Lebanese Druze chief rues rockets missed Wolfowitz in Iraq
( 2003-10-28 09:36) (Agencies)
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| Druz Muslim leader Walid Jumblatt smiles after giving a press conference. [AP/file] |
A top Lebanese politician enraged the American embassy in Beirut Monday by saying he hoped the next attack on the number two in the Defense Department would prove fatal.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt described Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as a "virus" who needed to be destroyed, a day after the American emerged unscathed from a guerrilla rocket attack on the fortified Baghdad hotel where he was staying.
The U.S. embassy described Jumblatt's remarks as "outrageous."
The Druze chief and head of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party said in a statement he hoped Wolfowitz, who he criticized as an architect of the U.S.-led war on Iraq and a friend of Israel, would not survive any future attack.
"We hope that next time the rockets will be more accurate and effective in getting rid of this virus, and his like, who wreak corruption in the Arab land of Iraq and in Palestine," Jumblatt said.
The U.S. embassy in Beirut issued a statement condemning the remarks as "outrageous and completely unacceptable" and urged the Lebanese government to do the same.
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| U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz speaks at a press conference in Baghdad, Oct. 26, 2003. [AP] |
"Such statements not only praise acts of terrorism but serve to incite future attacks on U.S. government officials. We expect the government of Lebanon likewise to publicly condemn those remarks," the embassy said.
Wolfowitz, on a weekend visit to Iraq, escaped unharmed from Sunday's attack on the Rashid Hotel, which killed a U.S. soldier and wounded 17 people in an assault on the heart of American power in Iraq.
He vowed that the attack on the heavily-fortified compound, which also houses the headquarters of Iraq's U.S.-led administration, would not cow the United States into abandoning Iraq.
Jumblatt issued his statement on the bloodiest day in Baghdad since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein as Iraq's leader in April. Suicide bombers killed 35 people and wounded 230 in attacks on the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations in the capital.
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