Saturday, March 1, 2003
ArabNews: Drama at Arab League Summit Via LGF
Near fisticuffs at the Arab Summit today. Qaddafi and Prince Abdullah got into it and the cameras were shut down and the meeting given a recess while everyone calmed themselves...
[...]Qaddafi criticized Saudi Arabia, in an impromptu speech, for the presence of US forces in the Kingdom.
He said when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, American forces started flowing into the Kingdom. “I told King Fahd that American forces are moving into Saudi Arabia. He then replied ‘America is a big country and we cannot prevent it and it can come.’ I told him: ‘How can this happen to Saudi Arabia, which is an independent country?’ After that in a telephone conversation, the king told me that Iraq had intention to invade the Kingdom. I asked him how he knew. He said: ‘We have seen the Iraqi forces deployed on the front. That means the Iraqi threat was a source of concern and threat for the Kingdom and all the Gulf states. America has pledged to protect this region because it is an important source of energy.’”
Here Prince Abdullah intercepted Qaddafi’s speech and said: “Saudi Arabia is a front line country for the Muslim nation. It is not a colonial agent. Colonialists are for you and others. Who brought you to power? Don’t say anything and don’t interfere in matters in which you don’t have any role. You are a liar. Your grave awaits you.”
The Saudi delegation then prepared to leave the conference hall but following the intervention of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Lebanese President Emile Lahud and others the delegation returned to the conference. The session was reconvened after a 20-minute break caused by the confusion.[...]