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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (350564)	1/30/2003 6:47:03 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Just came across this. Confirms the mess that Clinton left for Bush. Little Arab Support for US on Iraq By JAMAL HALABY Associated Press Writer November 6, 1998 AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Defense Secretary William Cohen ended his tour of Arab nations today with little sign of support for military strikes against Iraq to force Baghdad to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. Jordanian Crown Prince Hassan indicated that his country was not keen on a military strike. It ''is imperative to find a way out of the current crisis and to find the appropriate conditions to resume cooperation between the United Nations and Iraq,'' Hassan said. ''It is important to avert in the region another confrontation and to settle the crisis diplomatically.'' Officials in Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates made similar statements. After concluding his Arab tour, Cohen went on to Ankara, Turkey, where he met with Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Sezgin. ''We would ask that we have the support of all of our friends should any military action be required,'' Cohen said after the meeting. ''What action that might constitute will be discussed in the future.'' Cohen was not expected to get any firm backing from Turkey, which suffered financially and politically from the division of Iraq after the Gulf War. During the war, Turkey was a staunch ally of the U.S.-led coalition. Turkish officials did not comment on Ankara's position on eventual strikes, but Cohen said Turkey shared the view that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein must comply with U.N. resolutions. Cohen also visited Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt. No statements were made by officials in those countries, but newspaper editorials were sympathetic to Iraq's plight under U.N. sanctions. Cohen later left for Paris. The sanctions, imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, sparking the Persian Gulf War, cannot be lifted until weapons inspectors certify that Iraq has gotten rid of all weapons of mass destruction. In a statement Thursday, Cohen's spokesman, Kenneth Bacon, said the meetings were ''successful'' and that the secretary ''is confident that the United States will have the support it needs to take appropriate action to uphold the United Nations Security Council resolutions.'' British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook also was planning a tour of the Gulf states in the next two weeks to lobby for international condemnation of Iraq's decision to stop cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors, the Foreign Office said today. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, remained defiant, even after a resolution of condemnation Thursday by the Security Council. Iraq demands a timetable for the lifting of U.N. economic sanctions before cooperation can resume. During a standoff between Iraq and the United Nations in February, Kuwait was the only Arab state that opened its air bases to U.S. and British warplanes. The United States has 24,000 troops, an aircraft carrier and about 170 warplanes and helicopters in the Gulf region, according to the Pentagon.