Published: December 2, 2001
Powell, Bush differ
over
next terror target
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (IPS) -- With the Taliban on the run and U.S. allies advancing on all fronts in Afghanistan, Phase II of President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism" -- specifically, the merits of a major military ouster of Iraq's Saddam Hussein -- have re-emerged as Washington's favored topic of speculation.
An attack on Baghdad seemed far-fetched when Washington and the Northern Alliance appeared to make little headway in the early days of the war.
The sudden collapse of the Taliban has put the question squarely back on the table, much to the discomfort of Washington's Arab and European allies.
They sense that anti-Saddam hawks, concentrated among top political appointees in the Pentagon and on Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, now are greatly strengthened compared to Secretary of State Colin Powell, because of a number of factors.
First, the clear successes in the military campaign in Afghanistan appear to have bolstered the stature and influence of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Aside from the successes achieved in the military campaign, the way they have been achieved -- apparently, with few U.S. casualties and primarily through air power combined with land offensives by rebel forces advised by U.S. Special Forces -- also has helped the anti-Saddam forces.
Powell has long argued that ousting Saddam would require a massive U.S. invasion force.
Bush singled out Iraq for the first time during a Nov. 26 news conference. "Saddam Hussein agreed to allow inspectors in his country, and in order to prove to the world he's not developing weapons of mass destruction, he ought to let the inspectors back in," Bush said. "Afghanistan is still just the beginning."
Bush's remarks effectively overruled Powell and the Arab and European allies, who had objected to hitting Saddam for want of evidence linking him to Osama bin Laden's as-Qaeda network, let alone the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Until Bush made those remarks, hawks inside and outside the administration had expended an enormous amount of effort at finding such a link. Interestingly, their efforts were initially kept secret from Powell and the State Department. And they never found such a link.
Similarly, the hawks tried very hard -- albeit unsuccessfully -- to tie last month's anthrax scare to Saddam's biological weapons programme.
Leaders of other nations have spoken up against Bush's plan.
Germany Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warned that "we should be particularly careful about discussion about new targets in the Middle East; more could blow up in our faces there than any of us realize."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rushed to agree.
Even if Rumsfeld has eclipsed Powell, the secretary of state may turn to such figures as Brent Scowcroft. He was recently appointed to head the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and spoke out publicly in October against new adventurism in Iraq.-- Distributed by HYPE,
www.afrikan.net/hype/index.html, mediablacks@hotmail.com
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