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Iraq-Press-Mubarak Mubarak had better halt infiltration of armed Egyptians into Iraq: Iraqi press

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Ilam, April 16, IRNA

Reacting to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's last week anti-Shi'a remarks, some Iraqi dailies in their Saturday edition, too, advised him to halt infiltration of armed Egyptians into Iraq to boost Iraq's security.

Quoting some parts of Iraqi daily Al-Ishtar, the Iraq TV in its Saturday Night "Meet the Press" program said, "Rather than launching an anti-Shi'a, anti-Iranian campaign that would do no more than fueling sectarian hatred, the Egyptian President had better halt the infiltration of armed Egyptian into Iraq in order to boost security in our country."
Another Iraqi daily, the Baghdad-based "Al-Mouten" ( Motherland), too, was quoted in the program as saying, "Hosni Mubarak's remarks reminds us of Saddam Hussain's words, because the former Iraqi president, too, on numerous occasions used words as bullets against the Iraqi Shi'as."
Al-Mouten added, "It seems like the Egyptian President badly misses the petro-dollars he used to receive from sales of the Iraqi oil during Saddam's tyrannical rule, which is the reason he has started propagating against the majority Shi'as in Iraq and the Shi'as in entire Middle East today!"
In Egypt, President Mubarak himself finally in an interview with Al-Akhbar (The News) daily on Saturday asked to be excused by the Iraqi nation, claiming that "My remarks in my interview with that Dubai-based TV had been misquoted."
Mubarak further emphasized, "From our point of view there is no difference among the Kurds, the Arabs, the Shi'as and the Sunnies." He added, "What I said in that interview is what we have said before too, and that is the fact that the Iraqi Shi'as feel attached o Iran religiously, but not politically."
Mubarak had said in an interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television Saturday "there is effectively a civil war underway now." But an angry Iraq hit back at Mubarak, who also enflamed Shi'as across the region when he said their loyalties lay first with Shi'as Iran.

"The comments have upset Iraqi people who come from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and have astonished and dismayed the Iraqi government," said Jaafari.

President Jalal Talabani said the "accusations against our Shi'a brothers are baseless and we have asked our foreign minister to talk to Egypt about this."
On Monday, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari called his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit and urged him to "reduce the damage done by Mubarak's remarks and help improve relations between the two countries", a ministry statement said.

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