Rense.com



US Needs Until Jan To Prepare
For War On Iraq - Report

By Agencies
From Ha'aretz
10-5-2

The Pentagon is taking steps to prepare for a rapid massing of U.S. forces around Iraq in the weeks ahead, and given the time required to get these forces to the Gulf region, the earliest an attack is likely to come is January, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
 
The U.S. is trying to keep the buildup as low-key as possible, to avoid upstaging the delicate political and diplomatic maneuvering underway to win authorization from Congress and the United Nations for possible U.S. military action against the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the paper said.
 
According to the paper, the Pentagon actions reflect a growing seriousness on the part of the Bush administration about the possibility of war. Pentagon officials said the actions are meant to enable a faster deployment if President George W. Bush decides to attack.
 
"We can do a certain amount of things now that will help shorten the time needed to get everything else in place later," a senior defense official told the paper. "It doesn't mean that we're definitely going to do anything, but it hedges our bets."
 
Defense officials dismissed speculations that the Pentagon is preparing for a surprise attack on Iraq.
 
U.S. , UN back new instructions for Iraq arms inspectors The United States and the United Nations agreed on Friday that UN arms inspectors would benefit from new instructions on Iraq and said they saw signs that the UN Security Council would come round to their view.
 
The chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, made it clear that his team would not go to Iraq until the council gives clearance.
 
The United States, backed by Britain, has drafted tough proposals that would expand the rights of the inspectors. The draft faces stiff opposition from France, Russia and China, mainly for allowing any UN member, such as Washington, to use force when it perceives a violation.
 
 
Blix said: "We look forward to speedy resolution and for us to come in shortly afterwards." He was speaking after talks at the State Department with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
 
The White House said Bush would make a speech on Monday night that appears to be aimed at the United Nations and the Democratic-led U.S. Senate, which will debate next week a resolution authorizing any attack on Iraq. The Republican-led House of Representatives appears prepared to pass such a resolution.
 
Bush will speak from Cincinnati, Ohio, a Midwestern venue that appears to have been chosen to show the president is preparing the American heartland for the possibility of war.
 
On Friday, Powell told a French television channel that if Iraq disarms, the United States could abandon its campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
 
"If the Iraqis cooperate and disarm, then we have a new situation," Powell said in an interview with the French television network TF1.
 
Washington's policy calling for regime change in Iraq is based on Hussein's refusal to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, Powell said, adding that if his stance changes, "We would have to see where things stand."
 
The United States and Britain are pressing the other 13 members of the council to approve their proposals and the UN inspectors are awaiting instructions before they take up Iraq's offer to resume their work.
 
But Russia and France said again on Friday that the inspectors, withdrawn from Iraq in 1998, could return to work under old arrangements rejected by the United States.
 
Blix said that new instructions in the form of a UN resolution would keep up the pressure on Iraq to comply with the UN demand that it abandon weapons of mass destruction.
 
"The resolution that is now being discussed is one that I think we would welcome. It could clarify further matters and it will also place the Iraqis clearly before the need to give a clear declaration of what they have," he said.
 
Powell, fighting a difficult diplomatic battle at the United Nations for the stringent terms set by Bush, said he thought other governments were moving toward the U.S. point of view on new instructions.
 
"Increasingly, members of the council are coming to the conclusion that such a resolution would be useful," he said.
 
He said the United States continued to argue in favor of a single Security Council resolution, including the threat of consequences if Iraq does not comply, but he recognized that Washington had not yet won the argument.
 
France favors a two-stage process, starting with a test of whether Iraq is willing to give the inspectors unrestricted access and only later threatening consequences.
 
Powell spoke to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the inspections on Friday, and European diplomats said they believed Washington had softened its opposition to a two-stage process.
 
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=





MainPage
http://www.rense.com


This Site Served by TheHostPros