|
thr 020
Press-US-Rice-Remarks /POL/
Bush's `axis of evil' rhetoric an excuse for domination: daily
Tehran, Feb 19, IRNA -- `Tehran Times' on Tuesday denounced United
States hypocrisy, saying a country that admits to possessing the most
sophisticated arms and weapons cannot talk about defense of human
rights and pursuit of peace and freedom.
Accusing countries of being an 'axis of evil' is just a
premeditated strategy aimed at implementing objectives of global
domination and incidents like the September 11 attacks on New York
and Washington are just the means, it further said.
In a recent interview in Japan, US National Security Advisor
Condolezza Rice, accompanying President George W. Bush on an ongoing
Asian tour, is quoted to have said: 'The Iraqi regime has so far
attacked its neighbors twice and deployed biological weapons.' She
was responding to a question on whether the U.S. considered Iraq a
likely military target.
But who actually provided the Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein with
weapons and intelligence to wage his devastating war on the Islamic
Republic? asked the daily.
It said past U.S. administration officials such as former
secretary of state Madeleine Albright and attorney general Ramsey
Clark have themselves admitted that the US committed 'mistakes'
against Iran and that it 'helped the Iraqi regime gain military
supremacy' in the eight-year Iraqi-imposed war against the then
fledgling Islamic Republic.
It recalled that the US support of Iraq reached such an extent
that it got into direct military conflict with Iran by attacking
Iranian frigates and oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
'The most unfortunate incident was the downing of an Iranian
passenger plane by the USS Vincennes, which killed all 329 passengers
and crewmembers,' it said.
'Who except U.S. allies provided Baghdad with raw materials for
the manufacture of biological weapons?' the daily pointedly asked.
'Why did it turn a blind eye to Baghdad's efforts at gaining
access to technology for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction
(during the imposed war)' only to accuse it now of being part of an
'axis of evil' for trying to manufacture and use weapons of mass
destruction? it further asked.
'While the Islamic Republic is still suffering from the results
of assistance extended to the Iraqi regime by Washington and its
allies, and while Iranian veterans who were exposed to chemical
weapons deployed by Iraq are still achieving martyrdom, it is really
funny that U.S. officials are claiming that they intend to save
mankind from weapons of mass destruction,' it regretted.
All evidences point to the fact that behind all the pronounced
'lofty' ideals of the U.S., viz. the desire to rid the world of
terrorism, is the 'intention to dominate the world by mobilizing
their allies behind their so-called war on terror and weapons of
mass destruction,' it pointed out.
It is but appropriate that people of the world should be vigilant
of U.S. intentions and should ask whether it really desires to
establish relations with nations on the basis of mutual respect for
differing religions, cultures and civilizations, concluded the daily.
FH/LS
End
::irna 11:00
|
|