Greece's Position in The 2003 Invasion of Iraq
Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis’s declaration on 21 March 2003 mirrored the official Greek position regarding the invasion, as he declares
- ÈGreece is not participating in the war and will not get entangled in it.È
In addition, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou expressed Greece’s opposition to the United States going it alone in Iraq. Many other political parties condemned the invasion, such as the Communist Party (KKE] and the Greek Left Party-Synaspismos, who saw the war as proof of U.S imperialistic aspirations in the Middle East.
Despite opposing the war, Greece did agree with the United States policy of disarming Iraq and destructing any WMD, that Iraq supposedly possessed. However, Greece did not agree with Bush’s strategy of pre-emptive war as a means of fighting terrorism. By contrast it was in favor of settling the dispute over Iraq by diplomatic means and not by force.
Unlike the opposition to Gulf war II, Greece did participate in the first Gulf war, as a means of restoring peace in the Persian gulf, after Iraq had invaded Kuwait.
Read more about this topic: Greece-Iraq Relations
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