US presses case for attacking Iraq
BBC World
Tuesday, 27 August, 2002, 03:24 GMT 04:24 UK
US presses case for attacking Iraq
US F-16 warplanes patrol the northern no-fly zone
US Vice-President ##### Cheney has given one of the clearest signals yet that the Bush administration intends to depose Saddam Hussein.
Mr Cheney, a leading hawk, said a policy of containment was no longer an option because doing nothing was riskier than acting against the Iraqi leader.
But as Mr Cheney was setting out the case for pre-emptive action against Iraq, the Gulf state of Qatar added its voice to Arab opposition over any US strike.
The tiny state is home to a huge US air base south-west of the capital, Doha.
Mr Cheney said there was no doubt that the Iraqi leader possessed chemical and biological weapons and was determined to add nuclear weapons to his arsenal.
It is plain that powerful advisers of US President George W Bush want him to deliver the regime change he has said he wants, says the BBC’s Justin Webb in Washington.
Speaking to army veterans in Nashville, Tennessee, Mr Cheney said the world could not wait until it became clear that Iraq had nuclear weapons before trying to topple its leader.
He inferred that if President Bush did not manage to bring about a change of regime in Baghdad, he would regard it as a failure of his presidency.
“We will not simply look away and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve,” Mr Cheney said.
For the first time, he also described America’s goals for a post-Saddam Iraq, saying the US wanted to see the country remain intact territorially and governed by a democracy.
However, US officials are stressing that no decision has yet been made on what to do or when.
Gulf opposition
Speaking in Baghdad, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al-Thani said his country wanted a diplomatic solution to the dispute over the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq.
Qatar joins Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in denying use of their bases for any strike against Iraq.
Some US newspapers have even reported that the US military is preparing to transfer to the emirate equipment and some of the 6,000 US troops currently stationed in Saudi Arabia to avert Saudi objections.
Sheikh Al-Thani said the US had not asked permission to use the Al-Odaydia base.
But he revealed what the answer would be if it did.
“We are trying to save the region from new tragedies,” he said.
“Qatar is doing its best to calm the situation because the region cannot tolerate any new jolts.
“We are of course opposed to any military operation (against Iraq) and have always said that (disarmament) must be settled through diplomacy within the framework of the United Nations.”
Sheikh Al-Thani is believed to have gone to Baghdad to persuade the Iraqis to accept the return of international weapons inspectors.
The UN withdrew its inspectors four years ago complaining of Iraqi obstruction.
President Bush has accused Iraq of supporting terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has denied the allegations and said any talks with the United Nations on the inspectors’ return should also focus on lifting 12-year-old sanctions and the US and British-enforced no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq, imposed since the 1991 Gulf War.
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