Thursday December 17 11:19 AM ET
Russia, China Denounce Attack
By KRISTIN GAZLAY Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) - Russia and China angrily denounced the U.S. attack on Iraq, while allies such as Germany and Canada offered their immediate support, placing all blame for the crisis on Saddam Hussein.
``Nobody has the right to act on their own in the name of the United Nations and even less to pretend to be the judge of the entire world,'' Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in Madrid, Spain.
Iraq's neighbor and former foe in war, Iran, joined Russia and China in blasting the use of force, saying it will bring ``even more pain and misery for the people in that country.'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also urged Iraq to cooperate with the United Nations.
Fearful of recriminations, the United States today closed all but two of its African embassies, and security was stepped up at many U.S. and British institutions worldwide, from the Philippines to Greece and Denmark.
The U.S. State Department ordered the departure of some of its embassy personnel in Kuwait and warned other Americans living there to consider leaving.
The Arab League condemned the strikes, and a Gulf official said Baghdad had reached out for Arab support to stop the attacks.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin demanded an immediate end to the military campaign, and Chinese President Jiang Zemin also asked President Clinton to refrain from further attacks.
``This is a violation of the U.N. charter and the principles of international law, and we condemn this,'' said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi.
The German government noted, however, that the Iraqi leadership ``had been warned'' the international community would have to act if it failed to cooperate fully with U.N. weapons inspectors.
Support for the airstrikes also poured in from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, the Netherlands, Austria and Spain.
``Saddam Hussein has brought this crisis on himself,'' Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said.
France, which has close ties to Iraq, deplored ``the grave human consequences'' of the military strikes, but added its regret that Iraqi leaders were unable to ``show proof of the spirit of complete cooperation'' demanded by previous agreements with the United Nations.
Fearing an influx of refugees, both Jordan and Turkey closed the borders they share with Iraq.
In a statement today, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana blamed Saddam for ``the grave situation'' while Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem expressed disappointment in the attack but also called on Iraq to comply.
In Pakistan, the Senate passed a resolution unanimously condemning the airstrikes as ``an attack on humanity and the Islamic world.'' Islamic Pakistan's right-wing religious group called the United States ``international terrorists.''
The strikes led news reports in Lebanon, where all newspaper, radio and television stations carried news agency reports without comment.
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, leaders pleaded for restraint.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka backed the United States and Britain, saying, ``We strongly demand that Iraq immediately and unconditionally implement the U.N. Security Council's resolutions.''
He was seconded by Misao Nozaki, a 47-year-old Tokyo restaurant owner who called the bombing justified ``because Iraq has continued developing nuclear weapons in a way that goes against the common sense of the rest of the world.''
But Yukari Ohi, 38, an office worker in Tokyo, said she opposed the use of force.
``I think the U.S. decision to attack Iraq was apparently intended to shift attention from the impeachment issue to war,'' Ohi said, noting that the airstrikes came as Clinton faced an impeachment vote.
India condemned the attack, while Mexico expressed disappointment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was noncommittal, saying, ``Israel is outside the dispute, and in any case will take care of defending itself if the need arises.''
The international Red Cross sent a diplomatic note to the U.S., British and Iraqi governments asking them to do everything possible to ensure civilians and medical facilities are unaffected by military action.