Iraq blasts Saudi Arabia for anti-Shi'ite remarks

AMMAN, JORDAN - Iraq's interior minister lashed out on Sunday at a Saudi minister who voiced worries about growing Iranian influence and Shi'ite 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," Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor, a member of the Shi'ite Islamist SCIRI party, retorted during a news conference in Amman.

"We are Iraqis and we are responsible for solving our problems, we will not allow anyone to interfere," he said.

"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 whole country is named after a family. If we open these topics without inhibitions, it is neither to our benefit nor to theirs."

A number of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbours have expressed unease at the close ties between the new Iraqi authorities -- dominated by Islamist Shi'ite parties that found refuge in Iran during Saddam Hussein's time -- and Shi'ite, non-Arab Iran.

But Jabor said they should support the newly empowered Shi'ites, dominated for decades by Saddam's Sunni minority, rather than pushing them into the arms of Iran.

- REUTERS