Kindgo
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Swiss time 01:42, Wednesday 17.07.2002
By Nadim Ladki
AMMAN (Reuters) - Iraq has stepped up its defiance as the United States admits it is still looking for answers to a decade-old question: how to unseat President Saddam Hussein.
Faced with mounting speculation of a U.S. military campaign to topple the Iraqi strongman, Baghdad has vowed to behead invaders and mobilise to repel any attack on its borders.
Saddam, the man who has ruled Iraq with an iron fist for 23 years, is set to fuel the war of words with his main 1991 Gulf War foe when he speaks on Wednesday to mark the 34th anniversary of the revolution which brought the Ba'ath Party to power.
"There is no flexibility on the issues of dignity and destiny and handling the vital interests of the country," Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said on Monday. "We will cut the head off anyone who raises a hand to our borders."
In an indication Baghdad was taking the U.S. threats seriously, the rubber-stamp Iraqi parliament unanimously backed military and political preparations to repel any U.S. attack.
Saddam's eldest son Uday told the assembly the expected U.S. attack would be "more cruel" than the U.S.-led Gulf War that expelled invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
President George W. Bush said last week Washington would use all tools at its disposal to topple Saddam. He had branded Iraq part of an "axis of evil" supporting terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies the U.S. charges.
U.S. SAYS HAS NO ANSWERS YET
But despite the mounting speculation, U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said during a visit to Afghanistan on Monday that while the United States seeks a regime change in Iraq, it has no specific plans on how to go about it.
"There is a danger we face in the U.S. because of Iraq, but we aren't fixed on any particular solution," he said. "There aren't answers yet."
"September 11 was nothing compared to what an attack with chemical and biological weapons would be. We have a problem. We're not going to wait forever to solve it," Wolfowitz said.
Wolfowitz is due to meet in Ankara with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, whose government is in disarray, for talks likely to focus on Washington's plans to oust Saddam.
Diplomats in the region say a U.S. move against Saddam was only a matter of time but that one of Washington's problems is the ineffectiveness of the exiled Iraqi opposition to present a valid alternative to Saddam's regime.
A group of exiled senior Iraqi military officers held a meeting in London last week, but although they elected a council to represent them in the efforts to topple Saddam they did not provide concrete signs they have influence inside Iraq.
"The question is not whether the U.S. will attack, it's a question of when and how," a diplomat whose country is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council told Reuters.
"The Americans still have to figure out exactly how to woe allies and come up with a political roadmap to post-Saddam Iraq," he said,adding an attack could come as soon as October.
Reflecting uneasiness of some world powers over possible war on Iraq, Russia, which has long spoken out against U.S. plans for military action against Baghdad, condemned on Monday night British and U.S. air strikes on Iraq.
Iraq says one civilian was killed and 13 others wounded in two raids by U.S. and British planes on civilian targets in the south of the country on Saturday and Sunday.
The U.S. military said U.S. planes bombed Iraqi air defence facilities after coalition aircraft patrolling a "no-fly" zone came under fire and were threatened by Iraqi air-defence units.
16.07.2002 15:30, Reuters
http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swiss...143&eid=1233258
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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