With all the egg-fu-yong on the face, now the government said:
US Says Not Short of Allies for Iraq War
Sat January 25, 2003 09:37 AM ET
By Jonathan Wright and Hassan Hafidh
DAVOS/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States said on Saturday at least a dozen nations would back an attack on Iraq, even without a fresh U.N. resolution, but Arab and European leaders appealed for weapons inspectors to be given more time.
In Baghdad, a man wielding three knives tried to enter the headquarters of the U.N. inspectors, but was stopped by guards, a U.N. spokesman said. In a second incident, a man tried to stop a convoy of U.N. cars carrying inspectors.
The incidents, which occurred as U.N. teams were leaving for the field, were the first of their kind since Iraq grudgingly let the inspections resume in November after a four-year break.
The inspectors are to give the U.N. Security Council a progress report on Monday, which could begin a countdown for a U.S. invasion to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.
Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that potential U.S. allies would prefer a new council resolution authorizing force against Iraq, but would not insist on one.
"We would not be alone, that's for sure. I could rattle off at least a dozen off memory, and I think that there will be more," Powell said.
However, The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Bush administration, under pressure from allies abroad and Democrats at home not to hasten into war, was expected to let U.N. inspections go on for several more weeks at least.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told Reuters in Davos that a U.S.-led war on Iraq could inflame the Middle East, fueling popular anger and anti-American unrest.
"So why take that risk?" he asked, arguing that the inspectors should be allowed to pursue their task.
TURKISH INTERVENTION?
NATO member Turkey hinted it could send troops into northern Iraq if it saw a risk of the country breaking up in a U.S.-led war, or a threat to the ethnic Turkmen minority.
Prime Minister Abdullah Gul insisted Ankara had no territorial ambitions in Iraq, but said in Davos: "Not only the Turkmens but also the Kurds are our relatives there... We want to protect all of them if there is a massacre there."
Gul, due to meet Powell later on Saturday, would not say whether Turkey would let U.S. troops invade Iraq from its soil, but suggested the decision might hinge on a new U.N. resolution.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was quoted as saying he favored a second resolution and more time for the U.N. weapons to assess Iraq's weapons programs.
"(The inspectors) have to have all the tools and time they need to be able to carry out their inspections thoroughly," Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview due to appear on Sunday.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Saadoun Hammadi told reporters in New Delhi that his country would "use every method to inflict damage and casualties against those who invade our country."
The United States, assembling formidable forces around Iraq, is racking up pressure on Baghdad to obey U.N. demands that it abandon its alleged chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs. Iraq says it no longer has such programs.
Warplanes patrolling a "no-fly" zone declared by the United States and Britain over southern Iraq attacked an air defense facility on Friday, the U.S. military said on Saturday. The raid was in response to threats to coalition aircraft, it said.
A man thought to be an Iraqi scientist, accompanied by Iraqi officials, visited a Baghdad hotel used by U.N. inspectors, a day after the White House accused Iraq of "willful defiance" by refusing to let scientists be interviewed privately.
It was not immediately clear if he had been questioned, either in private or with Iraqi "minders" present.
Powell said nations that backed last year's Security Council resolution 1441, which gave Iraq a final chance to disarm, could not duck out of their responsibilities if Baghdad disobeyed.
"We cannot now start shrinking because the going is getting tough," he declared. "The burden is on Iraq. Iraq must comply or it will be made to comply by military force."
SECURITY COUNCIL SPLIT
France, China and Russia, three of the five veto-holding members of the Security Council, have opposed any rush to war with Iraq by the other two, the United States and Britain.
Differences over Iraq have sparked a rancorous transatlantic dispute between Washington and key European allies.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Saturday Iraq had "no room for tactics or maneuvering" in its dealings with U.N. weapons inspectors if it wanted to avert war.
Fischer, who has angrily rejected U.S. criticism that Germany and France were isolated in Europe in trying to avert an Iraq war, was in Cairo for talks with his Egyptian counterpart.
U.N. chief arms inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are expected to tell the Security Council on Monday that Iraq's cooperation with their teams has been insufficient.
"Have they been proactive in providing evidence that will help inspectors do their jobs? No they haven't, and they need to do that," IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told Reuters in Vienna.
Bush, who has voiced impatience with the inspections process, will deliver his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
Powell gave no indication of how long Bush was prepared to wait, but suggested no decision would be taken until Bush sees British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David on January 31.
Blair and Bush talked by telephone on Friday to coordinate their stance ahead of Blix's report, Blair's spokesman said.
reuters.com |
