Adviser: U.S. Would Hit Iraq Time and Again

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States would strike Iraq time and again if necessary to
deny President Saddam Hussein his deadliest weapons, U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy
Berger said Sunday.

"We would make that very clear -- that we will do what we can at this point as far as diminishing his
capacity" to develop weapons of mass destruction, he said of a looming round of possible military
strikes.

"But we would make it clear that if we have evidence he is rebuilding, we would act again," Berger
added on the NBC program "Meet the Press."

He did not comment directly on a congressional report that Iraq had begun safeguarding chemical
weapons and SCUD missiles to Yemen and Sudan shortly after Saddam's October 1990 invasion of
Kuwait.

The executive director of the U.S. House of Representatives Task Force on Terrorism and
Unconventional Warfare also said in a Feb. 10 report that Iraq in 1992 had sent materials from its
nuclear program -- including 27.5 pounds of highly enriched uranium -- to Sudan.

Defense Secretary William Cohen said the congressional report, if confirmed, would validate the
Clinton administration's concerns that Saddam may have a residual chemical and biological weapons
capacity.

"So, I think, whether the report is accurate or not, it does in fact, I think, just by surfacing gives some
validity to what we have been trying to accomplish," Cohen said on the ABC program "This Week."

Berger, President Clinton's top national security aide, suggested that the threatened U.S.-led military
action may still be at least one week away in the absence of full Iraqi cooperation with U.N.
weapons inspectors.

"I would say it's not measured in days but it's also not measured in months," he said. He accused
Saddam of having used chemical weapons 10 times since 1983.

"The one constant he (Saddam) must understand is that the international community is not gonna go
away, and what's most important is, the United States is not gonna go away," Berger said.

At issue is Iraq's defiance of U.N. Security Council disarmament resolutions that ended the 1991
Gulf War, including inspectors' unrestricted access to suspected weapons sites.

Iraq denies having any hidden weapons of mass destruction. It has sought to limit U.N. inspections
of "presidential sites," including Saddam's palaces and what it calls other symbols of national
sovereignty.

If Iraq fails to cooperate fully with the weapons dismantling teams, Berger said the United States
would do "as much as we can" to curb its ability to develop chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons as well to limit its capacity to threaten its neighbors.

"And as long as he pops up and we stand firm, the international community has the will to knock him
back, we will prevent him from being that kind of threat to his region," Berger said.

Cohen, preparing the public for military action, displayed a picture of the broken bodies of a mother
and infant daughter he identified as Iraqi Kurdish victims of a nerve agent.

"Madonna and child, Saddam Hussein-style," Cohen intoned, holding up the picture on the ABC
broadcast.

President Clinton took to the telephones again on Sunday to drum up foreign support for the U.S.
position against Iraq on international weapons inspectors.

Working from the presidential retreat at Camp David, where he is spending a three-day holiday
weekend, Clinton spoke by telephone to the leaders of Kuwait, Bahrain, Belgium and Austria, White
House spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Crowley characterized the calls as "just continuing the discussion on Iraq and coaltion-building that
he's been doing in recent days."

He declined to characterize the responses. "I would assume that those four governments were
supportive, but I leave it for them to describe in what fashion," he said.

Romania PM defends strong stance on Iraq

BUCHAREST, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Romania would support military action against Iraq if diplomatic
efforts fail to resolve the crisis, Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea said on Monday.

``We obviously wish a diplomatic, political solution to the situation in the Gulf area,'' Ciorbea told
reporters after talks with a visiting junior French foreign ministry official.

``But if need be, we have expressed our wish to throw in our military support, which would be of a
humanitarian nature.''

Ciorbea's comments bolstered a foreign ministry statement at the weekend which backed diplomatic
efforts to resolve the crisis triggered by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's blocking of United
Nations arms inspections.

Should diplomacy fail, the ex-communist country was ready to join military strikes against Iraq if they
were endorsed by the United Nations, the statement said.

Ciorbea said parliament should approve any decision to deploy Romanian troops or grant assistance
to forces abroad.

The United States has warned Iraq it will take military action if diplomatic efforts fail to persuade
Baghdad to open all sites to U.N. weapons inspectors.

Iraq's embassy in Bucharest expressed ``regret'' over Romania's stance on the standoff, saying it
might endanger bilateral economic relations.

Romania's late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was ousted and executed in 1989, encouraged ties
with Iraq.

Baghdad owes Romania some $1.7 billion in debts dating back to the communist era, which should
have been repaid in oil-for-food deals.

``We understand Romania's aspirations to gain facilities offered by its plans to join NATO and the
European Union,'' state news agency Rompres quoted the Iraqi embassy statement as saying. ``But
that won't offset its huge economic ties with Iraq.''

Both the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the EU have passed over Romania for early
admission as part of moves to extend membership to ex-communist states in eastern Europe.

Romania sent field hospitals with chemical warfare experts to the Gulf in 1991 as part of the
32-nation U.N. military alliance set up to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

It has since joined in U.N.-coordinated peace efforts in Somalia, Angola and Bosnia.