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Strategies & Market Trends : MDA - Market Direction Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (44203)	3/27/2000 4:37:00 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99985

Found on one of the oil & gas threads, been away a bit from the thread so forgive me if this is a dupe. Sen. Lott says Iraq missile plant report alarming 03/26/00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - The United States should be prepared to take military action if it confirms Iraq is financing the construction of a ballistic-missile plant in North Africa, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Sunday. A report by New York Times columnist William Safire that Iraq and North Korea may be working together to build such a facility near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, was "alarming and chilling," Lott said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "If we confirm that this is going in Khartoum, we should be prepared to take action against that. And I'm talking about military action," the Mississippi Republican said. Technology LA Times: MS Offer Not Enough Mac OS 9 Update Leaked Backspin: Tech Week in Review MS Hunts 'Whistler' Pirate Embedded Browsers on the Rise In a column on Thursday, Safire said the missile deal has been rumored in American intelligence circles for months. According to an unidentified source, Iraq would provide $475 million in financing for the plant, which would be built by the cash-starved North Koreans, Safire said. Former U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Richard Butler told NBC circumstantial evidence suggests the report could be true. "The bottom line is, they're doing it again," Butler said, referring to Iraq. "They're trying to break out in the vital area of longer-range missiles." Iraq has not allowed U.N. weapons inspectors into the country since U.S.-British bombing raids in December 1998. "It would be utter folly not to assume they are back in the business of making chemical and biological warheads for such missiles," Butler said. Lott said the United States should do everything in its power to get U.N. arms inspectors back into Iraq. "I think we should be prepared to take very aggressive action," Lott said. "We should ask our allies, including Russia, to join us obviously." The U.N. Security Council in December set up a new disarmament agency and offered to ease sanctions on Iraq if it cooperated and allowed U.N. weapons inspections. That is not likely to happens unless the United States and the other "great powers stand together and make crystal clear that weapons of mass destruction must not be the subject of politics as unusual," Butler said. On a related issue, Lott said he was disturbed by the United States' growing reliance on oil from Iraq and the leverage that gives Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "We're becoming more dependent on his oil and he has the temerity to threaten us that he would cut it off," Lott said. Heading into a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna on Monday, Iraq has said it would increase production and exports by about 700,000 barrels per day over the next few weeks to reach its full output capacity of 3.1 million bpd. Meanwhile, the United States has proposed doubling the amount of oil equipment Iraq can buy under U.N. sanctions to upgrade its dilapidated industry. REUTERS