By Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington, John Gittings in Shanghai and Brian Whitaker in Cairo

America’s doctrine of pre-emptive strikes misfired at its first outing on Wednesday when the US Navy was humiliatingly forced to release a seized shipment of North Korean missiles and allow its passage to Yemen.

Within six hours what began as a triumph of US global policing turned into a diplomatic farce as Washington was forced to set free the North Korean freighter, So San, with its cargo of 15 Scud-like missiles curiously concealed under a consignment of cement. In the face of a furious reaction from the Yemeni government — one of the Bush administration’s allies in its war against terrorism — the US had to admit that the cargo was legitimate.

“There is no provision under international law prohibiting Yemen from accepting delivery of missiles from North Korea,” the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said.

“In this instance there is no clear authority to seize the shipment of Scud missiles from North Korea to Yemen so therefore the merchant vessel is being released.”

For Washington, it was a dismal end to a drama that had been orchestrated precisely to demonstrate the new US determination, set out in its National Security Strategy in September and reiterated only yesterday, to pre-empt the spread of missile technology. The move was also designed to step up pressure on North Korea to dismantle its clandestine nuclear weapons program.

The drama on the Arabian Sea began on Monday when two Spanish Navy boats encountered a suspicious — and flagless — freighter, which turned out to be North Korean. The captain, after initially ignoring warning shots, allowed the Spanish crew to board. The Spanish forces searched the ship, where they discovered missile parts hidden in the hold, buried beneath sacks of cement. In all, a Spanish Defense Ministry official said Wednesday, the haul contained 15 Scud-like missiles, 15 conventional warheads, 23 tanks of rocket propellant and 85 drums of unidentified chemicals.

US forces were alerted in preparation for detaining it at Diego Garcia base. However, the high-profile seizure unravelled swiftly amid protests from the Yemeni government, which argued that it had lawfully purchased the missiles.

“The cargo belongs to the Yemeni government and its armed forces for defense purposes, and it will not reach a third party,” a letter from the foreign minister, Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi, said.

The thwarted raid risked escalating the showdown with North Korea — the other end of what the Bush administration views as the “Axis of Evil” — and antagonising relations with Yemen at a time when America wants its support for the war on terror.

“The administration may be undercutting their stance in opposing the proliferation of these weapons,” said Frank Gaffney, director of the Center for Security Policy, a conservative Washington thinktank close to figures in the administration. “It is unfortunate that this coincides with the day that this new strategy on weapons of mass destruction has been unveiled.”

US intelligence began tracking the North Korean ship last month. At the same time, Bush administration officials began laying the political groundwork for pre-emptive action against North Korea’s lucrative missile sales — a theme pursued Wednesday by the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. “They continue to be the single largest proliferator of ballistic missile technology on the face of the earth, and they are putting into the hands of many countries the technologies and capabilities which have the potential for killing hundreds of thousands of people,” he told reporters. By Monday, when Spanish Navy boats caught sight of the So San the timing was ripe to put the plan in action. Although it is legal under maritime law to interdict flagless ships, which may be pirate vessels or smuggling guns or drugs, once Yemen acknowledged the cargo, it became difficult for Washington to justify the seizure of the ship.

Pyongyang is not a member of the Missile Control Technology Regime that controls exports, and there are no legal bars to its aggressive weapons trade. While Washington disapproves of its sales — notably to Iran, Libya, Syria — it has remained silent about Pyongyang’s other customers, such as Egypt and Pakistan.

North Korea is almost certain to argue the raid is a further sign of unrelenting US hostility — proof positive of its need to develop nuclear weapons.

In turn, the episode could damage the US-Yemeni relations at a time when cooperation is essential to the hunt for suspected Al-Qaida supporters.

The botched raid could also complicate Washington’s efforts to forge a joint policy with China and Russia toward North Korea. (The Guardian)

Arab News Features 14 December 2002