We can do without France and Germany: Rumsfeld

BAGHDAD, January 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized Wednesday, January 22, “problematic” France and Germany for their continued opposition to the upcoming U.S. war on Iraq, saying that they represent “old Europe”.

Rumsfeld dismissed French and German insistence that “everything must be done to avoid war” with Iraq, saying that most European countries stand with the United States in its campaign to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm, CNN’s online news service reported.

“Germany has been a problem, and France has been a problem,” said Rumsfeld, a former NATO ambassador. “But you look at vast numbers of other countries in Europe. They’re not with France and Germany on this, they’re with the United States.”

Germany and France represent “old Europe,” and NATO’s expansion in recent years means “the center of gravity is shifting to the east,” Rumsfeld said, CNN reported.

We Must Avoid War

This comes at the same time France and Germany said that “everything must be done” to prevent war in Iraq, as Baghdad accused the United States of trying to sabotage the U.N. disarmament process as a pretext for a conflict, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

While the United States tightened the noose around Iraq, ordering two more carrier groups to the Gulf, regional countries prepared for a meeting in Istanbul to coordinate efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac said after a meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that the two countries were united in their opposition to war in Iraq.

“Germany and France have the same judgment on the Iraq crisis,” Chirac said at a news conference with Schroeder by his side, summing up their stand in two points.

“The first is that any decision for the (U.N.) Security Council belongs to it alone, to be expressed after hearing the report of the inspectors” searching for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chirac said.

The second is that, “for us, war is always evidence of failure. Everything must be done to avoid war.”

Impatient Bush

The stance followed an attack by U.S. President George W. Bush Tuesday, January 21, ahead of expected demands by inspection chiefs for more time to complete their

“How much time do we need to see clearly that he’s not disarming?” Bush snapped, charging Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with using “the tricks of the past” to thwart U.N. inspectors as he did after the 1991 Gulf War.

Germany had already said Tuesday it refused to add its voice to any U.N. vote for the use of force against Iraq, while France, Russia and China backed more time for the disarmament inspectors to fulfill their mandate.

“Don’t expect Germany to approve a resolution which would give legitimacy to war,” Schroeder said, without making it clear if Berlin as a non-permanent member of the Security Council would vote against or abstain.

And in another blow to Washington’s attempts to forge a coalition in support of military action, Russia aligned itself with fellow permanent Security Council members France and China by opposing immediate conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said a majority of the five permanent council members, all of whom have veto power, now believed it was “indispensable” to pursue diplomatic efforts well beyond next Monday’s progress report by the inspectors to the Security Council.

He also warned Washington against taking unilateral military action without explicit Security Council authorization, saying this would “not only complicate the situation in the region but weaken the anti-terror coalition.”

Nothing Justifies Attack

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin had declared “nothing would justify” such an attack and suggested France could use its veto in the Security Council.

His Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan said the report should be seen as a “new beginning,” not the end of the process.

Iraqi Press Tells Bush: Prove It, Or Shut Up

Meanwhile in Baghdad, as arms experts carried out a 54^th day of inspections in Iraq, a leading state-run newspaper said Bush was out to stop them certifying that the country is free of banned weapons.

“The whole world knows that the declarations of the U.S. president toward Iraq are false and even Bush himself knows it,” said Babel, run by President Saddam Hussein’s eldest son, Uday.

“If the U.S. administration cannot present proof, it should shut up and let the inspectors carry on their mission in all transparency and without pressure or blackmail.”

In another positive development for Baghdad, a U.N. panel monitoring sanctions against Al-Qaeda said Tuesday it had no evidence to back U.S. and British charges of links between Iraq and Osama bin Laden’s network.

However, Bush and other U.S. leaders have made it clear the United States is prepared to circumvent the U.N. and take military action “with like-minded nations.” Britain is also pouring troops and ships into the Gulf region.

More Deployment

Adding muscle to U.S. rhetoric, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed deployment orders for the two additional carrier battle groups at the weekend.

The U.S. Navy will now soon have five aircraft carriers in or bound for the Gulf, giving U.S. commanders the clout to launch a massive air offensive against Iraq, analysts said.

The United States is expected to have more than 150,000 troops in the region by mid-February.