Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marc chatman who wrote (31552)	11/6/1998 11:56:00 AM
From: marc chatman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Here's a good one: CNBC reporting that the USA is ready to attack Iraq as early as Monday, and adds that the attack will come without warning. Isn't that a warning?

To: marc chatman who wrote (31552)	11/6/1998 4:30:00 PM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 95453

Friday November 6 2:56 PM ET Iraq Defies Clinton, Cohen To Meet French By Hassan Hafidh BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq stood firm Friday in the face of a verbal broadside from President Clinton and a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Baghdad's decision to halt cooperation with arms inspectors. Defense Secretary William Cohen Friday wound up a crisis mission to the Middle East, in which he drummed up Arab support for Washington's anti-Baghdad alliance, with a fresh call for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to back off. ''We're hoping that Saddam will take action to reconsider his flagrant violation of the Security Council resolutions and his agreement with Secretary-General Kofi Annan,'' Cohen said on the last leg of his trip, to the Turkish capital of Ankara. But British diplomatic sources said Western use of force is at least two weeks away as British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook prefers to try for a diplomatic way to persuade Saddam to resume cooperation with weapons inspectors. Cohen left Turkey for Paris where he will hold brief talks with French officials Friday night. Clinton said Saddam's decision to suspend cooperation with U.N. inspectors searching for banned weapons was ''totally unacceptable'' and that inspections must resume immediately. Clinton fired his broadside Thursday after the Security Council condemned Iraq's violation by a unanimous 15-0 and once more said all options were open to gain compliance -- a deliberate reference to possible military strikes. Iraq was unfazed. Its official press said millions of Iraqis were training to thwart any possible punitive attack. Britain said shortly after the vote that the Security Council had legal justification to use force against Iraq if Baghdad failed to cooperate. Iraq responded bitterly. ''America and Britain have imposed a new resolution in order to inflict more harm against the Iraqi people and to prolong the unjust embargo,'' Abdul-Ghani Abdul-Ghafur, senior member of the regional command of the ruling Baath party, said Friday. Iraq suspended cooperation last Saturday until the Security Council reviewed sanctions imposed for its 1990 Kuwait invasion. ''Iraq will not retreat from its decision unless there is a clear response (from the Security Council) to Iraq's legitimate demand to lift the unjust embargo,'' said Abdul-Ghafur. Cohen said he had found Gulf Arab states ''united in their condemnation'' of Saddam. ''We believe we will have the support we need, and all options are on the table,'' Clinton told reporters in Washington after Cohen reported back. Cohen held talks Friday with Turkish President Suleyman Demirel and his Defense Minister Ismet Sezgin. ''There is complete agreement on the part of the president and minister of defense. There is no separation of our opinion about the need for (Iraq) to fully comply,'' Cohen said. A statement from Demirel's office backed him up. ''We desire the problem to be solved with Iraq's compliance to the letter with Security Council resolutions...and that we were on the side of all the possibilities of diplomacy being used to this end,'' Demirel said in the statement. Cohen said he had not asked for the use of a joint air base in southern Turkey should the Iraqi tension come to blows. ''We did not discuss bases or any specifics,'' he said. In round-the-clock diplomacy during the week, the United States and its allies have referred repeatedly to the possible use of military strikes. Analysts say this could come as a long-range missile strike instead of a costly military build up. Clinton said Thursday he was dispatching National Security Adviser Sandy Berger to Europe this weekend to consult with allies ''on appropriate next steps.'' Britain announced Thursday it would send a mission hard on the heels of the Cohen trip which took him to Egypt, Jordan and six Arab Gulf states. Britain's Defense Secretary George Robertson would visit Kuwait Sunday and would fly to Bahrain Monday. Cook could possibly visit Saudi Arabia at around the same time, Western officials said. Cook said Thursday that London was working on new measures to enforce U.N. economic sanctions by more effectively tackling smuggling of Iraqi oil but oil industry sources Friday were skeptical. ''Nobody has an interest in cracking down on this in the region because everybody gains something. I doubt whether it can be really effectively monitored anyway,'' said Fadhil Chalabi, director of the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies. As the crisis unfolded, diplomatic analysts noted the mood was strikingly different from the last major standoff in February. France and Russia, which often act as Baghdad's lawyers on the Security Council and helped avert U.S. military action early this year, are openly fed up with Saddam's defiance and refusal to follow their advice. But Russia Friday reaffirmed its opposition to the use of force. ''We are firmly convinced that any attempts to resolve the problem by force are pointless, because they will only undermine U.N. efforts to establish effective control over banned military activity in Iraq,'' the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.