TEL AVIV Ñ Israel has revised its assessment of a U.S.-led war
against Iraq.
Defense officials said the United States appears to have shelved
plans for an imminent war against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein. They said the Bush administration has delayed any attack on Baghdad
until early 2003.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he did not believe the U.S.
war against would take place for another several months. He indicated that this was a change in U.S. plans.
Earlier, senior Israeli defense officials said the war would take place
by December. They said the United States has accelerated preparations in the
Middle East and in Israel for a war against Baghdad.
Officials now say that the United States appears to have delayed any
attack as it continues efforts to form a coalition against the Saddam
regime. They said President George Bush's decision to seek a United Nations
Security Council resolution for an attack on Baghdad has ensured that a war
will not break out in 2002.
[Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani said a U.S. war against Iraq is a
certainty after the Islamic fast month of Ramadan. Ramadan is scheduled to
end in the first week of December.]
The U.S. Defense Department has sent senior officials for coordination
with Israel's military and Defense Ministry. On Thursday, U.S. Vice Admiral
James Metzger, an aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen,
Richard Myers, met Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon. Metzger,
in his first official visit, was also scheduled to meet with Ben-Eliezer and
National Security Council director Ephraim Halevy.
Ya'alon is scheduled to hold high-level military cooperation talks in
Washington next week. This will be followed by Israeli-U.S. strategic talks.
