STOCKHOLM, March 12 (Reuters) - Sweden may halt arms exports to the United States if U.S.-led forces attack Iraq without a mandate from the United Nations Security Council, the Swedish TT news agency reported on Wednesday.
Militarily non-aligned Sweden opposes armed intervention in Iraq without U.N. backing and would consider any such attack a breach of international law. “International law is an important factor in our guidelines,” TT quoted Lotta Fogde, a top civil servant dealing with arms control issues, as saying.
The government’s foreign policy guidelines say arms should not be exported to countries at war or in violation of international law. “We hope we can avoid such a decision but if it comes to that, it will clearly be one of the more difficult questions the government has had to decide in the field of arms exports,” Fodge added. Swedish arms exports to the United States are worth approximately 250 million crowns ($30 million) per year.TT quoted Prime Minister Goran Persson as saying the government had not yet discussed the issue.
Why the heck would the US care. 30 mill of arms is nothing for them. The 30 mill is probably all a relations stunt - a "See sweden, we are helping your economy". America can easily build the arms sweden is supplying if they really need them.
If more countries had a law like Swedens, it would be great.
The fact that a country is talking about imposing an arms embargo against the US just shows the deep levels of opposition there is to war against Iraq. Although it may only be a symbolic gesture by the Swedes, I think in the long term these embargoes could have a knock on effect on the US economy as more and more nations could follow suit, this could effect the overall trading relationship between those countries and the US.
STOCKHOLM: Sweden said on Thursday it will expel two Iraqi diplomats after a request from the US government.
“The decision was made after careful preparations and after a thorough investigation of the security police. The motive is links to refugee espionage,” Prime Minister Goeran Persson told Swedish news agency TT.
Persson didn’t say when the diplomats would be expelled or why. The prime minister could not immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press and the Foreign Ministry would not confirm the report.
Last week the US expelled two UN-based Iraqi diplomats and said Washington had identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries – some operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies – whom it also wanted expelled.
US officials said the alleged Iraqi agents could attack American interests overseas. Iraq has denounced the US request and called it “a frantic campaign” by the CIA.
Iraq has five diplomats in Sweden, a Scandinavian country of 8.9 million, including Qassim HJ Al-Zuhairi, the chief of mission, Omar Abdul Razak Ibrahim Al Khlil, Najim A Itha, Jamal Yass Abdul Razak and Khalil Jassem.
The decision came the same day that Finland said it was investigating the actions of Iraqi diplomats there.