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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: tejek who wrote (150544)8/28/2002 11:42:52 AM
From: Alighieri  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1588749
 
If Taiwan was invaded by China and the US intervened our mission would be to sink the Chinese invasion fleet. Which at the moment would not be difficult.

So much for China being silent...

Al

Iraq Says Ready for Dialogue but America Wants War
Wed Aug 28, 8:03 AM ET

By Samia Nakhoul

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Iraq said on Wednesday there was still room for a
diplomatic solution to avert war with the United States, but that Baghdad had to
prepare for conflict because Washington did not want a peaceful solution.

"We believe that dialogue has not totally been cut off,
but it is being blocked by American pressure," Iraqi
Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan told Reuters.
"We believe dialogue is the correct way to solve any
problem."


The comments came after the U.S. administration
appeared to harden its position against Baghdad,
saying that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
posed a mortal danger to the United States that
justified a pre-emptive attack.

Ramadan said Iraq took that threat seriously, though
it preferred to negotiate.

"We do not consider the American threats a joke, nor
do we regard them fatalistically," he said. "Anything
is possible...We believe in the right of any people to
defend themselves, and in the end we have faith that aggressors...must be
crushed."

"America has an idea, an image and a program which it wants to impose on the
whole world without exception and according to its own method," he added.

Ramadan is on a three-day visit to Syria as part of an Arab tour aimed at
building Arab diplomatic defenses for Iraq, whose leader Saddam Hussein (
news - web sites) said on Tuesday that a U.S. assault on Iraq would be an
attack on "all the Arab nation."

The Iraqi presidential envoy said while Iraq was ready to talk it was not ready to
surrender under Washington's terms.

"There are rights and obligations. If flexibility is to be understood as
concessions this is not going to happen," he said.

Ramadan said most Arab leaders believe a U.S. attack on Iraq to oust Saddam
would set a dangerous precedent in the region.

"The whole Arab nation is threatened. I believe there is a total conviction among
all Arab governments that although it is a threat to Iraq directly, in fact it is a
threat to all Arab countries."

SYRIA SAYS UN MUST SETTLE CONFLICT

The remarks were the latest in a chorus of Arab and international voices
rejecting any U.S. strike on Iraq.

Syria, itself at odds with Washington over its support for Hizbollah and radical
Palestinian groups, considers plans to hit Iraq part of an attempt to install
puppet regimes in the region to serve U.S. and Israeli interests.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ( news - web sites) warned that there could
be chaos in the Middle East and many innocent civilians could lose their lives if
Washington attacked Iraq.

China and India on Wednesday joined other countries including Germany in
voicing their opposition.


Renewed threats came from Vice President Dick Cheney ( news - web sites)
who this week laid out the case for pre-emptive action against Iraq, warning of
the danger of weapons of mass destruction falling into the wrong hands and
bringing the prospect of war ever nearer.

Syria said it was the responsibility of the United Nations ( news - web sites) to
settle the dispute between the U.S. and Iraq.

"Any sound view of what is happening requires the United Nations to resume
dialogue with Iraq and apply U.N. resolutions," Syria's state press on
Wednesday quoted Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa Mero as telling
Ramadan during a banquet.

"Countries seeking security, peace and stability for this region should exert an
effective international role to cut off the (U.S.) aggressive tendencies which want
to keep this region in a cycle of violence, aggression, subjugation and
humiliation," he said.

Syria and Iraq, once bitter enemies, have rehabilitated ties fraught by
Damascus's support for the U.S.-led Gulf War ( news - web sites) that drove
Iraq from Kuwait, and are believed to conduct a trade in Iraqi crude oil in
violation of U.N. sanctions.

Damascus says all of its oil deals with Iraq are part of the U.N. oil-for-food
program that governs Iraq's oil exports.

Ramadan is expected to sign a set of trade, economic, health, education and
environment agreements with Syria on Thursday to consolidate their ties.