- The Pentagon is taking steps to prepare for a rapid massing
of U.S. forces around Iraq in the weeks ahead, and given the time required
to get these forces to the Gulf region, the earliest an attack is likely
to come is January, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
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- The U.S. is trying to keep the buildup as low-key as
possible, to avoid upstaging the delicate political and diplomatic maneuvering
underway to win authorization from Congress and the United Nations for
possible U.S. military action against the government of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, the paper said.
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- According to the paper, the Pentagon actions reflect
a growing seriousness on the part of the Bush administration about the
possibility of war. Pentagon officials said the actions are meant to enable
a faster deployment if President George W. Bush decides to attack.
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- "We can do a certain amount of things now that will
help shorten the time needed to get everything else in place later,"
a senior defense official told the paper. "It doesn't mean that we're
definitely going to do anything, but it hedges our bets."
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- Defense officials dismissed speculations that the Pentagon
is preparing for a surprise attack on Iraq.
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- U.S. , UN back new instructions for Iraq arms inspectors
The United States and the United Nations agreed on Friday that UN arms
inspectors would benefit from new instructions on Iraq and said they saw
signs that the UN Security Council would come round to their view.
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- The chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, made it clear that
his team would not go to Iraq until the council gives clearance.
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- The United States, backed by Britain, has drafted tough
proposals that would expand the rights of the inspectors. The draft faces
stiff opposition from France, Russia and China, mainly for allowing any
UN member, such as Washington, to use force when it perceives a violation.
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- Blix said: "We look forward to speedy resolution
and for us to come in shortly afterwards." He was speaking after talks
at the State Department with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, White
House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz.
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- The White House said Bush would make a speech on Monday
night that appears to be aimed at the United Nations and the Democratic-led
U.S. Senate, which will debate next week a resolution authorizing any attack
on Iraq. The Republican-led House of Representatives appears prepared to
pass such a resolution.
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- Bush will speak from Cincinnati, Ohio, a Midwestern venue
that appears to have been chosen to show the president is preparing the
American heartland for the possibility of war.
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- On Friday, Powell told a French television channel that
if Iraq disarms, the United States could abandon its campaign to topple
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
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- "If the Iraqis cooperate and disarm, then we have
a new situation," Powell said in an interview with the French television
network TF1.
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- Washington's policy calling for regime change in Iraq
is based on Hussein's refusal to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction,
Powell said, adding that if his stance changes, "We would have to
see where things stand."
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- The United States and Britain are pressing the other
13 members of the council to approve their proposals and the UN inspectors
are awaiting instructions before they take up Iraq's offer to resume their
work.
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- But Russia and France said again on Friday that the inspectors,
withdrawn from Iraq in 1998, could return to work under old arrangements
rejected by the United States.
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- Blix said that new instructions in the form of a UN resolution
would keep up the pressure on Iraq to comply with the UN demand that it
abandon weapons of mass destruction.
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- "The resolution that is now being discussed is one
that I think we would welcome. It could clarify further matters and it
will also place the Iraqis clearly before the need to give a clear declaration
of what they have," he said.
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- Powell, fighting a difficult diplomatic battle at the
United Nations for the stringent terms set by Bush, said he thought other
governments were moving toward the U.S. point of view on new instructions.
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- "Increasingly, members of the council are coming
to the conclusion that such a resolution would be useful," he said.
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- He said the United States continued to argue in favor
of a single Security Council resolution, including the threat of consequences
if Iraq does not comply, but he recognized that Washington had not yet
won the argument.
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- France favors a two-stage process, starting with a test
of whether Iraq is willing to give the inspectors unrestricted access and
only later threatening consequences.
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- Powell spoke to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the inspections on Friday, and
European diplomats said they believed Washington had softened its opposition
to a two-stage process.
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