from Ha'aretz:
U.S. official to Israel: We'll deal with Syria,
Iran after Iraq war
By Aluf Benn and Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said in meetings with Israeli officials on Monday that he has no doubt America will attack Iraq, and that it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea afterwards.
Bolton, who is undersecretary for arms control and international security, is in Israel for meetings about preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
In a meeting with Bolton on Monday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that Israel is concerned about the security threat posed by Iran. It's important to deal with Iran even while American attention is turned toward Iraq, Sharon said.
Bolton also met with Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky.
No uniform position in EU
European Union countries maintained their ideological differences in a conference for the heads of EU nations after the foreign ministers of EU countries failed to arrive at a uniform position regarding Iraq.
The conference was expected to issue a bland statement saying Iraq must do more to assist United Nations weapons inspectors, but avoiding reference to war, diplomats said.
But at the summit, France insisted that it would try to block any imminent U.S. attack on Baghdad while Britain called for a swift deadline for action.
Speaking at a news conference after addressing the summit, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Western nations should avoid turning on each other over Iraq and urged Baghdad to choose compliance with disarmament over confrontation with the international community. He also said any use of force without a UN mandate would undermine the legitimacy of the Security Council and diminish support for military action.
French President Jacques Chirac said France would oppose any effort to draft a new UN resolution authorizing war at this time. France, Germany and others say Iraq can be disarmed peacefully and must be given time.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said time was running out and the EU must set limits on how much longer it will allow Iraq to remain defiant.
Spain and Italy have also expressed support for the United States, which advocates imminent military measures.
The United Nations "set out very clearly that this was the final opportunity for Iraq to comply," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said earlier. "That involves hard decisions for everyone across Europe. It is only by fighting tyranny that we are able to enjoy the freedoms that we do."
The EU negotiations are not just about whether military action is a necessary step to take against Iraq.
"We all know that this is about the matter of Iraq," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said. "But it's also about the matter of Europe."
haaretzdaily.com |
