Posted on 08/15/2002 8:42:32 AM PDT by frmrda
U.S. letter to Arab leaders: 'There will be no turning back'
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Thursday, August 15, 2002 LONDON — The United States has warned Arab leaders to prepare public opinion for a change in the Iraqi regime.
Diplomatic sources said the Bush administration has sent letters to the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in the Middle East. The letters, said to be nearly identical, assert that Washington is determined to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
U.S. officials did not confirm the message, Middle East Newsline reported. But in Washington, U.S. National Security Council Adviser Condoleezza Rice stressed in an interview on Thursday with the British Broadcasting Corp. that the Bush administration has presented a powerful case for toppling Saddam.
"We certainly do not have the luxury of doing nothing," Ms. Rice said. "We believe the case for regime change is very powerful."
The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on Thursday that the text of the letters said Washington was preparing a military strike against Baghdad that would include the use of air force bases in the Middle East. The letters reported that the United States was deploying soldiers in the region and transporting a range of unspecified weapons for the attack on the Saddam regime.
"There will be no turning back from the military option," Al Hayat quoted the letters as saying.
A U.S. official said the Bush administration has sent envoys to the Middle East to relay the U.S. determination to destroy the Saddam regime.
The official, who did not want to be identified, said the Defense Department has been meeting with Arab analysts and journalists in an effort to sway public opinion against Iraq. The Pentagon has also discussed with Saudi nationals likely Iraqi targets of any U.S. war and distributed satellite photographs of sensitive Iraqi installations, including Saddam's palaces.
[On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command reported that British and U.S. fighter-jets struck two Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries in southern Iraq. A Central Command statement said the allied aircraft used precision-strike weapons.]
At the same time, the United States has urged Arab allies to help Iraqi opposition forces, which were said to have been given a limited military role in the campaign against Saddam. A delegation of Iraqi opposition leaders who visited Washington last week is planning a tour of Arab countries and Iran. The visit is said to have been in coordination with the State Department and the Iraqi National Congress, the largest umbrella opposition group and financed by the United States.
An Iraqi opposition source said the delegation will focus on Saudi Arabia, the most reluctant U.S. ally to support a regime change in Baghdad. The source said Egypt has signalled its readiness to help in any U.S.-led war against Saddam.
When?...or as kids in the car on long trips are wont to ask every five minutes, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
Amen to that! God Bless the USA and President Bush!
Rice in an interview with BBC Radio said that TWICE Saddam has tried to acquire nukes.
I think no later than Sept 15th..
Go to NYC. See that big hole there? That's why we are going to Iraq. Not because they did it, but because they are on their way to getting weapons that could do a whole lot worse.
If you need to be convinced Hussein would do it, consider this: He gassed his own people, he's invaded 2 countries, and oh yeah, he launched missiles at our ally Israel, for no other reason than to start a war between Arabs and Israeli's.
Man, get your damn head out of the sand. It's a different world - if we think there's going to be another 9/11 we will act first. Why should we wait for it to happen again?
This may not be true. More important is support from Russia. (I do believe the Brits will be with us.) Europe seems to have chosen the path of economic stagnation (at best) and cultural suicide. Until the people there rise up and put an end to the socialist malaise, I don't much care whether they support us or not. The European moral condemnation of US (ICC, Kyoto, death penalty, unilateralism, Gitmo, Israel, etc.) and their pathetic military structures does not compute.
No I do not think that way. But then again, I've been paying attention to what's been going on in the Middle East for the last 30 years.
Saddam knows this is for all the marbles.......at the end his head will be on a pike. He will lash out like a wounded animal.....we must brace ourselves for it when he does.
The only question I have is what price are we as a nation willing to pay to take him out.
Nice, nice footage that'll be.......
What I think is interesting that in interviews with Bin Ladin before 9/11, he doesn't think we will pay a high price. He is counting on that.
Sometimes I don't think that we will. I know that we must...
Here's hoping the Greatest Generation will be this one.
Isn't this the same question Bill Clinton had regarding Osama bin Laden? The price of not taking out Saddam figures to be much higher.
Little hard for him to do when he's so many pink vapor droplets in the man-made sun...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.