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Sep. 15, 2002
US to Israel: You'll have warning on Iraq
By JANINE ZACHARIA
WASHINGTON, D.C.
US officials have reassured Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in private meetings that Israel will have adequate advance warning of any attack on Iraq, sources here said.
"We know that Israel is likely to be be attacked," one diplomatic source quoted Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as telling Peres. "You will know ahead of time."
A similar message was conveyed to Peres by Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Israel, which received minimal advance warning before the US started bombarding Baghdad in January 1991, hopes to receive at least several days' notice.
The US is taking into account in its military planning the prospect that Saddam Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction against Israel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, said Friday.
"I think the Iraqi regime has been pretty consistent about its views towards Israel. And so, you know, if they were threatened, or even if they're not threatened, that's one of the things you worry about, is how they would use their weapons of mass destruction against the State of Israel," Myers said at the National Press Club in Washington.
"And we saw what the Iraqi regime did to one of its neighbors Iran; we saw what they did to Kuwait; we saw what they've done to their internal some of their populations inside their country, minority populations.
"And so there's no doubt that you would have to consider I mean, I think we consider that today: What is the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction against the other countries in the region. It would certainly play into the calculation and it would have to be taken into account."
Peres, who praised President George W. Bush's Thursday speech on Iraq, stressed that Israel is trying to keep a "low profile" on the Iraq issue.
During talks in Washington on Friday, Peres spoke out strongly in favor of a US attack. Any decision to leave Saddam unchecked "is maybe to make the same mistake as taken by Europe in 1939 in the face of the emergence of Hitler," Peres told the Council on Foreign Relations.
"By running away from what should be done, you solve nothing and you make the situation worse," Peres said.
Peres described Israel as a "loyal soldier" in support of the US in its quest to dislodge Saddam.
"When somebody goes to war, he knows there are risks. You don't do it out of pleasure but you do it with the deep conviction that by running away from what should be done, you solve nothing and you make the situation worse.
"We can imagine having dangers," he said. "But this is our duty. We belong to the same world. We shall not pass the buck."
Peres also told Israeli reporters that Israel does "not want to appear as if it is pushing for this war."
Meanwhile, President George W. Bush said yesterday that the United Nations should "show some backbone" and confront Saddam, but made clear that the US is willing to do it alone if necessary.
Bush issued his challenge a day after returning from New York, where he called on the UN to demand that the Iraqi president destroy his weapons of mass destruction. The US is pressing for a deadline for Saddam to comply.
"The UN will either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant. And that's what we're about to find out," Bush said. He added: "Make no mistake about it. If we have to deal with the problem, we'll deal with it."
Bush spoke as he welcomed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch ally in the US-led war against terrorism, to Camp David.
It was the second weekend meeting in a row with a like-minded foreign leader on Iraq at the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. Last Saturday, Bush conferred with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Repeating the case he outlined at the UN on Thursday, Bush said Saddam had "stiffed the world" 16 times by flouting UN resolutions about Iraq's weapons programs.
Asked why Iraq deserved another chance to comply, Bush said the standoff was as much a test of the UN as of Saddam. "This is the chance for the United Nations to show some backbone and resolve as we confront the true challenges of the 21st century," he said.
All 15 members of the Security Council agree with Bush's assertion that Saddam threatens international security, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday after a series of meetings in New York.
Bush picked up critical support from the four other permanent, veto-wielding council members Russia, China, Britain, and France on the need for a deadline, though not on a date. The foreign ministers of the Security Council's permanent members said jointly that Iraq's refusal to obey past UN resolutions "is a serious matter and that Iraq must comply."
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said yesterday Baghdad would only let UN weapons inspectors return under a comprehensive deal that would prevent a US attack and lift crippling 12-year-old UN sanctions.
Aziz held a news conference to respond to Bush's speech. "If there is a solution which maintains Iraq's sovereignty, dignity, and legitimate rights and prevents aggression, we are ready," he said.
But he said Iraq would prevent inspectors returning if "there is no honest, balanced, and credible formula that will take us to the truth."
"What is being said is not a solution," he added, and accused Washington and London of blocking efforts to resolve the weapons inspections issue.
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