MYTH AND REALITY

Illegitimate, unjust and hostile was how Iraq officially described the Western decision to impose the air exclusion zone over southern Iraq. The National Assembly called it "a vile aggression", the Ba'ath Party newspaper AI Thawra described the move as a "dangerous pattern of the arrogance of power and colonial haughtiness" and Al Qadisiyah daily, the organ of the Ministry of Defence, referred to "the conspiracy aimed at Iraq's independence".