Egypt urges new peace push in face of growing Iraq war toll

CAIRO (AFP) - Yahoo News ^ | 3/31/03 | AFP

[Calpernia]

CAIRO (AFP) - Key US ally Egypt called for a new Iraq (news - web sites) peace push in the face of the "appalling human tragedy" resulting from the fighting there, warning that it could produce "100 Osama bin Ladens".

"The armed confrontation in Iraq between the coalition forces who are seeking to overthrow the regime and the Iraqi armed forces who are defending their territory ... is resulting in an appalling human tragedy with victims on both sides and the destruction of a people," President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) said Monday.

"We must all work rapidly for a peaceful settlement which satisfies the will of the international community and preserves the unity, sovereignty and dignity of Iraq," the president told army officers in a televised address.

Mubarak warned that far from eliminating a possible terror threat against the United States, the campaign against Saddam's regime was liable to inflame world opinion and spark more attacks on US targets.

"I fear this war will have enormous consequences and lead to an increase in terrorism. When this war ends, there may be 100 bin Ladens instead of just one," he said, referring to the head of the al-Qaeda terror movement.

"The war will have political, economic and social consequences that will be difficult to face," Mubarak said.

Mubarak denied that the US-led invasion of Iraq had caused differences between Egypt and the more radical regime in Syria, which has taken a more hostile position to the war against its eastern neighbour.

Relations between the two Arab governments were "longstanding and strategic," the Egyptian leader said.

Last Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher called in the Syrian ambassador here to protest against what he described as "irresponsible machinations" during anti-war demonstrations in Damascus.

Some protestors had chanted slogans criticising Egypt for not going further in its opposition to British and US military action.

Mubarak also responded to repeated protestors' demands that the Suez canal linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea be closed to coalition warships, saying this was not possible under the Constantinople Treaty of 1888, which is binding on Egypt.

"The passage of ships through the Suez canal is the right of all states, unless Egypt is at war with one," he said.

[Calpernia]

Mubarak is right. This entire event in Iraq is just going to be flamed and twisted by Islam leaders to flame the Muslim cause. BUT, once again, no Arab leaders have offered a suggestion to how else to resolve this mess!

[arkfreepdom]

Maybe it will inflame them, but not doing anything didn't help either. How long did the Arabs think they could preach hate before war would start?

[Calpernia]

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. But our problem is, we are dealing with pathologic personalities that feel they are empowered to their sick violent ways in the name of their religion (cult).

We can't sit back and allow themselves to arm themselves in this fashion. BUT, at the same time...they can't be reasoned with either. It is a puzzle.

[arkfreepdom]

I think we have to make them fear and respect us, and we don't have to be cruel to accomplish this. Taking out Saddam is a good start.

[Liberals are Evil Socialists!]

The fact that countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia cannot keep their own streets clean of these miscreants means we have more spilling over internationally. The next big push will be for these countries to keep their own shelves clean and if they cannot, we will have to do it ourselves.

There really is no other choice in this day and age. It is us or them. Let's roll.

[holdmuhbeer]

Who cares, they hate us already, might as well make them respect us by kicking their ass.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Peace? No problem. Just get Saddam to surrender unconditionally.

[kidd]

The greatest loss of life will occur if the US pulls out before the current Iraqi regime has been removed. And the greatest loss of life would be with the Iraqi citizens. Also pulling out would be viewed as a sign of weakness. Muslim terrorists prey on weakness. American citizens would be in great danger as well.

The least loss of life will occur if Saddam Hussein and his goverment turns themselves in.

Neither of the above is going to happen.

We will demonstrate that Muslim terror talk is cheap but financing Muslim terror is not. 100 OBLs without cash were pretty easy to find before Afganistan/Iraq.

[Calpernia]

>>>100 OBLs without cash were pretty easy to find before Afganistan/Iraq.

Excellent point! I didn't think of that! (the rest of your post was good too)

[rogue yam]

Key US ally Egypt...

It was right about here that I started to figure that this article was a load of Barbra Streisand.