaming Iraq and its leadership. However, the logic of those people cannot convince Arab public opinion, the conscientious forces in the Arab homeland, and the intellectuals in the Arab homeland and the world. Those of goodwill who are involved in such suspicious calls should be aware of theirtrue reasons and purposes.

The first question that must be strongly posed forcefully and bluntly is this: Are the rulers of Kuwait a victim, or are they colluding criminals who deliberately harmed Iraq and committed an aggression against it?

Are the rulers of Kuwait rulers of an Arab entity, just like other entities? Or are they British and later US tools for besieging and weakening Iraq? The facts of history cannot be concealed by emptypropaganda and suspicious and thoughtless calls. Those facts date back to the 19th century and early 20th century. All these facts confirm beyond any doubt that "Kuwait" was established as an entity by Britain in order to besiege Iraq and deny it its historical coasts, which had been part of it since the Sumerian era. And so were they under the Ottoman state, which was the last state to rule Iraq and the region before Iraq was
established as an entity in 1921.

As the rulers of Kuwait are today committing crimes against Iraq, the start of this behavior began with the crime of Mubarak al-Sabah, the grandfather of the present rulers of Kuwait, who killed his two brothers Muhammad and Jarrah in collaboration with the British. His objective was to sign the secret agreement of 1899, in accordance with which he linked the fate of Kuwait with Britain, instead of the Ottoman state, which had tutelage over Kuwait, which was one of the districts of al-Basrah Province.

President Saddam Husayn is not the only Iraqi leader who noted this fact. And the present leadership in Iraq is not the only one which said that Kuwait was established to besiege Iraq, to turn it into a land- locked state, and consequently to weaken it militarily and economically. All those who assumed power in Iraq since 1921 said the same thing: Faysal I, Ghazi Bin-Faysal, Faysal Bin-Ghazi Bin-Faysal, Nuri Sa'id, Yasin al-Hashimi, Tawfiq al-Suwaydi, and the other prime ministers and ministers who took office until 14 July 1958. The rulers at the time of the monarchy, like some Arab rulers today, were the friends of Britain and then of the United States.

Despite this, they could not ignore this fact because it was amply clear. The matter did not stop on 14 July 1958 as the rulers of Iraq afterward maintained this firm Iraqi stand.

Who amongst all those should apologize to the rulers of Kuwait? Shall we ask those who are dead to come out of their graves to apologize to the grandsons of the killer of his brothers, Mubarak al-Sabah, and to thank them for linking part of the Arab homeland with Britain and for turning it into a British base, and then to a US base, for plotting against Iraq with the aim of weakening it?

On 15 July 1990, I addressed a memorandum to Arab League Secretary General Chedli Klibi on the conspiratorial and aggressive behavior of the Kuwait rulers against Iraq. Here are some excerpts of this memorandum:

With deep regret, we have been noticing that the acts of the Government of Kuwait toward Iraq have deviated from the framework of the pan-Arab concepts. In fact, these acts contradict with and threaten the pillars of inter-Arab relations. Despite our faithful fraternal stands in dealing with them at all times, the Kuwaiti officials have tried -- through a continuous and premeditated way -- to encroach upon Iraq and to harm it. They intended to weaken it after emerging from the eight-year grinding war. All honest Arabs, including leaders, thinkers, and citizens, as well as the leaders of the Gulf states, asserted that in this war Iraq was defending the sovereignty of the entire Arab nation and the Gulf states, particularly Kuwait. The Government of Kuwait followed this policy, which aims at weakening Iraq, at a time when Iraq is facing a fierce imperialist-Zionist campaign as a result of its pan-Arab stands in defense of the Arab rights. In doing so, the Government of Kuwait, regrettably, is motivated by selfish motives, narrow views, and objectives that can only be viewed as suspicious and serious.

In this memorandum, I presented an account of the acts, which the rulers of Kuwait carried out against Iraq at that time.

1. The issue of borders: The memorandum states that the demarcation of borders has been an outstanding issue between Iraq and Kuwait since the epoch of colonialism and the divisions it imposed on the Arab nation. The contacts which were held in the 1960's and 1970's failed to reach a settlement to this issue between the two sides until the eruption of war between Iraq and Iran. During the long years of war in particular, and while the valiant sons of Iraq were sacrificing their dear blood on the fronts in defense of the Arab land, including the land of Kuwait, and Arab sovereignty and dignity, including those of Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Government exploited Iraq's preoccupation [with the war] and its genuine pan-Arab principles and noble approach in dealing with the brothers and the pan-Arab causes in order to implement its scheme through speeding up its gradual and systematic incursion into Iraq's territory. Thus, it started setting up military facilities, police stations, oil facilities, and farms on Iraq's territory.

We remained silent on all of that. We only hinted at these actions, thinking that this was enough within the framework of the principles of brotherhood which we thought everybody believed in. However, thesemeasures continued through deceitful methods and determination on escalation.

After the liberation of al-Faw and specifically during Algiers summit in 1988, we informed the Kuwaiti side of our genuine desire to settle this issue within the framework of fraternal relations and the higherpan-Arab interest. However, we found ourselves facing an extremely odd situation. According to logic, the Kuwaiti officials should have been pleased with this kind fraternal initiative of ours, and should havesought to settle this issue speedily. Nevertheless, we noticed a deliberate hesitance and procrastination on their part through prolonging the talks and contacts.

They also raised fabricated obstacles, while continuing to violate and set up oil and military facilities, police stations, and farms on the Iraqi territory.2. Economic plotting: The Kuwaiti Government started for months and specifically after Iraq had raised its voice--during the Arab Cooperation Council summit in Amman in February 1990--calling for the restoration of Arab rights in Palestine and warning against the dangers of the US presence in the Gulf, to pursue an unfair policy whose aim was to harm the Arab nation, particularly Iraq. The Kuwaiti Government had implemented a premeditated plan to inundate the oil market with more production in excess of its quota which was specified by OPEC. This was done under feeble pretexts that were not based on any foundationsof logic or justice. These pretexts were not shared by any other fraternal OPEC member.

This devastating policy led to a serious drop in oil prices. After the drop that took place a few years ago from 24, 29, and 28 dollars per barrel, the Kuwaiti Government's actions led to the collapse of theminimum price, which was recently agreed upon in the OPEC; namely, $18, to 11-13 dollars per barrel. So, a simple calculation will show the heavy losses the Arab oil-producing countries have sustained.

In its memorandum, Iraq said that the drop of every dollar in the oil price makes Iraq lose a billion dollars per year. This meant that Iraq would lose several billions of dollars from its revenues for thatyear at a time when Iraq was suffering a monetary crunch due to the costs of the legitimate defense of its land, security, and holy places, and of the land of the Arabs, their security, and holy placesthroughout the past eight years. These losses also affected all the Arab oil-producing countries.

The memorandum also reads: In addition to its premeditated harm, the Kuwaiti Government further harmed Iraq in particular. Since 1980, particularly during the years of war, it installed oil installations on the southern part of the Iraqi al-Rumaylah oil field to pump oil from it. It was clear that it used to flood the international market with oil, plus, it stole oil from the Iraqi al-Rumaylah oil field, thus, premeditatedly harming Iraq twice; once by weakening its economy at a time when it was in dire need of its revenues, and again by stealing its resources. The oil the Kuwaiti Government pumped from al-Rumaylah oil fields in this way, which conflicts with fraternal relations, based on 1980-1990 prices, totals $2.4 billion.

This is what the grandsons of Mubarak al-Sabah did to Iraq before 2 August 1990, although it had emerged from a bloody war in which it sacrificed the blood of its sons in defense of the eastern flank of the Arab homeland, the Arab Gulf, and the Arabian Peninsula, including Kuwait. This is what they did with the Arab wealth. In whose favor did they do this other than the United States and Zionism?

Those who accuse Iraq of launching an aggression against Kuwait deliberately ignore the definition of the word aggression in international law and relations between states. Aggression has many forms and methods, not only military action. Economic aggression is as harmful as the military aggression. The Kuwaiti rulers did not have military power through which they could harm Iraq. So, they used their superior power; namely, the economic power, to launch a mean and treacherous aggression against Iraq. So, who should apologize?
[end of article]

Tariq Aziz: Who apologizes for whom?, part 2 of 2
Baghdad INA in Arabic 0815 GMT
11 Jan 99
[FBIS Translated Text]

Baghdad, 11 Jan (INA)-The newspaper Al-Thawrah, published here today, carries the second part of an article entitled "Who Apologizes for Whom?" by Tariq 'Aziz.

The article says:

What we mentioned in the memorandum, which I presented to Arab League Secretary General Chedli Klibi on 15 July 1990, was not the first occasion or attempt to discuss the base Kuwaiti conspiracy against Iraq. In its effort to deal with the Kuwaiti ruler's policy of flooding the oil market and reducing prices, Iraq initially resorted to dialogue with Kuwait. Dr. Sa'dun Hammadi, then deputy prime minister, made several visits to the Gulf states, particularly Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, to find a solution to this issue, but to no avail. The Kuwaiti rulers insisted on continuing their policy. Strangely enough, the other Gulf states that were harmed by Kuwait's conduct, as well as Egypt, did not apply any pressure on Kuwait to change this behavior, which was damaging to them all. In a previous article, I mentioned that I told President Husni Mubarak on 23 July 1990 that Egypt had lost more than $0.5 billion as a result of this Kuwaiti behavior.

A summit was held in Baghdad in May 1990. Why was that summit held, and what happened during that summit, particularly as regards this subject?

Since February 1990, a feverish campaign was started in the United States and certain western states against Iraq, with special emphasis on its weapons programs. The measures of sanctions and siege against Iraq started to follow. The United States froze its contracts for trade with Iraq in the field of food supplies and stopped the export of technology to Iraq, although Iraq was importing very little from it at that time. Brutal press campaigns also started in the United States against Iraq and against President Saddam Husayn personally. US newspapers and magazines started to publish sensational headlines, such as "Saddam Husayn: Most Dangerous Man in the World," and "Saddam Husayn: Enemy of the People," meaning of course the American people.

Within the same context, certain states in Europe began to confiscate equipment bought by Iraq under the pretext that this was military equipment. Everybody remembers the clamor that was raised over the Super Gun and other equipment.

All this coincided with the Kuwaiti rulers' action of flooding the oil market with extra oil for no economic reason, as we have mentioned in part one of this article.

Before that, in 1989 Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the aggression against Iraq the next year, visited Kuwait. Dick Cheney, the US defense secretary during President Bush's term in office, told the New York Times on 27 January 1991 that the US Administration completed in autumn 1989 the drafting of plans for a war in the Gulf.

In October of the same year, 1989, I met with James Baker in Washington. I told him: Yes, you promote in the Gulf that Iraq is a threat to them, and you are promoting warnings against Iraq. Your intelligence agencies are active against the leadership in Iraq. All this information is coming from official Gulf sources.

All this happened before Iraq entered "oppressed" Kuwait. The Arab heads of state, monarchs, and amirs remember President Saddam Husayn's statement during the Baghdad summit meeting in 1990 on Kuwait's attitude to the oil issue, do they not?

Following is President Saddam Husayn's statement: "We hope that our future conferences will be like this one and the previous ones, God willing, although the previous ones faced some brotherly problems. We thank God that this conference has proceeded in this way. Yet, I have an observation to make within the framework of this good gathering. Brothers, you know that since 1986, our major Arab oil revenues in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, Algeria, Kuwait or any other oil-producing Arab country form the bulk of the economic strength in the Arab life.

"In 1986, while we were still at war, we faced a circumstance, whose difficulties were similar to those of fighting, because it affected our economy and our major revenue, oil. So, some kind of confusion prevailed in the oil market after some parties refused to comply with the OPEC's resolutions. We are not a member of OPEC, but I would like to make a brief observation that may be useful to all of us. The confusion resulted from the failure of some of our Arab brothers to comply with OPEC's resolutions after the market was flooded with oil, giving time and flexibility to the buyers at the expense of the prevailing prices. As a result, the prices dropped to $7. Regarding Iraq, which is not a major oil-producing country or a member of the OPEC, I can say that if the oil price drops by $1 per barrel, Iraq will lose $1 billion a year. Hence, we can assess the huge oil loss the Arab nation will suffer per year. So, the direct answer to this question is: Why should the Arab nation lose tens of billions of dollars as a result of a technical or non-technical fault and without any justification, particularly since the buyers at least this year have prepared themselves to pay $25 for a barrel, as we have heard from the westerners, who are major buyers in the oil market?

"This huge loss in our economy is caused by a confused vision or a failure to view the local issues from the pan-Arab angle. If we consider the overall pan-Arab economy and the extent of damage caused to it, we will hesitate much before doing anything that may cause such huge damage to the pan-Arab economy. I would like to say this in a frank, brotherly, simple, and direct way rather than in an analytical way. During wars, soldiers are harmed or killed by explosives, coup attempts take place, and economies are harmed. I hope that our brothers, who do not intend to launch wars--I am now exercising our right to speak within the framework of Iraq's sovereignty--that this behavior is a kind of war against Iraq.

"If we had the ability to bear this, we would have borne it, but I believe that all our brothers are aware of our state of affairs, which we hope will improve, God willing. I say that we have reached a point at which we cannot bear any pressure. We, as well as the whole nation, will benefit from commitment to OPEC's resolutions in terms of oil production and prices. Let us rely on God."

Following the Baghdad summit meeting, President Saddam Husayn proposed to [King] Fahd that Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates hold a special summit meeting to find a solution to this problem.

But Fahd procrastinated in holding the conference, and Dr. Sa'dun Hammadi visited Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to discuss the issue. Finally, Fahd agreed to hold a meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries. Saudi Oil Minister Hisham al-Nazir then came to Baghdad. During his meeting with President Saddam Husayn on 9 July 1990, the president told him: "I will not accept seeing Iraqis starve and Iraqi women selling themselves because of poverty." The oil ministers held a meeting in Jeddah on 10 July 1990 and the conferees pretended to have agreed to confine oil production to OPEC's quotas. But as soon as the meeting
ended, the Kuwaiti oil minister said that his country would resume its previous production rate of October. We knew that the statement would destroy the positive results that might have been reached because of consensus in the oil market and that the oil experts knew that the Jeddah meeting would be useless if Kuwait resumed its previous production rate of November, because the oil market witnesses recession during summer.

In his speech on 17 July 1990, President Saddam Husayn announced a final warning to the rulers of Kuwait. He said: "The Iraqis, who have been exposed to this premeditated oppression, believe in the need to defend their rights and themselves. They also believe in the saying that chopping off one's head is easier for him than being deprived of his livelihood. If words fail to provide protection to the kinfolk, effective action should be taken to restore usurped rights to their owners."

These clear facts on the Kuwaiti rulers' past behavior, as well as their behavior before the events of 2 August 1990, proves that these rulers had colluded with US plans to weaken Iraq economically and militarily, guarantee Israel's superiority over the Arabs, and impose US-Zionist hegemony over the region.

The rulers of Kuwait were aggressors and not oppressed. Who apologizes for whom?

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