IRAQ: LEADING OFFICIALS PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO GULF WAR VICTIMS скачать в хорошем качестве

IRAQ: LEADING OFFICIALS PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO GULF WAR VICTIMS

(13 Feb 1998) Arabic/Eng In the early hours of Friday Saddam Hussein's senior aides paid their respects to those killed in the Gulf War, laying wreaths at the Monument of Martyrs. People in Baghdad were also marking the anniversary of one of the most tragic events of the 1991 conflict, while the threat of renewed U-S air strikes hung over them. It is seven years to the day that two U-S bombs scored a direct hit on a civilian shelter in the city, killing 403 men, women and children. The building has been left undisturbed and turned into a museum and shrine to the dead At the Monument of Martyrs in the centre of Baghdad leading officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, paid their respects to the dead. Those Iraqis killed in the Gulf War were remembered with full military honours. Wreaths were laid by Vice President Taha Ramadam and Ali Hassan Al-Majid, nephew of Saddam Hussein. Elsewhere in the city ordinary citizens remembered those people killed in the bombing. On the evening of the February 13th 1991, air raid sirens wailed across the city and people ran to the safety of the bunkers. The U-S military believed the Amiriya shelter was an army command centre and attacked it with two bombs, which both scored direct hits. This error in military intelligence cost the lives of 403 Iraqi men, women and children. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) " This was my dearest son, he was a piece of my heart. The crime of Almiriya should never be excused" SUPER CAPTION: Father of boy killed in bombing As friends and relatives mourn their loss, the might of the United States navy is once again in the Gulf, poised to launch similar attacks. Recent initiatives prepared by Russia, which would mean that U-N inspectors could gain access to eight of the 68 sites previously barred to them, were accepted by Iraq. But America and Britain refused to recognise it and have reiterated that under no circumstances will they tolerate Iraq imposing conditions on the work of the UNSCOM inspectors. Riyad Al-Qaysi, the Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister, believes that the U-S are not interested in a peaceful settlement, and want only to depose the Iraqi government. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We are open, they are closed, we are for peace, they are for war, we are for the resolution of the security council, and full compliance because we are the most interested party in that determination, because the consequence would be lifting sanctions, they are not.....they don't want to lift sanctions, so that this is why they are procrastinating, and prolonging, and hitting and striking, not because of resolutions, because they want to change our government. " SUPER CAPTION: Riyad Al-Qaysi, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Time is running out for the Iraqi people as international negotiations get no closer to finding a solution. And at Friday prayers, the people of Baghdad are praying that settlement will avert a repeat of the devastation that befell their city seven years ago. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...