Iraq Will Free Rest of German Hostages

The Iraqi Parliament, acting at President Saddam Hussein’s behest, voted today to free all Germans still held in the country in appreciation of remarks by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl against war in the Persian Gulf.

Parliament Speaker Saadi Mahdi Saleh said there were 124 Germans still in Iraq and Kuwait. No specific arrangements were made for their departure, and there was no indication when they would be freed.

Earlier, Baghdad Radio quoted Hussein as saying in a letter to the National Assembly:

“Records of Arab history have not registered that Germany had done anything wrong to the Arabs or participated in a conspiracy against their sovereignty or worked against their call for unity.

“The statement of . . . Kohl and before that our discussions with former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt have revived the hope of the possibility to build warm friendship not only between Iraq and Germany, but between the Arab nation as a whole and Germany.”

Iraq said Sunday that it would free all foreigners held in the country over a three-month period starting at Christmas. Washington has called that offer a ploy.

Kohl called Sunday for a negotiated settlement to get Iraq out of Kuwait, the emirate it invaded Aug. 2.

“Anyone who believes this can be solved militarily must think of the end, not the beginning, of the enterprise--what will the consequences be, how many victims will there be and won’t a political solution still have to be found afterward anyway?” Kohl said in a radio interview.

“My urgent advice is that we exhaust all ways to negotiate that can be exhausted,” the German leader said.

Hussein said: “Mr. Kohl is a courageous man when he adopts such a position.

“It is our duty to encourage him and encourage the German people to take further stances that would distinguish between the interests of Germany and the interests of those seeking war and hegemony,” Hussein said, referring to President Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Brandt visited Baghdad earlier this month and won the release of about 200 hostages after two rounds of talks with Hussein. Brandt was criticized by the United States and other Western leaders for dealing with Baghdad.