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Cheney Fails to Win Support for Tougher Iraq Policy
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
(2:03 PM ET)
The Associated Press

Turkey has been urging the United States not to attack Iraq, saying it does not pose a current threat to its neighbors. Turkish officials suggested that another conflict would wreak havoc on Turkey's fragile economy. Turkey claims it lost $30 billion in revenues after the Gulf War.

ANKARA, Turkey -- AP
Vice President Dick Cheney ended an 11-nation Mideast tour Wednesday by promising Turkey financial aid for peacekeeping in Afghanistan.

Cheney said he hoped Turkey would agree to lead the force, now being run by Britain. But he failed to win the key NATO ally's support for a tougher policy against neighbor Iraq.

Cheney wrapped up an 11-nation tour of the Middle East with his stop in Turkey, and was heading back to Washington later Wednesday.

He is due to report to President Bush on Thursday. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security assistant, plan to attend the White House meeting.

The uniform message Cheney received from Arab leaders with whom he discussed Iraq was to give diplomacy a chance, an Arab diplomat told The Associated Press in Washington.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to meet with a senior Iraqi official next month in New York about permitting U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Iraq after a lapse of more than three years.
(More: USA Today News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan