LONDON Ñ The United States has warned Arab leaders to prepare public opinion for a change in
the Iraqi regime.
Diplomatic sources said the Bush administration has sent letters to the
leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and other Arab
states in the Middle East. The letters, said to be nearly identical, assert
that Washington is determined to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein.
U.S. officials did not confirm the message, Middle East Newsline reported. But in Washington, U.S.
National Security Council Adviser Condoleezza Rice stressed in an interview
on Thursday with the British Broadcasting Corp. that the Bush administration
has presented a powerful case for toppling Saddam.
"We certainly do not have the luxury of doing nothing," Ms. Rice said.
"We believe the case for regime change is very powerful."
The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on Thursday that the text of
the letters said Washington was preparing a military strike against
Baghdad that would include the use of air force bases in the Middle East.
The letters reported that the United States was deploying soldiers in the
region and transporting a range of unspecified weapons for the attack on the
Saddam regime.
"There will be no turning back from the military option," Al Hayat
quoted the letters as saying.
A U.S. official said the Bush administration has sent envoys to the
Middle East to relay the U.S. determination to destroy the Saddam regime.
The official, who did not want to be identified, said the Defense Department
has been meeting with Arab analysts and journalists in an effort to sway
public opinion against Iraq. The Pentagon has also discussed with Saudi
nationals likely Iraqi targets of any U.S. war and distributed satellite
photographs of sensitive Iraqi installations, including Saddam's palaces.
[On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command reported that British and U.S.
fighter-jets struck two Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries in southern Iraq. A
Central Command statement said the allied aircraft used precision-strike
weapons.]
At the same time, the United States has urged Arab allies to help Iraqi
opposition forces, which were said to have been given a limited military
role in the campaign against Saddam. A delegation of Iraqi opposition
leaders who visited Washington last week is planning a tour of Arab
countries and Iran. The visit is said to have been in coordination with the
State Department and the Iraqi National Congress, the largest umbrella
opposition group and financed by the United States.
An Iraqi opposition source said the delegation will focus on Saudi
Arabia, the most reluctant U.S. ally to support a regime change in Baghdad.
The source said Egypt has signalled its readiness to help in any U.S.-led
war against Saddam.
