THE US walkout from the UN conference on racism in Durban is a victory for all the victims of the United States, an official Iraqi newspaper said on Wednesday. “The withdrawal of the American delegation in Durban is a victory for all the Africans, Asians, Indians, Australians and others whose ancestors suffered from American colonialism and slavery,” Al-Jumhuriya said. “America was defeated in Durban because its history is strewn with crimes,” the daily said, adding that “the hands of the members of the American delegation in Durban are stained with the blood of the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, Yugoslavia, Palestine and Iraq”. “The withdrawal of the United States from Durban signals the start of their withdrawal from all the forthcoming international conferences,” Jumhuriya predicted. The United States and Israel pulled out of the UN World Conference Against Racism on Sunday after failing to have language harshly critical of the Jewish state’s treatment of Palestinians removed from a draft final resolution. – AFP
Sunday September 2, 2001