WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD, 27 September — US warplanes struck Basra airport in southern Iraq and knocked out its radar yesterday, as Russia poured cold water on Washington’s efforts to win official UN backing for making war on Baghdad. Iraqi television said "US ravens of evil carried out another aggression at 00:45 a.m. (2045 GMT on Wednesday), targeting Basra international airport," in an attack a government spokesman called a "terrorist" act.
A Pentagon spokesman said the attack by US warplanes hit a mobile air defense radar system at the airport, but Iraq said the airport’s civilian radar system was destroyed in the raid.
The attack on Basra airport in southern Iraq "hit the mobile air defense radar that they positioned at their airfield," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. David Lapan said in Washington. "They were using it to target our aircraft over the last week or so." "Bottom line is, we’re not going to let him (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) put equipment in areas and then use it against us," Lapan said.
As the low-scale war in the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq carried on, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to rule out backing a US bid for a tough new UN resolution on Iraq.
"We favor a rapid resolution of the situation by political and diplomatic means, on the basis of existing UN Security Council regulations and in line with the principles of international law," he said in Moscow.
"The decision to recommence the activities of UN inspectors in Iraq opens up the possibility for this decision to be put into action rapidly and allows the concerns of the international community to be allayed," said Putin.
China, which like fellow permanent member Russia has the right of veto in the Security Council, reiterated its view that the priority in dealing with the Iraq issue was to return weapons inspectors to the country as soon as possible. "The imperative to solving this question is to readmit the UN weapons inspectors back to Iraq as soon as possible so they can carry out their work and have on-site investigation to find the facts," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.
As for Iraq, any new UN resolution would constitute a "flagrant violation" of a deal with Secretary-General Kofi Annan under which Iraq accepted the return of inspectors and Annan promised to "remove the specter of a (US-led) military aggression" against Baghdad, the influential Iraqi daily Babel wrote.
A former UN arms chief expressed fears yesterday Israel might be pushed into using its nuclear arsenal in a war with Iraq, but Israel vowed it would take only "proper actions" if hit by non-conventional weapons or it suffered casualties. Former chief UN arms inspector Richard Butler, addressing a business conference in Hong Kong, said the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had indicated Israel would not be restrained if attacked by Iraq.
"My deepest fear in that context, if that occurs and the war escalates, is that Israel will use its nuclear weapons," Butler said. "If that happens, the world would have been changed beyond recognition, and I would fear that if that happens the state of Israel would cease to exist." (The Independent)
