U.S. has 12 allies to attack Iraq, Powell

DAVOS, Switzerland, January 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – In what seems to be a new attempt to minimize the significance of the anti-war voices by some European allies, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Saturday, January 25, that the United States has at least a dozen allies to back any military campaign against Iraq.

Meanwhile, Powell gave a cold response to the Swiss proposal to host a last chance meeting between top U.S. and Iraqi officials in an tempt to a U.S. avert an upcoming war against Iraq.

Powell said Washington is counting on the support of these countries for war against Iraq, with or without another U.N. Security Council resolution, the CNN reported.

Powell’s statements came in the face of some of the European allies that pressed the need for allowing the inspectors more time to do their work properly in Iraq before deciding on any potential military interventions in the Arab country.

"I will bring a message of American determination to work with the international community to deal with the most important threat, the threat presented by Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction," he said while en route to the Swiss Ski resort of Davos to attend the World Economic Forum, in a new American effort to rally up support for a possible military action against Iraq.

He added that the burden is on Iraq to disarm or the military force would have the final say.

“The burden is on Iraq, Iraq must comply or it will be made to comply by military

‘No substantial answer’

Meanwhile the Swiss foreign minister proposed to Powell on Saturday to host a last chance meeting between top U.S. and Iraqi officials, Calmy-Rey's spokesman said.

"There isn't a substantial answer," he said.

The meeting, to be held in Switzerland, would be along the lines of the talks just before the 1991 Gulf war between then secretary of state James Baker and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, the spokesman said.

Powell on Saturday held bilateral meetings in Davos with Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey.

With or without another U.N. resolution

Despite recent wavering from some European countries, Powell said the United States has the support of at least a dozen unnamed countries, "with or without" another U.N. resolution approving a military strike on Iraq, the all-news network added.

"I don't want to give names or give you a count, because I think each country should speak for itself on a matter as important as this," Powell said en route to Davos.

"So we would not be alone, that's for sure. I could rattle off at least a dozen off memory and I think there will be more."

He said these countries want a second U.N. resolution, but he boasted "without that other resolution, they will be with us."

The US official also undelined that Washington would wait for the report of the international inspectors before deciding the next steps it would take.

However, he to said to Financial Times earlier in the day that giving more time for inspections would still not yield better results.

"There are steps that we plan to go through, methodically, deliberately," Powell said. "There will be ultimately an end, I believe, to the patience of the international community."

"You'll see more of the case being laid out and repeated so that people understand it," he said.

A serious blow

But Washington cannot be sure of gaining the support of the UN weapons inspectors in their Monday report.

The chief UN weapons inspectors will deliver a serious blow in the report to Washington's case for going to war with Iraq, telling the world they have found nothing and giving Saddam Hussein good grades for cooperation, according to a leading British newspaper.

Just as damaging to the U.S. position will be the insistence to the UN Security Council by the chief nuclear inspector, Mohamed El Baradei, that his team needs several more months to complete its work and that some important testing equipment has only just arrived in the country, the Guardian reported.

"Their report card will be a 'B'," said Mark Gwozdecky, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is carrying out the nuclear inspections. "We've been getting where and when we want to get, and we've been generally successful in getting what we need."

Another IAEA official, Melissa Fleming, said that 16 soil samples analyzed for radiation had so far proved negative, but added that there were more samples to be taken and that equipment to test for airborne gamma radiation had only just arrived in Iraq.

The IAEA's assessment in effect knocks away half of the platform upon which the U.S. is hoping to build its case against Saddam Hussein when the security council meets on Monday. The other half was also looking shaky on Friday.

Hans Blix, who is in charge of biological, chemical and missile inspections and who will also present a report, has also called for more time. According to one well-placed UN official,  Blix's inspectors are demanding "several more months" to pursue their operations in Iraq.

"Nobody can imagine the inspectors could do a proper job in eight weeks," the official said.

However, Blix has been ambivalent about Iraqi cooperation, pointing out Baghdad's objection to his inspectors using American-piloted U2 spy planes to search Iraq for banned weapons.