arabs - a coalition of the missing......

Not my niew but clearly that of the Iraqis

Iraqi VP slams Arab ministers
March 25, 2003

IRAQI Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan decried the lack of Arab action in supporting Iraq, hinting that the Arabs should instead impose an oil embargo on the United States and Britain.

"Why don't they stop the flow of oil to the countries of aggression?" he said, without actually making a call for such action.

Ramadan, at a news conference, criticised the Arab foreign ministers' decisions at a meeting of the 22-member Arab League yesterday.

Some members of the league called on the United States and Britain to withdraw their troops from Iraq.

Ramadan suggested that wasn't enough.

"Don't you think that halting the flow of oil to America and Britain will break the back of the aggression? But the true owners of this oil are the Americans," Ramadan said.

He sounded bitter about the Arab position.

"Why not activate the (joint Arab) defense council?," Ramadan said.

"I advise and wish that they deal with the deteriorating situation."

He said Iraqis "are steadfast and will defeat the Americans and the British and those allied to them.

"But we want from them (Arabs) a minimum honorable position before the battle ends with victory, God willing."

The Associated Press