BY THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Published February 19, 2001
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Thousands of Iraqis marched in the rain yesterday to protest U.S. and British airstrikes, and Iraqi television showed damaged houses and shops in a town where one man was killed when allied missiles hit nearby.
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President Saddam Hussein met with his top air defense commander to explore ways of protecting the country from allied attacks in the wake of the raid, which targeted radar and command-and-control sites.
Friday night"s strikes around Baghdad which killed two people and wounded at least 20 have raised strong condemnations from Arab allies of the United States. And Iraq warned that it raised tensions ahead of key talks with the United Nations.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf is due to meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for Feb. 26-27 discussions seen as a chance to restart dialogue on resuming weapons inspections and lifting economic sanctions.
In a letter to Annan and the Security Council, al-Sahhaf said the U.N. chief should "condemn the dangerous aggression and the increase of tension" and should take "speedy steps to prevent such attacks from taking place again," the official Iraqi News Agency said yesterday.
Yesterday, Saddam met with Minister of Military Industrialization Abdel-Tawab Mulla Huwaish and Lt. Gen. Shaheen Yassin Mohammed, commander of air defense units, according to Iraqi News Agency.
"The meeting discussed improving means of defending the great Iraq and its steadfastness in order to protect the brave Iraqis from harm," said the agency without elaborating.
The news agency reported Saturday that Saddam ordered the training of about 300,000 volunteers for what he called the Al-Quds or Jerusalem Army aiming to free Jerusalem from Israeli control.
"If little Bush considers his aggression a message to Iraq, then we have the answer, which is the formation of al-Quds Army ready for jihad (holy war) and liberating Palestine," the official Iraqi daily Al-Thawra said in a front-page editorial yesterday.
The United States and Britain said the strikes were needed to thwart Iraq"s improving capabilities in targeting allied jets patrolling a southern no-fly zone.
They said five military facilities were hit.
