Mohamed hits out at Saddam Hussein
Speaking at the debate in Parliament on Thursday on the Prime Minister's speech made at the UN General Assembly, Minister M. H. Mohamed lashed out at Saddam Hussein. The minister claimed that during the Iran-Iraq conflict he was one of those nominated to mediate and resolve the issue.

'It was only due to Saddam Hussein's arrogance and indifference that we could not arrive at some acceptable solution. I have listened during my frequent visits to Iraq to the various problems imposed on the innocent people of Iraq. The people have told me about the atrocities perpetrated by Saddam Hussein" he said.

He refererred to an incident, on one of his visits to Iraq, where he had been requested by the then Education Minister Nissanka Wijeratne, to deliver a gift to his counterpart.

" I informed our ambassador that I had brought a gift from Mr. Wijeratne. The ambassador then told me that when I come to his residence for dinner he would make arrangements for it. When I reached his house he informed me that the minister had been living opposite his house. He then told me that in the early hours of that morning he heard people screaming.

He saw jeeps and soldiers with guns in the minister's compound. He then saw the minister being dragged and put into the jeep and he was subsequently informed he had been shot, the reason being that at the Cabinet meeting the minister had suggested that there was no reason why Iraq should be fighting with Iran as they were two Muslim countries. He had volunteered to go to Iran and make peace", Mr. Mohamed said.

The speech also referred to the many killings ordered by Saddam Hussein including those of his two sons-in-law, Shias and Kurds, the unearthing of large graveyards by the Americans and thousands of bodies being found in different parts of Iraq.

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