Libyan President: United States anti-terror war turning into “terrorism”

Libya’s President Moamer Kadhafi blasted as "insane" on Tuesday US threats of military action against Iraq, warning they were reducing the worldwide anti-terror campaign to sheer "terrorism". "What connection is there between Iraq and the Al-Qaeda network or the terrorism of Osama Bin Laden?" Colonel Kadhafi asked a news conference in Cairo.  

"The world is now living in terror and the fight against terrorism has itself been transformed into terrorism," he said, according to AFP. "Everything is now permissible, something which will lead not to a reduction in terrorism but an escalation."  

US threats against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were "illogical, unjustified and unacceptable to the entire world. "They are nothing more than a demonstration of brute force," Kadhafi expressed.  

The Libyan leader mocked criticism by several US Congressmen of the role of Saudi nationals in Al-Qaeda, asking whether Washington now planned to extend its anti-terror campaign to the Islamic holy places of Mecca and Medina, which are in the Saudi kingdom. "We used to believe the United States, but now we see Congress talking about dividing Saudi Arabia up into cantons, dominating it, closing its mosques and religious schools and challenging its role ... in what they call terrorism," Kadhafi said.  

"And all this because of Saudi Arabia's consistent support for mosques and charitable associations. "Using that argument, the Americans could try to intervene in the pilgrimage, prayer and other Islamic rituals," he joked. (Albawaba.com)

© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)