"Davos will be a wasted opportunity if we do not use it as a platform to … enlist the United States' support in a multilateral future," said Cox

DAVOS, January 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With the World Economic Forum entering its second day in the Swiss ski town of Davos on  Thursday, January 22, the U.S. came under fire for unilateral use of force and economic policies that could set the world for a crash.

More than 2,000 of the world’s economic and political leaders gathered under watertight security in the snowy Alpine resort for five days of public and private talks, with the rebuilding of Iraq and the problems facing the world economy topping the agenda.

But the participants said the get-together could be a platform for lashing out at Washington some eight months since invading Iraq without the U.N. authorization among other issues.

European Parliament speaker Pat Cox called on global leaders to urge the U.S. to embrace multilateralism, asserting this was a crucial lesson of the Iraq invasion.

"We must learn the lessons of last year's Iraq crisis -- that countries ravaged by tyranny and war can only be successfully rebuilt through the U.N. and with the active support of the entire international community," Cox was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

"Davos will be a wasted opportunity if we do not use it as a platform to … enlist the United States' support in a multilateral future," he underlined.

Iraq has fallen into a seething cauldron of chaos and anarchy since the U.S. and British forces rolled into Baghdad on April 9 ending two weeks of harsh strikes that left the oil-rich country’s infrastructure devastated.

Hundreds of American and British soldiers were killed as Iraqi resistance attacks are rising amid calls for an end to occupation.

Political leaders from across the globe must be encouraged to find the political will to put down some markers about re-creating the conditions for effective multilateralism and redefining the role of the U.N., said the top European lawmaker.

The world body was dashed out of Iraq after the occupation, with Washington insisting to run the show and limiting the U.N. role to humanitarian issues.

U.S. civil administrator of Iraq Paul Bremer had cancelled his trip to Davos with no reasons cited.

U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan will come under scrutiny at a session on the "ABC of Reconstruction", in which Bremer was supposed to make presence, the BBC News Online said.

Analysts said officials from the U.S. and Britain planned to press their drive for an international help in rebuilding the war-scarred country and sharing the high bill after the invasion.

A senior U.S. official in Washington said U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney would try to heal rifts with Europeans he addresses the forum.

"We are winning the war against terrorism but there are other threats to our values," U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a luncheon at this posh Swiss report.

Washington made the case for attacking Iraq on the pretext that it harbors terrorists and develop weapons of mass destruction.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also expressed hope in his speech that the U.N. would send a team to assess election prospects in Iraq.

No Success

"He attacked Afghanistan - where is Bin Laden now? and has the threat of al-Qaeda gone?" Khatami asked (AFP)

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami joined the club, asserting that military might would only bring transient security.

After the inauguration session, where he made veiled references to U.S. President George Bush, Khatami told the media Bush’s actions "had failed to have any success.

"He attacked Afghanistan - where is Bin Laden now? and has the threat of Al-Qaeda gone?" he asked.

"The U.S. invaded Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction - where are those weapons? The public was deceived by the U.S.," charged the Iranian leader.

He continued: "In Iraq, Ayatollah Sistani asks for direct and democratic elections, but the occupiers, who say they came to bring democracy, block the elections".

Economic Crash

The imbalances in the world economy, globalization, and the rapid slide of the dollar will also be high on the agenda.

Leading economists attending the forum predicted that strong economic growth in the U.S. could soon run out of steam and set up the whole world for a crash.

"The U.S. economy is running on fumes", fuelled by rapidly growing government spending, swelling private household debts and depleted savings, Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley told the BBC News Online.

Once demand falters, no economy in the world would be strong enough to pick up the slack, resulting in a sharp downturn, said Laura Tyson, dean of the London Business School and a former top adviser of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Washington is saddled with "twin deficits" - in the current account (imports minus exports) and the government budget, which experienced its largest and fastest fall from budget surplus into deficit under Bush.

The big economic issue is the continuing decline of the dollar, strengthening the U.S. economy at - some say - the expense of a stuttering Europe and Japan.

One of the sessions in Davos will discuss "what if the dollar fell by an additional 20%", although none of the government officials is scheduled to speak at the event.

Protests are also planned outside the forum venue, where the demonstrators would shout slogans against globalization.

More than 100,000 people have ended six days of panels and protests in India on Wednesday, where they drafted resolutions against U.S. policy in Iraq and elsewhere.