- VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian
far-right leader Joerg Haider defended a controversial visit to Iraq
Wednesday
and accused the United States of picking on Baghdad as a pretext for
building
up its arms industry.
-
- Tuesday, the populist former leader of the far-right
Freedom Party met Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, prompting a sharp rebuke
from the State Department.
-
- At a news conference in Klagenfurt after his return,
Haider, whose party is in coalition with Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's
conservatives, said his visit had been humanitarian in nature.
-
- "I handed over equipment for a blood bank in Baghdad
mainly to help children suffering from leukemia," he said.
-
- In remarks likely to anger Washington and cause fresh
embarrassment for Schuessel, Haider criticized U.S. policy on Iraq, which
President Bush has said is part of a global "axis of
evil."
-
- "For the first time in my life I am in agreement
with German Foreign Minister (Joschka) Fischer, which may surprise
you,"
he said. "I share his view that you cannot portray any state as evil
with unproven assertions in order to have a pretext for initiatives in
arms policy."
-
- In Baghdad, an official Iraqi newspaper reported that
Haider had called for U.N. sanctions on Iraq to be lifted.
-
- "Sanctions on Iraq should be lifted to put an to
the suffering of the Iraqi children and the elderly," the ruling Baath
Party newspaper, al-Thawra, quoted him as saying.
-
- Haider, who relishes controversy and confrontation, said
in Klagenfurt that Europeans were committed to the U.S.-led war against
terrorism.
-
- But this did not represent a blank check for policies
which he said were often driven by the interests of the arms
industry.
-
- "The Americans are not pleased if Europeans
independently
pursue dialogue with Arab countries, but I presume this is permitted,"
he said.
-
- "We have to make clear to the Americans that we
have a high degree of solidarity with them...but it cannot be a blanket
authorization for settling old scores."
-
- Although he is not a member of government, Haider is
his party's de facto leader and sits on the powerful coalition committee
that sets government policy.
-
- He is best known internationally for controversial
remarks
about Austria's Nazi past, for which he later apologized.
-
- Since the center-right coalition was sworn in two years
ago, Haider has periodically embarrassed Schuessel with strongly worded
attacks on other European leaders and by suggesting Austria should consider
blocking EU enlargement.
-
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