Leaders voice sorrow; Iraqis unsympathetic

By Associated Press, 2/2/2003

ONDON - The Columbia shuttle disaster was met with an outpouring of grief from most of the world yesterday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain paid tribute to the seven ''courageous'' crew members of the space shuttle Columbia as leaders around the world mourned the astronauts' deaths.

Blair wrote letters to President Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel to ''express the government's sadness and offer his condolences,'' his office said. The Columbia crew included the first Israeli to fly in space.

Government officials around the world - from France to Mexico - expressed shock and sadness. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin called Bush to express his condolences. Putin also sent a telegram of condolence to Sharon.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada said: ''Each one was a hero. ''

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But in Iraq, immediate popular reaction was that it was God's retribution. ''We are happy that it broke up,'' government employee Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi said. ''God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us.''

Car mechanic Mohammed Jaber al-Tamini noted Israeli air force Colonel Ilan Ramon was among the dead. Ramon was a pilot in an Israeli team that bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.

Iraqis are braced for a possible US-led war to rid their country of any weapons of mass destruction.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

This story ran on page A26 of the Boston Globe on 2/2/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.