Thousands take to streets to demand US withdrawal

TENS of thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in Baghdad yesterday to demand the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

The demonstrators yelled anti-American slogans after Friday prayers and called for an Islamic state to replace Saddam’s toppled government.

The protests on the Muslim holy day came as eight states met in Riyadh to discuss ties with the future authorities in Baghdad and offer verbal support for Syria, which Washington has repeatedly accused of harbouring members of Saddam’s government.

The meeting, the first such forum on post-war Iraq, was attended by foreign ministers from Turkey, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain as well as host Saudi Arabia. None of these countries was on good terms with Iraq during Saddam’s rule, but with a political vacuum opening at the heart of the volatile region, all want a say in what comes next.

“We’ll discuss ways and means to help the Iraqi people decide their own future and choose their own government without foreign intervention,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. “This is Iraq, not the United States, so it is normal that the government of Iraq should be Iraqi.”

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said he thought the meeting would call for withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq. “Occupation is not the right response to stability in Iraq,” he said.

Syria has been under strong American pressure over the last week, but a US official said on Thursday there were signs Damascus might consider expelling any Iraqi leaders sheltering there. The US has now toned down its rhetoric. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was considering a trip to Damascus as part of a wider Middle East visit.

But a diplomatic storm could be gathering over Wednesday’s call by Mr Bush for the United Nations to lift crippling economic sanctions against Baghdad, first imposed in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Ironically, diplomats from some countries that had long pressed for sanctions to be eased and opposed the invasion of Iraq, are now saying the restrictions should stay in place until the UN certifies that Iraq is free of banned weapons.

“For the Security Council to take this decision, we need to be certain whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or not,” said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, who pulled his team out of Iraq before the war, said the United States needed expert help to pursue the investigations. Washington has made clear it prefers to do the job itself and a Pentagon official said it had enlisted about 10 former UN weapons inspectors to help the search.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said help from Iraqi insiders is needed. “It is not like a treasure hunt where you just run around looking everywhere, hoping you find something,” he said. “I think we’ll discover people who will tell us where to go find it.”