5th March 2003, 6:20 PM
Quote:DOHA, Qatar, March 5 — A conference of Muslim nations hastily called for what was described as a last attempt by the Islamic world to help avert a war against Iraq degenerated into a shouting match today.
The leaders failed to publicly reconsider a proposal calling on Saddam Hussein to go into exile, although the idea first broached several days ago by the United Arab Emirates was the buzz of the corridors.
At the end of the conference, the Emirates Information Minister, Sheik Abdullah Zayed al-Nahyan, who was informally pushing the exile idea today, said in an interview, "Unless the Iraqis come up with a miracle, we don't think we can avert war."
The underlying tensions erupted in the elegant Ritz Carlton hotel ballroom when the vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, Izzat Ibrahim, told the Kuwaiti minister of state for foreign affairs, Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, to "shut up, you monkey."
The Iraqi followed up with an Arab epithet, "Curse be upon your mustache, you traitor."
The Kuwaiti responded by saying the Iraqi was a hypocrite, as his information minister, Sheik Ahmed Fahd al-Ahmed jumped up to defend his country's honor by waving a miniature Kuwaiti flag.
I wonder when it comes out on DVD...
New York Times
Sometimes you get the scorpion.