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

To: i-node who wrote (156220)	12/16/2002 2:03:01 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1583510

sltrib.com SUNDAY December 15, 2002 U.S. Criticized for Focusing Policy on Iraq, Not N. Korea, Iran BY TOM RAUM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's Iraq policy has become a high-wire juggling act, where every move to appease one ally threatens to undermine other friends. Some analysts suggest Bush's intense focus on Iraq deal-making is giving short shrift to other threats, such as nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran. The U.S. decision last week to allow a freighter seized on the Arabian Sea to resume steaming to Yemen to deliver a cargo of North Korean Scud missiles underscores the growing complexities of both the global fight against terrorism and America's determination to disarm Iraq. "Yemen is a partner of the United States in the war on terrorism," asserted White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, despite Yemen's history as a haven for terrorists. But the incident angered an older U.S. ally, Spain, whose Navy had boarded the ship on the Arabian Sea at Washington's behest. Spanish military officials said naval forces put themselves at risk in the operation for what proved to be a pointless exercise. Iraq's show of cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors was robbing the administration of some of its rhetorical thunder. Washington's decision not to share the full 12,000-page Iraqi weapons declaration with all 15 Security Council members was drawing new accusations of American heavy-handedness. Some analysts suggested Bush's preoccupation with Iraq was enabling North Korea to be deliberatively provocative. They cited the shipment of the Scud missiles and North Korea's announcement that it would reactivate a nuclear power plant that the United States and its allies suspect was used earlier to develop weapons. North Korea recently conceded it had a current nuclear-weapons program. Bush and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said North Korea's actions were unacceptable. But administration officials had hoped to be able to resolve the Iraq issue before having to turn up the heat in confronting North Korea. Meantime, U.S. officials are suggesting that two nuclear power construction sites in central Iran may be used for a secret program to develop nuclear weapons. The claim is denied by Iran, grouped with North Korea and Iraq in Bush's "Axis of Evil." "The president said some time ago that you're either with me or against me. But the world doesn't break down quite that clearly. I think he's on track, but he's now dealing with some harsh realities," said former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind. "It's a more ambiguous world. And we have to make concessions to get what we want," said Hamilton, named last week as vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks. He suggested that not challenging North Korea's Scud missile sales to Yemen to appease Yemeni officials was such an example. Bush's critics say he is practicing a double standard. "It's perfectly fine for you to get Scud missiles, so long as you're with us on the war on terrorism. And it is perfectly fine for you to develop weapons of mass destruction and fund local terrorism groups, as in the case with Syria, as long as you go with us on Iraq," said Ivo Daalder, a former national security aide in the Clinton White House. "The president has a narrow definition of the war on terrorism and an obsession with Iraq -- which is what it is, an obsession," Daalder said. He argued that North Korea, with its nuclear program and long-range missiles, poses a far greater threat to the United States than does Iraq. Just as it made deals with Pakistan to help drive al-Qaida and its Taliban protectors out of Afghanistan, the administration is now courting Iraq's neighbors -- including Syria, which remains on the State Department's list of seven terror-sponsoring states. Beyond Syria's geographical significance, it serves as one of the 10 nonpermanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The United States also is seeking an agreement with Turkey -- Iraq's neighbor to the north -- to use it as a staging area for any war on Iraq. Turkey is pressing for financial and other U.S. concessions. Public opinion in the Muslim country runs overwhelmingly against letting the United States use military facilities or position troops there -- as the Pentagon hopes to do. U.S. officials have insisted that they are not obsessed with Iraq, nor exerting undue pressure on countries in the region. "The United States is not pushing too hard," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to the region last week. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune.