Bitter enmity between Iraq and Kuwait erupted in a vitriolic name-calling match on Wednesday at an Islamic summit meant to unite the voice of the world's one billion Muslims against war.
In a clash caught on live television before the Qatar state broadcaster shut down transmission, Iraq denounced Kuwait as an American vassal and a traitor to the Muslim faith, which it said was in grave danger of subjugation by the United States.
A closing statement read out on Qatar television at the end of the 56-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit focused on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and failed even to mention the Iraq crisis.
But a second written communique issued later said "Islamic countries would not participate in any military action which targets the security and territorial integrity of Iraq or any Muslim country," and rejected any attack on Iraq.
In fact, several Gulf states plus OIC member Turkey host U.S. forces and bases which would be used in an invasion of Iraq. There was no fresh initiative from the summit to resolve the ambivalent stance by Iraq's Muslim neighbors.
Only a quarter of OIC members sent their heads of state to the one-day gathering, the latest in a series of top-level Muslim or Arab gatherings called at short notice in a desperate but so far unavailing bid to halt the slide to war.
Saddam Hussein's top aide Izzat Ibrahim told members of the world's largest Islamic grouping that Baghdad expected "concrete steps to support Iraq against this tyrant."
"There should be a point-blank refusal of any aggression and no help should be given to this enemy...We hope Islamic nations can face the challenge that is before them," he said.
All of Islam would be the victim of "the reckless and foolish United States," Ibrahim warned.
"In the face of this bitter reality, we must rally our forces and the foremost condition for our success is joint Muslim action...we must not allow anyone to break our ranks or religion will be wiped out and our territories placed under foreign control."
AS FOR YOU...
The second-in-command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council then departed from his text to zero in on the Kuwaitis sitting across the conference chamber.
"Shut up you minion, you (U.S.) agent, you monkey. You are addressing Iraq," he said. "You are insolent. You are a traitor to the Islamic nation," Ibrahim spat out as Qatar's Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani tried to shut him up.
Key U.S. Gulf ally Kuwait, which is publicly grateful to Washington for leading a coalition that liberated it from Iraqi occupation in 1991, is hosting thousands of U.S. Army and Marine forces in preparation for a possible invasion of Iraq.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah told reporters the clash proved that only the voluntary exile of Saddam and his leadership could avert war.
This step was "the only thing and the miracle that can end this matter and the miracle is in the Iraqis' hands," he said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri again rebuffed proposals that Saddam go into exile to avert war, telling reporters it was President Bush who should "step down and leave other people to live in peace."
"Any call for stepping down should be asked to Mr. Bush. He is causing his people and his country to be hated all over the world, isolated all over the world, becoming Public Enemy Number One all over the world."
OIC Secretary General Abdelouahed Belkeziz said the Islamic nation "with all its political weight, power and resources" could make its voice heard if it was united and sincere.
But recent Arab and Muslim summits on the Iraq crisis have been marred by arguments and initiatives lost in dispute.