Vietnam rewards Iraqi friendship

Vietnam rewards Iraqi friendship

By Clare Arthurs BBC correspondent in Hanoi

During the Vietnam War, one of the staunchest supporters of the communist North Vietnamese side was Iraq. Now that Iraq itself is under attack by US-led forces, the government in Hanoi is reciprocating with moral, if not logistical, support.

The new Iraqi ambassador to Vietnam is Salah Al-Mukhtar, a former newspaper editor in Baghdad.

He arrived in the country just two weeks ago, and says Vietnam is the only non-Arab country which Iraq considers a brotherly friend.

"I have seen in the last two weeks... the people of Vietnam are unanimously supporting Iraq and they are trying to volunteer to go to Iraq," Mr Al-Mukhtar said.

Salah Al-Mukhtar predicted the war would last for years

"They are showing their sympathy, they send me a bouquet of flowers, they came here to say 'we are with you, we are ready to fight, to go to Iraq, to show our solidarity,' he added."

He said that contrary to other governments in the region, Hanoi has not bowed to US demands to expel Iraqi diplomats.

Mr Al-Mukhtar said the war in Iraq would be worse for the US than the conflict in Vietnam.

"Vietnam will be a children's toy, a children's game. In Iraq they are now in the desert, we let them go inside in the depths of the desert in Iraq. We are isolating them from our cities... if they were entered any city, it will be a graveyard for them," he said.

He predicted the war would last "for years, not months".

"This is our opportunity to settle our disputes with the colonial mentality of the West. There is no way to teach the British and American colonial elite by political means. The only way is to drag them to the biggest quagmire they ever have involved in," Mr Al-Mukhtar said.

Asked how he would react if he met fellow diplomats from Britain, the US, or Australia, the Iraqi ambassador did not mince his words.

"I will slap them on their face... We shall never permit them to talk to us. We shall insult them, because they are criminals. They are propagating for the mass killing of the civilians in Iraq," he said.