BBC
Jan 8, 2001

British officials have denied reports that a policy change on Iraq is planned.

An article in a British newspaper the Guardian suggested that Britain would propose to the
incoming administration in the United States of George W.

Bush that the bombing of targets in southern Iraq should end.

However government spokesmen said it was wrong to suggest that any change of policy
had taken place or that Britain intended to pull out of the air exclusion zone in southern Iraq.
However they did acknowledge that Britain was always looking at ways of developing its
policy on Iraq. The air exclusion zones were imposed after the Gulf War to protect Shi'ites
in the south and Kurds in the north from possible attack by government forces, but are
not backed by United Nations Security Council resolutions.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com