CRISIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF : Iraqi Brands Bush’s Planned Day With Troops ‘Provocation’

President Bush’s upcoming Thanksgiving Day visit to U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia was branded a provocation Saturday by a ranking Iraqi official.

“We consider the American exercises and the American presence in the region and Bush’s visit to the region a provocation,” Information Minister Latif Jasim told a news conference in Baghdad.

The exercises he was referring to are “Imminent Thunder,” six days of major military maneuvers by U.S. and allied forces that began Thursday and will be highlighted today by a mock assault on the Saudi shoreline near the Kuwaiti border. Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait on Aug. 2

“This is a provocation against our dignity, existence and against our sanctities (the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia),” Jasim said. “And this requires all sacrifices of us to face this provocation,” he added without explanation.

The Iraqi government had earlier denounced the presence of American and other Western forces in the Persian Gulf and the military exercises, but Jasim’s was the first high-level comment.

On another question relating to Thanksgiving, the information director was asked whether any of the estimated 700 American hostages in Iraq and Kuwait will be released to mark the holiday.

“We do not at present have any initiatives (for such a release),” he said, “and we do not link initiatives to special occasions despite the importance of this one.”

Release of hostages by the Iraqi authorities has come in response to visits by foreign political figures. Sometimes, the releases have been tied to the amount of food or medicine that the visitors brought with them, according to diplomats here.