Saddam supports insurgents on eve of Arab Summit

Saddam Hussein has urged Arab leaders to support Iraqi insurgents, warning that an ”American-Israeli conspiracy” aims to split Iraq into pieces, according to a letter the former Iraqi leader purportedly wrote that appeared on the Internet.

Yesterday’s message warned Arab leaders that their countries could be next in what it called a grand US scheme to divide Arab nations and control the region’s oil wealth.

The authenticity of the letter, which did not bear any hand-written signature, could not be verified. It was posted on a pro-Baathist Web site that has previously carried messages in Saddam’s name.

A former member of Saddam’s defence team said the item was written in the deposed leader’s style. “The tone of the letter, the language used and the substance … all point to the letter being Saddam’s,” Khasawneh told The Associated Press.

Saddam has spoken out in support of the insurgency during court appearances at his six-month-old trial for killings of Shiites in the 1980s. In a March 15 court appearance session, he urged Iraqis to unite to fight American troops and praised the “resistance".

The letter purportedly from Saddam advised Arab leaders to support the insurgency, calling it “the bulwark to stave off waves of US, Zionist and Iranian conspiracies".

Meanwhile, Arab countries have agreed to repeat their pledge to open diplomatic missions in Iraq as a gesture of support after scathing criticism by Iraq’s foreign minister that they are not doing enough to help the war-torn nation.

But bitterness between Iraq and other Arab nations was clear ahead of an Arab League summit that begins tomorrow in the Sudanese capital.

Closed-door meetings to prepare for the summit saw fierce arguments between Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his Arab counterparts over the Arab role in Iraq, several diplomats said yesterday.

Particularly irritating to Arab governments – already suspicious of Iran – are plans for talks between Iranian and US officials over how to stabilise Iraq.

Arguments with Zebari broke out when the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates complained in meetings on Saturday that Arabs were being left in the dark about the Iran-US talks and expressed concern that Arab interests in Iraq would be ignored, the Arab diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were private.

Zebari yesterda confirmed that sme Arab officials had brought up the Iran-US dialogue. “Our reply to them was, maybe others do have a role (in Iraq), but where are you?” he told reporters.

A day earlier, Zebari was harsher in his criticism, saying Arab nations only had themselves to blame for Iran’s influence because they had failed to play a role in Iraq. He accused some Arab nations of hoping Iraq’s new government fails and called on them to forgive Iraqi debt as Western nations have done and fulfil promises to send ambassadors to Iraq.

Apparently in response to Zebari’s broadside, Arab foreign ministers meeting yesterday amended a final statement to be passed by the summit. They added a call for Arab countries ”to have diplomatic presence in Baghdad as soon as possible, like other foreign countries, while the Iraqi government should provide all protection needed".

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa promised Arab countries would play a role in Iraq.

“The situation is really tense but we will try to help the Iraqis,” he said in a press conference Sunday. Regarding debt relief, he said, “It is on our agenda. The reconstruction of Iraq is on our agenda.”