Bush gets conflicting advice on Iraq
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
August 1, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration is being given conflicting
advice on Iraq.
The dispute continues to focus between both the State Department and the
Pentagon as well as within other departments on issues that include the
future of United Nations and that of the Iraqi opposition.
The argument is being reflected in conflicting advice being given to the
White House from the strategic community in New York and Washington. The New
York-based Council on Foreign Relations said the smart sanctions should be
improved and allow for greater Iraqi purchases.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has urged the Bush
administration to launch a get-tough policy toward Iraq. In a report
authored by Michael Rubin, the institute urged the administration to
increase support for the Iraqi opposition.
Pentagon officials are raising the prospect of a renewed conflict with
Iraq. They said the U.S. presence in the Gulf is the only element that
deters Iraq from attacking its neighbors.
"I would also say in the Arabian Peninsula. Iraq is still a potent
force," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in a television
interview. "If the United States weren't there, Saddam Hussein could be in
Riyad tomorrow ... He's interested in overthrowing his neighbors. He's
interested in acquiring weapons of mass destruction."
In Baghdad, Iraq has again challenged the United States and said the
Saddam regime is ready for any allied attack. "Final victory against these
forces will be realized and America and its allies including Britain,
Zionism and their agents the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will be
defeated," Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan Ramadan said.
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