LONDON, Dec 29: Prince Charles has dropped plans to visit the United States because the White House, apparently unhappy with his views on Iraq, has signalled that he would not be welcome, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.
In a front-page report, it said that “senior figures in the Bush administration” had indicated that it would be “very unhelpful” for the trip to proceed due to the prince’s reported concern that a war would lead to a dangerous rift between the West and the Muslim world.
“A week-long tour was in the diary for February or March 2003,” it quoted a senior British government official as saying. “But the prince has been politely informed that his views on the current (Iraq) crisis might not go down well.”
The Mail on Sunday added that the Foreign Office is concerned that a US visit by the heir to the British throne might be used by anti-war activists to drive a wedge between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush’s strongest ally on Iraq.
A Foreign Office spokesman was quoted in the newspaper as saying that it could not confirm Charles’ overseas travel plans “so far ahead of time.”
Unidentified aircraft: An unidentified plane flew over Baghdad at midday on Sunday, apparently breaking the sound barrier over the Iraqi capital, in the second such incident in a month.
A loud bang, probably a sonic boom, was heard across Baghdad, where residents are already bracing for a possible US strike.
The white streak of an aircraft flying at high altitude was seen in the clear sky by residents.
An unidentified aircraft had similarly flown over Baghdad on November 27, the day UN arms experts resumed inspections in Iraq after a four-year break.
Sirens sounded across the capital then, but no such measure was taken on Sunday.
Authorities have said nothing about the Nov 27 overflight. There was also no immediate official comment on Sunday.
GCC: The Gulf monarchies all “oppose any military action against” Iraq and favour a diplomatic solution to the showdown over its alleged weapons of mass destruction, their top representative said on Sunday.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — has always stood for “sparing Iraq and the region military action,” GCC Secretary General Abdel Rahman Al-Attiya said.
“We are for a diplomatic option and peaceful choices to save Iraq and the region from military action,” the official said after emerging from talks with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.
When asked about the military buildup in the region, Attiya replied: “Things are clear. There are relations which dictate these military arrangements, which are not aimed at any Arab or Islamic country, including Iraq.”
The GCC made no direct mention of the US buildup in the region at a summit in Qatar last week, calling simply for respecting Iraq’s independence and territorial integrity.
All the GCC states provide bases or other military facilities for US forces, mainly under agreements made since the 1991 war.—AFP
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