Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (41525)	9/2/2002 11:49:46 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Just my opinion, but I do believe Cheney and Halliburton want that Iraqi oil at any cost: Top Iraqi Official Calls U.S. Allegations Baseless Sun Sep 1, 1:25 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Iraqi official said on Sunday that U.S. allegations that Baghdad was producing weapons of mass destruction were baseless and could prove it. Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, told CNN that Vice President Dick Cheney ( news - web sites), who said last week that Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites) posed a "mortal threat," had provided no evidence to support his assertion, which is underpinning the Bush administration's growing drumbeat for pre-emptive action. "They are telling wrongly ... that Iraq is reproducing weapons of mass destruction," Aziz said in an interview. "That's not true. We are ready to prove it. We are ready to prove it by technical, viable means." But Aziz said that allowing weapons inspectors back into Iraq under the direction of chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix was not an option. "It's a non-starter because it's not going to bring about a conclusion," Aziz said from South Africa where he is attending the Earth Summit. "We do not trust that Mr. Blix and his group are going to bring a conclusion within a reasonable time so that the United States and everybody in the world should know that there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Aziz said. U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998. But in a statement that appeared to cloud U.S. policy on Iraq -- particularly Cheney's strident case for pre-emptive action -- Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites) said on Sunday in an interview with the BBC that Washington wanted weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad. Powell also said he understood that the international community needed more information about the threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein before a decision is made on what should be done.