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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (3213)	3/12/2002 2:00:48 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Inaction is not an option' Julian Borger in Washington, Ian Black in Brussels, Michael White and Ewen MacAskill Tuesday March 12, 2002 The Guardian President George Bush attempted to pull the international coalition against terrorism back into line yesterday amid growing unease about the proposed military campaign against Iraq. Most of the European and Arab members of the coalition have expressed alarm about the speed with which he switched the target from Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan to the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. Mr Bush used a speech in Washington to mark the six-month anniversary of the September 11 attacks to try to soothe their feelings. The message was reinforced by the prime minister, Tony Blair, and the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, after a two-hour meeting at Downing Street. But oil prices rose yesterday as jitters grew over the prospect of war in the Middle East. Mr Bush outlined goals for the second phase of the war against terrorism, stressing that the US was intent on dealing with the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction. He said that "inaction was not an option". He confronted for the first time accusations that the US was acting unilaterally. He used the speech to single out the contributions of other members of the coalition in Afghanistan. To help repair the diplomatic damage, the president spoke, in front of more than 170 national flags, to over 100 ambassadors. Although he did not mention Iraq by name, White House officials briefing reporters beforehand directed attention to Baghdad's failure to comply with UN weapons inspections. The officials acknowledged that some US coalition partners had been taken by surprise in January by Mr Bush's diversion of the anti-terror campaign from al-Qaida to the "axis of evil". Mr Blair, in a press conference with Mr Cheney at Downing Street, concentrated on maintaining the unity of the coalition, emphasising it would not take hasty action: "The coalition that we have assembled has acted in a calm and a measured way and this will continue." Sensitive to anti-war-criticism - Labour MPs later delivered a warning letter to No 10 - he said: "No decisions, of course, have been taken yet." Aides stressed that, whatever action against Iraq is decided, nothing is likely to happen for many months. But Mr Blair was more hawkish than Mr Bush, declaring emphatically that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction: "There is a threat from Saddam Hussein and the weapons of mass destruction that he has acquired. It is not in doubt at all." Mr Cheney, who visited Britain on the first stage of an 11-nation tour that will take in mainly the Middle East, said Washington was concerned about the "potential marriage between terrorist organisations like al-Qaida" and states which were acquiring or "proliferating" weapons of mass destruction. The US and Britain are ratcheting up the rhetoric in the hope of persuading Saddam to allow UN weapons inspectors back into Iraq to check whether he is hoarding biological and chemical weapons and attempting to develop a nuclear capability. If he fails to bow to these demands, he faces the prospect of military action from the US and possibly Britain. Amid the first open sign of divisions inside the EU, Belgium called for the dispatch of a high-level mission to Baghdad to persuade the Iraqi leader to back down. EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, rejected the request. Instead, they called on Iraq to abide by UN resolutions and allow the return of weapons inspectors. Diplomats from other countries said privately there was no chance of such a mission for fear of allowing Iraq to exploit differences between the US and Europe. A diplomatic source said there had been a proposal last week to put out a joint EU statement on Iraq but this had to be abandoned because of disagreements between Britain and France. Although the Iraqi vice-president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, ruled out at the weekend the return of weapons inspectors, Iraq has not adopted a definitive position. It may yet bargain on terms for their return. Mr Cheney raised the threshold, saying that simply allowing inspectors in was not sufficient and that Iraq would have to give them "go anywhere, any time" access. The vice-president also played down the weekend leak of what he called a routine review on the use of nuclear weapons that suggested they could be used against Iraq and other countries. "The notion that somehow this means we are planning pre-emptive nuclear strikes against seven countries, well, I would say that is a bit over the top,"he said. guardian.co.uk