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February 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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US lawmakers urge caution on war with Iraq WHILE agreeing with Secretary of State Colin Powell’s case for disarming Iraq, many US lawmakers are saying war is not the only way to rid weapons of mass destruction that President Saddam Hussein may have developed.
ISI
aiding Taliban, say Western envoys Fresh Taliban call for war against USA |
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18 judges elected to world criminal court
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Rumsfeld warns Europeans Munich, February 8 “Delaying preparations sends a signal of uncertainty, instead of a signal of unity and resolve,” Mr Rumsfeld told an international defence conference. “If the international community once again shows a lack of resolve, there is no chance that Saddam Hussein will disarm voluntarily or flee — and thus little chance of a peaceful outcome.” Mr Rumsfeld turned directly to the deadlock at NATO where France, Germany and Belgium who are holding up preparations for the alliance to protect Turkey against the threat of an Iraqi counter-attack. He warned that the alliance had a treaty obligation to defend Turkey, the only NATO ally that borders Iraq. “Those preventing the alliance from taking even minimum measures to prepare to do so risk undermining the credibility of the NATO alliance,” Rumsfeld said. NATO has to decide by Monday whether to order its military experts to plan for the deployment of early warning planes, missile defence batteries and specialised units to Turkey. France, Germany and Belgium have held the NATO planning for three weeks, arguing that it could undermine UN efforts to avert a war. Anxious alliance officials fear continued refusal could do irreparable harm to NATO. The Iraq crisis and the divisions it has caused among traditional allies dominated the annual conference that gathered dozens of ministers, military top brass and defence experts from Europe, North America and Asia.
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US lawmakers urge caution on war with Iraq WHILE agreeing with Secretary of State Colin Powell’s case for disarming Iraq, many US lawmakers are saying war is not the only way to rid weapons of mass destruction that President Saddam Hussein may have developed. They have expressed caution about a potential war and urged the Bush administration to inform the American public about the human costs and potential long-term commitments that might be required, if the USA chose to engage Iraq militarily. Some Congressmen have called for a second UN resolution authorising use of force against Iraq. House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement: “Before going to war, we must exhaust all alternatives, such as the continuation of inspections, diplomacy and the leverage provided by the threat of military action.” Senator Edward Kennedy, also Democrat, said although Mr Powell made a strong case to the Security Council that Mr Saddam Hussein is “a dangerous person” and that Iraq is a “dangerous country”, he did not say “anything that we did not already know.” Mr Kennedy added: “We have to understand the question is not disarming Mr Saddam Hussein, it is how to be able to do it, what is the best way to be able to do it? Where does the commitment of American troops come in? What is going to happen to the American troops? And all other questions which still have not been answered by the administration.” The highest ranking Democrat in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joe Biden, while saying that Mr Powell had “made a powerful and irrefutable case” against Iraq, urged the Security Council to live up to its responsibilities, enforce its resolutions and provide “a united front to force Mr Saddam to back down and avoid war.” “The choice of war is Saddam’s,” he said. “The choice for the Security Council is between relevance and irrelevance.” The Senator urged the Bush administration to work with the Security Council to pass a second resolution setting a deadline and authorising force if necessary to disarm Iraq. Mr Biden, however, also asked President Bush to be “straightforward” with the US people about the commitment that might be asked of them in a potential war with Iraq. The Chairman of the US House Committee on International Relations, Mr Henry Hyde, said Mr Saddam Hussein had ignored “repeated warnings” from the international community that he must disarm or face war. “We must now demonstrate to those who would harm us that our warnings are not empty words and that we will act decisively to defend ourselves.” Meanwhile, the Peace Action, the largest peace and disarmament organisation in the USA with over 85,000 members, reacted with scepticism to Mr Colin Powell’s case against Iraq. “The administration still has not made the case for invading Iraq,” Mr Kevin Martin, Executive Director of the organisation, said. “Sceptical countries on the Security Council were not moved by Mr Powell’s speech, and I doubt many Americans will be either.” Mr Martin added: “Inspections are better than war. As former President Jimmy Carter wrote last week, even a long inspections process would cost far less, in money and lives, than war. Nothing Mr Powell said overturns that logic.” |
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ISI aiding Taliban, say Western envoys London, February 8 The regrouping Taliban and former Afghanistan Premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces were receiving logistical and financial support from members, former or current, of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, a media report said today quoting senior Afghan officials and Western diplomats in Kabul. “They are supporting them now and they will continue to support them,” the London-based Financial Times quoted Gen Din Mohammed Juraat, Afghan chief of police, as saying, referring to the ISI. Taliban operatives are sheltered by sympathisers in the mountainous terrain bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan and are planning attacks, the business daily said. The extremist members of Taliban had joined forces with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has vowed to rid Afghanistan of foreign troops. However, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had said he had not entered into an alliance with the Taliban to fight foreign forces in Afghanistan, the Afghan Islamic Press reported last month.
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Fresh Taliban call for war against USA Islamabad, February 8 In a statement reportedly issued from an unidentified location in Pakistan, Muhammad Mukhtar Mjahid, claiming to be a spokesman for the Taliban said, the leader of the outfit Mullah Omar had directed the organisation to declare a holy war against the USA and allies for “atrocities” being committed in Afghanistan and Washington’s attempts to attack Iraq. “Thousands of innocent Afghans were killed by the US military activities and dwellings that had survived the Russian aggression were destroyed,” the spokesman said. “Afghanistan was deprived of its sovereignty and with the ouster of the Taliban government the puppet regime of Karzai was installed in its place” said the statement, reportedly faxed to the office of Pakistan daily The News in Peshawar. The new directive caught the observers here by surprise as the Taliban had already given such a directive when Omar was ousted from power along with Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
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18 judges elected to world criminal court United Nations, February 8 The voting by 85 of the 88 nations that have ratified the court’s statutes went to 33 ballots until the last judge was elected late yesterday. Seven of the 18 judges are women — from Ireland, Mali, Brazil, Ghana, Costa Rica, Latvia and South African Judge Navanethem Pillay, president of the UN tribunal for genocide in Rwanda. With the USA boycotting the birth of the tribunal, European and other Western nations, which ended up with seven judges, will be footing the bill for the ICC.
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An
Iraqi woman holds an Ak-47 rifle during a military march for thousands of Iraqis at
Tikrit, the city of President Saddam Hussein's birth, 180 km north of Baghdad,
on Friday. Top UN weapons inspectors on Saturday arrived in Baghdad for two days of crucial talks.
— Reuters
