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

To: aladin who wrote (44726)	9/17/2002 8:52:11 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Interesting, this report came out hours before Iraq's inspection announcement. Rumsfeld announces change in tactics; Saudis hint they will allow use of bases iht.com Rumsfeld announces change in tactics; Saudis hint they will allow use of bases WASHINGTON As the United States pressed both diplomatic and military preparations that could lead to an invasion of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that U.S. pilots already had begun attacking air command and communications facilities in Iraq, and not just anti-aircraft weapons and radar. . The switch in tactics could help clear the way for a full-blown attack on the government of President Saddam Hussein, making it harder for Iraq to shoot down U.S. or British planes and to coordinate its responses to an attack. . In another potentially critical move, Saudi Arabia indicated during the weekend that it was likely to permit use of its territory to launch an attack if the UN sanctioned military action. . At the UN, Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that the United States was making progress in its attempts to draft, and lobby for, a new Security Council resolution to ensure a tough UN stand, forcing Iraq to accept weapons inspections and take other steps or face possible military attack. . Rumsfeld said that he had ordered the change in tactics more than a month ago, and the number of sorties against Iraq is up appreciably from a year ago. Whether Iraq is now less capable of defending itself, he said, depended on its ability quickly to rebuild and replace damaged facilities. . The Pentagon has, over the past year, prepositioned heavy equipment in the region and the U.S. Central Command, which overseas American operations in the area, will provisionally move its headquarters from Florida to Qatar later this year. . Powell and some other diplomats, including British officials, said that a UN speech last week by President George W. Bush had generated new support for the tough U.S. approach, and it appeared to have opened the door for a potentially crucial boost from Saudi Arabia. . The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, indicated that his country would grant use of its military bases in the event of a UN-supported attack on Iraq. If the United Nations approved of military action, the prince said, "everybody is obliged to follow through" in support. Saudis said that this reflected not a shift from their side because they had always supported recourse to the United Nations in pursuit of Iraqi compliance to UN resolutions that Iraq not develop weapons of mass destruction. Instead, they said, it was in response to a shift by Bush, who said only last week that he would give the United Nations a chance to act. . No immediate neighbor of Iraq had publicly promised to make its military bases or airspace available for attacks to destroy Iraq's reported illicit weapons facilities. . The Saudi stance was