U.S. Increasingly Isolated Over Iraq
From Reuters at 10:10 AM
The Bush administration faced new problems today in its confrontation with Iraq as China and Russia joined U.S. allies France and Germany in rejecting early military action.
The nations neighboring Iraq also convened a key meeting today in Turkey aimed at finding ways of averting a war.
The stand taken by Paris, Beijing and Moscow means a majority of the five veto-wielding permanent members on the U.N. Security Council are against rushing into war. The other two members are the United States and Britain, who continued their military buildup in the Gulf region today.
The Bush administration has indicated it could launch military action without Security Council backing.
In Berlin today, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder vowed he and French President Jacques Chirac will do all they can to avert war. "War may never be considered unavoidable," he said.
In Athens today, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said there were no grounds to use force at the moment.
"There is still political and diplomatic leeway to resolve the Iraq issue," he said.
Ivanov agreed with France and Germany that U.N. inspectors in Iraq should be allowed to press on with their job of looking for evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Beijing's position was "extremely close to that of France."
The Bush administration accuses Iraq of hiding nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and has threatened to attack if Baghdad does not disarm in line with a U.N. resolution passed in November. Iraq denies possessing any banned weapons.
The U.N. inspectors, who are due to present a key report Monday to the United Nations, have said they need several more months to complete their work.
However, President Bush has warned that time is running out for Iraq.
The United States is massing 150,000 troops in the region and has said it is ready to use them – with or without a Security Council resolution – if it considers Iraq has not disarmed.
In Istanbul today, foreign ministers and diplomats from Iraq's neighbors – Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria – are meeting along with regional heavyweight Egypt, to discuss a way out of the crisis.
"The countries ... (at) the Istanbul meeting all have friendly relations with the United States," Iraqi Ambassador Talip Abid Salih El Duleymi said. "We want them to use those relations to dissuade the United States from its intention to attack."
Iraq urged Turkey to reject U.S. requests for military support in any attack on Baghdad.
The United States is looking to Turkey for use of its air bases and frontiers in the event of military action.
Ankara opposes war but may be hard pressed to deny help to its closest NATO ally.
The United States has asked NATO to consider several measures to provide indirect military assistance in case of an invasion.
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson today denied reports of a "bust-up" Wednesday over providing support.
Diplomats said France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg had blocked a decision in NATO on whether to prepare supporting measures, notably defending Turkey's southern flank. But Robertson said the only disagreement was over timing, not substance.
In Iraq today, U.N. experts continued their hunt for banned weapons as a local newspaper warned that U.S. troops faced a fate worse than the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks if there is a war.
"The events of September 11 will be a picnic compared with what would happen to America if it commits aggression against Iraq," the Babel paper of President Saddam Hussein's son Uday said today.
In Iraq today, the U.N. inspectors visited at least five sites, including food stores, a fiberglass production plant, a missile complex and a university. |
