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`No question` of abandoning Iraqis: Jack Straw
London, Apr 16: There is `no question` of the US-led coalition in Iraq turning its back on the Iraqi people, British foreign secretary Jack Straw said today after talks in London with his Polish counterpart.
London, Apr 16: There is "no question" of the
US-led coalition in Iraq turning its back on the Iraqi people,
British foreign secretary Jack Straw said today after talks in London with his Polish counterpart.
"There is no question of turning our backs on the Iraqi people" despite the upsurge in fighting and hostage-taking in the past week or so, said Straw alongside Poland's Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.
"We cannot let those groups trying to prevent the establishment of democracy and a representative government (in Iraq) from succeeding," he told reporters at the foreign office. "We remain committed to realizing the hopes held by the vast majority of Iraqis for a new Iraq where people of all faiths, political beliefs and ethnic backgrounds can live together in peace and freedom," he said.
Straw and Cimoszewicz met in London a day before British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Washington to discuss Iraq and the Middle East with US President George W. Bush. British troops occupy oil-rich southern Iraq, while Poland has 2,500 soldiers heading a multinational coalition force that has clashed with insurgents in several cities.
Bureau Report
"There is no question of turning our backs on the Iraqi people" despite the upsurge in fighting and hostage-taking in the past week or so, said Straw alongside Poland's Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.
"We cannot let those groups trying to prevent the establishment of democracy and a representative government (in Iraq) from succeeding," he told reporters at the foreign office. "We remain committed to realizing the hopes held by the vast majority of Iraqis for a new Iraq where people of all faiths, political beliefs and ethnic backgrounds can live together in peace and freedom," he said.
Straw and Cimoszewicz met in London a day before British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Washington to discuss Iraq and the Middle East with US President George W. Bush. British troops occupy oil-rich southern Iraq, while Poland has 2,500 soldiers heading a multinational coalition force that has clashed with insurgents in several cities.
Bureau Report