Posted on 01/23/2003 7:00:42 PM PST by RCW2001
| Thursday, 23-Jan-2003 8:00AM | Story from AFP Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) |
MOSCOW, Jan 23 (AFP) - The US State Department number two said Thursday that Washington was working "assiduously" to make sure that Israel does not get dragged into war should the United States decide to strike Iraq.
However US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said that Washington had no authority to demand that Israel drop its right to self-defense.
"Should there be conflict, we would hope that Israel would choose to stay out. We are not desirous of having Israel enter into military combat should that occur," Armitage told Moscow Echo radio on conclusion of a two-day visit to Moscow.
"We are staying in extraordinarily close contact with our friends, our allies in Israel in the hopes that we can persuade Israel that they don't need to involve themselves if conflict occurs," he said.
"But let me be clear that the United States or any other country could never ask a second country to give up the right of self-defense. But we are working very assiduously to try to calm any fears that exist in Israel."
Israel has warned that it will retaliate against Baghdad should Iraq strike the Jewish state in reprisal for a US-led campaign aimed at unseating President Saddam Hussein.
zak/bb/cml
Iraq-US-Russia-Israel
Sharon had said that an Iraqi attack on Israel will be met "with every resource" - presumably that means Israel's (widely presumed but never admitted) nuclear armament. If that is the case, Iraq might well cease to exist. One bomb on Baghdad and another on the Iraqi oilfields and after that Iraq just becomes a historical footnotes in editions of The 1001 Arabian Nights.
One interesting scenario for the aftermath of an Israeli nuking of Iraq is the partitioning of what's left of Iraq -- after all, the Iraqis seem very flexible about their geography, having been willing 12 years ago to call Kuwait their new 19th province -- one substantial chunk becomes the new Kurdish homeland (funny how the Palestinians have "inalienable" rights - but only to land after it first is taken by Jews - but not the Kurds), and another substantial chunk becomes the New Palestinian Homeland with all the Moslems transferred out of Israel into this piece of defeated Iraq.
You post all this stuff, and respond to nothing. You could be a Druid for all I know.
That's it. A Druid from Des Plaines.
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