WASHINGTON, Feb 7: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday overthrowing the Iraqi government could reshape the Middle East in ways that enhance US interests, and that the confrontation with Iraq should start to come to a head in a matter of days.
The remarks outraged observers in the Middle East, with some saying the Arab world’s worst suspicions about US policies had been stirred by Colin Powell’s comments.
Mr Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that attacking Iraq could cause “some difficulties” for the United States in other areas in the Middle East during the conflict and in the months immediately after a war.
But he added, “I think there is also the possibility that success could fundamentally reshape that region in a powerful, positive way that will enhance US interests, especially if in the aftermath of such a conflict, we are also able to achieve progress on the Middle East peace.”
The Bush administration has usually confined its argument for attacking Iraq to the alleged threat from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and the possibility that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s government could pass them on to extremists hostile to the United States.
But Powell said Washington’s problem with Iraq was not just over Iraqi cooperation with the United Nations in giving up any weapons of mass destruction it might have, but also with threats it poses to its neighbors.
Appearing before the committee the day after his dramatic presentation to the United Nations on alleged Iraqi weapons violations, Powell said he thought the showdown with Iraq “will start to come to a head” when top UN weapons inspectors return next week from a trip to Baghdad and report to the UN Security Council on Feb 14.
From that, he said it should be apparent “if there’s any chance of serious progress, and not just progress on process, but a serious change of attitude,” in Baghdad on the inspections.
“I think we are reaching an endgame in a matter of weeks, not a matter of months,” he added.
While France continued to signal it would not be easily moved into backing a war with Iraq, Powell insisted to the committee that his UN presentation was starting to sway allies.
“Later in the day when I spoke to each and every one of them and they heard what I said there was some shift in attitude ... that suggested more and more nations are realizing that this cannot continue indefinitely,” he said.
Powell said he thought there may be more support “than some might think” for a second UN resolution to disarm Iraq by force if necessary. Bush has said he is open to seeking the second resolution to provide firmer backing, although he said the earlier resolution provides the authority to attack Iraq.
France, Russia and China, who with the United States and Britain represent the five permanent members of the Security Council, have said they would prefer UN weapons inspections continue rather than to see war.
Committee members generally praised Powell for the UN presentation that most said showed convincing evidence that Iraq was thwarting the inspections and had banned weapons. But Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, complained that he appeared to have “given up on inspections” prematurely.
ARAB REACTION: An Arab official said diplomats in the region had been aware for a year of US intentions to reshape the Middle East’s political landscape.
“American officials often told us in private that an intervention in Iraq would be a prelude to political and geographic upheavals in the region.”
An analyst said Washington was playing a “carrot and stick” game with its main Arab allies, pressing them to align themselves fully in the war on terrorism and the campaign against Iraq, or face be prepared to face dire consequences.
“The Americans have ... made it known to countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt that they must modernize their forms of government and engage themselves clearly in the war against terrorism and Islamic extremism,” he said.
“It is understood that from now on only pro-American dictators, that ally themselves totally with the West and clamp down Islamist currents, will be tolerated,” the analyst said.
US PRESSURE: A leading Arab official said on Friday the United States was pressuring Arab states to support the US campaign against Iraq “diplomatically or militarily”.
“Besides the logistic military aid, the Arab neighbors of Iraq and Turkey have received ... Washington is pushing its allies to work for a change of regime in Iraq, which will save their countries from (the effects of) war,” he said.
Arab political analysts said this was proven by the fact that discussing the exile of Saddam as a solution to the standoff was no longer a taboo subject, even if Arab leaders are not voicing support for it in public.
Time magazine reported two weeks ago that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah had discussed plans to convince Saddam to step down and avoid war.
And press reports in Saudi Arabia quoted Thursday Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal as saying that he had asked the UN Security Council to issue an amnesty to all members of the Iraqi government in exchange for promises they cooperate in the search for banned weapons.
The move was a new initiative to prevent a war and the breakup of Iraq, but Prince Saud did not make clear if it was a prelude to convincing Saddam to go into exile.
The option of granting immunity to Iraqi officials had been received positively by the five permanent members of the council, he added.
For his part, Powell said in late January that the US was ready to help arrange a place for Saddam and his family to live in exile, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier that month that granting him immunity “would be a fair trade to avoid a war.”—AFP
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.