|
|
|
|
|
|
Germany Insists On U.N. Mandate For Any Action Against Iraq
BERLIN, March 15 (News Agencies) - Germany will only back U.S. military action against Iraq under a United Nations mandate, a government spokeswoman said Friday, confirming comments attributed to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, as Iraq repeated it neither possesses nor intends to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Chairman Reinhardt confirmed a Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper report that Schroeder had outlined this position in a meeting with intellectuals at the chancellery Wednesday, March 13.
"There is no concrete indication" of U.S. plans for such an attack and Schroeder's comments had been a "philosophical discussion," she was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.
The German position has been that any widening of the U.S.-led war on terrorism would need a U.N. mandate, she added.
Schroeder had pledged "undivided solidarity" with the United States in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, but he and other German politicians have since expressed reservations about unilateral U.S. action.
Special German Fuchs (Fox) light tanks for atomic, biological and chemical (ABC) weapons reconnaissance are already stationed in Kuwait.
The Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the tanks would remain in the Gulf region as part of the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign even if there was no U.N. mandate for an offensive against Iraq.
"Withdrawing them would have unforeseen consequences for German-U.S. relations," the paper added.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung report Friday, March 15, that Germany was prepared to support a U.S. attack on Iraq only if the United Nations gives authorization to intervene came as U.S. President George Bush turned up the rhetoric this week against Iraq.
Bush, who is to visit Germany in May, said in Washington Wednesday, March 13, that he would "not allow ... a nation such as Iraq to threaten our very future by developing weapons of mass destruction."
"He is a problem, and we're going to deal with him," Bush said of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"But the first stage is to consult with our allies and friends, and that's exactly what we're doing," he said, referring to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's current Middle East tour to drum up support for a fresh U.S. strike on sanctions-hit Iraq.
Bush made his remarks as the Times of London reported that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw believes Iraq is allegedly five years away from developing a crude nuclear device unless its weapons program is halted.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov insisted in a British newspaper interview Friday that only the United Nations was authorized to take action against a country, and urged Britain and the United States to focus on getting U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraq repeated Friday it neither possesses nor intends to develop weapons of mass destruction, and Washington's claims to the contrary are meant to find a pretext to attack.
"Iraq does not possess any type of [prohibited] weapons and has neither the means nor the intention to develop them," said Iraqi daily newspaper, Ath-Thawra.
Rather than pursue mass destruction weapons, Iraq was now "concentrating on coping with the [U.N.] embargo that has been in force for more than 11 years and rebuilding the infrastructure destroyed by the American aggressors and their wicked allies" during the 1991 Gulf War, it added.
"It has become common knowledge that the Bush administration is seeking a pretext to launch a new aggression" against Iraq, the paper said.
When it failed to link Iraq to either the September 11 terror attacks or the anthrax scare, Washington "went back to the worn-out refrain about weapons of mass destruction," said Ath-Thawra.
|
|
|
|
