Dubai, Dec 01: Iran today took a dig at President
George W Bush`s 'Thanksgiving' visit to Baghdad and questioned
the us leader's need for secrecy if he indeed "claimed to be
Iraq's liberator".
"Why this secret nocturnal thanksgiving visit to
Baghdad? If he (Bush) claims to be Iraq`s liberator, he must
have arranged a magnanimous travel to have the Iraqi people to
welcome him," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Asefi said in Tehran yesterday.
"America has failed in Iraq, both in guaranteeing
security and other issues. It is now up to the American people
to ask their rulers where America stands and why the country`s
President cannot travel even to a friendly country," the
official Iranian news agency Irna quoted Asefi as saying.
Tehran, which is facing harsh criticism from the Bush
administration for allegedly manufacturing weapons grade
uranium for nuclear weapons had recently agreed to a protocol
providing for stricter monitoring of its nuclear programme.
Asked about Kazakhstan`s intention to deploy military
force in the Caspian Sea, he said, "Kazakhs have announced
that they will have such presence within their own maritime
waters and this has nothing to do with the whole sea and
dispatch of military forces.
Bureau Report
