- KUWAIT, March 1 (Reuters) - The United States could launch military strikes against
Iraq if it failed to honour an arms inspections deal with the United Nations,
the commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf said.
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- ``The use of military force is an option
we will use if we don't get compliance and cooperation, but only in those
circumstances,'' Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, commander-in-chief
of U.S. Central Command, told the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) in
an interview on Saturday. The oil-rich Gulf region is part of the U.S.
Central Command which is based in Tampa, Florida.
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- Zinni, who held talks with senior officers
in the Gulf state, said the large U.S. military force deployed in Kuwait
in the recent standoff with Iraq would remain ``as long as it requires
for the agreement to be implemented properly.'' Zinni refused to specify
the duration of the current deployment but said ``as long as it takes to
get it done and get it done right,'' KUNA reported.
-
- Kuwait last week said its main ally the
United States had some 7,000 troops based in the tiny country which was
freed of a seven-month Iraqi occupation in February 1991. The United States
also has a variety of warplanes based in Kuwait including F-117A stealth
bombers, F-16s and A-10 tank killers.
-
- KUNA quoted Zinni as saying U.S. forces
in the region were not ``standing down'' but were waiting for Iraqi implementation
of a deal brokered last week by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
-
- The accord effectively put on hold plans
by Washington and London to strike Iraq for failing to allow U.N. inspectors
to visit sites suspected of containing mass destruction arms.
-
- ``Right at this point we are waiting
to see how the actual implementation will go and the compliance, we are
not standing down or anything, we are just staying ready and paying attention
to what is going on,'' said Zinni who arrived from Saudi Arabia for a brief
visit.
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