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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Huang who wrote (6571)	2/8/2003 11:03:26 AM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25898

War in Iraq will result in huge destructions: Experts New Delhi, Feb 8, IRNA -- Experts here in India felt that any US military attack on Iraq will result in widespread destruction, including mass killing of the people in that country. Pointing to the mass exodus of Iraqi refugees towards neighboring countries, two defense experts told IRNA in exclusive interviews, Saturday, that America will try to pressurize the countries giving shelter to the refugees by framing some allegations against them and making claims after the war. Lt. Col. (rtd) Anil Bhat said as a result of war in Iraq the infrastructure including the non-military assets like residential buildings, manufacturing complexes which have no military value but were of the developmental value to Iraq would be destroyed. Referring to the 1991 Persian Gulf war Bhat said, "We have to remember that already Iraq is a country which has suffered very heavily after the war and due to the kind of sanctions which is being imposed by the United Nations. "In that war a lot of civilians along with military personnel were either killed or incurred huge losses," he added. Pointing to the military mistakes committed by the American forces in the past despite their advanced weapons, he said, that one of the complexes which was heavily bombed by the American missiles for allegedly to be place for producing the weapons of mass destructions later on turned out to be a factory for producing baby food. This former spokesman of the Indian Defense Ministry also referred to US war in Afghanistan against Taliban and Al-Qaeda and said, "In that war also a lot of civilians were killed because of the heavy bombardments by the US forces." Anil Bhat further said that in addition to the heavy casualties and economic loss, one of the fallouts of the eventual war which should be a matter of concern for all is the problem of refugees. Bhat who has also held the position of spokesperson of the Indian Army earlier, added that reports reaching here say that Iraqi people have already started moving from their residents towards the safe and secure places in fear of war and with the sheer desire of survival. The refugee problem will create serious difficulties for neighboring countries, he said. He added that it should also not be forgotten that America can pressurize the countries giving shelter to the refugees alleging that people from the government of Saddam Hussein are among the refugees. Refuting the American allegations regarding the links between al-Qaeda network and Iraqi government he said that it is baseless and can be a political ploy. "It is possible that some individuals from the al-Qaeda network may have entered into Iraqi territory but this is no proof for links between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government," he added. P. R. Chari, Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi and expert in the field of defense also said that US military attack on Iraq will be very disastrous for the region and even for the whole world. He felt that military attack on Iraq will result into heavy human casualties specially among the civilians. Before the war in Afghanistan, it was being said that it was against Taliban and al-Qaeda but it is known to everybody that a lot of Afghan civilians have also been killed because of the heavy bombarding by the American and its allies forces. Referring to the available statistics that a large number of Iraqi people specially children are dying daily due to scarcity of food and lack of medicine, he said that if the war broke out in the region and lasted longer, then no doubt the toll will extensively increase. This former high ranking official of India's Ministry of Defense while pointing to huge imbalance between the American and Iraqi forces, he said that if the war breaks out then it will be a totally one-sided affair and one cannot specify the number of civilian casualties. The bigger problem which will arise as a result of the possible war is that a large population of Iraqi people will be rendered homeless, he added. But the former director of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, felt that the time was still not running out and there is a hope for solving the crisis peacefully. AH/AH E