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Sharon Leaves Washington With Green Light on Iraq

Bush gave Sharon the green light to join a U.S.-led war on Iraq

WASHINGTON, October 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wrapped up a visit to the United States Thursday, October 17, having got the green light to join a new war on Iraq after being informed in advance of the U.S.-led attack.

Sharon received assurances from Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Republican Minority Leader Trent Lott before heading to Andrews Air Force Base to catch an Israeli military flight to Israel, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

The two days of talks were mostly dominated by Iraq, with U.S. President George W. Bush assuring Sharon he would be notified "at least two days in advance" of any U.S. military action against Iraq, a top Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Likewise, talks with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also focused on "strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States with a view toward an eventual U.S. attack against Iraq," according to Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin.

During a joint appearance with the Israeli Prime Minister at the White House, Bush said: "If Iraq attacks Israel tomorrow, I would assume the Prime Minister would respond. He's got a desire to defend himself."

Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 Gulf War in a fruitless attempt to widen the conflict. Israel gave in to U.S. pressure at the time not to fight back.

The U.S., moreover, promised Israel it will use ground forces to knock out any missiles in western Iraq capable of reaching its territory at the start of an eventual war, the Washington Post said Friday.

"We've never had such close relations with any president of the United States as we have with you. And we've never had such a cooperation, in everything, as we have with the current administration," a visibly pleased Sharon replied.

Bush, who has said he will take unilateral military action if necessary against Baghdad, also threatened the Iraqi President that "the international community won't tolerate an unprovoked attack on Israel."

Bush went as far as threatening to take action against the Lebanese Islamic resistance group Hezbollah and the nations that support it, including Iran and Syria.

"We've never had such close relations with any president of the United States as we have with you," a visibly pleased Sharon said

Hezbollah successfully spearheaded Lebanese resistance to oust Israel from South Lebanon and answers to continued Israeli attacks and violation of Lebanese air space by counter attacks which the U.S. president aims to prevent.

Insistent on dubbing legitimate resistance to continued occupation "terrorism", Bush declared: "We will fight terror wherever terror exists," after his seventh meeting with Sharon since the Israeli prime Minster came into office in March 2001.

Bush said he was sending his top diplomat for the Middle East back to the region to help push Middle East peace forward "so that there is a peaceful future for the region."

Sharon's spokesman expressed satisfaction with the fact that there was "no pressure from the Americans" regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While Sharon got more assurances from the U.S., Israeli tanks killed Thursday eight Palestinians, including two children when they blasted two houses in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah with shells and heavy machinegun fire.

The murdered children were a four-year-old girl and a 12-year-old child, AFP reported.

Among the dead were also two young men and two elderly women, and a dozen Palestinians were listed as seriously hurt.

The Israeli tanks fired three shells at the houses and blasted them with heavy machinegun fire, said Palestinian medical and security officials.

At least six people, most of them children, were killed last week in Rafah by Israeli forces during incursions into the Palestinian self-rule town on the Israel-controlled border with Egypt.

Bush did say, however, that Sharon had committed to consider paying 420 million dollars in tax refunds to the Palestinians, provided there is U.S.-led monitoring to ensure none of the money goes to fund resistance against Israeli occupation which the U.S. administration calls "terrorism".

U.S. officials have worried that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could complicate any effort to win Arab support for action against Iraq.