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Israel concludes war with Iraq is no longer imminent

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Friday, November 1, 2002

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.

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