Cheney Claims His Mideast Tour Not for Planning Strike Against Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 18, 2002

Cheney Claims His Mideast Tour Not for Planning Strike Against Iraq

Visiting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney denied on Sunday that his current Mideast tour was aimed at organizing a military strike against Iraq.

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Visiting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney denied on Sunday that his current Mideast tour was aimed at organizing a military strike against Iraq.

"Some people are inclined to think that the only subject I am interested in is to organize a military project against Iraq, which is not true," Cheney said in a joint press conference in Manama with Crown Prince Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa of Bahrain.

Cheney stressed that his talks in Bahrain included the war against terrorism, latest developments in the Mideast region and the situation in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Salman urged Iraq to implement all relevant U. N. Security Council resolutions without delay in order to ease the tension in the Gulf region.

There is a clear Iraqi intention to allow the U.N. arms inspectors back in Baghdad, the Bahraini News Agency quoted the crown prince as saying. He expressed hope that Iraq would be serious about that issue.

As for the possible U.S. military strike against Iraq, Sheikh Salman said he did not believe the strike had already been decided. "We have to wait till the policy towards Iraq is made clear," he added.

However, Cheney declined to answer questions on the future U.S. military strikes. "This could be unhelpful," he commented.

On the Middle East peace process, the crown prince said that the only way to push forward the peace process is the Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

He underscored the necessity of the implementation of the recent U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1397, which speaks of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along with Israel within secure and recognized borders for the first time in U.N. history.

Cheney admitted, however, that there is a long way to go in order to establish peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

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