U.S. has a "solid basis" for claiming Iraq has banned weapons, says Fleischer

WASHINGTON, December 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Bush administration is insisting that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction but there were indications Friday, December 6, that many of Washington's allies are unenthusiastic to the prospect of military action against Baghdad.

Washington has a "solid basis" for claiming Iraq has banned weapons, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday, December 5.

He cited U.S. intelligence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein lies when he denies having prohibited missile technology and chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Fleischer refused to elaborate on what Washington knows, but did say U.S. officials would not make those assertions "as plainly and bluntly as they have ... if it was not the truth."

President George W. Bush himself said only it was up to Saddam whether the United States and Iraq go to war.

Asked what would trigger a U.S. attack, Bush replied: "That's a question that you should ask Saddam Hussein ... the question is whether or not he chooses to disarm. And we hope he does."

Under U.S. pressure, the U.N. Security Council on Friday, November 8, issued a resolution demanding that Iraq come clean on its weapons program.

The resolution set a December 8 deadline for full Iraqi disclosure, but Baghdad has promised to provide a declaration a day earlier, making it understood it will confirm it has no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

Officials in Baghdad were putting the final touches to the declaration on Friday as U.N. arms experts, who resumed inspections on November 27, were taking a break on the second day of Eid-ul-Fitr marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The huge document, in both English and Arabic, will be handed to the U.N. in Baghdad on Saturday, December 6, and flown to U.N. headquarters in New York via the inspectors' rear base in Cyprus.

It will be submitted amid signs that weeks of U.S. efforts to muster help for an eventual war with Baghdad have produced only a lukewarm response across the world.

On Thursday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein struck a conciliatory note by saying he was seizing the chance offered by resumed arms inspections.

Speaking to top aides in front of television cameras, Saddam replied to Arab and world capitals that have for weeks been urging him to seize "the last chance" provided by the international community for Iraq to avert a U.S.-led strike.

Although arms inspections will not find anything in Iraq, Washington, using its spies in the country, will find another excuse to attack Iraq, he added.

He portrayed the November 27 resumption of arms inspections after a four-year hiatus as an "opportunity," saying the important thing was to "work to keep our people out of harm's way."

Saddam refrained from issuing threats, denouncing "arrogant U.S. despotism" only once and making a vague reference to "a reaction worthy of our people" should the process come unstuck.

The remarks were the first in public by the Iraqi leader in around a fortnight which has seen the resumption of no-notice U.N. arms inspections of suspected weapons sites.

The visits, not least that to one of Saddam's palaces, have sparked criticism by the Iraqi president's aides.

Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan on Wednesday, December 4, branded the inspectors "spies in the pay of the CIA and the Mossad" -- a reference to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's spy service -- and charged that they had come to facilitate a U.S. attack on Iraq.

Ramadan renewed Iraqi criticism over the inspection of the al-Sejud presidential compound in Baghdad Tuesday, December 3.

If the inspectors "had had the slightest good manners they would not have done it," he said.

General Hossam Mohammed Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, had earlier accused the inspectors of "provocative" behavior aimed at hurting "Iraq's honor."

The warnings touched on two pillars of the Iraqi regime: internal security and the president's image.

As was the case during previous arms inspections that lasted from 1991 to 1998, Iraqi officials fear that the inspectors' current mission will be used as a smokescreen to infiltrate agents with the task of pinpointing the regime's weaknesses, contacting any underground opposition networks and funding groups that could carry out acts of sabotage.

In a related development, U.S. officials say they are satisfied with the results of their soundings of some 50 countries about contributing to a war against Saddam if he fails to scrap his alleged prohibited arsenal.

"If it is necessary to use force we are going to have the world with us," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Wednesday, December 4, after talks with NATO leaders in Brussels.

But a survey of potential coalition partners shows only Britain eager to sign up for a major role.

Turkey, a key player in any move against neighboring Iraq, provided a striking case in point for the Americans.

With the Turkish press reporting that the Bush administration wants to base some 100,000 U.S. soldiers there and use Turkey's air bases and ports, the United States has gone all out to woo Ankara, dangling the prospect of billions of dollars of aid and support for European Union membership.

But when Wolfowitz and State Department number three Marc Grossman came calling on Ankara this week, they heard that any major new U.S. troop deployment in Turkey was unlikely and the use of airbases still undecided.

Other NATO allies also kept their options open, including Germany, which will allow the use of its bases and airspace but will not take part in any offensive.

Italy, Denmark, Norway and Canada insist any use of force requires a new U.N. resolution.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said unilateral U.S. action would be seen as "a strike by the Western world at the Arab world, and feed a resurgence in terrorism."

But French military sources said some of the country's special forces, naval and airborne troops, and foreign legionnaires were training for possible deployment in Iraq.

Russia, which also stresses the need to work within the United Nations, declined a U.S. offer to discuss a possible joint military operation, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency.

China voiced expectations Friday that U.N. weapons inspectors would make a "fair and accurate" report on the Iraqi operation and refused to speculate whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"The U.N. has already resumed weapons inspections in Iraq, up to now the inspections are going relatively smoothly," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The Chinese side expects a fair and accurate conclusion may be drawn from the inspections on whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.

"This will create conditions for the Iraqi question to be resolved politically within the framework of the United Nations," it said.

China has long called for a peaceful and diplomatic settlement to the Iraqi issue and has refrained from commenting on specifics, while insisting any action against Iraq should be approved by the U.N. Security Council.

Greece opposes any invasion, even if the Security Council gives the green light.

Egypt and Jordan, two of Washington's main allies in the Middle East, likewise want nothing to do with a war.

Pakistan says it has too much on its plate to participate in a drive on Baghdad after playing a major role in the Afghan conflict.

Australia, which sent some 150 special forces, air tanker and fighter support to Afghanistan, is ready to do the same for Iraq but says it cannot divert too many troops from its home-front battle against terrorism.

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman Thursday, December 5, left Norfolk, Virginia, for the Mediterranean, a U.S. Navy spokesperson said.

The move would put as many as four U.S. aircraft carriers within proximity of the Gulf by early January if hostilities break out with Iraq, U.S. defense officials said.

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