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| Iraq |
| Islamic Nations’ Summit: Uproar over Kuwait slur |
| 2003-03-05 |
| You've gotta hand it to these guys - there's not diplomatic BS here, they cut to the chase... Leaders of Islamic nations have begun an emergency summit in the Gulf State of Qatar on the crisis in Iraq. Within minutes, a top aide of Saddam Hussein caused uproar when he called a Kuwaiti representative a "monkey" and a "traitor". "Shut up you minion, you [US] agent, you monkey. You are addressing Iraq," said Izzat Ibrahim, the second-in-command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council. Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah tried to fight back but his comments could not be heard over the fray, correspondents said. Refreshing to see the pleasantries were kept to a mimimum. The row began when the Kuwaiti official interrupted Mr Ibrahim's speech which was highly critical of Kuwait and the US, which led a coalition to liberate the Gulf state from Iraqi occupation in 1991. Mr Ibrahim cursed the official's honour at which another Kuwaiti minister jumped up and waved a small Kuwaiti flag which had been on the desk. Hope this will be televised. The angry exchange was halted when the summit chairman, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin-Khalifah al-Thani said the discussion was not relevant to the meeting and moved on to the next speaker. The aim of the summit is to present a unified front from the Muslim world calling for war to be averted. It is the first attempt by the Islamic world as a whole to find a common voice on the Iraq crisis. Heads of state and representatives from 57 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference are taking part. The summit at a five-star hotel in Doha is just a short distance from a vast American military base from where the US would control an invasion of Iraq. Wonder if the USAF will be doing any honorary fly-bys. On the agenda is an initiative put forward by the United Arab Emirates to call on Saddam Hussein to stand down. Kuwait and Bahrain have backed the idea and it has been described as A BBC correspondent at the meeting, Claire Marshall, [sic] Mr Ibrahim will be keen to try to dismiss any talk of his leader's exile. While there will be a battle to reach a consensus, the bigger task will be to make any resolution count, she adds. The Islamic conference has no power to enforce its decrees. As one Malaysian delegate put it, "If the US President, George W Bush, is prepared to ignore the United Nations, then certainly we will be irrelevant to him. " I think he'll find this a bizarre and entertaining diversion from more important affairs. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #9 Gee, has it been that long since Libya and Saudi Arabia had the same exhange? And can't these guys think up new insults? "Monkey" is getting kinda tired, even if it is a quote from the Koran. May I suggest "maggot-ridden get of a syphilitic camel and hydrophobic dog"? |
| Posted by: John Anderson 2003-03-05 23:40:09 |
| #8 As Jay Leno said about the maggot khalid mohammed:good with the ladies,should get his own show:Joe Millionhair. |
| Posted by: Hugh Jorgan 2003-03-05 22:13:21 |
| #7 Ah, it is good to see a frank exchange of views. |
| Posted by: Crescend 2003-03-05 20:05:49 |
| #6 "Mr." Ibrahim also said to the Kuwaiti "I curse your mustache" supposedly a real serious slur to the Kiwaiti's manhood in Arabspeak. I guess if he went whole hog and cursed out his friggin' beard also, it would have been dueling jambiyas at twenty paces. You can't make this shit up. |
| Posted by: HULUGU 2003-03-05 17:47:39 |
| #5 "Imagine what they'd be like with a coupla drinks in them." tu3031 Thanks, tu3031! Biggest chuckle of the day! |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-03-05 15:28:12 |
| #4 If you need an extra long name to identify who you are, then you have an identity crisis. I personally like the short name, "Rawls" from the novel Wake of the Red Witch. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-05 15:04:39 |
| #3 Maybe it's those incomprehensible long names that drive them nuts. Imagine what they'd be like with a coupla drinks in them? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-05 14:39:35 |
| #2 Everything which has been going on does have its entertaining value. Even the arabs must be laughing at this. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-03-05 13:55:19 |
| #1 Tee hee! I've been preaching it all along. The Muslim nations can't unite on what to call their peckers, let alone produce a coherent, cogent statement about a political issue. Maybe if we just hang around enough, they will kill each other off. |
| Posted by: grillmaster 2003-03-05 11:34:59 |