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Iraq and Somalia May be Next in "War on Terrorism"
WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has warned that the United States could turn its attention to Iraq after achieving the goals of its military campaign in Afghanistan, news agencies reported.
After the goals of the campaign the U.S. calls "Operation Enduring Freedom" are achieved, the United States will turn its attention to terrorism throughout the world, Powell told reporters Wednesday, after talks with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Shaykh Sabah al-Hamad Al Sabah, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"And nations such as Iraq, which have tried to pursue weapons of mass destruction, should not think that we will not be concerned about these activities, and will not turn our attention to them," Powell pointed out.
Powell had reassured Egyptians - in an interview earlier Tuesday - that the U.S. was not planning attacks on Iraq, the Pakistani News Service (PNS) reported.
"Our first phase right now is in Afghanistan, but there are no plans at the moment to undertake any other military action," he told Egyptian television, answering a question on whether Iraq would be a target in an expanded campaign.
"We will see where we are as we go forward, but the concerns like the kind that you have just raised are not concerns that should worry anybody seriously, in any serious way," Powell added.
But, an opinion poll by Zogby International revealed Wednesday that 80% of Americans believed that launching military strikes against Iraq and removing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power would be an effective move in the war against terrorism declared by President George W. Bush, said AFP.
The Bush administration has been under increased pressure from Republicans in Congress to move against Iraq in the wake of the September 11 attacks, even though Administration officials have repeatedly said there is no credible evidence implicating Baghdad in the terrorist act.
Late last month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz told London's Sunday Telegraph that the United States and Britain planned to launch 1,000 missiles at 300 Iraqi targets in a bid to topple Saddam Hussein under the pretext of waging war against terrorism.
British officials have denied the charge, however, said AFP.
On Sunday, the U.S. daily, The Washington Post, said that the Bush administration's internal debate over where to take the anti-terrorism campaign next has begun to focus on Somalia, regarded by the U.S. as allegedly one of the most likely alternative havens for the world's most wanted man - Osama bin Laden.
"While Iraq has been mentioned most frequently as a possible target for U.S. forces in the next phase of the campaign, government agencies are debating possible actions in several other nations that the administration believes harbor terrorist organizations," said the
Post.
"The countries include not only Iraq, but also Indonesia and the Philippines, officials said, underscoring the administration's intention to plan for a war against terrorism on a global scale that is not just military but also strikes back on diplomatic, financial and legal fronts," the paper added.
The Post reported that the preparations involving Somalia appear to be the most advanced, in part because the relationship between bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and Somalia has been the subject of U.S. scrutiny since September.
There were intelligence reports shortly after September 11 that bin Laden, or people close to him, had allegedly moved to Somalia.
An interagency working group involving intelligence analysts from the State Department, Pentagon, CIA and National Security Council has been meeting for the past three weeks to discuss where and how al-Qaeda operates in the East African country, according to several administration sources.
While there is no indication a military attack is imminent, White House and Pentagon officials have made it clear since the attacks on New York and Washington that the war on terrorism will not be limited to Afghanistan and will eventually extend to other nations where al-Qaeda allegedly operates directly or through affiliates, the paper said.
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