BAPTISTE TO INVITE NGO'S TO DISCUSS IRAQI ISSUE

Opposition Leader Michael Baptiste is planning to invite a number of political and civic-minded organisations in the country to meet with him to discuss the implications for the island following the breaking of news last week that seven Iraqi nationals traveling with Grenadian passports are seeking to enter the United States.

Immigration officials in Barbados deported the seven who are from Baghdad on January 21 as they tried to enter the island to visit the U.S.Embassy in Bridgetown to apply for entry visas to the United States. Immigration authorities in Barbados called in U.S Embassy officials who traveled to Sir Grantley Adams International Airport to interview the Iraqis before they were thrown out of Barbados.

Washington is currently preparing for a war with Iraq over the alleged presence in the oil-rich Middle East country of so-called weapons of mass destruction. The United States is also treating as a "major security risk" nationals of several Middle East states seeking to enter the country following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in which over 3000 persons were killed. A well-placed source told GRENADA TODAY that the Opposition Leader would like to meet with the organisations to solicit their views on the dangers posed to Grenada as a result of the Iraqi issue.

The seven are believed to be living in the south of the island where some U.S entities are located such as the U.S Embassy, the home of the U.S Charge D'affairs and the privately run American owned St. George's University.

The source said that Baptiste intends to send out invitation letters to Non-Governmental Organisations like the Agency for Rural Transformation (ART), GRENCODA, as well as Friends of the Earth-Grenada (FOEG), GRENSAVE, the Trade Union Council, and the Conference of Churches of Grenada (CCG). He said that the Opposition Leader is fearful that the presence of the Iraqis in Grenada could result in the Bush Administration in Washington imposing sanctions on the island.

U.S troops had invaded Grenada in 1983 to bring an end to nearly five years of non-elected Marxist rule by the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) of the late Maurice Bishop. The invasion paved the way for Grenada's return to democratic rule of law under the New National Party (NNP) of Herbert Blaize.

In 1989, current Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell unseated Blaize as Political Leader of the ruling party. Dr. Mitchell won the 1995 general election and as Prime Minister introduced a controversial economic citizenship programme in which non-nationals were allowed to purchase Grenadian passports.

The first signs of the programme running into problems came when Canada announced that it was forced to impose visa restrictions on Grenadians to protect its national security in light of Grenada's passport scheme. Government announced a suspension of the programme after the September 11 events in the United States and then the eventual abolishment of the scheme.