Clinton Keeps Pressure on Iraq in Crisis
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States insisted Friday it could
not walk away from its
obligation to stop Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction and
Russian objections would not
prevent the use of force.
President Clinton told reporters he still hoped for a diplomatic solution
to the crisis but it was up to
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein whether U.S. military forces assembled
in the Gulf launched an
attack on his weapons sites.
"It will be Saddam Hussein's decision, not mine," he said.
Clinton said Russia's opposition to military action would not stop U.S.
forces going ahead but this
should not harm overall relations with Moscow.
Asked if he might order a military strike on Iraq "if Russia says 'Nyet',"
Clinton replied: "'Nyet' is not
'No' for the United States under these circumstances."
Iraq said the United States wanted to use force against it for its own
reasons, not to ensure that U.N.
weapons inspectors could do their work.
"This shows that the objective is not UNSCOM (U.N. Special Commission),
but to use military
force per se for policy objectives of the United States, not those
of the international community as
set out in the Security Council," Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary
Riyadh al-Qaysi told a news
conference.
The Pentagon's top military officer said the United States had a detailed
plan to strike Iraq with
cruise missiles and bombs, but expected American pilots to be lost
and Iraqi civilians hurt in any
raids.
"The truth is, war is a dirty thing ... We will lose some people, and
that weighs heavily," Army Gen.
Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
He said Iraqi civilians, despite the best efforts of military planners
and the accuracy of "smart"
weapons, were likely to be hurt if strikes were ordered.
Having prepared U.S. forces for a possible strike on Iraq, the Clinton
administration stepped up its
efforts to prepare the U.S. public for military action.
The State Department said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense
Secretary William
Cohen and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger will visit an undetermined
U.S. city next
Wednesday to present the U.S. position on Iraq.
Spokesman James Rubin said the aim of the trip would be "to talk to
the American people about the
stakes in the Iraqi crisis and what would be the potential need to
use military force if diplomacy fails."
Russia increased pressure on Washington not to commit itself to military
action before U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan had visited Baghdad.
Speaking after meeting Cohen, Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov said
the time was right for such
a trip.
"Russia believes one cannot talk about failed diplomatic efforts or
reach a verdict before Kofi Annan
goes to Baghdad himself," he said.
Primakov said Annan, if he went, would be able to "see for himself on
the spot and undertake an
attempt to reach an agreement and bring the issue to a political settlement."
Moscow has been pushing hard to stave off a U.S. military strike if
Baghdad fails to open sites to
U.N. arms inspectors charged with eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction.
U.S.-Russian tensions that had been slowly building for weeks behind
the scenes spilled into the
open when Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev Thursday rebuked Cohen
for taking a "tough
and uncompromising" stand against Iraq, which he warned could damage
defense ties between the
two countries.
Annan said Friday he had still not set a date for a mission to Baghdad
but he did not rule out such a
trip.
He said he would be "discussing what steps, what arrangements, what
proposals can get us a
diplomatic solution" to the crisis.
Annan held an inconclusive meeting Wednesday with representatives of
the five permanent members
of the Security Council -- the United States, Russia, Britain, China
and France -- and was expected
to meet them again late Friday.
He has been under strong pressure from Russia and some other council
members to go to Baghdad.
But such a visit would be difficult without a package of proposals
agreed by the badly divided
council.
The United States and Britain are preparing for possible military action
against Iraq, while Russia and
China, and to a lesser degree France, are opposed.
France said Friday Annan should be given a free hand to negotiate a
peaceful solution with Baghdad.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret did not say from whom
the hand should be
free, but it was clear she was referring to the United States.
"We must give full confidence to the Secretary-General (Annan) to seek
a solution that would fully
respect United Nations resolutions ... and we hope he can go to Baghdad
as soon as possible,"
Gazeau-Secret told a press briefing.
"We believe he must dispose of sufficient autonomy for his mission to be fruitful," she added.
The Netherlands said it had decided to send a frigate to the Gulf but
stressed it would only be used
for military operations against Iraq once all diplomatic efforts had
failed.
Spain said it had offered to send technicians to Iraq to support the
work of U.N. weapons
inspectors and help resolve the crisis peacefully.
Chinese Premier Li Peng said after talks with Luxembourg Prime Minister
Jean-Claude Juncker that
they agreed all efforts should be concentrated on reaching a diplomatic
solution to the crisis.
Li told a news conference that while China believed Iraq should fully
cooperate with U.N. weapons
inspectors, it was also important to respect Iraq's dignity.
In the Jordanian capital Amman, riot police attacked several thousand
Muslim worshipers, including
a leading opposition cleric, for staging a pro-Iraq demonstration in
defiance of a government ban,
witnesses said.
Pay your debts before entering Israel
Palestine, Judicial, 2/13/98
If you are a Palestinian and you owe Israeli firms or merchants
money, you will not be allowed to enter Israel.
This decision was taken by an Israeli special ministerial
committee which ruled that that permits for Palestinians to enter
Israel will only be issued after they pay back their debts.
Committee head, Tzahi Hanegbi, who is also minister of
justice, said that the nature of economic relations between
Israeli and Palestinian businessmen have taken a trend in which
Palestinians fail to pay back their debts to their Israeli
counterparts.
Hanegbi estimated that Palestinian merchants owe Israelis
amounts up to several million dollars and noted that should this
measure prove to be ineffective, other means will be used. He
refused to go into details.
Palestinians too complain about the nature of economic and
trade relations between Israelis and Palestinians. They say that
since the signing of the interim agreements in 1994, the
Palestinian territories have become markets for Israeli goods
whose date of production had expired. Palestinian authorities
have been raiding shops and stores in most of the cities on the
West Bank and Gaza Strip looking for expired food, mainly
canned food.
Palestinians also complained that it is not only them indebted to
the Israelis but that Israeli merchants also owe them money and
there is no way to trace them back in Israel. "I have had a
lengthy relation of trade with merchants in Tel Aviv over the
past years. In the worst years of occupation, I could still drive
to Tel Aviv and demand my money back. Now, because of the
permit problem, I do not have the means to claim my money
and I have to rely on third parties, which in general do not
serve my interests the way I do," said a wholesale merchant in
Ramallah who refused to identify himself. He said he did not
want to become known because he also has problems with
Palestinian tax authorities which have been trying to monitor his
trade.
