BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON, 4 January 2003 — The United States is ready to act militarily against Iraq if its leader Saddam Hussein refuses to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, President George W. Bush told US troops yesterday.
“If force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and enforce the will of the United Nations, ... America will act deliberately, America will act decisively and America will prevail because we’ve got the finest military in the world,” Bush said in Fort Hood, Texas.
Meanwhile, more American troops prepared yesterday to join the tens of thousands already massed in the Gulf.
Marines, air force special forces and F-16 fighter units were among the latest to receive deployment orders as part of a major US buildup in the Gulf, military officials said yesterday.
In Washington, defense officials said the Pentagon has ordered some units of the 45,000-member US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to deploy from California to the Gulf region to join thousands of other American troops preparing for a possible war with Iraq.
Spokesmen at 1st Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters in Camp Pendleton, California, confirmed that an order to deploy “elements” of the big force was received this week, but would not say how many or exactly when and where they would go. But other defense officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that troops, aircraft and equipment from the 1st “MEF” would begin moving to the Gulf region soon.
In Tel Aviv, Israel’s defense minister said in an interview published yesterday that US forces were likely to surround Baghdad and other Iraqi cities but avoid street fighting in the initial stage of any war against Iraq. Shaul Mofaz also repeated Israel’s pledge to stay on the sidelines of any conflict in the Gulf led by its close strategic ally the United States unless Iraq attacked the Jewish state with weapons of mass destruction.
In Ankara, the government signaled yesterday it was still hoping for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iraq as Prime Minister Abdullah Gul prepared to visit Syria, Egypt and Jordan to discuss the issue. As a close ally of the United States, NATO member Turkey is expected to offer airspace and logistical support for any US-led war against Iraq. But Ankara has been dragging its feet over making a firm commitment to provide military support and hopes to avoid war and the economic turmoil that could bring.
“Peaceful means and diplomatic channels have not been exhausted,” a spokesman for Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said yesterday. Turkish authorities say they cannot make a decision on participating in any war against Baghdad until the end of January when UN arms inspectors, seeking evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, report to the United Nations Security Council.
In Baghdad, UN arms experts checked more suspected sites yesterday as Baghdad insisted that it has no weapons of mass destruction ahead of chief UN inspector Hans Blix’s pivotal visit to Iraq later this month. On their 35th day of work, inspectors visited Al-Rashid firm, 15 km south of Baghdad, which is involved in missile production, and the Al-Bassel company east of the capital, the Information Ministry’s press center said.In other developments, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Pakistan and hundreds joined a march in Bahrain to protest the threatened attack on Iraq and what one banner in Islamabad called the “Holocaust of the Muslims.”
In Pakistan, angry demonstrators burned an effigy of Bush in nationwide protests organized by a six-party religious coalition, which made huge gains in an October election by tapping anti-US sentiment.
In London, Iraq’s main opposition groups met yesterday to decide whether to convene a congress on Iraqi soil before a possible US war with Baghdad. (The Independent)
