- (AFP) -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said
that Iraq is intent on acquiring nuclear weapons but could take up to nine
years to achieve its aim.
-
- "With respect to nuclear, we know that at the time
of the (1991) Gulf War... they (Iraq) were further along than we had thought.
And so you can debate whether it is one year, five years, six years or
nine years (before they have the capability)," Powell told BBC television
to be aired on Sunday.
-
- "The important point is that they are still committed
to pursuing that technology. And if they're committed to pursuing that
technology, then obviously they're committed to trying to have a nuclear
weapon," added the secretary of state.
-
- His comments came as US President George W. Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair held intense talks near Washington over
how to deal with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, whom they accuse of developing
biological and chemical weapons and of trying to acquire nuclear arms.
-
- Powell, considered a lone moderate in the US administration,
claimed Bush was examining all options over Iraq -- "political, diplomatic,
military".
-
- "The president has not decided to undertake military
action. And the president is examining all of his options, and when he
has completed that examination it will be as a result of consultation with
friends, consultation within his administration.
-
- "The president will take the case to the public
and to the international community," Powell told the Breakfast with
Frost programme.
-
- His comments were echoed by Condoleezza Rice, Bush's
national security adviser.
-
- In an interview for The Sunday Times, Rice said the US
administration was not planning to act in isolation.
-
- "This administration is not one that just believes
it ought to act on its own," she said.
-
- "There will be times when we have policy disagreements
with our friends, but by no means is the United States simply running off
on its own."
-
- Powell underlined the importance of allowing UN weapons
inspectors to re-enter Iraq - from where they have been barred since exiting
on the eve of US-British air raids in December 1998.
-
- Powell added that Iraq was "much weaker" militarily
than during the Gulf War.
-
- "I would guesstimate that the Iraqi army is perhaps
at one-third or a little better than one-third of its capability of 12
years ago," he said.
-
-
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
