IRAQ: Iraq's interior minister lashed out yesterday at a Saudi minister who voiced worries about growing Iranian influence and Shia power, saying Iraq would not be lectured by "some Bedouin riding a camel".
Prince Saud al-Faisal, foreign minister of Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, made his remarks nearly two weeks ago during a visit to Washington.
"We will not allow anyone to interfere in our internal issues, regardless of their political status," Bayan Jabor, a member of the Shia Islamist SCIRI party, retorted during a news conference in Amman.
"This Iraq is the cradle of civilisation that taught humanity reading and writing, and some Bedouin riding a camel wants to teach us. This talk is totally rejected."
He proceeded to take a swipe at the Saudi monarchy, saying: "There are regimes that are dictatorships; they have one god, he is the king, he is God of heaven and earth, and he rules as he likes."
A number of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbours have expressed unease at the close ties between the new Iraqi authorities - dominated by Islamist Shia parties that found refuge in Iran during Saddam Hussein's time - and Shia, non-Arab Iran.
But Mr Jabor said they should support the newly-empowered Shias rather than pushing them into the arms of Iran. "If they want to push 17 million Shia Arabs in Iraq and tell them 'You are Persian' - you are pushing matters along a dangerous path," he said.
Iraq was emerging as a democratic country with equal status for women, while Saudi Arabia was a "dictatorship that does not even allow women to drive", he said. - (Reuters)