U.S. fears weapons of mass destruction in next Mideast war
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, June 29, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ U.S. defense and security experts project the use of ballistic missiles with nonconventional
warheads in the next Middle East war.
U.S. officials said this scenario has been drafted by experts in several
defense agencies. They said such countries as Iraq, Iran and Syria might
launch chemical and biological weapons attacks in any confrontation with
Israel.
The assessment has been presented to President George Bush. The White
House was told that the Middle East was sliding into a state of war in which
all measures could be employed.
"One reason Ñ among many Ñ that we cannot walk away from the Middle
East conflict is that another war there could involve weapons of mass
destruction," Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, told a conference at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace on June 19.
Officials said the scenarios of a future Middle East war have been
discussed with both Egypt and Israel. They said both countries agree on
likelihood that WMD could be used.
Israeli military planners have assessed that Iraq would be the key to
any Arab use of WMD. The Israeli military has prepared plans for Iraqi
intervention in any conflict between Syria and the Jewish state.
"We presume that this sort of situation will lead to Iraqi involvement
and an intensification of Syrian participation in events," a senior Israeli
officer told the Israeli military Bamahane weekly. "We are proposing a
number of steps that would give an answer according to developments."
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