The Hindu : National : Urge U.S. to end occupation: Iraqi leader

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 24, 2005

National

National

Urge U.S. to end occupation: Iraqi leader

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 23. India and Pakistan should send their troops to Iraq for a short period to stabilise the situation after the United States and its allies end their occupation, Osama Hussein, leader of the Iraqi National Foundation Congress (INFC), said today.

At a press conference, he said that Iraqis were quite capable of looking after their affairs. Once the U.S. ended its occupation, Indian and Pakistani troops could act as a stabilisation force for about six months.

"Fraudulent election"

Asked what he expected from countries such as India and Pakistan, Mr. Hussein said they should put pressure on Washington to end the occupation soon. "India should not recognise the new government that would take over in Iraq. A fraudulent election has taken place, where the participation of people was the subject matter of propaganda". "We want the American forces out of Iraq. ... The Americans should leave the Iraqis to govern themselves. We are quite capable of looking after ourselves," Mr. Hussein, who was imprisoned by the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, in the 1990s, said.

After two years of occupation, very little had changed for the Iraqi citizen. There were no jobs, electricity supply was erratic and there was severe shortage of water and medicine.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National