Tuesday, February 18, 2003

The Spaniards are still talking tough, too.

The Iraqi regime's refusal to disarm has created geopolitical problems in the Middle East, and is likely to prompt arms race among states, which lack non-conventional weapons, out of fear of Iraqi regime's potential arms threat, said Gustavo Aristegui, a well-known Spanish political analyst, in an exclusive interview with IRNA here.

Aristegui, a Partido Popular (PP) spokesman at Spanish Congress of Deputies, said competition for development of non-conventional arms on regional level would be 'catastrophic'. Iraq's disarmament would safeguard its territorial integrity, said the Spanish official. "Iraqi disarmament would mean peace, stability and guaranteed security for Iran and small oil-rich sultanates in the Persian Gulf region; and this issue, stands as positive geopolitical parameter, which would emerge," said Aristegui.

He accused the Iraqi regime of producing many weapons of mass destruction, saying, "True, certain western companies supplied Iraq with early chemical substances but chemical arms are made by Iraq itself."

He added, "Let's not forget that many Iraqi missiles have been produced by the country itself and today, world faces a country which is availed by the will, equipment and hardware, required for production of non-conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction. "Kuwait, Jordan, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia are the first potential victims of existence of such a regime as that of Saddam Hussein," said Aristegui, adding that Spain holds itself responsible to Middle East states.

He warned that Iraqi regime's vulnerability on the domestic front can provide the country's leader Saddam Hussein with a pretext to wage a new war. The Spanish analyst contended that three factors might resonate war on Iraq to topple its ruler: Firstly, Saddam's insincerity to global community; secondly, potential threat of Baghdad regime to the neighbors and states of the region and its being factor of arms race for development of non-conventional weapons on regional level; and thirdly, the danger of transfer of mass destruction weapons to international terrorism by Iraqi regime.

Aristegui predicted that likely US-led war on Iraq would not spill over other states in the region.

He did soft-pedal Iran, though.

He voiced his party's opposition to the US President George W. Bush's state of the union address in 2002, lumping Iran with Iraq and North Korea, in a so-called 'axis of evil'. "North Korea and Iraq are the only countries that are strongly destabilizing the world peace and security," said Aristegui.

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