Jalal Talebani, Iraqi President, severely critices Europeans

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

Jalal Talebani, the President of Iraq, in an interview with the Austrian daily Die Presse, in response to the interviewer's question:

"How would you respond to the fact that many European countries believe that the war in Iraq was a mistake,"

replied:

"Europeans have no rights when it comes to this issue and the European criticism of Americans is positively inappropriate. Europeans have no idea what misery the Iraqi people endured. I'd like Europeans to take a trip to Iraq to visit the 400 thousand person mass graves. People could no longer put up with Saddam's regime. The people of Germany and Austria could have never been rid of dictators like Hitler without a war. That was the price that had to be paid."

The interviewer also asked:

"A number of the European countries who have had military presence in Iraq have decided to pull their troops out; does Iraq still require the support of European countries?"

Talebani replied:

"European presence in Iraq is not so important. The decisive issue here is that Europeans cannot consider this from the angle of anti-Americanism. One day, Europeans must grasp that 27 million Iraqis finally have freedom, democracy and human rights because of this war."

But how does he really feel?