Russia, Germany Unmoved as US Makes Case on Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 26, 2002

Russia, Germany Unmoved as US Makes Case on Iraq

The United States said on Wednesday it had enlisted support from NATO allies on the threat posed by Iraq, but Germany was not among them.

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The United States said on Wednesday it had enlisted support from NATO allies on the threat posed by Iraq, but Germany was not among them.

Russia, attending the NATO meeting in its new role as an alliance partner, flayed the "propaganda furor" over Baghdad.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the United States had presented evidence to its allies proving that there was a link between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which was blamed for the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities last year.

But while Secretary of State Colin Powell declared in an interview with the BBC that regime change in Baghdad was the best way to ensure that Iraq disarmed, Rumsfeld said Washington had made no decision yet on whether to take military action.

"You can be certain that if and when the president decides to do something that there'll be other nations assisting," he told a news conference after a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Warsaw.

He said that some of the ministers -- mostly from European states hesitant to back Washington's drive to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power -- had approached him, unsolicited, in Warsaw to express their support.

US, Britain make their case

The ministers of the 19-nation alliance discussed Iraq on Tuesday evening after a closed-door U.S. intelligence briefing on Saddam's efforts to build weapons of mass destruction.

They were also handed copies of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dossier on Iraq, which asserted that the country could launch a non-conventional attack within 45 minutes.

The campaign to convince Europeans that Saddam is an urgent threat comes as Washington tries to prepare a Security Council resolution to stiffen a weapons inspections regime that will be acceptable to veto-wielding United Nations partners.

Russia and France have not accepted the need for the resolution to include an ultimatum which, if defied, would authorize the U.S. to launch a devastating attack.

Rumsfeld did not name the countries that offered their support in the Polish capital, but German Defense Minister Peter Struck made clear that his country was not among them.

He told a news conference that there was nothing new in the information presented to the ministers and there was no evidence pinning down links between the Saudi-born militant bin Laden's al Qaeda and Baghdad.

"Our priority is to enable quick (weapons) inspections on the ground in Iraq," he said. "I got the impression there is understanding and also some support for our position (in NATO)."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's repeated denunciations during his successful re-election campaign of a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq strained ties with Washington. Rumsfeld declined to hold bilateral talks with Struck in Warsaw, referring to the "poisoned" relationship.

Asked Wednesday what Germany could do to ease tension, he said: "It's not for me to give advice to other countries. We do have a saying in America: if you're in a hole, stop digging."

"Propaganda Furor"

In Moscow meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov dismissed the "propaganda furor" surrounding Britain's dossier, saying the return of U.N. inspectors to Iraq was the priority.

Russia said Iraq was less worrying than the attacks Russia says are being launched on its soil by Chechen rebels hiding with impunity in neighboring Georgia.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, speaking to Russian journalists on the sidelines of the meeting, repeated a Russian warning that it would launch strikes into Georgia if rebel attacks from there continued.

"If terrorist attempts to penetrate (into Russia) from Georgia are repeated, then we will combat them with military methods with all the consequences that follow from that," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

Russian media has speculated that Moscow is seeking a free hand from Washington to wipe out Chechen hide-outs in lawless areas of Georgia in return for backing U.S. moves on Iraq in the U.N. Security Council, where Russia holds a veto.

Source: Agencies

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