- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell has reassured Egyptians in an interview
broadcast that the United States is not planning attacks on Iraq.
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- "Our first phase right now is in Afghanistan but
there are no plans at the moment to undertake any other military action,"
he told Egyptian Television on Tuesday, in answer to a question on whether
Iraq was a possible target in an expanded campaign.
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- "We will see where we are as we go forward, but
the concerns like the kind that you have just raised are not concerns that
should worry anybody seriously, in any serious way," Powell added.
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- The Bush administration, mindful of the probable reaction
in the Arab world, has so far fended off right-wingers clamoring for attacks
on Iraq regardless of whether there is evidence linking Baghdad to the
September 11 attacks.
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- The U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan is against
the al Qaeda organisation of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and the
Taliban rulers of the Central Asian country.
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- Asked about a possible link, Powell noted reports of
contacts between Iraqi intelligence and Mohammed Atta, one of the men who
hijacked planes on September 11 and flew them into the World Trade Centre
in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
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- "But there is no direct link at this point between
what happened on the 11th of September and what happened in the anthrax
events ... and Iraq," Powell said.
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- Powell predicted that the opposition Northern Alliance
in Afghanistan would become more effective with time.
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- "This campaign is still in its early phases and
you don't win a complex conflict like this in just a matter of weeks. You
have to be ready to spend whatever amount of time is necessary, sensitive
to the political situation and also very sensitive to international opinion,"
he said.
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- He said the Afghan winter would hamper military operations
to some extent and the United States would have to make some modifications
to adjust. "But we wouldn't expect winter to stop our activities,"
he added.
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- Powell gave no indication that the United States was
preparing to make any Middle East peace initiative during the U.N. general
debate session opening in New York on Saturday.
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- He said the United States already had a "terrific
initiative" in the form of the Mitchell Plan, which has been awaiting
implementation since April, and the Tenet plan, which added some details
on security aspects of the Mitchell Plan.
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- The plan, drafted by a committee led by former U.S. Senator
George Mitchell, recommended a cease-fire, a cooling-off period and confidence-building
measures leading to peace talks.
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- "So we have a plan. What we need is an elimination
of the violence so that we can get into the Tenet work plan and then the
Mitchell Plan," Powell said.
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