Posted on 08/12/2002 9:55:20 AM PDT by kattracks
BEIRUT, Aug 12, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Lebanon received a report from diplomatic sources saying that the United States would seize by force several airports in Arab states when it launches a war against Iraq, the An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday.The report said that US President George W. Bush would unleash the military offensive in January 2003 as he has to wait the outcome of the midterm elections of the Congress in November.
"Bush prefers to have Arab support for his war to remove Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the US forces would have facilities in several neighboring Arab airports," the report said.
"At any rate," it stressed, "once zero hour comes, Bush will
give the orders to use Arab airports by force for the military
operation against Iraq if the need arises."
Bush argued that without the US interference, the Arab
countries, the Arab League and the UN Security Council would not
have been able to oust the invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait in the
1991 Gulf War. Meanwhile, the report revealed that the Bush administration has allowed Israel to strike back in the upcoming confrontation against Iraq if the Arab country fires Scud missiles at Israel like it did in 1991.
The report suggested that the Arab world should take the US war preparations against Iraq "very seriously" and recommended a diplomatic offensive by Lebanon to consolidate Pan-Arab camp.
Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY.
Wrong - Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC is against our military removal of Saddam due to oil. If we replace Saddam with a friendly regime and the sanctions are lifted, then the world's oil output could surge by as much as 40% - cutting the rest of OPEC out of billions of dollars. They like their high percentage share of the US oil market - but like their ally China, they forgot about our friends in Russia. They can replace Saudi oil completely here in the US. Regardless of how much money is invested in the Saudi oil fields by American businesses, once this all starts rolling they will have no choice as the fields won't be producing for a while.
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