US Says Anti-Iraq Force Ready as Turkey Comes Around

21/02/2003| IslamWeb

The United States said it had massed enough troops in the Gulf to attack Iraq, even as Turkey appeared to come round Friday to letting its territory be used to launch part of the expected assault. Washington pressed on with its drive toward war by working on a U.N. Security Council resolution that it hoped would secure support from an international community not convinced of the need to use force against Baghdad.

While many nations say U.N. inspectors must get more time to establish if Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, Washington, backed by its main ally Britain, says Iraq has already lost this argument and President Saddam Hussein must now be removed.

"If military force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq, this nation, joined by others, will act decisively in a just cause, and we will prevail," Bush said. "For the oppressed people of Iraq...the day of freedom is drawing near."

Defense officials say the United States and Britain have gathered more than 150,000 military personnel in the region along with dozens of warships and hundreds of aircraft.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told U.S. Public Television that the build-up was now sufficient for an attack.

"We are at a point where, if the president makes that decision (to attack), the Department of Defense is prepared and has the capabilities and the strategy to do that."

But U.S. plans to launch a northern front in any invasion of Iraq have been complicated by the reluctance of Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor, to let its territory be used as a launchpad.

NORTHERN FRONT

Analysts say a second invasion force into Iraq's north could shorten any war and lower the number of American casualties.

But Turkey was driving a hard bargain with its key NATO ally in the face of popular opposition to a war, concern about the future of Kurdish rule in northern Iraq and worries about the economic fallout of a war.

Washington signaled willingness Thursday to improve a promised aid package -- which U.S. officials say totals 6 billion dlrs in grants and up to 20 billion dlrs in loan guarantees.

Friday Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters at Istanbul airport that there was "mutual understanding" in talks with Washington, and that negotiations continued.

The United States also faces political resistance to a war from international partners including NATO ally France; Russia, a partner in its war against terror; and China, like the other two a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov Thursday emphasized his support for continued inspections by saying U.N. arms inspectors in Iraq were coming under pressure to produce critical reports that would back the case for war.

Even the leaders of countries such as Britain, Italy and Spain, which back the American threat of war, need the comfort of international support in the shape of another U.N. resolution to help them overcome domestic opposition to war.

With time running out for U.S. and British troops to fight before the Iraqi desert becomes debilitatingly hot, Washington and London say they will present a new resolution to the Security Council next week.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the wording would make clear that Iraq had not fulfilled November's Security Council Resolution 1441 ordering it to cooperate with U.N. inspectors to prove it had no weapons of mass destruction.

TERMS OF RESOLUTION

But the draft may not include a specific call for force, for which a majority on the 15-member council may be hard to achieve. In last week's debate on the latest report from weapons inspectors, only Spain and Bulgaria supported the hard-line American-British stance.

"It will be a resolution that summarizes the situation...as it exists. Shows that Iraq is not in compliance. I think the resolution will point out that lack of cooperation," Powell told BBC Television's Newsnight program.

"This next resolution need not say 'military action' to provide the authority for the use of force."

Diplomats say the draft may simply say Iraq -- which denies maintaining banned weapons programs -- is in "further material breach" of U.N. disarmament resolutions, which Washington and London argue is sufficient justification for war.

Russia's Ivanov did not rule out vetoing a new U.N. resolution which endorsed the use of force against Iraq, but said Moscow had no objections to examining a new resolution if it was aimed at helping the inspection process.

Supporters of a possible war were meeting Friday to discuss ways to gain support for their position.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has argued that it is inhumane to Iraqis leave Saddam in power, was meeting his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi, in Rome while Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar was flying to Bush's ranch in Texas.

Aznar Thursday held talks with another Security Council member, President Vicente Fox of Mexico, but failed to secure a statement backing the threat of force against Iraq

PHOTO CAPTION

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discusses Iraq's possible use of human shields during a news conference at the Pentagon Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)